To most every stamp collector, condition is enormously important. The ideal used stamp for collectors would be one that has the following qualities: well centered; no missing or damaged perforations; no fading and the color is as fresh as the day it was sold at the post office; is cancelled lightly but very clearly so the cancellation does not obscure the design and preferably with a cancel that shows the date and the city; no folds or creases or wrinkles; when you hold it up to the light there are no areas that so as being lighter colored than the rest of the stamp due to being "thinned" by rough removal from the envelope; is clean with no soiling by dirt or smudging with ink or age spotting from mildew or such; has perforations all the way around. As soon as a stamp has one of these issues it drops in value dramatically, and when there are two or more such issues the value becomes quite minimal as the stamp is considered a space filler until the collector can find a nice example to collect. If this stamp were to be sold on
eBay it might sell for $1 or less, if at all.
Posted 02/12/2017 8:06 pm
