Your Philatelic Mail

That would be awesome Tom.

Gentlemen aplenty on this forum!

I cut out around stamps and store without .

Many thanks to Crouse27 and doug2222; I was beginning to despair that no one was going to mention 'grandchild bait'.

When I was young, I was thrilled when catalogs & mailing lists appeared bearing those 'old' US 3c & 4c commemoratives et al.

But then I suffered a theologic crisis: if the date (or some fragment of the date) appeared on any stamp, someone might some day figure-out that the use of the stamp was absurdly non-contemporaneous with its issue.

(Since I'm sure y'all're dying to know, the slang term for this is 'antichronism'.)

Worse, being canceled decades after having been issued conveys a certain triviality to the entire hobby.

So what to do with antichronistic postally-used stamps?

Fortunately, in the decades since this crisis frist came upon me, the grandchildren have come along, and I find myself in need of 'grandchild bait'.

Some day, when they learn The Ugly Antichronistic Truth, I'll offer to take each of the offending stamps in trade for something they value more; perhaps, for example, free babysitting for the great-grandchildren ;)

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

I would have to check two items and that can't be done. I soak them off and send them to a group. Tho I guess you could vote twice, once for each choice you need.

Interesting results.


-IBFS

I usually clip the stamps for later soaking. If I think it would fit into one of my philatelic friend's collection I save them for her. I have saved the odd cover that someone has put special effort into constructing just for me.

Dianne

If I like the cover or the cover in itself are especially collectable, I keep the whole cover intact. If I like the stamps but not want to keep the whole cover, I soak the stamps. If I don't want to keep the cover, and don't need the stamps, I cut them off and put them aside and plan on sending them to charity once I've got a big enough pile of them. Damaged stamps I bin.

I collect postmarks, so I keep them whole. I am always looking for auxiliary marks.

If the stamps are recent, sound and the cover hasn't been taped, I typically keep the covers intact. I like solo commemoratives, high-denominations, auxiliary markings and covers from international sources with multiple different stamps.

If the covers or stamps are damaged, or if there is tape, I typically either clip the stamps off to save, or throw the cover away.

I like to send envelopes/packages with stamps and sometimes have a little fun. For example, on 6 x 9 envelopes sent certified mail, I affix two of the $2 inverted Jenny stamps, one right-side-up and the other upside-down (or vice versa). I hope the recipients enjoy the stamps or folly.