Do You Prefer Centering Or Fresh, Vibrant Colors, Focus?

Hi,
I won't pick, for I want both. One thing to keep in mind....... the pics you see on ebay may or may not show off the item to its best.

I didn't vote either...no disrespect intended. For me to be willing to add a stamp to my collection I would want both qualities to be present. Of course, this may end up putting some stamps out of reach due to financial constraints, and exceptions do need to be made on certain issues (especially 19th century / early 20th) where VF and up centering is impossible to come by due to the process used to print and perforate them.
For me, the bottom line is well-centered stamps with vibrant colors are easier to look at perched in my albums, and they also tend to hold and increase in their value better than their 'lesser' brethren. Every mentor I've ever had in this hobby always advised to buy the best one could afford just for these reasons, and not to settle just to fill a space. And yeah, I realize what I just wrote kinda reeks of philatelic snobbery...but to each their own.

IMHO - okay, IMO - this is not a fair question.

Both 'fresh' & 'vibrant' are far ends of a continuum, while 'centering' is a vast continuum.

Many collectors draw a well-drawn line at whether perfs clear or invade the design.

Now that I've said *that*, here come the scans of stamps with perfs precisely touching the design ;)

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Eye value is what I look for. That can be good or bad depending on Centering and freshness. If a seller has a bad scan, I simply wouldn't be able to buy that stamp from that listing.


-IBFS

Controversial thread to say the least...but I voted. At first I wasn't going to vote, but the question read:


Immediately the "fresh & vibrant" was my choice. Heck, there was no description of what "the" centered stamp looked like, beautiful, ugly, canceled, torn, etc.

I have recently read an article implying that modern collectors are leaning more towards looks rather than centering wherein a question was posed similar to the one asked in this thread.

Being a used collector I like a crisp clean son and really nice coloring. Centering is only a concern to me if it makes the stamp very ugly.

I couldn't vote either. The overall appearance of the stamp matters and both centering and color are part of the overall appearance. I can't say that either are more important, both have to be taken into account.