Collecting Etiquette Question

No, no, no, no, no! Removing selvedge that has been attached to a stamp for up to 170 years is akin to desecration. If you don't want the selvedge, please sell the stamp and buy another one.

Great posts in this thread, riveting stuff.

Can I deduce from the opinions here that the selvedge [selvage] is in the margin. Or if you look at it from the other perspective, the margin has some selvedge [selvage].




I hope you don't remove the selvedge [selvage] either !

Or was it the margin?

And I hope all your selvedges [selvages] have straight edges.....if not, they may be gutters !!

Londonbus1.....or not!

Londondonbus1, you just about covered it all - but you forgot the LABEL, as per this Tuvalu sheet.

Bee See,
First let me thank you for my new title of 'Don'. I always wanted to be one of those...and of London too ! Many thanks. [Bow everyone]

Great Tuvalu sheet. Now consider this.
If you split the sheet up and showed the top row of two stamps and central label ONLY, would it be a Label pair or a Gutter pair ?
And if others didn't know the sheet layout, could you fob them off by saying it was a gutter pair ??
Even if you didn't think it was ??

And what if you took the Tuvalu label together with the stamp below it and the Selvedge[selvage] above it [or was it the margin above it ]. What would this little item be called ??

Life is not easy is it?
But it's fun !

Londondondonbus1

sorry we dont allow dons in my galaxy

cic tie him up with the others

life is fun let the games begin

If I may, I would like to add an opinion or two in here.

I usually keep the selvedge on the stamp. Some collectors have said that the stamps look ugly with it on. Myself, I do not. As stated earlier, it is easier to see a watermark on the selvedge better than the stamp itself in some cases.

For myself, I do not write numbers in the selvedge or on the back of the stamp. I have heard other collectors complain because there was a number there. Also, depending on the lead type of pencil used to write the number on the back can be a major factor when or if you should decide to 'erase' or remove that number. I have seen this done on MNH stamps too and to me, that is a no no. Sometime the type of gum used on a stamp can make it very difficult to remove.

Apart from the above, whether or not you remove the selvedge is entirely up to you. However, for older stamps especially, my personal feeling is to keep it on.

Just my opinion of course.

Chimo

Bujutsu

Lonbus1, sorry about the extra Don in your name. Here is the bow:

As for the questions, those hurt my brain, it is too early in the morning

Now, let me see, stamps with selvedge....

Rip the selvedge off any of these, and I will find out where you live

Tuvalu Scott 3 and 3a with margin/selvage/tab/bit-of-paper



It is easy to distinguish the differences as the tab shows the paper differences in colour and it is easy to see the different watermarks when held to a light.

Jubilee's Togo overprint is a great example, the watermark shows right through.

As a young collector, I used to wonder why my used British stamps almost never had the selvedge attached. I thought maybe they were like Sweden and sold virtually nothing in sheets. Eventually I learned that they did sell sheet stamps, but I was still puzzled as to why I rarely ever saw the selvedge on their stamps. When I was 18, I spent a few days in London, and when I went to a post office, I found out why the selvedge was always missing - the counter was littered with a huge amount of selvedge pieces, so apparently the Brits are keen to rip the selvedge off rather than leave it attached.

The Germans, on the other hand, apparently love the selvedge. I have this catalogue which deals strictly with the various markings on the selvedge of German stamps (176 pages worth).

Ryan

The clerks at most franchise post offices here almost have to tear off the selvedge of definitive stamps anyway to make a little block 2 x 5 = 10 stamps fit in their little plastic divided-up drawers they keep the stamps in, ready for sale. They do keep full sheets in the back safe though.

Just got these today. They have been out for a while but I like mailing using a block of some sort of these smaller value definitives as the borders / selvedges are so nice. The butterfly one has little caterpillars crawling around I think. Uck.



Don Londonbus1,
I noticed that a Canada / Israel joint stamp with a maple leaf and a star of David on it was coming out May 5 I think. Looks nice. No flags on it though. Too bad, I think it would look better with flags.

I didn't even know this design was on the selvage of the French Legion semis until recently:




Thankfully, a few people have left it on over time.

Nice stamps everyone, and a great Legion Stamp Cjd ! If you ever want to part with it, my hand is open.
But let's spare a thought for our dear Canadian member PUZZLER !
who thinks this stamp would look better with Flags



What do you all think.??
Better with Flags or not?

Londonbus1 ...certainly better with a tab ! [But where is the margin ?]

It looks fine... get it slabbed!

I didn't see the flags until you zoomed it up. Old eyes.

Here's the Canada self adhesive stamps booklet.
International rate so they will be rarer.
(credit Canada Post)


I think if they had made these in a pane of regular water activated stamps with tabs like Israel's it would have been really nice.

Perhaps you could, with care, peel off the surrounding border with the map on and affix that to an envelope. Tricky operation usually. I have tried with other nice borders on self adhesives and the stamps usually start to curl and separate. Unless they are part imperforate and not cut all the way through. Only happened to me once though.