Member postings for Gillian Hutchinson

Yes, I am in the UK, Collectra. Spain is even better than the UK from where you are, and excellent with an indoor aerial. Did you ever think to study to get a licence so you can transmit?

Gillian

Ok, my results were as follows - unfortunately I don't know which countries produced which results, but some came off the envelopes perfectly; some were left with that crumbly effect, which will probably need further attention; some came off easily, but remained sticky, and some came off, but became flimsy and curled up as a result. I was wondering if there is some kind of protective backing on a stamp that keeps it from doing this?

Gillian

Ok, last time I tried removing stamps from envelopes, I just used very hot water - don’t worry, they’re probably low value stamps - and no washing up liquid. I’ll have to come back to this later, so will finish off for now, in case I get signed out!

Gillian

Edited By Gillian Hutchinson on 29/05/2018 22:32:58

Sounds reasonable, Billy, especially if your stamp collecting is for your interest only. Trouble is, it’s not always easy to tell if a stamp is going to be self-adhesive.

Gillian

Collectra, my husband's call sign is GI4FUM. Do you ever hear anyone from our part of the world? I am GI8MIV, but not nearly as active as he is.

Gillian

Well, I tried the dish soap method, but it didn't work, maybe because I overlooked the scrub gently and rinse parts of your instructions. What did you use for scrubbing?

Often a self-adhesive stamp will end up torn in the process of trying to remove it completely from the envelope and I'm wondering if I should just abandon them if they show any signs of resistance to being removed.

Gillian

I'm glad I'm not the only one who forgets the one item I went into the supermarket for, Carmen - I think I can forgive myself at aged 69, but it is annoying.

That's a good tip about the dish soap - I don't think you mentioned hot water. The problem I have with self-adhesive stamps is that I don't know they're self-adhesive until I try to remove them from the envelope they're on. Sometimes they come off easily enough, but frequently they leave a layer of tiny balls of paper which was once part of the envelope. I don't have any 'ancients' in my stamps waiting to be removed from envelopes, so should be safe enough using the dish soap method.

Thanks for passing on the tip!

Gillian

I agree Billy. People don't have to know a lot to join in - they can ask questions.

Gillian

Oops, I just posted a message in reply to a post from Julian. If he and Carmen have left it doesn't bode well for the forum, which when I joined was very active.

Gillian

Julian, are you saying your brother is/was a radio ham? My husband got into it in his teens when he passed the Radio Amateur Exam, but couldn't get licensed at the time because a Morse test pass was required then and he didn't manage it due to having a lot of school work to do. He was eventually able to get a licence without the Morse test, but eventually passed the Morse test as well.

Gillian

Paul, my husband would never dream of selling any of those qsl cards, no matter how rare they were. Besides, a lot of those cards were for other radio hams, so that would be another reason for not selling them.

Gillian

That was too bad about your collection, Julian, especially as you found you could have sold them for more, but doesn't that often happen - you get less for something than it's valued at. When I was collecting stamps as a child, my brother had a Stanley Gibbons catalogue and showed me how to check the value of each stamp. I remember checking out any stamps I had in my album, just for curiosity's sake, but it didn't occur to me at any time that I could or should sell them.

Currently most of the stamps in my collection come from the envelopes that ham radio QSL cards come in, but back then, when you could easily buy stamps for collecting, those little packets were popular for children to give to their older siblings as Christmas or birthday presents. My younger sister bought me a packet one Christmas but the package was so small it disappeared inside the Christmas tree. Maybe she should have packaged a la Amazon today lol.

Gillian

Yes, welcome indeed, Steve. So glad you're not getting rid of your first stamp album. Did you get a decent price for yours, Julian?

Steve, this is a good forum, where you'll get plenty of advice and encouragement. It's just a bit quiet at times.

Gillian

Edited By Gillian Hutchinson on 21/07/2017 15:03:42

Julian, I am also married.

Gillian

Welcome to the stamp forums, Ethan. Julian and Carmen have given you good advice, with which I would agree. Just don't do anything silly like using glue to put the stamps in an album or leaving hinges - if you decide to use them - in a humid environment where they will end up like one massive piece of plastic which can't be prised apart. Have fun with your new-found hobby!

Welcome back, Carmen.

Julian, I don't come here often, but glad you missed me.

Gillian

Don't know how you figure that out, Julian.

Gillian

Thank you for the reply. Very interesting, but I don't think I'll be keeping it.

Gillian

This is the stamp to which I was referring.

Gillian

I have a 'stamp' which has Hellas printed on it but has no perforated edges. Could this be a Cinderella? I was going to post a photo, but couldn't remember how and couldn't find out how. Nothing happens when I click on 'Add a photo'.

Gillian

I listened to a couple of these podcasts - thanks for the link, Carmen - they were very interesting - and posted a reply to the thread, but whatever I did or didn't do, it didn't show up.

Speaking of Canadian stamps, I bought a book about Canadian stamps when I was in Toronto with hubby in 1983. It has some very nice stamps included with it and facsimiles of the same.

That's some claim to fame, Carmen, being able to trace your roots to Red Hugh! I hope you and your family had a good night out on St Patrick's night.

Gillian