Mint or used?

Tracy Barber wrote:

On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 17:35:56 -0700, Grandpa jsdebooATcomcast.net
wrote:


Neener, neener, neener! Scroll waaaaaayyyyyyyy down...


BTW, quit neenering and answer my original response to the topic, old
timer! :^P

That'd be mint/used. I like mint for sets, like the Arctic Tundra &
Pacific Coral Reef sets. Just finished mounting them in my album
tonight. Placed them in landscape, layed out and cut a rectangle out of
the page so the writing etc on the back would just show through, then
fastened them to the page w/ transparent photo corner mounts (acid free)
and slipped it all in a page protector. Came out looking quite nice IMO.

So back to mint/used. I've done a few other sets (Famous Americans, the
Prexies & Greetings from America) in mint but for the most part its
used. Easier to locate usually, cost less normally, as you mentioned
one is not quite as careful with them - typically, a nicely centered
used stamp looks better than an off center mint IMO, I like having
multiple copies of some (ships) and they are affordable so I can have 1
ship as part of a set and another as part of my topical ships on stamps
thing. As has been pointed out, hinges are much less than mounts. I
made a full album page earlier this week, layed out, printed, placed the
mounts, then the stamps and all was cool. I had another set of 10 to
do, same size so I did a duplicate except for scott@s and verbage, added
the mounts and when I went to put the stamps in them noted that they
needed to be rotated 90º. Of course there went the page and 10 mounts
in the trash from my inattention. 10 hinges would have been easier to
swallow than the 10 mounts.

Although I'm not a 'cancel' nut, there are a few nicer looking ones
around I've seen and no way do you have them on a mint stamps. Gum is
certainly an issue, not to me, however I try my best not to disturb it
if at all possible. So far mint goes in a mount, used on a hinge. As I
mentioned before, Art on stamps screams for mint IMNSHO as the beauty
isn't the stamp so much but the subject matter and wavy lines do it no
justice.

As for the hunt, in general in my very limited experience, I'd say its
often harder to locate a decent used stamp than its counterpart as mint,
not always but more often than not. Thus the fun of the hunt would be
in used, again, IMNSHO.

Last but not least, if I only collected mint, I'd be missing out on all
the fun of soaking and drying and slopping water!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 8^)

On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 20:16:19 -0700, Grandpa jsdebooATcomcast.net
wrote:

Tracy Barber wrote:

On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 17:35:56 -0700, Grandpa jsdebooATcomcast.net
wrote:


Neener, neener, neener! Scroll waaaaaayyyyyyyy down...


OK, grandpa, go soak some stamps! :^P

Thats the nicest thng I've heard all day, wife thinks I should go soak
my head!

OF course, I was being nice. :^) Too tired to argue, be a meanie or
anything right now.

Tracy Barber

On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 20:46:11 -0700, Grandpa jsdebooATcomcast.net
wrote:

Tracy Barber wrote:

On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 17:35:56 -0700, Grandpa jsdebooATcomcast.net
wrote:


Neener, neener, neener! Scroll waaaaaayyyyyyyy down...


BTW, quit neenering and answer my original response to the topic, old
timer! :^P

That'd be mint/used.

Yes sirree boB!

I like mint for sets, like the Arctic Tundra &
Pacific Coral Reef sets.

They do look nice. I liked the dinosaurs, airplanes and a few others
of the past 10 years as well, but they went the way of postage when
needed. If I truly want them, I'll find some more down the road.

In fact, many of the Tundras went out on some eBay mail. Those as
well as Year of the Monkey.

Just finished mounting them in my album
tonight. Placed them in landscape, layed out and cut a rectangle out of
the page so the writing etc on the back would just show through, then
fastened them to the page w/ transparent photo corner mounts (acid free)
and slipped it all in a page protector. Came out looking quite nice IMO.

Very cool.

One thing about my collecting is that it mainly goes to 1960, so there
aren't many "special" sheets, sheetlets, and other contrivances.
although S/S will be a bane for my pages, I'll struggle through it.

So back to mint/used. I've done a few other sets (Famous Americans, the
Prexies & Greetings from America) in mint but for the most part its
used.

'K...

Easier to locate usually, cost less normally, as you mentioned
one is not quite as careful with them - typically, a nicely centered
used stamp looks better than an off center mint IMO, I like having
multiple copies of some (ships) and they are affordable so I can have 1
ship as part of a set and another as part of my topical ships on stamps
thing.

That's definitely another way to look at it. My used would probably
show a decent copy on the main page and then postmarked copies on
blank / quadrilled pages for "study".

As has been pointed out, hinges are much less than mounts.

Definitely a fact, unless you compare original Dennisons on eBay to
current mounts!

I made a full album page earlier this week, layed out, printed, placed the
mounts, then the stamps and all was cool. I had another set of 10 to
do, same size so I did a duplicate except for scott@s and verbage, added
the mounts and when I went to put the stamps in them noted that they
needed to be rotated 90º. Of course there went the page and 10 mounts
in the trash from my inattention. 10 hinges would have been easier to
swallow than the 10 mounts.

That's one of the reasons I've been VERY lazy and have kept my stamps
in stock books. I haven't finished up how I want them to be stored
and then presented and looked at later on. Probably just be Steiner's
pages, with blank pages added as necessary. Any write-ups will be
done on separate sheets of paper, therefore reducing the type of faux
pas you made above.

Although I'm not a 'cancel' nut, there are a few nicer looking ones
around I've seen and no way do you have them on a mint stamps.

Some of them are durned purty. There are some countries where you can
do detailed studies of them on the cheap. I really like those old
cancels.

Gum is
certainly an issue, not to me, however I try my best not to disturb it
if at all possible.

If it can be helped.

So far mint goes in a mount, used on a hinge.

Excepting if the used stamp is a higher CV stamp and I'd rather not
ruin it by flapping in the breeze. May stick out like a sore thumb,
but better safe than sorry on some stamps.

As I mentioned before, Art on stamps screams for mint IMNSHO as the beauty
isn't the stamp so much but the subject matter and wavy lines do it no
justice.

Art is very well intigrated into stamps, but they are NOT the majority
of stamps issued.

One can take that a step further and say all stamps are art. Which
they are, in a sense. The art stamps discussed here are paintings,
drawings, and other general art-related topics.

How many Greek Herme heads or US Flags Over the Porch are true art?

As for the hunt, in general in my very limited experience, I'd say its
often harder to locate a decent used stamp than its counterpart as mint,
not always but more often than not. Thus the fun of the hunt would be
in used, again, IMNSHO.

Bingo.

Last but not least, if I only collected mint, I'd be missing out on all
the fun of soaking and drying and slopping water!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 8^)

Yuck. Wanna soak 300 trillion gazillion Austro-Hungary "old gluepot"
stamps for me? :^)

At least my hands get a good wash after that.

Tracy Barber

Tracy Barber wrote in message
...

- big snip -

Yes, protect them. Especially if they have the knowledge that down
the road, how they protected them was adequate or inadequate. Maybe
tell them right from the start that these are some of the pitfalls, or
let them suffer if they run into those issues?

I guess this --- IS --- a good question.

Do we tell a newbie that collecting mint stamps may have some
downfalls and you need to be prepared for these fromt he start?

-OR-

Do we tell newbies nothing, let them find out themselves and then cop
an attitude at the hobby mid-stream and give up?

- another big snip -

Anyway, of course anyone should collect what they like. Period. I'd
like an answer about what I mentioned about the newbie, if anyone is
up for it.

[ Lately, it seems a lot of deaf ears here or what? -OR- maybe I'm not
speaking loud enough. Could be, I guess... ]

Deaf ears!? Maybe we are just busy doing what we
have to do for our collections :-)

I am not quite sure what you are getting at, but I can
say that much that if a newbie asks me questions I
answer them the best I can, and also encourage him/
her to seek information elsewhere. I don't want to be
anyone's "guru" ;-)

I see no reason for being so unfriendly to tell a newbie
nothing and let him find out everything for himself. But
if he's really in for the hobby, then with a little guidance
he *will* find out what he needs to know.

A bit like giving a hungry man a fish, and he will be
satisfied today, but teaching him how to fish he will
never again be hungry ... ;-)

Mette

On Mon, 2 Feb 2004 01:32:01 +0100, "Mette" wrote:

Top, middle & bottom posting! Look out!

Tracy Barber wrote in message
.. .

- big snip -

Yes, protect them. Especially if they have the knowledge that down
the road, how they protected them was adequate or inadequate. Maybe
tell them right from the start that these are some of the pitfalls, or
let them suffer if they run into those issues?

I guess this --- IS --- a good question.

Do we tell a newbie that collecting mint stamps may have some
downfalls and you need to be prepared for these fromt he start?

-OR-

Do we tell newbies nothing, let them find out themselves and then cop
an attitude at the hobby mid-stream and give up?

- another big snip -

Anyway, of course anyone should collect what they like. Period. I'd
like an answer about what I mentioned about the newbie, if anyone is
up for it.

[ Lately, it seems a lot of deaf ears here or what? -OR- maybe I'm not
speaking loud enough. Could be, I guess... ]

Deaf ears!? Maybe we are just busy doing what we
have to do for our collections :-)

Well, maybe yes, maybe no. I just seem to have been ignored a wee bit
of late and maybe that's my inherent nasty personality I keep tossing
around here. I know I'm such a bad person, considering all of the
trolls that keep popping up saying that I am. :^) I guess I should
live that lifestyle! hehehehe...

Once in a while, it'd be nice to see a reply to a posting instead of
being skipped over... especially when my ISP went poof. I guess I'll
let the big guns answer around here for a while. They've been doing
great without my help... One less answer in the multiple answer issue
will free up some bandwidth.

I will not beg for a reply ever again in the future!

[ Curious if all my newsgroup messages are getting through, -OR-
people just ignoring them -OR- _________, is all. ]

I am not quite sure what you are getting at, but I can
say that much that if a newbie asks me questions I
answer them the best I can, and also encourage him/
her to seek information elsewhere. I don't want to be
anyone's "guru" ;-)

It's not about that at all. That part's not too important - being
guru.

I see no reason for being so unfriendly to tell a newbie
nothing and let him find out everything for himself. But
if he's really in for the hobby, then with a little guidance
he *will* find out what he needs to know.

Yes indeedy.

A bit like giving a hungry man a fish, and he will be
satisfied today, but teaching him how to fish he will
never again be hungry ... ;-)

Exactly my point... If you smoked, I'd send you a cee-gar.

Enough of this dribble, on with life (and stamps).

Tracy Barber

Tracy

I'm curious, as to whether you collect mint or used stamps for your
primary country(s)? I collect used mainly but do snag a few mint
ones here and there if the price is right.

I try to focus on decent used copies, because mint seems heavily
overrated.

A while back, I used to go to a regular weekly Saturday morning stamp
fair by Embankment underground station and there was a splendid "old
time" dealer there who used to berate any collector who asked for
mint stamps: "why do you want unused stamps? A stamp isn't a real
stamp for collecting until it has gone through the post!"

Michael

Michael Meadowcroft
Waterloo Lodge
72 Waterloo Lane
Leeds LS13 2JF
GB
Tel: +44 (0)113 257 6232

"Michael Meadowcroft" wrote in message
news:401E8572.24322.46E102EC@localhost...
A while back, I used to go to a regular weekly Saturday morning stamp
fair by Embankment underground station and there was a splendid "old
time" dealer there who used to berate any collector who asked for
mint stamps: "why do you want unused stamps? A stamp isn't a real
stamp for collecting until it has gone through the post!"

Michael

Michael Meadowcroft

An argument as old as the stamp collecting itself :-)

Victor Manta

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"Grandpa" jsdebooATcomcast.net wrote in message
...
I'm curious, as to whether you collect mint or used stamps for your
primary country(s)? I collect used mainly but do snag a few mint ones
here and there if the price is right.


Just to add my 2c (US) worth:

My US collection - I collect used singles. Much cheaper IMO. Although,
with everyone hoarding mint sheets, the more recent issues are becoming
harder to find.

My Christmas collection - I takes what I can gets, so to speak. My US
Christmas singles are MNH only because I can get them that way very easily.
The rest of my Christmas collection is a hodge-podge of mint (in all forms),
used, FDC, covers, etc.

My Curling collection - Since I just started it, I really haven't decided
between mint/used. Right now I think it will be as my Christmas stamps
until I find more pieces. Right now I have 1 MNH, 2 used, and 1 FDC.

My US joint issues collection - Haven't started it yet, but I would imagine
it will be used (at least to start with) since I can take duplicates from my
afore mentioned US collection.

Ames
remove the gum to reply

Ames wrote:

My US joint issues collection - Haven't started it yet, but I would imagine
it will be used (at least to start with) since I can take duplicates from my
afore mentioned US collection.

Have you a sense of how many US joint issues there are? JIs were
mentioned in a recent thread and that got me to thinking as I like to
collect the 'different' stuff, however a fairly rudimentary search
provided little info on US JIs.

Your reference to Xmas (US) has a familiar ring tooG, another one I've
been toying with, however those are not too hard to track down info about.


Ames
remove the gum to reply

In message
Grandpa jsdebooATcomcast.net wrote:

I'm curious, as to whether you collect mint or used stamps for your
primary country(s)? I collect used mainly but do snag a few mint ones
here and there if the price is right.


I collect both!

Simple.

--
Tony Clayton or
Coins of the UK : http://www.tclayton.demon.co.uk/coins.html
Values of Coins of the UK : http://www.tclayton.demon.co.uk/values/coins.html
Metals used in Coins : http://www.tclayton.demon.co.uk/metal.html
Sent using RISC OS on an Acorn Strong Arm RiscPC
.... Multitasking causes schizophrenia..