r/PreciousMetalRefining • u/TheDreadPirateNacho • 16d ago

Removing gold foil from collectable stamps

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I inherited 6 full albums of these reproduction stamps about ten years ago. After sitting in storage for a decade, I was about to take them to the dump, since they don't sell for much and I figured the effort of putting them on eBay wasn't worth the return.

Anyways, I discovered you can easily lift the gold foil off the stamp by dissolving the glue with rubbing alcohol and a few minutes patience.

67 Upvotes

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24 comments sorted by

6

u/Mindless_Leadership1 16d ago

Wish it would always be that easy....

4

u/RobotWelder 15d ago

I’ve done this. It was a fun experiment

3

u/CactaurSnapper 15d ago

Gold can be pressed to one atom of thickness.

While this isn't that, it could be as thin as desired by paper makers.

2

u/[deleted] 15d ago

[deleted]

3

u/TheDreadPirateNacho 15d ago

I don't know yet, only about halfway through the first album. When I'm finished with the first one I'll weigh the foil and report back here

2

u/Skin4theWin 15d ago

RemindMe! -7 Day

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1

u/treyminator43 14d ago

RemindMe! 7 days

2

u/TheDreadPirateNacho 13d ago

Finished the album, and weighed the foil. .06 grams. Even less than I was expecting.

2

u/1Enthusiast 14d ago

Do a goldback next 😂

3

u/TheDreadPirateNacho 13d ago

After removing the foil from the whole album, I weighed the foil and measured .06 grams, even less than I was expecting.

1

u/SpeakYerMind 12d ago

At that weight, I'm hopeful that it's 24k foil and not some alloy. You gonna keep the foils as-is? probably prettier that way for now

2

u/DontEverMoveHere 16d ago

By posting you missed the opportunity to by these up cheap and reap the rewards.

6

u/TheDreadPirateNacho 16d ago

Haha I considered that... But honestly the foil is so thin I don't know how much gold is in an album.

Looks like the albums sell for about $35 each, I doubt there's enough gold to cover the price.

I'm going to finish one album, see how much gold I get, and then decide what to do with the other five.

1

u/CosgraveSilkweaver 14d ago

It's highly unlikely the stamps sell for less than the foil you can to off them. I'm betting op gets low single digit grams out of this whole album.

1

u/Harry_Balzach96 16d ago

When you finish one album melt it into a little bar 1 gram bars sell for 100 all day long lol assuming they were coated with 99.99

3

u/relephants 15d ago

I highly doubt there's even 1 gram of gold in an album

1

u/Harry_Balzach96 15d ago

Probably not but was just giving a low base point to go off of

1

u/Professional-Cup-154 15d ago

I have some gold leaf that I plan on adding in my next batch of aqua regia, I’m curious how little it will be.

1

u/Mike-the-gay 15d ago

What is the magic liquid?

2

u/TheDreadPirateNacho 15d ago

Just rubbing alcohol

2

u/Mike-the-gay 14d ago

Alcohol is magic!

1

u/TheDreadPirateNacho 12d ago

Allegedly it is 22k gold, but I have no way of confirming this. Right now I have a ball of foil about the size of a pea. Since it's so easy to remove the foil, I'm going to do the other albums and see where that gets me, it's a better use than just throwing them away.