Individual Tastes As A Collector

That's exactly the way I approach large bulk lots. I just got three pounds of an on/off paper mix today. I figure all the soaking and sorting will take around 25-30 hours, and that's just to get them all off paper and organized by country. It will take many more hours to weed out the duplicates and mount the keepers, etc. By the time it's all said and done, it's probably costing me $1 an hour. Being that I sell the duplicates and unwanted stamps in cheap packets on ebay, it doesn't really end up costing me much of anything. I might even make a prison-like wage of 15 cents an hour.

For ,e, its

3. centering
4. color
2. hinging
1. used or unused

Jack Kelley

Thanks everybody...i really enjoyed your opinions.

wp62

For me if a stamp is not engraved it as 0 value, so they are just space fillers in albums and I care less about how they look. Typo may be an exception but certainly not litho.

Engraved are a different story, I'm after the design, so I try to get it Mint with a nice centering. I don't care about the gum and I don't need copies with different watermark, paper or perforations, I need only 1 example of the design.

First thing for me, which stamp is it! Is it a stamp I want? Is it one I don't see often for sale? These things play a role in what I'm willing to overlook. So it's very fluid!

For instance: at a local auction, I might favor a U.S Scott #39, fair centering, nibbled perfs and a small corner crease over a nicely centered, sound #68. I don't have either one unused in my collection. Side by side the #68 is a better stamp... Except, I'm betting that I'll have another chance to buy a #68 much sooner than I will a #39. In this case, I'm bidding on the 'less' sound stamp.

Of course I'll be outbid, which leaves me money to grab the Zeppelin cover no one else gives a hoot about lol.

As for hinges, I only care about hinges on mint, original gum stamps. Or if they've caused a deformation on any other stamps.

We're not crazy, Artful.


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Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

And at the end of my hours of processing a bulk lot, I still have something to show for it, unlike watching entertainment on a screen.

I'm glad to see that someone else shares this point of view.

I also get more enjoyment from assessing the aesthetic effect of a cancel than scrutinizing the tiny lines in the hair or buttons of stamps that otherwise look identical. Sometimes I choose light off-face cancels, sometimes a round cancel will frame a design element on the stamp particularly well.

Warriorpoet - welcome, you've initiated a sound discussion

I go with Artful and IkeyP with the pleasure to search through large bulks, it's like a combination of an ultra-marathon and treasure hunt. I currently have 30 x 2 liter boxes to enjoy, cheap excitement

So what do I look for? First off all the postmark / cancellation. An interesting postmark can lift an otheless worthless stamps into glory. Eg, US stamps with Guam postmarks or classic GB stamps used abroad. In general any nice postmark is very attractive for me, jraeburn's and Gabriella's statements echoes very well with my interest.

Still a classic engraved stamp in mint condition is hard to resist

I hope you find your own 'passion' in the stamping world, main focus should always be to enjoy what you're doing. Enjoyment is more valuable to me than grading and catalog/resale value

Excellent topic warriorpoet62

I go for the estetics of the stamp mostly and of course like many what I can afford. I will take a no so centered high value if the price is right, the same goes for small thins.

I collect used world wide and my budget is moderate so in some cases I take what I can get (to a point). I am lucky to have an active stamp club in my area so I get the chance to do lot's of trading and buying at very reasonable prices. I also find some bargains at local stamp show.

Dianne

I prefer mint, or unused, simply because I think they look better. But I am not wealthy, so I often buy used. However, I do have stamps from the late 1940's that I soaked off envelopes when I was a kid. They are still in the album, even though I now have unused copies of the same stamp.

Don