jimd52
**Member** 
Inactive
Posts: 9 
What I collect: Belgium, US, Great Britain
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Post by jimd52 on May 21, 2020 3:12:17 GMT
Hello,
I am looking for opinions and guidance in resolving a dilemma I have in collecting used stamps...
Let's say that you have three or four different copies of the same used stamp -- which one are YOU putting in your album ?
1 -- you have a beautifully centered stamp (90+) .. but with a heavy cancel ...
1A -- still beautifully centered ...with average cancel ...but with hinge remnants covering up thins that are not visible from the front
2 -- average centering (60-80) ...but with light or very light cancel
3 -- poor centering -- even 1 side perfs into the frame margin ...but with a beautifully centered Socked-On-the-Nose (SON) cancel.
SON is where my heart is on used stamps and what keeps me so interested in collecting Belgian stamps because it's easy to find SON cancels ...but my goal is to find those with the two towns that I lived in in Belgium ...Verviers and Ixelles (a surburb of Bruxelles)
A smaller issue are stamps with a straight edge ...usually sheet stamps as opposed to booklet stamps -- I've never been fond of one straight edge on a stamp and usually pass or replace it with a good copy with perfs all four sides...
A final issue that throws a monkey wrench into things is when you have a less desirable stamp but has great vibrant color for a used stamp as opposed to a faded or toned stamp.
My solution to date has been to replace lesser quality stamps with nicely centered SON cancels which is easy to do with Belgium and Great Britain but much harder to do with US stamps ... as I don't come across that many US stamps with nice SON cancels
While I realize that everybody collects to their own preferences I'm really interested in hearing how others have resolved this issue on collecting used stamps
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vikingeck
Member 
Posts: 3,269
What I collect: Samoa, Tobacco theme, Mail in Wartime, anything odd and unusual!
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Post by vikingeck on May 21, 2020 8:31:09 GMT
Ah , there is the dilemma.
As a collector who for many years specialised quite narrowly on one country Denmark I accumulated many duplicates of the same stamp.
Rule 1 reject any torn clipped or thinned to the junk box...........unless the postmark was rare....that needs a separate album for postmarks
Rule 2 select the best lightly cancelled for a page on that issue .......heavy ugly unreadable cancelled to the junk box as second grade or third rate
Rule3. Have a separate page altogether for cancels where clean, SON are the criteria
Centring has never been a big issue in my collecting , the current ( PSE American led ) obsession with measuring and grading centring to .00001 of a millimetre to boost the price of a stamp many times over a good above average copy seems crazy . But as the French have it “Chacun a son gout !”
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cursus
Member
Posts: 1,773
What I collect: Catalan Cinderellas. Used Switzerland, UK, Scandinavia, Germany & Austria. Postal History of Barcelona & Estonia. Catalonia pictorial postmarks.
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Post by cursus on May 21, 2020 11:15:28 GMT
First of all, let me state my full agreement with Viking last paragraph about centering. On the other side, as an Scandinavian stamps collector, I don't have any problem with straight edges. Just the opposite, I look for used booklet pairs, despite the problems on placing them on Scott-based Steiner pages. I avoid thins, pulled perforations and other damages. That said, when looking for a nice used stamp, I fancy a small, clear postmark on the least interesting corner of the stamp. As for SON, I take only if the former is not available or is from a place I'm interested on. I don't like bars, wavy lines and slogan cancellations, unless they're rellevant for one of my thematics. |
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stainlessb
Member
qaStaHvIS yIn 'ej chep
Posts: 4,643
What I collect: currently focused on most of western Europe, much of which is spent on France, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain Queen Victoria
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Post by stainlessb on May 21, 2020 13:43:41 GMT
I'm also in agreement with vikingeck. When I first returned to collecting , short of torn in two, I saved everything, now, unless it's the only copy I have , or very uncommon. Now, stamps with even minor flaws goes in the "arts and craft" pile- This is my way of cleaning up the re-circulation pool as it seems a great many will offer what amounts to total junk to the unwary buyer. When looking at multiple used copies, whole, good color and crisp cancellation, that gets the spot on the page, and runner's up I put aside for possible inclusion on a separate page just for cancellations However, to the collector who is not bothered by missing perfs, a tear or a thin, it's your collection and not subject to my approval! |
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jpotx113
Member
Posts: 460
What I collect: USA, Germany, Croatia, Slovenia, Machins, misc. WW
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Post by jpotx113 on May 21, 2020 14:13:01 GMT
Twenty years ago I'd keep the stamp with the least cancellation, regardless of a missing perf or other inmperfection. I wanted the stamp to look as mint as possible. I've since learned the error of my ways, and make sure that the perfs are all there, the stamp is not trimmed or cut, torn, etc. I have since come to appreciate the SON cancels and those are what I'm looking for.
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norsten
Member
Posts: 175
What I collect: Definitives from Western Europe, Swedish postmarks
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Post by norsten on May 21, 2020 14:38:01 GMT
In most cases, if I can choose I would always go for a stamp with a readable postmark, but I can live with poor centering. However, when I want to dig down into a special issue and look for sub-types, watermarks, and shades, it is sometimes preferable with a light cancellation covering just a part of the stamp.
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,355
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on May 21, 2020 15:43:54 GMT
I will tolerate a minor short perf or other minor until a better one comes along. I want to see the design so the lighter the cancel the better.
I learned a new French phrase.
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bcuddy
Member
Posts: 123
What I collect: United States, famous people
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Post by bcuddy on Aug 31, 2020 16:58:52 GMT
I'm a new collector and have been buying various lots on e-bay. I end up with some very nice stamps and some pretty poor ones. But I don't spend a lot, so I'm happy.
When faced with this situation, I choose whichever "speaks" to me. I lay them out next to each other and inevitably one of them will be an absolute "no". At the end, if I'm left with 2 or more stamps, I just find room for all of them!
It's not very scientific, it's more of a gut feeling.
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philatelia
Member
Captain Jack - my best kiloware find ever!
Posts: 3,408
What I collect: Ireland, Japan, Scandy, USA, Venezuela, Vatican, Bermuda, Austria
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Post by philatelia on Aug 31, 2020 17:36:58 GMT
I rank stamps in this order;
1 - Soundness - NO tears, thins, creases, scuffs, missing or short perfs, stains or toning or pencil scribbles on the backs. I pick the copy with the fewest physical defects. If I don't have a solid copy without faults, that issue goes back on my wishlist
2 - Used - Cancels - clear city, date etc, pick the best and most interesting cancels. If CTO I try to upgrade to postally used.
3 - Mint - Gum - hinged? NH? I often add MH copies to my collection, but will hope to upgrade to MNH in the future. I have a dual collection - I try to find a mint and used for most collections except for USA and modern Japan which I only collect used.
4 - Centering
5 - Brightness of color and lack of yellowing from age or poor storage
I look at all of the above and keep the nicest copies - sometimes keeping many copies with interesting cancels or attached selvage or other variations.
I am constantly trying to upgrade the quality of the stamps in my collection. I hope that someday when my collections are sold that the buyers appreciate the efforts I made to have the nicest stamps I could find. When you look at a collection that really strove to only include excellent material, it is like viewing a work of beauty, true, yes?
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Post by nbstamper on Aug 31, 2020 20:35:30 GMT
Philatelia just wrote the book on this question; nothing left to say. I've been going through a lot of used stamps lately and step one is to trash any stamps with defects as listed by Philatelia. I'm mostly a mint collector but, for some countries and issues, like the France early stuff, I like nice used copies and look for clean light cancels if I can find them. Centering is also important; doesn't need to be perfect, but reasonable.
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Post by spain1850 on Sept 1, 2020 9:18:13 GMT
For my main album I choose the nicest centered copy with a light, unobtrusive cancel, preferably across a lower corner. Nicely struck, SON cancels have a collection all their own. I too am always looking to upgrade any stamp in any album, which is why it's so hard for me to work from wantlists. I prefer physically comparing stamps with what I already have.
Sometimes it becomes a real challenge to choose a single stamp out of, say, hundreds of a single issue. I seem to run into this situation quite a lot. When this happens, I do a rough sort, picking out all the nice ones that fit my criteria, then I line them up and start eliminating ones that fall short, until a clear cut "winner" is left.
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philatelia
Member
Captain Jack - my best kiloware find ever!
Posts: 3,408
What I collect: Ireland, Japan, Scandy, USA, Venezuela, Vatican, Bermuda, Austria
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Post by philatelia on Sept 1, 2020 17:53:41 GMT
YES! spain1850, I do that too! Line them up and pick from them. Have you ever noticed that the older the issue, the more difficult it becomes to pick a clear winner? With most modern stamps it’s a fairly quick and easy decision, but classic material has so much more variation. Modern material is printed by automated computer controlled machines and then mostly cancelled by automation so they are MUCH more uniform and, dare I say it, a wee bit less interesting as a result. I rarely end up with just one copy for classics. I often see so many color variations, cancel varieties etc. It’s a good thing I use Hagnar and Vario pages because I have the flexibility to display multiple copies. Trying to pick just one would be too freakin’ hard for me! |
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blaamand
Member
Currently creating custom pages until 1940.
Posts: 1,459
What I collect: Worldwide - Stamps and Postmarks - not enough time...
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Post by blaamand on Sept 1, 2020 22:18:48 GMT
I guess we're all facing this dilemma, over and over again, and it can be quite frustrating some times. It's not that often there is a clear winner, more often it's several candidates that all have their ups and downs. If anything, centring is probably the least important aspect for me. No damages, bright colours and no toning etc is more important to me, and preferably a nice SOTN postmark. As vikingeck suggests, having a separate postmark collection takes away some of the pressure to have great postmarks in the main collection, making it more 'forgiveable' to select lightly cancelled stamps. When there are several shades, light cancels makes the shade differences stand out more. In the end it often end with a gut feeling, like already said quite cleverly! |
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daveg28
Member
Posts: 1,016
What I collect: U.S., Canada, Great Britain & Commonwealth, France (esp. 1950-80), DDR, USSR
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Post by daveg28 on Sept 2, 2020 19:21:32 GMT
I'm not so much into different cancels, so if I'm looking at used stamps I guess I look at them in the following order for placement in my album: soundness (free of tears, thins, or fading), centering, and lightness of cancel (so I can best see the image). I try to make it as uncomplicated as possible. I will not hesitate to place a subpar stamp in my album as a place-holder, with the thought of always looking for a better copy.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2020 0:30:26 GMT
[Posted by former member @grmpy232]
i would add only one thing to the comments above... since I prefer to collect 20th century monarchs, I try to avoid stamps with cancels across the eyes. It is really weird how often the cancel appears to be aimed directly at the nose of the king or queen. just commenting
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bcuddy
Member
Posts: 123
What I collect: United States, famous people
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Post by bcuddy on Sept 14, 2020 19:16:18 GMT
i would add only one thing to the comments above... since I prefer to collect 20th century monarchs, I try to avoid stamps with cancels across the eyes. It is really weird how often the cancel appears to be aimed directly at the nose of the king or queen. just commenting HAHA! That's funny. I never noticed that before, but I'm sure I will now. |
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hijabihomegirl
**Member**
Inactive
So much to organize!
Posts: 11
What I collect: Islamic topical, Middle East, Asia, NZ, AU, worldwide
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Post by hijabihomegirl on Sept 16, 2020 2:00:00 GMT
Personally I'd go with 2. I'd rather have an agerage or even a bit off centered stamp with a clearer view of the subject. Unless it's a postmark I really want then my focus is on the subject itself.
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