Moral Dilema

I have an ever growing pile of stamps here that are in bad condition. They are either very thin, fading, perforations missing edges and the like.

Now, I know that they are really worth nothing more than just the pile that they are sitting in and I know that they should be tossed, but because they are old and are of historical content and nothing more, I just can't toss them. Woe is me! Whatever shall I do?????....lol

Unless a stamp is hard to come by I generally toss them if they are torn or damaged. I used to keep everything and remember how difficult it was crushing those first few damaged stamps between my fingers, I still cringe but do it quickly and move on to lessen the pain.

Stamp"the executioner"Study

I don't believe you should ever toss out stamps,
there may be an interesting cancel, perforation
or what have you.
Toss them out if you must, but consider passing them on.

What about a "random act of kindness" and place them
in a glassine and leave them tucked in a stamp catalogue
at your library with a note "free to whoever finds them"

I hardly come across badly damaged stamps these days - I mainly collect mint , and the used items I collect I would keep even in slightly damaged condition.

With regards to never tossing stamps away -- the amount of of 1st class and 2nd class machins that are about, I've stopped people from giving to me - they really are not worth keeping. I bin those even if they are super perfect. I probably could have filled all my stock books with 1st class gold and 2nd class blue machins if I kept them all.

I might out of interests sake get a shoe box and call it the "bin" for anything I would have thrown away and when its full offer it to anyone who wants it.

Donna I can throw out an Australian decimal so long as it is letter rate but when it comes to high denominations that are damaged I keep them for the kids as freebies and add good letter rate to the gift of stamps. I never throw out Australian KGVs I just keep sending them to the children we know overseas and in Aussie with a note saying they are damaged but who knows in 20 years they might be worth something. We do this to help foster this great hobby of ours. John and Family!

Donna, it might be time to start wallpapering your stamp room. LOL
Maybe someone could use them for scrapbooking.

Steve

ah a post from rod that touches the heart

Rod, I can mot agree with you this time...when I receive a packet of stamps I do "terminate" the ones I consider noncollectible..if they ae torn or obvious missing perfs or very heavy cancellation..i can not keep them to eventually forward on to someone else....

A sign of maturity Philb, is the ability to disagree politely,
and I see no problem if you discard.
I would never do that personally, as I have had great joy
in collecting absolutely disgusting stamps from India
that were "theft prevention" cancellations.
I would have thrown them out ten years ago.

Someone I very highly regard, recently told me that they felt
no obligation to keep or maintain covers for posterity,
that they paid for them, and they can do what they like with them.

I respect the fact that they can show honesty with me, and
to debate the fact would jepoardise that.
We all have our standards.
I remember once asking whether I should break open a common as muck multiple, and Tony Macg suggested to always leave intact and let someone else make the judgement.
I have adopted that regime as well.

I am also reminder of the occurence of the NZ invert
(mount something or other) that was very badly cancelled,
if some novice had thrown that at the outset, we may not have it now as proof.
How does one know that common old Machin may have a scarce tagging?

I have a sort of a measuring stick for this.... I ask myself if I would appreciate receiving this stamp as part of a trade offer. If not, then probably nobody else would either, and it goes in the trash. If so, then it stays.

-Allen

but Phil.

this was one post from Rod that touched my heart we have to preserve it for posterity.

but no matter his last post has also touched me
rod is this the second coming?

but wait why are you calling indian stamps disgusting?

qhich reminds me werent you looking for a money tree stamp? I think I found it :)

I threw a stamp away last week after I inadvertently tore it in half. I cried (well, almost.....)

Even so, I checked the perf, watermark and cancel before I binned it!

I have this small toy rowboat, made out of aluminum, that is about 8 inches long, and two inches wide.

I fill the boat with my unwanted stamps, add a little lighter fluid, put the toy boat into my swimming pool, drop in a match and.......




Wala... A freaking Viking Funeral...

Bobggg, is this only good for stamps from Scandinavian countries?

There were some good ideas here. I particularly liked the viking funeral, bobgggg. I might have a Xena sword I could use to push the boat out to sea with...lol

Rod, your random act of kindness is a great idea. I could even do that in the children's section.

Triggersmob, now I could do the two corner walls in my living room. Maybe in addition to scrapbooking that was mentioned, I could decoupage an old box.

Donna

Bob is off the medication again...a little push and he'll be smiling !