Question: Envelopes

I have a question about envelopes.

Most collectors I know remove the stamps from envelopes and work with them from there. But I have also been told that you should keep the stamps on the envelopes as they would have more historical/monetary value. Some say I should collect all envelopes from WWII and back but not bother with more modern run of the mill envelopes. What are your thoughts on it? How do you handle envelopes, when to keep them, when to remove the stamps from them?

If there is anything else on the envelope that makes the cover of interest I would say do not remove the stamp from the cover. The item of interest could be the postmark, a label, some other form of handstamp, the sender, the receiver, the aesthetic nature of the cover as a whole including the combination of stamps or some other factor. Even post WWII covers can have value and sometimes they worth quite a bit to someone. I've sold post-2001 Irradiated covers for over $20 that have normaly common stamps. There are also people who collect air mail, registered certified mail covers that are more modern as well as those with machine labels/meters. The stamp on cover provides a richer sense of history than an used stamp not on cover.
Will

One post WWII type of covers I have just gotten involved with are the Liberty series, starting in 1954. Some of the covers are fascinating.

For Canada stamps on cover at least, I find for me, the rarity of finding a stamp on cover from recent times is higher than years ago. Less stamps are being used and so less covers made.

Depends on what you want too though. Most folks collect stamps and after years of collecting and knowledge accumulation branch out into covers.

Covers give you a more detailed look at the history aspect of things compared to just imagining what the stamp was used for.

I have never, repeat never, removed a stamp from a pre-1970 envelope.

These gentlemen speak my thoughts. We often rever to envelopes as "covers". For the recently issued stamps I try to have at least one normal usage cover per issue. That's much easier said that done.

Of course, space considerations are a factor. Collecting interesting ones is one thing, but "getting one of every one" would require some planning, boxes and free space.

As others have said, it also helps to have a focus, so it's managable.

I suggest the general collecting rule (at least for me) for philatelic value is - in descending order:

Used stamp on cover with interesting / rare cancels, notations, point of origin, point of destination (i.e. postal history)
Used stamp with interesting / rare cancel
Used stamp
Mint stamp

Using a rule such as "pre-WWII" as the point for collecitng stamps on cover may work today. But what about 10 or 20+ years from now? If everyone collected like that, all of the "modern" covers would become increasingly more rare than the older ones. I agree that one must make some concession due to space limitations, etc., so I would suggest keeping at least keep one nice example of the stamp on cover and then remove the rest off-cover if you want.

I recently went through a box of older cancellation cut squares (cancellation and stamp clipped from a cover) and found some very interesting material such as cities/towns I had never heard of, odd or different period cancellations, and even some DPO's (dead or discontinued post offices) in which case the cancellation is often more interesting than the stamp itself.

It all depends what you want to focus on within your collection. Have fun and enjoy it, however you decide to collect.

I collect cover with Tall Ships stamps, cancel or not. For me before I enter SCF a cover was an envelope with a nice picture/drawing with most of the time a first day cancel not an envelope postaly used. Envelope I receive by mail from abroad I just cut it and keep the stamp to sell them to a friend that collect and resell worldwide stamps. I'm mainly a mnh/mint collector except for older classical stamps. Like wt1 write it depends on what we focus. Also one time at my favorite stamp store in MTL someone came with a lot of cover. I listen the conversation and the guy got so little money for them. I don't think there is a big market for cover in Montreal.
Daniel