Soaking Self-Adhesive Stamps - Get Used To It

Self-adhesive stamps (sometimes called peel-and-stick stamps or pressure-sensitive stamps) have become so popular with the non-

stamp collecting public that it's hard to imagine them ever going away. They don't need to be licked or otherwise moistened

before being applied to an envelope, and once there, some of them can seem like they're stuck there forever.

Self-adhesive stamps were first used in the 1960s but initially they were more of a novelty than anything. Sierra Leone, Tonga,

and Bhutan - all countries that are not known for the huge amount of mail sent by their residents - were the first producers of

peel-and-stick stamps. The United States issued an experimental self-adhesive Christmas stamp (Scott # 1550) a few years later,

but they were not well accepted by the public. This particular stamp has two large detriments for collectors: used copies are

extremely hard to soak off paper, and the adhesive has discolored the light-colored background of the majority of mint stamps.

The next foray into the self-adhesive stamp world by the US met with far more success. Scott # 2431 (the 29 cent Eagle and Shield

stamp) was issued in 1989. That stamp really got the ball rolling for peel-and-stick stamps, and now we are "stuck" with them

even though they definitely do present extra challenges for philatelists. These additional challenges include how to store them (should I keep them on the backing paper, making them a bit more awkward to mount in my stamp album, and also risk migration of the adhesive onto the edges of the stamp?) and how to best soak them.



Self-adhesive stamps should probably be soaked with other self-adhesive stamps, not in a mixture that includes water-activated stamps. Water-activated stamps almost alwats float free of the paper they're on long before self-adhesive stamps.

Be careful when soaking peel-and-stick stamps that are adhered to colored paper: the long soaking times that are usually required increase the chances that vividly colored inks from the paper will bleed onto the stamp.

Soak self-adhesive stamps as soon as you acquire them. The longer these stamps are left on paper, the more "stuck" they will become and it will be even harder to get them to detach and float off the paper.

You may succeed in soaking self-adhesive stamps off their paper within 45 or so minutes, or it may take 15 t0 20 hours. Or, they may never release. Some issues are particularly stubborn.