Soaking Penny Blacks off an 1840s Wrapper:  

I've used the peroxide method for years. Bill uses 12% strength, but you can buy a weaker mix, I use 3%. That means the reaction isn't as fast and you have a bit of time to watch the progress and judge when you're happy it's done. Some stamps take a little longer than others. As Bill noted, this is only for the Line Engraved stamps.

It was awesome witnessing this rare scene, and even better to review from an #philately episode. 🙌

This was a rollercoaster episode for my anxiety. Well done Bill and Graham.

Fascinating detective work by Bill

A superb vignette. I admit to being very apprehensive watching Mr. Barrell subject Penny Blacks, 182 years old, to hydrogen peroxide, but he is obviously a real pro.

Excellent video, and great information from a line engrave stamp expert. Be very very careful with the use of Hydrogen Peroxide. on postage stamps. I have read about some concerns regarding the long terms effect on the strength of the paper. So be mindful of Bill's advice to limit the exposure to 30 seconds or less. And be sure of the inks on the stamps you are cleaning! There is also a viewpoint that the discolouration or sulphurization of he stamp reflects part of it's 182 year journey. Our role as collectors is to be careful custodians of the material for the relatively brief period that we own them!

Who would have thought a video on stamps would have my heart racing from nerves. All of the things he did to those penny blacks! Obviously though, an experienced professional. I learned a lot from this today!

Have not seen or heard of that peroxide trick. Wow. He knows what he is doing. Quality detective work right there! Great video Graham!

Well done Bill!! So interesting to watch.

Loved the forensic work. Putting a row of four Penny Blacks into water was scary enough, then putting them into a bath of Hydrogen Peroxide was crazy, loved the result. Great video Graham.

A very nice educative video on how to spot alterations to a PB cover. Many thanks to Bill for shining light on this. 👍👍👍

Very informative, thanks for sharing ! I never treated my classic old stamps with hydrogen peroxide because I see that darkening as a part of their history. But from the dealer´s view, it´s just another cup of tea...😉 Greets from GER, U.

I am visiting the UK right now and wished I’d have been able to visit the show. I’ve done business as a client (in Australia) with Bill and his staff and its good to actually see him in the flesh. As to other matters: I purchased a embossed issue of 1848-55 on cover, and like the wrapper in the video I think mine (and others have told me so) is not tied and contrived - original stamps and original cover later combined. I have kept this item as a warning to myself.

Hi Graham, I was very sorry to have missed you at Stampex 2022, but my ticket was for the Thursday (September 29). I did ask at the reception and they told me that you were due on the Friday and the Saturday. A great disappointment but couldn't be helped. Hope you enjoyed your visit as much as I did this time. There's always next year !! Hahaha ! Best wishes to yourself and Laura.

Brilliant video. Bill is such a great dealer and person.

Incredibly interesting and informative! Witnessing the detective work of an expert philatelist was so eye opening and educational. Thanks Bill and Graham.

It was really a great episode, Graham! When bill got the Hydrozen Peroxide, my heartbeat gone up 😂 But I'm mostly amazed just how he predicted that the maltese cross was red, not brown. However, a great episode, enjoyed a lot 😄

Many thanks for these explanations. I had heard of this method but I did not know the technique. Always so instructive, congratulations for your work. I can't wait to see the next video which will undoubtedly be the continuation of the visit!

Well, I never doubted Bill knew exactly what he was doing.😄 Great episode (again) G.

You know, seeing someone soaking penny blacks off a cover (genuine or not) is something i have seen for the first time today... To think that back in the 1840s and 1850s Victorians were doing the same to their own everyday mail!

Who woulda thought Id sit through an entire video about stamps. Very interesting.

The way he manipulates the stamps and the cover almost gave me a heart attack 😂 il do it so softly

Heard about using Hydrogen Peroxide many times, really nice to see it in action. Thanks Bill and Graham

Excellent episode!!!!

What a fine person Bill is, and what a treat to learn so much in such a short time from some one so knowledgeable. Well done, again.

Fascinating. Thanks for signing my postcard on the Saturday

It would be on my mind to experiment with stamps of much much lesser value in first attempting that method of cleaning. Well done episode as always.

Forgot to say what a fascinating episode you have produced here, Graham. Very informative yet very scary !!

Great job again! I was a big fan of H2O2 as a surgeon, but I know now that I have to use it as a philatelist too :)) Thanks a mil Graham!

Brilliant Barrell👍

Fascinating!! Very well made video, it would be great to see more of these

As he drops the cover in the water, at the lower left on the envelope you can see in manuscript "free". So the cover never had stamps on it in the first place, as Bill explains for other reasons. Also if a cover had 4 stamps on it, you would see more evidence that it carried more than just a sheet of paper. Great video -- we linked to it from StampAuctionNetwork today.

Fantastically educational, Graham 👍 really great to see!

Yes great video Graham, all stamp collectors should watch this, Bill explained all in his usual engaging manner, look forward to seeing you both again soon

It is great to see experts at 'work'. Can't believe how nervous I was as Bill was waving the wet stamps about.

Amazing video! Wow. Full on respect for the philatelic expertise that is out there - and Bill Barrell in particular! Cheers Graham.

Great video, I loved the way close ups of the stamps were shown.

Very much near to 30 k

Excellent video! Saving this for future reference.

I have to admit that I cringed when I first saw the topic, but it turned out to make perfect sense and to be very interesting. Thanks Graham!

What an interesting video. Thank you.

Really fascinating episode! Thank you Bill and Graham.

Fascinating episode 👍

Wow!! The short version brought me here and I am glad it did!! This was a terrifying video ... and a revelation at the same time!😳

As usual, I end up learning so much and enjoying a topic more than expected. Thanks for the unusual and informative. Keep branching out, amigo!

That was really neat!

You can always learn new things about stamps 🤔 so many ways of doing it 👍👍👍👍🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺😎

Fantastic video thanks for viewing Diane Oz

Great video! Loved watching the process and learning from an expert. Keep up the great work! Wisconsin, USA.

Another excellent video. It was great to see you at Stampex last week.

Excellent video

Knowledge, knowledge, knowledge... anothoer great episode 🔍

excellent episode

The first épisode I watched since long...still excellent Graham..👍

Great stuff Bill. Simon

Thank you

There are probably quite a few of these 'forgery' covers out there, it seems like a simple thing to create :(

That is amazing!

Hi we met at Stampex. Really nice show and nice video.

Great show Bill! I won't dare to soak the strip of Penny Back off the cover. And the use of peroxide WOW

Excellent video and explanation of the use of peroxide to reverse sulphuretting. Should only be done by an experienced hand though, which is what happened here. Thanks for the post.

Learned something again. Thanks Graham!! Not sure whether I will ever use peroxide but at least I now know of the possibility:-)

Super. Danke für interessante Video.

What a great video. Several lessons in one, fascinating, thanks for sharing but I don't think I'll be doing that with any of my penny blacks! Far too scary..

Who else was nervous when he was flipping those penny blacks around while they were wet?

That was exiting to watch great show.

Now I see why he had no problem with the other guy trying to boost his profits, he was about to show how to change the stamp to increase value, love it 😀 😂 Never heard of bleaching them before

Nice. I use this technique on the orange USA stamps turned brown. Works wonders

Danke. LG

That was really cool!

Listen to Bill: he's an expert and a really nice guy.

Awesome :-)

As a philatelist and professional chemist - I was shouting 'put the cap back on the bottle of hydrogen peroxide!'. By all means use chemical methods, but keep your work area clear and clean, wear latex gloves, eye protection, and be ready for spills and unexpected cross-contamination affecting other areas and valuable items.

I am not a chemist, but, I have serious concerns about this demonstration. I have no doubt that hydrogen peroxide removes sulphurisation, but it is also known to be a strong bleaching agent, and it seems to me that some of the effect that we are seeing could be due to bleaching and not just from the sulphurisation being removed. Bill himself confirms the bleaching ability of HP when at 10:15 he makes mention of someone forgetting a few penny blacks in hydrogen peroxide overnight only to find them blank the next morning. Of course, overnight is a lot longer than 30 seconds, but it does show that bleaching will occur, we just do not know how much occurs in 30 seconds. Bill then turns his attention to four penny reds, of which the left-most one is much more sulphurised than the others. After treating it with HP it appears that he has removed the sulphurisation. However, the stamp is now a completely different colour to the others, even in comparison to the least sulpherised example. More significantly, however, the few seconds of exposure to the HP has considerably reduced the intensity of the black cancel illustrating just how powerful a bleaching agent HP is. As for the black Maltese Crosses on the strip of penny blacks supposedly having originally been red, I believe that he is mistaken. Black iron gall ink, which was in widespread use at the time, is known to oxidise and slowly turn brown due to exposure to oxygen i.e it rusts. hydrogen peroxide on the other hand is a very strong oxidising agent and will rust iron in minutes, and that is the effect being demonstrated here, which is simply the hydrogen peroxide oxidising the black ink and turning it brown. Clive

Wow :)

Very interesting! These stamps are nearing 200 years old now - no wonder why the experienced UK dealers are so adept at stuff like this.

That was teaching everyone skills of interest

fascinating episode, @ 12:19 i have to admit i prefer the before shot as it gives the stamp more contrast. After giving it some thought though I have to be honest I'm not convinced that the H2O2 isn't simply bleaching the stamp / cancellation as opposed to removing oxidation. If you bleach black ink you get brown ink. Furthe, before and after photos prove little unless the before picture was taken (ahem, in color) some 180 years ago..

oops, that first penny red looks ruined, now not like the other three, it's way too bright....or is that a genuine color variation?

You got me with the clickbait title

Could he also use the more hightech forensic philately methods like the spectrometer VSC6000 , I think it could provide even more information about the history of the stamps and cover.

They're Retrobrighting stamps now!

Gummed (unused w/ original gum) stamps can’t be treated similarly with hydrogen peroxide I.e. brushed on. Am I right?

👍👍👍

besides the interesting peroxide information, I still have a question about just taking of stamps from enveloppes..... Is it better to use demin-water (demineralised) = osmose water ? In belgium we have a lot of calcium in our tapwater...

Graham did you receive my postcard yet. I have a question ,i will print my own pages using ALBUMEASY. I asked PALO if they supply pages without the borders, they don't unfortunately. The next thing is to obtain paper and cut to size of 297 x 310mm [unless there is on the market this size]. looking forward what you got in your stamp journey here. Best regards

I see his point, but I have to admit I cringed at watching him soak that wrapper. Personally I'd have left it as is and make a note on my album page. But that's just me.

By the way: I am collecting in Germany, the classics, obviously, like post-1945. And yes, we have a massive problem with forgery too, e.g. with the Posthorn series....🙄

Interesting video. The problem with using invasive techniques as shown here is that you need to understand why you are using them and the potential intended and unintended consequences. A conservator is unlikely to use the HP that Bill uses. Rather a ACS reagent grade 30% would be used diluted with deionised alkalised water to about 5% and reagent like magnesium bicarbonate or TAED added to reduce the acidity to approx. 8ph. What you are trying to do use the 'bleach' to remove contaminates without damaging the paper or leave lasting damage. HP over time and exposed to light can eventually result in a darkening of the colour or colour reversion. So, while the video is interesting and instructive it demonstrates the pitfalls of using invasive techniques.

Cúllar Vega.

When are you doing Indian stamp video

I watched a few videos and I have a few stamps that I would like to sell please send me a copy of a book or information we’re I can find out the value of them thanks

saya mempunyai beberapa prangko langka milik kakek saya, kepada siapa saya bisa menjualnya?

The worlds most expensive stamp, the Swedish 3 skilling is a fake, were the color has been altered. But nobody cares any longer. It's always the last sale that is more important than the truth.

Boa noite tenho várias stamp para negociar.

那位朋友能把地址公告广大藏友吗..

Who’s Phil Ately?

I usually call this "inaccurate"

Do you have an email address? I’d like to send you pictures of my stamp collection and get your advice

for what? what are you doing? you destroyed the collection envelope. a bad example for others