DNA extraction from stamps (DNA from dead relations)

[dfk]

I am excited by the idea that DNA can be extracted from such things as old postage stamps, i own many saved letters from now deceased relations that i would love to test, ie grandparents etc.
This is a subject that others might have some knowledge on and can share with us, perhaps any information about the DNA companys that most of use have used in the past and if they intend to do DNA test from stamps or other artifacts, when and who etc would be interesting.
Lets all find out, i think lots of us would like to give it a try.

David.

[Phenmark]

Doesn't feel right to me. I'll pass.

[Chris Doran]

I came across a company offering such a service a while back. I can't remember their name, and my interest waned on seeing the price of quite a few hundred pounds. There's also the problem of being sure who licked the stamp -- it could have been a servant in a posh household or a clerk in the post office. gggranny's hairbrush or hair in a locket might be a better bet if you could find a root.

I am reminded of a Monty Python (I think) sketch about stamp collecting being banned due to the risk of releasing latent nasty viruses when stamps were soaked off. I do remember uncovering a 100-year-old mosquito under an old Indian stamp once and wondering whether biological historians examine such finds.

[melba_schmelba]

You could try with some links provided by the late Guy Etchells and some on my thread on Whole Genome Analysis here
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=861091.msg7302573#msg7302573

I came across a company offering such a service a while back. I can't remember their name, and my interest waned on seeing the price of quite a few hundred pounds. There's also the problem of being sure who licked the stamp -- it could have been a servant in a posh household or a clerk in the post office. gggranny's hairbrush or hair in a locket might be a better bet if you could find a root.

I am reminded of a Monty Python (I think) sketch about stamp collecting being banned due to the risk of releasing latent nasty viruses when stamps were soaked off. I do remember uncovering a 100-year-old mosquito under an old Indian stamp once and wondering whether biological historians examine such finds.

That is definitely true Chris as to who licked the stamp or the envelope seal, with a intimate or personal letter you might perhaps be more sure it was the actual sendee. But just any old letter or a family postcard, or a postcard sent by two spouses, which one was it? Of course, we can tell the sex from the DNA so that might help a little, and also if it does match the person you think it should match, well you know it was right  .

Interesting article here on the subject a family mystery solved, and commentary on why commercial testing hasn't really taken off (too expensive, family artifacts ruined in the process etc)
https://www.wired.com/story/dna-artifact-testing/

[Andrew Tarr]

....  you might perhaps be more sure it was the actual sendee.

Surely that would be the recipient ? 

[melba_schmelba]

....  you might perhaps be more sure it was the actual sendee.

Surely that would be the recipient ? 

No, the sendee, who licked the stamp or the envelope .

[Familysearch]

I can't find sendee in the dictionary. Is there such a word?

FS

[melba_schmelba]

I can't find sendee in the dictionary. Is there such a word?

FS

It sounds better than sender .

[Andy J2022]

It sounds better than sender .

Melba

It may sound better but it is incorrect grammatically speaking   -ee on the end of a word signifies the recipient of an action or the subject of a process, so this case sendee would be the recipient. See this entry in Michael Quinion's excellent website about affixes: https://www.affixes.org/alpha/e/-ee.html