Occasionally I will see a stamp described as having an internal tear. What exactly is an internal tear and what should I be looking for to determine if a stamp has one?
A description from the recent Sam Houston auction:
HarryG, It is a tear in a stamp that doesn't reach the edge. One way this could happen is by holding the stamp with tongs, with the point of the tongs near the middle of the stamp, then pressing the tip of the tongs against your leg, or the palm of your hand, or scraping the tip against the edge of something like a table, resulting in an internal tear.
That is not a tear, that would be a hole. Remember, stamps were used mostly by consumers, not collectors. They didn't take particularly good care of them a lot of the time. So an internal tear might have occurred at any time just from uncaring abuse.
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Posted 04/26/2017 7:55 pm
