Has Anyone Contemplated A Collection Entirely On Cover?

I was just thinking about a 'dream collection' that
fits my personal areas of appreciation in stamps and
came up with this thought... I like the classics, and
I like cover. Those are my 2 personal passions so far.

Now, to be sure, a 'complete' collection of even used,
off paper stamps in an album is challenging to say the
least... but do any of you dream of making a collection
of one of each stamp, ONLY EACH ON COVER?

Wouldn't that be a sight to see?
A stamp album with all your used classics mounted, Scott 1
through Scott ? (whatever your personal cut-off is), but
instead of just the stamps mounted to the page in order,
each 'hole' filled with a cover. I am drooling just
thinking about the idea. Could it even be done?

Nice idea, but probably impractical. If you're going back to the "classics", the premium for on-cover examples can easily run into the thousands of dollars and often that is many times the value of the stamp alone. The early issues also have numerous perforation and watermark varieties that can't always be told apart if the stamp is affixed to a cover.

Fast forward to the early 20th century and some of the later issues were intended for sale only to collectors (i.e. the Farley issues and certain souvenir sheets, etc.) and other than first day covers and the like, it would probably be difficult to find a postally used example.

The question of storage is also an issue. Does the collection intend to focus on postally used covers or philatelic covers (i.e. first day covers)? The latter can be had in more modern issues for very reasonable amounts. The problem typically becomes a matter of storage, as some of these first day covers aren't worth the postage value applied to it and often the covers aren't even worth the value of the mount or sleeve you would typically use to store them.

My recommendation would be to start slow and perhaps focus on some of the more common years, then try and start a small collection and see how it goes. Maybe you'll like it; but maybe not. If you focus on a small period of time, you oould probably acquire a simple collection for relatively short money and if you find it becomes overwhelming to store as you intended, you can always stop and not be out a great deal of money.

Save for the 5 dollar value, I have the Liberty series (US) on cover, and a fair start for the Prexies on cover. Just missing the dollar values. The dollar values can get right pricey on cover. About the only 5 dollar Liberty that seems affordable is the FDC, which I really don't want. Much prefer a legitimate use.

I don't believe it could be done for this reason alone: U.S. Franklin Z-Grill, 1867.

This stamp is the rarest of all U.S. stamps, as only 2 copies are known to exist one is in a the the Smithsonian National Postal Museum.

The use of "Z-Grills" was not found to be practical and the practice was soon discontinued. An 1868 1 cent "Z-Grill" stamp sold for $930,000 in 1988.



I'm not sure if you could identify the Z-grill if it were on cover.

The 1851 U.S. #5 is expensive but obtainable. How about the inverted Jenny is there a cover in existence?

I suppose there are some countries where such a collection might be more feasible. I might attempt such a collection of Canal Zone stamps on cover (but only starting in 1928). Early covers with anything but the most common of early Canal Zone stamps are prohibitively expensive (for me, at least).

I am sure someone has attempted such a feat. There are just cover collectors and FDC collectors. I would go the route of cover sleeves and cover boxes for the common, modern, low values and place them in chronological order. For the higher value classics I would use a nice cover binder with a dust cover if possible. Maybe start with a series of stamps or a certain year and go from there. Can't wait to see what you come up with.

Perhaps one answer to ratio411's question is to try to approximate this dream collection by making acquisitions within his financial means. Yes, you will have some holes in the collection, e.g. the $1.5 million cover you can't afford. But you will also have the satisfaction of putting into place a theme for your collection that is pleasing to you.

The other alternative would be to become the chief curator of the Spellman Museum and see if you can raise funds (and interest) in compiling a collection of this type!

Hi to all

There is a person in Australia who collects stamps on covers, he writes a column in Stamp New Australia
He calls the column Bob Perry's Woodchip Free Zone, as he believes that taking stamps off covers is like wood chipping all the trees.
He writes some very interesting articles, it made me think twice about removing some stamps from covers.
Horamakhet

Well, I used the term 'dream' to make it clear that this is
a collection I would love to do, or at least see, but realize
it is a 'dream' in every sense. I just wanted to see if anyone
else had invisioned what said collection would look like and
how cool it would be. I understand that a comprehensive set
that included every and any Scott number would be impractical
for the identification hurdles presented, not to even mention
pure dollars as this is a 'dream' collection.

Put aside the few technical holes due to being on cover, and
overlook the multi-million dollar price tag, and just bask in
the thought of getting to view said collection and drool over it.

I guess I would use the analogy of when we were kids,
and someone in our group said "What car would you buy
if you had the money to buy any one you wanted?"...

Well, apply that question to a stamp collection, and
I would want one repesented on POSTALLY USED cover.
(Not cacheted, FDC, or collector marketed in any way.)

This question about whether it is affordable seems spurious to me. I can't afford all the items in my US definitives collection. And there are some stamps that are so rare that I couldn't likely find them if I could afford them. I suggest that the right metric is: would you run out of things to collect before you got tired of collecting for them.

I wrote about something very similar to this idea, except it was strictly limited in scope to a specific group of stamps - coils.

https://goscf.com/t/17087

I thoroughly agree with the concept. Having a dream collection is almost better than seeing it in completed form. So much pleasure in finding one more brick for its construction.

I did start a topical USA transportation on cover and used stamps. I have most of the used stamps but the covers are a slow search. Covers can be a little expensive at times. I guess I can now start on MNH transportation stamps to add to the mix.

That would have to be one really BIG cover!

yes-- on the movie
Brewsters Millions

I suppose for some of the "dead countries" it could be feasible. I think it would be possible to have an entire collection of DDR on cover. I'm not sure how financially viable it would be, though. Still, at least you'd know they were all really postally used and not CTO!