I mailed my parents pictures from my daughter's graduation together with stamps for my Dad, most of them mint.

The letter , mailed registered, made it to Sofia, Bulgaria, but instead of continuing on to the city of destination, 200km further East, was then returned back to me in Canada.

I picked it up at the post office today. It now came in a plastic bag with a note inside. It seemed heavier and softer. Completely soaked, and it has been like this for some time !

They should have put a "Dangerous Goods!" sticker on it, but nobody apparently caught up on what has been going on.

After the letter was exposed to water which increased its weight from about 100 grams to 130 grams, the gum of the mint stamps must have formed some sticky goo inside that subsequently developed greenish / grayish, blackish mold. So much so, that it even went through the front of the letter and damaged some of the postage I used.

All mint stamps were fused into a mass that I have been trying to unsuccessfully soak in warm water over the past 3 hours. Many are already garbage and the rest will likely follow.

The note inside the bag stated that three items were received wet and damaged and my letter was one of them. Looking at the numbers of the other two, they also came from Canada and were returned to the senders.

No idea what I can claim for the stamps, as insurance is usually non-existent and the postage alone was around $25. Then the time to package everything and write a letter. All lost, except for the photos which miraculously survived.