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How to Soak Self Adhesive Postage Stamps

The hobby of stamp collecting has been required to adjust to the evolution of stamps over time. Particularly, the introduction of self-adhesive postage stamps presented new problems for stamp collectors. In order to properly preserve self-adhesive postage stamps, the collector must remove the adhesive layer, as many stamps have been found to deteriorate due to the adhesive. Nevertheless, removing the self-adhesive layer of postage stamps can be performed with little difficulty and a few tools.

Things You'll Need

Bowl
Water
Tweezers
Small sponge
Paper towel

Instructions

- 1
  Pour water into a bowl, filling it halfway full.
- 2
  Pick up the stamp gently with tweezers. Submerge the stamp in the water for 10 seconds. Remove the stamp from the water and place it face down on a dry paper towel.
- 3
  Rub the sponge gently across the self-adhesive side of the stamp. After you have made passes with the sponge across the entire stamp, wet the sponge to remove any adhesive on the sponge. Repeat the sponge-rubbing process until the adhesive is removed. Dry the sponge completely with a dry paper towel.

Stamp Collecting