It's a collectibility thing. Personally, I like addressed pre-1950 covers, because often-times you can research the names that appear on the address and find interesting things about them, their lives, and often-times their stamp collecting interests. Many of the earlier covers were even addressed to noted philatelists who used the addressed covers as part of their stamp inventory for collectors.
Fast forward to present day collecting and yes, the unaddressed first day cover is the preferred collectible. I expect it has to do with the poor penmanship of a lot of people and the inks that were used which sometimes turned a nice first day cover into a pen scratched mess. The addressograph, the typewriter, the word processor and ultimately the personal computer allowed for a "cleaner" look through the years, but the unaddressed cover was still preferred.
In my teenage years, when I sent for first day covers, I always applied my address to a peelable label, then when the serviced first day cover was returned, I removed the label and the result was an "unaddressed" first day cover. Of course, as the years went by, we now have those awful spray-on markings on the front and back of the envelope, with bar codes, etc., to speed up mail delivery.
Actually, in the present society in which we live, it probably is a good thing that unaddressed covers are preferred when you consider today's heightened concerns with data security and identity theft which collectors of addressed covers could unwittingly play a part.
However, as a purely practical matter, no matter whether you have addressed or unaddressed covers, the value of them today is next to nil, and seldom exceeds the postage value applied to the cover in the first place. In fact, I was at a stamp store once that had a box of 25-cent or 50-cent first day covers, with $1 postage applied, so the bottom line is to collect them for your own personal satisfaction, but don't plan to retire on the proceeds realized from them when put up for sale.
The same general concept holds true with plate block multiples and coil line pairs and coil plate numbers, as the general concensus was to collect them as pairs (line pairs), then plate number coils of 3, then plate number coils of 5, etc., sometimes at significant cost for very little (if any) premium collectible value.
The bottom line that I conclude most comments of this sort, is collect what you like, as you have no one to please but yourself. If you like the addressed covers, there's nothing wrong with collecting them that way. After all, it's your collection, so do it your own way and enjoy the hobby! |
Posted 10/16/2011 6:11 pm
