Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
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This link is for books, http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-the-Mildew-Smell-from-Books
But a search for stamps also gives a number of answers.
Vic
(Modified by Moderator on 2015-05-31 20:45:35)
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Hi JK6;
First question, why would you buy stamps that are advertised up front as damaged?
Throw them away, deep six them, give them a burial at sea, and lastly bar-b-que them. NEVER buy
stamps that are advertised as damaged. They are MOLDY and you can't destroy mold spores with-
out destroying the stamps. Only strong bleach will destroy the spores, and it doesn't matter if they
smell or not.
When I was a youngster and didn't know any better, I bought a collection mounted in an album,
for $40. It was sold to me by the auctioneer of our stamp club. It was not an auction lot as he knew
better than to offer it to the club. It was very moldy and some of the stamps were treated with
bleach to kill the mold, and they had really thin paper and odd looking colored ink.
When I went to show them to Bill Hathaway a senior member of our stamp club and a good friend
who mentored me and my hobby interests, he was outraged. He got on the phone and called the
auctioneer and made him come over to his house. He instructed me to wait until this guy arrived.
When this auctioneer arrived he came right in and took a seat between Bill and I. Bill told him to give
my money back and had me hand over the album. He then said in a very angry tone of voice that if
he ever pulled that s*** again he would go before the club officers and demand his resignation as
auctioneer and be banned from the club for life.
The auctioneer has very upset, so Bill asked him, "would you rather I chew you out in front of the
whole stamp club, or just in front of Ken here?"
He left very quickly and was never heard from again. When I asked a club officer what had hap-
pened to our auctioneer, I was told that for health reasons, he suddenly resigned.
If you were to mount these stamps in an album with good stamps, the mold could spread to other
stamps if the temperature/humidity conditions are right. It doesn't take as much humidity to en-
courage mold as it does to cause mint stamps to get stuck down.
I learned this lesson the hard way, please don't do the same. Try at the very least to get a refund
thru PayPal.
Good Luck....
TuskenRaider
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On the other hand, if they just smell bad, get a large plastic storage tub, put a healthy layer of baking soda on the bottom. Put a towel over the baking soda, put the album in with the pages fanned out and close. Do not open again for 3 months.
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Another way is to use a good brand of cat litter (unused of course) and do the same as smauggie. I used this method to get cigarette smoke out of stamps and stamp pages.
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Hi JK6;
If you think that they just smell bad as smauggie suggests, then you are mistaken. Ask someone who is
a college student majoring in Biology and they will confirm. You CAN'T see mold spores, they are 10-30
microns in size and would require a good quality 500x laboratory microscope to even see them, IF you
know what to look for.
I did study college level microbiology, and the SMELL smauggie suggests is just the human detectable
indication of mold infestation. That smell is a powerful group of caustic chemicals called enzymes. Some
of these powerful enzymes can even devour rocks. Have you ever wondered how lichen can live on
nothing more that just rocks?
These types of life forms inject the enzymes thru a system of rhizoids, composed of hundreds of equally
small rhizomes (roots) into the food source. The enzymes dissolve the fibers of paper, 'your stamps'
and absorb the dissolved paper parts.
So file a claim with PayPal, and chances are they will rule in favor of you the buyer. If not destroy the
MOLDY stamps and chalk it up to experience.
Just Chillin'....
TuskenRaider
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I recently purchased a stamp album off of eBay and it listed as partially water damaged. It didn't list the smelly mildew smell the usable stamps had acquired. Does anyone know how to "deodorize" stamps?
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re: Smelly Stamps
This link is for books, http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-the-Mildew-Smell-from-Books
But a search for stamps also gives a number of answers.
Vic
(Modified by Moderator on 2015-05-31 20:45:35)
Login to Like
this post
re: Smelly Stamps
Hi JK6;
First question, why would you buy stamps that are advertised up front as damaged?
Throw them away, deep six them, give them a burial at sea, and lastly bar-b-que them. NEVER buy
stamps that are advertised as damaged. They are MOLDY and you can't destroy mold spores with-
out destroying the stamps. Only strong bleach will destroy the spores, and it doesn't matter if they
smell or not.
When I was a youngster and didn't know any better, I bought a collection mounted in an album,
for $40. It was sold to me by the auctioneer of our stamp club. It was not an auction lot as he knew
better than to offer it to the club. It was very moldy and some of the stamps were treated with
bleach to kill the mold, and they had really thin paper and odd looking colored ink.
When I went to show them to Bill Hathaway a senior member of our stamp club and a good friend
who mentored me and my hobby interests, he was outraged. He got on the phone and called the
auctioneer and made him come over to his house. He instructed me to wait until this guy arrived.
When this auctioneer arrived he came right in and took a seat between Bill and I. Bill told him to give
my money back and had me hand over the album. He then said in a very angry tone of voice that if
he ever pulled that s*** again he would go before the club officers and demand his resignation as
auctioneer and be banned from the club for life.
The auctioneer has very upset, so Bill asked him, "would you rather I chew you out in front of the
whole stamp club, or just in front of Ken here?"
He left very quickly and was never heard from again. When I asked a club officer what had hap-
pened to our auctioneer, I was told that for health reasons, he suddenly resigned.
If you were to mount these stamps in an album with good stamps, the mold could spread to other
stamps if the temperature/humidity conditions are right. It doesn't take as much humidity to en-
courage mold as it does to cause mint stamps to get stuck down.
I learned this lesson the hard way, please don't do the same. Try at the very least to get a refund
thru PayPal.
Good Luck....
TuskenRaider
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: Smelly Stamps
On the other hand, if they just smell bad, get a large plastic storage tub, put a healthy layer of baking soda on the bottom. Put a towel over the baking soda, put the album in with the pages fanned out and close. Do not open again for 3 months.
Login to Like
this post
re: Smelly Stamps
Another way is to use a good brand of cat litter (unused of course) and do the same as smauggie. I used this method to get cigarette smoke out of stamps and stamp pages.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: Smelly Stamps
Hi JK6;
If you think that they just smell bad as smauggie suggests, then you are mistaken. Ask someone who is
a college student majoring in Biology and they will confirm. You CAN'T see mold spores, they are 10-30
microns in size and would require a good quality 500x laboratory microscope to even see them, IF you
know what to look for.
I did study college level microbiology, and the SMELL smauggie suggests is just the human detectable
indication of mold infestation. That smell is a powerful group of caustic chemicals called enzymes. Some
of these powerful enzymes can even devour rocks. Have you ever wondered how lichen can live on
nothing more that just rocks?
These types of life forms inject the enzymes thru a system of rhizoids, composed of hundreds of equally
small rhizomes (roots) into the food source. The enzymes dissolve the fibers of paper, 'your stamps'
and absorb the dissolved paper parts.
So file a claim with PayPal, and chances are they will rule in favor of you the buyer. If not destroy the
MOLDY stamps and chalk it up to experience.
Just Chillin'....
TuskenRaider
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.