What Would You Do With This?

I have been away for some time. A couple years back I inherited my Grandfathers box of stamp collections. I came across this and was wondering what would you with this part of box flap? Should I soak the stamps off or trim and mount as a cover of some sort? It has some unique looks that I haven't seen in the short time I have been doing this. Thanks in advance!

It`s the sort of thing I put in my to do list and which I know I`ll never get to. I`m happy to put these things in a box in the back of a closet. My memory is still pretty good, so I call it an effective filing system.

Thats what I did a few years ago! Thought I'd strike out on an adventure tonight. LOL

Well, you can't really mount corrugated cardboard in an album or stock book, so if you want to save Any of this on the paper, you have to strip off the corrugation with the cardboard/paper on the opposite side. This material varies quite a bit...depending on how much glue was used to fabricate it, so you may or may not be able to do this successfully. Also, you'll have to be careful not to cause further creasing or wrinkling on the backing cardboard/paper.

If I were to save the stamps on piece, I would probably save it as two pieces, owing to the odd configuration of the franking. I would save all of the box cancels and maybe the return address, but that is just my personal preference. If you like really large items, and if you need completeness, then you would think differently about it.

If it were in one of my collecting areas, I would probably want to keep the whole thing together, if possible.

I'm sure we all have a few over-size pieces.

Q/ How big is your biggest binder?

Q/ Can you trim this piece down to 8x10?

http://www.bcwsupplies.com/cat/phot...e-20-ct-pack ... BCW Pocket Pages (polypropylene), 3-hole punched, for 1x 8x10 each

Or, to keep it as a stand-alone piece, out of an album & on a book shelf:

http://www.bcwsupplies.com/cat/comi...omic-display ... some comic displays include a built-in stand

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Maybe mount it between two sheets of ultraviolet plexiglass -- no frame necessary -- and hang it in the area where you do your stamping. You might get a piece or two of the plexi for a buck or two in the leftovers barrel at your local plastic sheet store. The UV plexi will prevent fading, and I don't thing the item is so valuable as to warrant an expensive project.

Good ideas, all of them. Is it something best kept intact -vs- removal of the stamps?

For me, it is the boxed BUCHANAN'S FERRY, PA cancels that make the piece interesting. If you soak the stamps off the piece, what are you left with?

Short answer: I would keep it intact, although I would probably remove the back corrugated layers as bookbndrbob suggests.

Longer answer. This is good example of one of the differences between stamp collectors and postal history collectors and the reason why you will get a variety of answeres from this forum. The soaked stamps have almost zero value and are common. The soaked stamps will tell little story. To the postal historian, especially one seeking multi-ounce rates of the Prominent American series, this is a nice example. That is where the value lies - in the unusual use. Other than removing the backing corrugated layers, I might also trim it slightly to fit a 8.5x11 sleeve for more convenient storage in a 3-ring binder, but I would not trim so far as to sacrifice any of the markings or labels which tell of its rate/route. But it is best to leave collectibles as original as possible to preserve their maximum monetary value and history within the bounds of ones space ability to store it for the next generation.

Definitely leave it intact as much as possible. I would cut off the irregular flap at the top edge. Don;t hide it in a book. Mounted, it is an instant conversation piece as soon as a visitor sees it.

I will trim it and leave all intact. I really like it the way it, but was not sure if I was going to be saving something people would roll their eyes at (guess it doesn't really matter though as long as the collector likes it). Thanks BookbndrBob, John Becker, Hoxsie, and the earlier posters.

The question may actually be not what to do with it, but rather is something like this for the "historian" or the "collector". I would say it is for the person who has the "historian" in them. I would say that you Jay, have a touch of the "historian" in you, which is what prompted you to ask your question.

If I'm correct, I would then think of different ways of keeping it intact rather than whether to keep it together or not. So then our focus for Jay would be to come up with ideas that are in line with making it a single attractive piece.


-IBFS