What To Do With Clean Skins?

I confess I am a fly specker. I have been fly specking for the past 5 years and I can't stop. I focus on the U.S. 1851-57 One Cent blue Franklin. The difference between some of these stamps is really minor but the difference in value is really major. The catalog value of a Scott #24 is around $40.00 where the catalog value of a Scott #19 is $10,000.00 and depending on where the perforation line was made it can be hard to see the difference without using a magnifier. I also collect curls, plate scratches and other flaws on this issue. When I go to a show, I carry a 10x Lupe for fly specking this issue.

Art

I occasionally have a batch of stamps like this. I describe them as used but uncancelled, even adding a description that regulations require that they can't be used again. They consistently sell at about half their face value. That's simply what current market value is for this stuff.

The marker monkeys get away with butchery!

Most mint no gum I take up to the LPO for a nice cancel and then I need to sell the stamps as CTO?

It is not a perfect world. A bit of give and take helps a lot!

Postal service and collectors have been at odds for as long as I can remember.

In the 70's The NSW stamp collector's Society put a question to the then Post Master General.

A radio station that was based in Sydney proper had a mail-in competition and over 3,000 letters were hand delivered to the radio station and this situation was told to the powers that be.

The reply was that we do not see any reason why these stamps can not be used again but they had to be cut so the stamp had a original piece of the envelop attached and then glue to a new envelop.

I was told this by a member of that stamp societies committee at that time.

Interesting KGV

An email from a buyer about our mint no gum.


"Hi, I like your 2012 stamps, I need a lot more than just few, you see I send lots of Australian 60c stamps to my friends in the middle east also US.
if you have a fair amount like one or two thousand unfranked stamps and wish to clear then please let me know."

Still Interesting.

So Bill the wanted and drunken cattle rustler taught you how to commit felony's eh? lol
I never knew that about you KGV?? That was a brilliant story however.

I have some stamps in my collection that I know are used with no cancel, but I also have some that actually are "mint no gum". I've bought a few collections where I had to soak many a mint stamp off album pages. Usually because of improper storage, but there was a Mystic Heirloom album where the collector did it the easy way... lick 'em and stick 'em.

Thank you ILS

But I did forget to mention his droven dogs. They were some of the best cattle dogs I have ever seen.

My Great Grand Father's brother Trained Kilpies as sheep dogs and cattle dogs. He had a big black male that was the best cattle dog I have ever seem. I still dream about having a dog like that and owning a part of the Channel Country. Which is a long way west of here.

His name was Bill as well. He was working his dogs one day. He would use the older dogs to train the younger ones. He had a heart attack that day and past over in the paddock he was workin in. The dogs would not let anybody near him. The police were ready to shoot the dogs but at the last minute they found someone that had worked with the dogs and he managed to call the dogs off! Sad day but the way he would of wanted to go. He was not a young man!

He was the only person aloud to pat his dogs and feed them . No one else had done that.

Bill was a very respected dog trainer with an extremely good blood line. All the dogs were given to well respected dog trainer that was Bill's Best friend.