Did You Ever Think Your Collection Is Just Junk?

Have you ever looked at your collection and thought "this is all junk and I should just throw it all out and start again or just quit!"?? Well that's sort of where I'm at this morning. I wish I knew then what I know now about condition and centering and all that kind of stuff..I guess it isn't so bad and it is fun to flip through it. I'm gravitating more towards the older advertising covers lately because of the history and imagery. I do have more than shown hee but I now have 2 collections. One is this one using Vario pages and the other is a Mystic Heirloom album which is fun for me also. Anyway here is the first 3 pages in my lighthouse binder #1. Mostly junk by comparison to some of your collections I suppose?

pg.1


pg.2


pg.3


pg.4


pg.5


pg.6

Any one of those stamps would fit perfectly in my collection Jeff. I've never been condition picky whether it comes to stamps, baseball cards, or bootleg audio quality :)

Although I prefer things to be perfect, life is far from it

Nice stuff!

uh - your junk would be my treasure

Well thank you, I guess I'm just a little bummed out because looking back I should have taken more time in selecting each one. in my defense however, I do have some decent copies of most shown above in an heirloom album that, for the most part, are in better shape. Someday, I'm sure that someone will have to deal with all this stuff, so I'm currently gathering all the information I can about anything "special" (like my proofs & covers, etc..) so that people know what they're looking at. Organization is paramount in my mind, because who wants to try to sell or even just root through a bin stuffed full of stamps? (hands down please) -> that aren't collectors of course.

OK, I'll shut up now it's just my morning rant... I need some coffee!

But on the other hand, if you had waited out for superb items you'd have spent quite a bit more money and had quite a bit more real estate in the lighthouse sheets.

I, like many people took a dozen years or so off from collecting. When I got back into it I realized I had bought a lot of junk, mainly from approval deals as a kid. I did however buy nice albums and even as a kid I was fascinated with "lost counties", so I had a good start on the common material from places like the German and Australian states and Hawaii. The pride of my collection from my youth was my U.S. revenue collection, which I had remembered as "amazing". Well, when I got back into things my "amazing" was considerably less than that. I had no part perf or imperf revs., condition on some was sketchy and as a kid anything I got on a document was soaked off. I think that is criminal these days. In the front of the book, my U.S. collection was primarily mint from the 30's up through 1980 which does not interest me at all these days. I have replaced that all with nice cancelled stamps. In the 20 years that I have been back to collecting my main focus has been in covers and revenues. So my childhood collection could be viewed as junk today, but it was something to build upon and in all fairness I often spend in a day what I spent in a year back then. I could spend hours in a stamp shop or show and spend two bucks as a kid and be thrilled with my purchases.

Sure, I see collections that make me feel pretty humble at times !

Sorry Jeff. Are we looking at the same pictures?

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Yup that's just it. I in no way wish to part with it of course but now I can better pick and choose examples, but it is very humbling to see some of the true almost "world class" collections and rarities that some of this community posts here. It's absolutely amazing really! It makes me very thankful that there is such a friendly place to congregate like S.C.F. and to share information back and forth like we do. Great people and great information! It also makes me wonder how in the world anyone ever collected in the pre-internet days and built those sorts of collections? It must have been very hard to even put together a "little" collection of a focused subject I bet!

Having said that I am proud of my little accumulation and I just love to look over it and remember where I got it and read what I learned about each one.

Jeff, also remember what you focus was on the above posted items. Pre 1900 U.S. Stamps with superb centering are far and few between so actually many of your examples above are absolutely lovely items that almost all collectors would welcome into their collection.You should be proud of what you have assembled.

As a beginner, I'm learning that what I really enjoy right now is *finding* stamps - used, to be specific. I like to buy packets and lots on ebay (the ones that have a picture of a loose pile, so I can at least get an idea of what's in there) and then see what I get. :) As such, I'm not picky. If I find a ratty-looking stamp that I don't already have, I just figure I'll replace it when and if I come across a better specimen.

For me, part of the appeal of used stamps is the idea of keeping something that most people take for granted. Yes, it annoys me when one of my office mates hands me an envelope that they've ripped open with no concern for the stamp, but at least they thought of me. They could have just tossed it in the trash.

No.

When you have two dozen classics that I don't, it's not junk. Master Po will tell you, Grasshopper, it's the journey, not the destination. Of course, he was blind but nevertheless picky about condition. He smelled the stamp and knew if it had a crease or a pulled perf; when he had nasal congestion, he could not work on his album, and thus took up instructing the martial arts during hay fever season. True.




Trick question: Is Master Po looking back at Caine, or glancing at something off to his left?

It is most true that "familiarity breeds contempt."

It seems to me that your stamp collection has worn out it's "newness/exciting" appeal for you. Years ago that happened to me with my coin collection.

Therefore, I decided to place the best part of my collection in a safe deposit box and leave it there to "age". Years later when I "retrieved" my coin collection it was exciting to me all over again! My interests had changed somewhat and many of the coins that I had not paid much attention to before were now "gems" to me for one reason or another. It was if I had just purchased them.

Put your stamps away for a bit of time and I guarantee you will gain a new appreciation for them. For example, you have some fantastic cancels on many of the stamps that you have on display here. Years from now (or sooner) you may develop an intense interest in cancels and/or postmarks and your stamps will take on a new and exciting appeal. Give it a try and see what happens.

At any rate, your "old" stamp purchases will always bring back memories of your past collecting adventures.

I have often, repeat, often thought of asking one of my truck driving buddies to bring by their tractor trailer and I would it up and they could take it to the nearest or farthest auction house and drop it at theier loading dock.
Only problem I see with this is that I would win it all back when I would bid at their auction.

ILS - I see stamps there I would love to have. In the past I would get discouraged because I was fearful of buying reperfed and regummed stamps, but over the months I have become more confident in being able to spot them. The only thing I worry about is what happens to my collections when I am gone, but, I will enjoy this as long as I can. yakboomer