philatelia
Member 
Captain Jack - my best kiloware find ever!
Posts: 3,654
What I collect: Ireland, Japan, Scandy, USA, Venezuela, Vatican, Bermuda, Austria
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Post by philatelia on Mar 16, 2023 9:47:37 GMT
Does anyone else hesitate to toss stamps into the trash bin? I certainly do know when a stamp is worthless, common damaged junk and is totally uncollectible, but I will still hesitate to pull the trigger and put it out of its misery. A little voice in the back of my head says “oh but it might be some rare variety!” Ugh!
What started this was a box that arrived yesterday. Another collector sold me his “duplicate box”, but the quality is so unbelievably bad that I think he confused the duplicate box with the trash bin. They are just too awful to donate to the sftw charity.
Maybe I’ll ask a local friend if he wants to give them a once over before consigning them to the big stamp album in the sky. Sigh.
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,697 
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Mar 16, 2023 9:54:45 GMT
I hesitate to throw something away and it is not just stamps. Humans are natural hoarders. We just do not bury them in the yard - oh wait, some did.
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vikingeck
Member
Posts: 3,548
What I collect: Samoa, Tobacco theme, Mail in Wartime, anything odd and unusual!
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Post by vikingeck on Mar 16, 2023 10:48:33 GMT
I can be ruthless ☠️
Obvious torn chunks , major thins , any heavy creases which show white .immediate dispatch to waste paper bin. No question, no quarter.
The only exceptions which might cause hesitation or reprieve would be influenced by catalogue value if high ££ or $$ and might be a spacefiller I pause…
on the other hand why do I have a 1970 Sony Trinitron analogue colour TV cluttering my garage after 12 years of non use?
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daveg28
Member
Posts: 1,062
What I collect: U.S., Canada, Great Britain & Commonwealth, France (esp. 1950-80), DDR, USSR
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Post by daveg28 on Mar 16, 2023 13:36:38 GMT
I find it easier to do with U.S. stamps. After 50 years of collecting, I feel I know what is super common. I can separate the wheat from the chaff, and if I'm left with a box full of extremely common stamps from, say, after 1940, I can let them go without feeling guilty. That said, I still seem to always have a shoe box full of U.S. used lying around.
The items I can't seem to let go at the moment are a couple of index card boxes with some various old WW stamps. These card boxes came with a couple of older collections I inherited. I'll sort through them occasionally, but they still sit on my desk, full of glassines of different stamps from countries I have no interest in. I'm pretty sure they are all common stamps, but I'm not 100% sure. So they still take up space.
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Mr. H
Member
Member - APS #129381
Posts: 952
What I collect: US, Netherlands, Whatever suits my fancy.
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Post by Mr. H on Mar 16, 2023 13:50:11 GMT
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philatelia
Member
Captain Jack - my best kiloware find ever!
Posts: 3,654
What I collect: Ireland, Japan, Scandy, USA, Venezuela, Vatican, Bermuda, Austria
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Post by philatelia on Mar 16, 2023 13:55:55 GMT
vikingeck I need to channel your energy and vibes as I sort these! Think ruthless, girl! Put on a biker babe shirt, dark mascara and think tough! LOL!
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stainlessb
Member
qaStaHvIS yIn 'ej chep
Posts: 4,904
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 Mar 16, 2023 14:18:50 GMT
Early on I saved everything regardless of how dire its condition. Now, unless it is a very hard to find stamp, scissor cuts, tears, pin holes, obvious thins, obliteration blackout and even (sometimes) missing corner perfs, all end up in the "arts and crafts " envelopes. My wife was going to de'copage.... probably a thousand+ stamps lof potential 'artisiic license" and soon I will just burn in the fireplace. Why so drastic? I see tons of just total junk stamps being offered up for sale, and often 'lots" will contain 'culls". I have heard the argument that children and folks just entering the hobby would love these cast offs, but why start them off with garbage when there are ample sound stamps to be found?
I gave my Trinitron away!
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hdm1950
Member
Posts: 1,886
What I collect: I collect world wide up to 1965 with several specialty albums added due to volume of material I have acquired. At this point I am focused on Canada and British America. I am always on the lookout for stamps and covers with postmarks from communities in Queens County, Nova Scotia. I do list various goods including stamps occasionally on eBay as hdm50
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Post by hdm1950 on Mar 16, 2023 14:51:58 GMT
As I showed recently I have minimal duplicate or unmounted stamps around. When I do get a job lot to pick through I too struggle with trashing any so leave them in the box and let the next person deal with them as I send them off for sale. I sometimes think though of culling out damaged space fillers from my world wide collection. In my earlier years I mounted anything if I did not have an example. Now they tend to make my collections look sad. I have seen many old collections listed in auction catalogues with the treaded ' faulty stamps noted '. That is being honest but for sure turns off buyers. That being said lots of old classics are hard to find in pristine condition. That seems especially true of New Zealand and Australia States.
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kasvik
Member
Posts: 607
What I collect: Cancels mostly, especially Sweden Gävle and Lidingö, Switzerland Geneva, Germany Pforzheim
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Post by kasvik on Mar 16, 2023 15:21:03 GMT
I side with vikingeck : ruthless, out they go. To be sure, some of my favorites are flaulties. But most that fall into my hands meet a brutal fate, up to a value of a few USD. It hurts a little--easy to appreciate these could have been somebody's treasures--maybe it's time to start accumulating them instead.
Saving them for art projects, now that hadn't crossed my mind. That's purposeful destruction. Here is my favorite example, a life-size portrait Julius Juhlin, General Director of the Swedish Post Office, 1907-1925, entirely with Swedish stamps, albeit sometimes small pieces of stamps, mostly mint, as I recall.
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brookbam
Member
APS 236261
Posts: 235
What I collect: US...everything until I decide what I don't want to collect! And now thanks to a TSF give-away I'm adding Space topicals!
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Post by brookbam on Mar 16, 2023 15:49:54 GMT
I haven't gotten to that part yet but it has been in the back of my mind and it does bother me a bit. I just don't like the idea of throwing a stamp away...it just seems...barbaric in a way... I have some BOB stamps from one of my first purchases that are obvious space fillers. I'll probably use them as such...I might put a tiny label in the mount such as SF so that I know that stamp needs a better replacement and I'll do that in the rest of the collection to easily identify the space fillers. As far as the "next person" to deal with the hoard...well...I am *hoping* to have this somewhat organized before my own demise. I am planning on putting in a point of contact page for some reputable dealers/sellers that my family can call to send the collection away so it does not end up up on a local auction and sells for $10 or worse yet...gets tossed in the garbage as "dad's worthless stamp collection." Little will they know that Dad's "worthless stamp collection" might have some value in there...or my best hope would be to go to one of the grandkids if one of them would have an interest in it.
But as I did not answer that topic at hand...I don't know what I am going to do. Maybe have a backyard stamp burning ceremony? Make it a solemn occasion? Invite a few friends over? Then sit around and laugh and drink beer all night. I'll drink Coke or Pepsi since I don't drink beer. brookbam |
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philatelia
Member
Captain Jack - my best kiloware find ever!
Posts: 3,654
What I collect: Ireland, Japan, Scandy, USA, Venezuela, Vatican, Bermuda, Austria
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Post by philatelia on Mar 16, 2023 16:16:17 GMT
Just for fun, I'm turning this topic into a vote and possible giveaway...
click here to vote
link
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vikingeck
Member
Posts: 3,548
What I collect: Samoa, Tobacco theme, Mail in Wartime, anything odd and unusual!
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Post by vikingeck on Mar 16, 2023 18:41:29 GMT
Looking at it from a financial perspective . Every stamp that is damaged and subsequently destroyed is a favour to the philatelic community. It decreases the stock of that issue thereby increasing the scarcity of the rest , ergo its value goes up . Maybe only by .0001 of a penny, but every little helps.
The owner no longer has an item he/she/they are ashamed of and apologise for, even a spacefiller is a regret, and the beginner collector should not be the repository of our dross.
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vikingeck
Member
Posts: 3,548
What I collect: Samoa, Tobacco theme, Mail in Wartime, anything odd and unusual!
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Post by vikingeck on Mar 16, 2023 21:20:24 GMT
In ten minutes these will no longer exist ! They have only survived long enough for a valedictory photo . thins ,tears and chunks missing. Consigned to the waste bin scrunched up and destroyed they are about to be ex -stamps !  |
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Mick
Member
Posts: 992
What I collect: Mostly covers and postmarks. Also miscellaneous paper ephemera.
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Post by Mick on Mar 17, 2023 1:22:26 GMT
Use them as "cinderellas" to decorate your correspondence.
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eggdog
Member
I want a new Harley!
Posts: 464
What I collect: It's complicated....
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Post by eggdog on Mar 17, 2023 3:02:12 GMT
I've finally gotten used to throwing out stamps.
An emotional aberration exists in which certain people attribute human emotions or characteristics to inanimate objects or to natural phenomena. For me, it tends to pop up with certain inanimate objects. I think the objects most likely to set it off are ones that stir up memories of episodes in my life that were unusually stimulating, but it can happen any time.
Sadly enough for my self-esteem, the name of this state of mind is "the pathetic fallacy". (That's also a literary term used for similar situations: phrases like "the heavens wept with raindrops" or "the desert sands reared angrily before the doomed travelers".) When I get some time, I'm going to start an international movement to rename the pathetic fallacy to something a little less limp. Maybe "Proust's syndrome"? Or how about "sensitive-guy hyperstimulation disorder"?
Lately, I've had to bury my heart and approach my surroundings like a laser point relishing its impending destruction of an obsolete machine that no longer deserved to live. (There's some more! Laser beams don't relish anything, I don't think. Not to mention that machines, obsolete or not, don't live. Or maybe they do. Some of them are pretty smart. And why are you asking me, anyway? How the hell should I know?)
Basically, when I pitch a bunch of stamps into the recycling bin, I assuage what's left of my conscience by mumbling something like, "Thanks for the hard work, guys. I hope you come back as a Swedish souvenir sheet." Not that I'm woo-woo or anything, but a touch of ceremony has always helped us Sapienses deal with the unknown and the not-quite-sure.
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FDI
Member
Member of RPSC & BNAPS
Posts: 386
What I collect: Modern Canada (misperf, varieties, tagging errors), Canadian Cinderellas, EXUP & CAPEX & Dead Countries
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Post by FDI on Mar 17, 2023 13:09:44 GMT
I accumulate these bad stamps in a shoe box to make a mosaïque for my work desk. I almost have enough to cover it, and when I do, I will lay them on top and cover them with a thin coat of clear lacquer and put a glass top over it. One of my too many projects!
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Cephus
Member
Posts: 169
What I collect: U.S. 1847-1993, Australia, China, New Zealand
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Post by Cephus on Mar 17, 2023 18:02:03 GMT
It depends on how much damage you're talking about. If there are pieces missing, then yes, straight into the trash can it goes. If it's visually alright, just some thins, I'll probably give it to one of the young collectors that I supply, with the explanation of what's wrong with it, but they can decide if they want to keep it or not, even if it's only until something better comes along. Otherwise, I don't just accumulate things I don't want. It makes for too much mess.
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philatelia
Member
Captain Jack - my best kiloware find ever!
Posts: 3,654
What I collect: Ireland, Japan, Scandy, USA, Venezuela, Vatican, Bermuda, Austria
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Post by philatelia on Mar 18, 2023 19:35:03 GMT
A pic of the table I set up in the guest bedroom for sorting the donation stamps. Here’s where the stamps get “judged” The “jury” has a little comfy chair and the executioner hangs out by the recycle bin. LOL!   |
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Post by sunshinerai on Apr 11, 2023 17:14:14 GMT
Maybe I’m finding it too easy to throw them away!?
Unless it pre-dates 1890s, I’ll throw away anything that has tears, thins or terrific folds that I know isn’t of high value.
Anything else that I don’t know for sure gets kept because I have the same voice as you haha
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johnamichael
Member
Posts: 74
What I collect: Newfoundland, Early Canada, Weimar Republic/Third Reich-Germany
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Post by johnamichael on Apr 11, 2023 20:27:49 GMT
Over the last 3 days, I have probably tossed 1-200 NL stamps. Stained, torn, thinned, poorly centred, etc etc all go in the bin. I do check the catalogue though to make sure I am not tossing a high valuation variation.
It really is the appearance that makes my decision.
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sudbury12000
Member
Posts: 360
What I collect: Canada, Great Britain, Germany, World Pre 1925
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Post by sudbury12000 on Apr 11, 2023 21:05:00 GMT
I usually sell my broken stamps in the "sad Stamp lot". Clearly marked as defective in some way, buyer beware. Usually sell for way way too much. Feel bad pushing my garbage along, but worse throwing them out. When I make a hinge removal error, I tend to burn them. The old Norse gods laugh while I cry.
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Post by carabop on Apr 12, 2023 1:12:12 GMT
Over the last 3 days, I have probably tossed 1-200 NL stamps. Stained, torn, thinned, poorly centred, etc etc all go in the bin. I do check the catalogue though to make sure I am not tossing a high valuation variation. It really is the appearance that makes my decision. Would poorly centered be considered damaged to anyone else? To me poorly centered is not a damaged stamp just one that is not as nice a good centered one. |
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Post by sunshinerai on Apr 12, 2023 7:46:41 GMT
Over the last 3 days, I have probably tossed 1-200 NL stamps. Stained, torn, thinned, poorly centred, etc etc all go in the bin. I do check the catalogue though to make sure I am not tossing a high valuation variation. It really is the appearance that makes my decision. Would poorly centered be considered damaged to anyone else? To me poorly centered is not a damaged stamp just one that is not as nice a good centered one. I wouldn’t consider that damaged. Poorly centred is just quirky. |
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Post by sunshinerai on Apr 12, 2023 7:57:42 GMT
Speaking of dross, I just went on eBay and immediately saw this. How can someone try to sell these??  |
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johnamichael
Member
Posts: 74
What I collect: Newfoundland, Early Canada, Weimar Republic/Third Reich-Germany
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Post by johnamichael on Apr 12, 2023 10:19:31 GMT
In respect to "poorly centred", I would of course keep it if it was the 1 of 3 or 4 stamps; but when you have 2-300 versions of the same stamp the excess has to be thinned somewhat.
John
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JeffS
Member
Posts: 2,838
What I collect: Oranges Philately, US Slogan Cancels, Cape of Good Hope Triangulars, and Texas poster stamps and cinderellas
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Post by JeffS on Apr 12, 2023 10:53:43 GMT
In respect to "poorly centred", I would of course keep it if it was the 1 of 3 or 4 stamps; but when you have 2-300 versions of the same stamp the excess has to be thinned somewhat. John In Texas, it is called “thinning the heard.” |
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Post by carabop on Apr 12, 2023 13:24:42 GMT
sunshinerai you right on that lot not worth selling those. And yes JeffS and johnamichael I suppose if you have hundreds that are not nicely centered they could be binned. It is nice to see other peoples views on some of these things. Being a 90% mint collector I do not get any single stamp in the hundreds. I think I may have a dozen of 1 stamp so if they were not centered they would just go in the duplicate pile.
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,697
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Apr 14, 2023 11:27:06 GMT
It is like the gameshow "The Weakest Link"?
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vikingeck
Member
Posts: 3,548
What I collect: Samoa, Tobacco theme, Mail in Wartime, anything odd and unusual!
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Post by vikingeck on Jun 11, 2023 16:42:04 GMT
Heading off for a Viking funeral, a sad quintet of early Hong Kong. The Kindest thing to do is remove them from the philatelic scene and give a decent cremation. If I can think of a suitable Hymn ....................." Abide with me " it is not !
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Ryan
Moderator 
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 2,749
What I collect: If I have a catalogue for it, I collect it. And I have many catalogues ....
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Post by Ryan on Jun 11, 2023 17:18:44 GMT
Heading off for a Viking funeral, a sad quintet of early Hong Kong. The Kindest thing to do is remove them from the philatelic scene and give a decent cremation. If I can think of a suitable Hymn ....................." Abide with me " it is not !I have been a member of TSF since the earliest days in 2013 and I have been able to hold myself in abeyance, completely avoiding any and all Ren & Stimpy idiocy. However, a thread on execution and a concurrent search for a hymn unavoidably leads to this particular idiocy. Apologies in advance for those about to listen to this, apologies in retrospect for those who revisit this thread in the future ... Ryan |
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