OLD Glassine envelopes

[crazyquilter]

I am very happy that the glassine envelopes have gotten better to store our stamps in. Last week I received a box of stamps in old clear glassines. Who had these stamps in storage had them in a warm place because the glassine are stuck together. I am removing the stamps from the glassines very carefully.






Please tell us if you have seen these glassines before and how you removed the mint stamps from these glassines. 

[khj]

Just to clarify, they are clear plastic sleeves, sometimes called poly-sleeves. Glassines are at most partially translucent, but never transparent.

The sleeves are often used by sports card collectors and cover collectors. I hate them and don't recommend them for long-term storage of stamps for many reasons, one of which you have discovered.

I am assuming that the sleeves themselves are not stuck together, but that the stamps are stuck together like a brick in the sleeves. Is the backmost stamp also stuck to the sleeve? Because that is a bit unusual.

If the sleeve/bricks don't separate easily by flexing (be careful, if stuck too tightly it might pull off ink from the stamp below), then use the freezer method.

If you want to keep most of the gum (it will still be a noticeable gum disturbance), put the brick in your freezer (sleeve too if the stamps are stuck to the sleeve). You basically need to freeze the gum. It will take some experimenting to figure out how long/much to freeze it. You don't want frost to build up. Once the gum is frozen, you should be able to pry it apart slowly without too much difficulty. For such a large batch of bricks, it beats a humidity box.

[crazyquilter]

Thanks khj, for the correction on the sleeves. I have never seen these in my 40+ years of sports card and stamp collecting. The sleeves were stuck together and some of the stamps but I soaked the used stamps in warm water. This is why stamps should never be stored in anything but glassines. I have seen pictures of stamps in Photo albums and plastic sleeves/top loaders.

[khj]

I wonder why the sleeves stuck together. Something must have gotten on/into them. I've not a had a problem with them stick together -- and yes, some stamp dealers like to use them. I'm always worried that the ink on some stamps may react with the soft plastic.