Methodto soak stamps of papers Water used should be tempid, not hot in order to avoid a bleeding of the sodium sulfate from the paper to the stamp, especially when the envelop is colored. A spoon of table salt per 1/3 cup of water to be added (Heiss, 1999).
Stamp Cleaning To remove dust, graphite and soft pencil markings, we do a dry cleaning using an eraser (any type) and a brush. Stained stampless covers can be cleaned by a water bath which will also lower the paper's acidity. The wet cleaning should be avoided in the presence of soluble ink. For removing grease stain a special solvent is used. Tropical stain is removed by using chlorox (1/10 of water).
Stamp storage Stamps are usually made out of highly
acidic paper. If mounted in an album with acidic pages , the
acid from the paper will migrate to the stamp to deteriorate it. The stamps
are kept in albums with high quality acid-free archival papers. Slip cases are used to protect the album from dust and light.
Temperature The albums are stored in a temperature controlled
room equipped with electric humidifiers in order to avoid extreme temperature
and humidity fluctuation to avoid deterioration and mold.