Wow! Such Incredible Stupidity....

A couple of weekends ago I acquired a box of (U.S. stamps) 4 stamp albums,handfuls of older loose stamps and some covers. To my dismay the collector who had these stamps wrote the Scott #'s on the back of each and every stamp, including the stamps mounted in the albums. Some, very few, were written in pencil. I can live with that. But, 90% of the stamps were written on in ink. The pen marks were made so hard that an impression on the front of the stamp can be seen. Ruined.

The only good thing is this box didn't cost me anything and I now understand why it was given away free. Next time I light my fireplace guess where the stamps are going.

Sorry to hear about that sfgoda

I guess this goes under the heading, "If it is too good to be true, it isn't", My guess is that they may have been told of their mistake and that they made the collection worthless and just decided to give it away (?)

Always better collections around the corner and not always too expensive.

Will see you on the chat sometime soon.

Chimo

Bujutsu

That's such a shame. I've seen that done as well. It could be worse - could be mounted with cellophane tape or affixed with rubber cement.

sf, that's too bad.

Maybe you could use these stamps for a decoupage craft?!

Or donate them to a kids' club. They won't care if numbers
are on them.

I agree. The kids will surely appreciate them

Sfgoda, yes I agree with you - burn them, so they are out of future circulation and cannot influence others to do same, especially kids.

More stupidity...

Finches.... my thoughts exactly. I don't want anyone for any reason to think it would be ok to mark a stamp like that. Fireplace fodder for sure.

The stupidity would be to let these stamps back into circulation where others might think it's ok to mark the backs of stamps.

sfgoda,

I have a number of stamps on which previous owners have written catalog numbers on the backs -- most are written in pencil but some are in ink just as some are correctly identified and others are not; however, none exhibit signs of the writing on the face of the stamp.

Can you provide some sample images so folks viewing the thread can see the destructive nature of the act?

Steve

sfgoda, I have many 1800's covers that my Grandmother wrote catalog numbers on with a Laundry pencil (Permanent) and even though it probably removed the value, I'd never think of destroying them. I'm sure if you don't want them many here would.

I have lots of classics with pencil annotations on the back. I'm not sure that qualifies them for kindling status.

Along the same lines...I'm not sure you could actually remove the pencil w/o wrecking the stamp?? The thought of scrubbing the back of an old stamp with a eraser makes me shudder.

I once found a set of Columbian $1 through $5 values that were marked on the back with expertiser marks, I used them to light my $1 cigars. I could not bear the guilt that having those stamps could actually entice someone to repeat the deed, had untrained eyes happen to come in contact with the back of my stamps. Oh the horror.

peterc4,
Maybe this is a regional thing, but writing on the back of used stamps in faint pencil is not considered to be bad in England. Mint stamps are different of course.
I would not worry about it if I was you

Grease-proof or baking parchment on top, blotting paper underneath... a medium hot iron...a hard rub over...and it may take out some of the ink. Should take out most of the impression on the front of the stamp. Worth trying on a few before the fire option anyway.
I knew a guy who tried to make a fire in his canoe to keep himself warm as he paddled... but, as we all know, you can't have your kayak and heat it!

The member Sfgoda stated he didn't mind PENCIL, he stated 'he could live with that' - like most of us could.

For him to spend time and effort on valueless stamps where the HEAVY BIRO(ink) impression is visible from the front was pointless.