Adhesive removal from old photo

[fullscott]

How old are the photos? I have a bottle of "Sticky Stuff Remover" (from a firm that puts a catalogue through your door - the name rhymes with "Wetter Bare") and have just tried it on a photo from the 1950's - no visible damage. There was no adhesive to remove, though, so I don't know how effective it would be.
(Although I've always sworn by the product - I used to have a shop with those see-through plastic posters that stick straight onto the window. The sun wreaked havoc with them, and this product was the only thing that could remove even the non-scrapeable bits, easily. Squirt it onto a dry cloth, apply to adhesive, wipe off after only one minute.)
But as has been said ... suggest you test first on the less important photos!

Jane

[Chrissie P]

I know who you mean, might try their sticky stuff remover on one of the snaps that isn't too precious. I have scanned them all anyway. Thanks.

[Chrissie P]

I know the company you mean, they used to come to our door. If I can find them I'll try it and as mentioned to other helpful people I have scanned the photos so all will not be lost if some damage is done. Thanks.

[Chrissie P]

(Ethyl acetate by the way has a distinctive smell, usually described as pear drops)

The solvent I used definitely didn't smell like pear drops.

[Chrissie P]

Thanks to all forum members who have been so helpful. My apologies to Megan, Full Scott and Peter to whom my replies have all appeared together. I mistakenly thought if I typed them under the individual posts they would appear under there - WRONG!

I am going to try a couple of the solvents mentioned when I can find them and will post the results which may help others who encounter the same problem I have. I have had to remove the sellotape from the photos because the adhesive has started to stick the pages of the album together.

Thanks to all for your help.
Chris.

[Chrissie P]

How old are the photos? I have a bottle of "Sticky Stuff Remover" (from a firm that puts a catalogue through your door - the name rhymes with "Wetter Bare") and have just tried it on a photo from the 1950's - no visible damage. There was no adhesive to remove, though, so I don't know how effective it would be.
(Although I've always sworn by the product - I used to have a shop with those see-through plastic posters that stick straight onto the window. The sun wreaked havoc with them, and this product was the only thing that could remove even the non-scrapeable bits, easily. Squirt it onto a dry cloth, apply to adhesive, wipe off after only one minute.)
But as has been said ... suggest you test first on the less important photos!

Jane

Have just tried this product on the 70year old photos and it works brilliantly. I was very cautious at first just using a sticky bud but now find I can pour a little of the Sticky Stuff Remover on to the photo, rub it with a tissue, leave to dry and no damage whatsoever. For anyone else who comes across this problem I would still recommend scanning the photos first and then try a tiny amount of the remover on a corner of the photo. Photos from different eras may have been "fixed" in a different way and damage may result.
Thanks to all who offered help. What a brilliant site to come to for help.
Chris.