Wow! Such Incredible Stupidity....

It is incredible stupidity, I agree with that!
I've found a few stamps with the number in ink, and they ended up in the garbage. I think, though, that if I found a rarer or more expensive stamp that was ruined like that, I would keep it for a space filler, because I know I'd never be able to afford a good copy.
Sometimes I see old stamps stuck to album pages with who-knows-what, and there's nothing that will get them off without ruining them. I wonder what possessed those people to do things like that. Didn't they realize they were ruining their stamps? Was it a little kid or something?

That's exactly my feeling. Rather than labeling someone "stupid" for doing such a thing, we have to take into consideration that some people may not be true stamp collectors or philatelists as we coin ourselves.

As a child, I remember taping or gluing stamps torn off the corner of an envelope and pasted them into a cheap paperback album. It was fun and started off teaching me something about stamps. As I matured into collecting and realized the importance of keeping the stamps undamaged, I learned to soak them off the paper backing, and apply them to an album using hinges. Then later on, as my allowance permitted, I was able to progress into mint stamps and attached those with stamp mounts.

Again, no one really knows for sure who the owner of the stamps were that used a pen to write catalog numbers on the back and ruined the stamps in the process. Maybe it was a child. Maybe it was a beginner collector who later learned better methods. Maybe the person that did it actually learned something about the catalog numbers of stamps in the process. Who really knows?

The bottom line is that true stamp collectors would never mutilate a stamp that way. However, as it was said in the previous thread, I'd be inclined to keep certain stamps as "fillers" before I'd arbitrarily destroy them all.

Also remember that collectors 40+ years ago could not foresee the future of what collectors of today want in their material.
When people collected Stamps in the 1920's - 1960's it wasn't always done as an investment but actually a hobby.

Very true. The same can also be said of envelope cut square issues.

Today, most collectors desire not only the envelope cut square but the entire cover, even though envelope cut squares are still valued as such in the Scott catalog. In fact, we've had several recent posts showing cut squares that were trimmed right around the edge of the design, rendering them virtually worthless to collectors.

Although we frown upon that method of collecting today, one must remember that envelope cut square album pages of the late 19th century and early 20th century actually encouraged trimming the cut squares just like that, which is why so many exist in that condition.

Yes agreed, like ConnieR, Wt1 and no doubt Sfgoda, I would put a expensive/rare stamp aside if/when technology finds a procedure to remove heavy Biro-ink without any stamp damage, it's in all life time collectors phychy.

horses for courses - low values (to the fire) - high values (filler/future box)