Perforation Strengthening In Plate Blocks

I was going to open a new thread on this but my query fits nicely into this discussion.

I recently was going through a pile of ebay purchases made up to 90 days ago. Bad practice to put it off, I know. Anyway one of them was a plate block from the 1930's, it looked fine on the listing. Upon taking it out of the glassine, it nearly broke in half. There were separations both vertically and horizontally.

I have been noting this issue on other purchases of multiples. Due to passage of time and repeated handling of some of these, is this a new normal? In other words, is the time coming when this will be more acceptable? I see this on plates and sheets produced before 1950 or so. Perhaps another reason why Plate Block collecting has declined.

Purchasing multiples without having the opportunity to examine them personally is risky. ebay sellers, especially, do not feel they need to tell you about weak perfs and separations...or if a block has been previously folded.

Also, it is wise to be very careful about soaking used multiples off their paper. If you can see that the block or strip has been folded, or if you know that the paper of certain issues is inherently fragile, it is almost always best to leave the item on piece.

Stamps1962 wrote:


Blocks have always fallen apart or been broken up. Block prices have not surged vs. singles prices so supply has kept up with demand. In fact, there's always been older PBs (like Columbians, Trans-Miss) bought with the intent of breaking them into components. The demand for those intact classic PBs is small, and their collectors are as condition-conscious as anyone.



I kind of doubt that. People are more condition-conscious than ever to the point of many ignoring and not acquiring certain stamps because perfectly centered ones are just not available.