Complaints, Curiosities, And Confessions

1. Harry Potter stamps (unless, maybe, they are British)
2. Years ago, while studying in Brasil, I learned that the then American custom of licking stamps was considered disgusting
3. I see no real point in stamps from the United Nations

Your turn.

1. I don't have enough stamps.
2. Why some Prexie covers fetch such high prices.
3. I have around 10 different stamp projects to work on, but I seem to spend all my time trying to resolve complaint #1

1. Elvis Presley stamps (unless, maybe, if the United Nations issued them)

2. Many Asians think licking stamps are disgusting, too. I purposely lick stamps in front of them just to disgust them. Self-stick stamps ruin the fun.

3. North Korean souvenir sheets. I'd like to see a genuine domestic non-philatelic usage on cover.

Some resolutions, which often meet the same fate as most people's resolutions:
1. I have to remember that saving for retirement is more important than buying stamps.
2. I don't need more German kiloware, no matter how cheap it is.
3. I don't have to fill every blank space in my albums NOW. Waiting isn't going to kill me.

Some other thoughts/observations:
1. If the premium for NH over LH is 2X or greater, the stamp should be mounted upside down, because at that point you're paying more for the back of the stamp than the front.
2. I really don't care for having to look for watermarks or measure perforations, etc. I wish each type only had one major catalog number and the rest were minor numbers and thus omitted from most albums.

Amen to that, Artful!

Too bad! I for one chose to just collect a certain period and get tremendous pleasure out of looking for varieties!

Peter

There are various things that different collectors like about the hobby, which is a big reason why it's been such a big hobby for so long. I've got nothing against those who like to flyspeck and search for varieties, etc, it's just not for me. I do it when necessary, of course, but I look at it as a necessary evil rather than something I like doing for its own sake.

1) Help me figure out how to tell the difference between "Scarlet", "Deep Red", "Rose Red", "Rosine", "Rose-Carmine", and "Carmine" (just to name a few of the KGV color varieties!) ?

2) How did we (as a hobby) forget how to make Dennison hinges?

3) I still love to buy packets of stamps, but can never find the time to sort them all. Someone will inherit a collection of WW packets that will most likely sit in a new box/drawer for many years :-)

1. USPS's purposeful creation of the un-inverted Jenny

2. USPS's money grap from collectors by creating the un-inverted Jenny and stating that they seeded them throughout the states

3. USPS's admission that numerous un-inverted Jenny's are still in storage (and possibly awaiting destruction)

1. Spray cancels, Biro cancels, marker cancels.
2. There is no need with modern self-adhesives for fake perfs in the form of half-moon perimeter die cuts; postal services retain them to keep the public from seeing how much stamp products now resemble kids' stickers.
3. Freud was right; collecting seeks to cure a profound loss.

COMPLAINT: Spray-on cancels. Millions of potentially collectible stamps are being uglyfied by the post office. These cancels will make it hard for experienced collectors to encourage today's kids to get interested in collecting by saving stamps from mail. With a rapidly-dwindling collector base, what will that do to the resale value of our stamps when we want to sell?

CURIOSITY: The interest in collecting tagging varieties.

CONFESSION: I bought too many mint sheets from the Post Office in the '80s and '90s. For the past 12 years I've been trying to get rid of them by using them as postage, but the time has come that I pay all my bills online, and I may only use a dozen stamps a year now.

1. Collectors often write incorrect catalog numbers on the back of stamps.
2. The collectors that write using pen think they are infallible but more often are completely wrong.
3. I often write notes to myself on the backs of my stamps, but in pencil of course.

What really gets me frosted is people who use the back of their stamps for their Costco shopping lists.

1. Collectors who brag endlessly about how great a deal they got and not talk about the collecting at all.
2. How much collecting will there be a 100 years from now.
3. I've bought stamps I already have.

I like this thread, thanks all for sharing

1) Forgeries, fakes etc, particularly those virtually impossible to detect

2) How many of my classics from former Italian and German states are authentic?

3) Probably I could have added 'non-authentic-writeup' on even more classical stamps than I already have... Though I suspect some might not be the real thing I often find no proof. Then it's often tempting to consider the stamp authentic, tough statistics says it's probably not

1. The look in the eye of my wife with a cigarette lighter in her hand yelling I will burn all of those stamps, all of them.

2. Wife finds out how much the stamps cost. Not good!

3.The power of a box of chocolates. The antydote to many troubles...