Thins - What Price?

What effect should a "thin" area have on the price of an otherwise excellent stamp. For example, is it worth 70% of a comparable stamp without a thin. I have my eye on a hard to get (afford!) stamp with a thin. I will know it is there, but I will never see it (so to speak). On the other hand, I don't want to spend 70% of the going rate if it really should have been 40%.

Its a good question..myself I would not pay MORE than 10 percent for a stamp with a thin and then I would really have to want it...heres a scan of South Australia scott # 157 which I received in this months APS circuit books...it catalogs $110.00 and has a small thin in the gum to the paper...if no one in my club grabs it..its available for ten dollars to someone known to me on the SCF !

Also consider the rarity. If I offered you the inverted airmail at 50%, but it had a small thin, would you take it? One way to possibly decide is to break it down based on catalog value, e.g., cat value less than $100.00, don't accept, CV of 100 -> 400, not more than 15%, cv of 400 -> 650, not more than 25%, etc.

A hundred dollars is about my limit..i guess I would not get the inverted jenny even with a thin !! One exception if I were a serious U.S. collector I would have to fill the spaces for the C13-C15 zepps...if you are going to collect U.S. you should have the zepps !!

I think 10% for a thinned stamp is reasonable.

But then, there are always exceptions. Some stamps I wouldn't buy at all if they had a thin. Some, with a nice cancel or something special that made me forget about the hidden damage, I would pay more than 10% for.

And I am usually a guy who says, if it has a thin, throw it out.

But, as mentioned, as the price for a stamp goes up into the range that you find expensive, a thin (or other damage) may be acceptable.

It's complicated. 10% is the usual price quoted for a "no gum" unused stamp. Personally I'd rather have a sound unused stamp with no gum than a stamp with partial gum and a thin, almost all of the time.

An unused stamp with a thin is usually postage for me. But after a certain point, one can forgive a thin a lot more: as others have mentioned, a Zepp or an invert or a Western Cattle in Storm with a thin? Bring it on. :^)

Like everything else in philately, it's purely supply and demand: who wants it at that price? But let's say I was offered an unused Coolidge Prexie (2008 SCV $90) with a thin. What would I pay for it? Maybe $10? But that's just me.

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10% for a piece with a thin spot ? too much. I have picked up nicely centered unused mounted pieces for 10% of catalog. Unused and unmounted pieces usually get 20% - 30% so I'd think I'd rather have a paper hinge than a thin, and don't forget that the reason a thin is avoided by most is that it will very likely tear or end up with a hole due to the weakening of that area. Gum and hinges act as a paper support system so to say, and the physical integrity of the piece is at risk.

I am not sure I understand that point of view. How do we know that there isn't a huge thin under the hinge? And if one prefers an hinge to a thin why not place a hinge over the thin spot?

What about stamps on cover? They could be covered in thins and no one would ever know.

How many thins have been carefully repaired with rice-paper and starch in the past hundred years?

Offer me a GB 1929 1Pound PUC with a thin for 10% anytime.

You are really reaching deep with those scenarios.Cover ? How exactly would a stamp on a cover have a thin ? Rice paper repair ? What does that have to do with the price of Tea in china ?

FYI - Definition

Thin: removal of paper fibers from the back of a stamp, usually done by careless removal of a stamp from a cover or a hinge from a stamp.