New Stamps Or Used Stamps?

Mint for stamps and Stamps on Covers for used one, I don't see the purpose to have a used stamps with a partial post mark on it, it hide the design.

I, for one, have an ideological (near religious) belief that a postage stamp is not a postage stamp until it has been used to carry mail and, therefor, don't see the purpose to have an unused stamp.

That having been said, I readily concede that, in most instances, MNHOG stamps give better scan.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Don't get me wrong for many years I found it snob to see those collector at show telling us that a stamp have to be mint with OG . I was also not willing to spent 10x, 100x for a mint stamps to file my album . But with age I start to actually look at them . I like engraving and for this reason cancel is a disturbance. No I start to have interest on cancel and post mark and it can be achieve with canceled stamps only so I need thee full cover. Mint is for my Us and Canada the rest of my Scott Int is canclld stamps or crap CTO.

But OG never . I will not pay extra for gum

To be fair to the Conditionistas, there is a compelling reason to collect MNHOG stamps: the philatelic community can easily agree on exactly what they should look like.

Oh, sure, they'll disagree about how many microns off-center is better/worse than how many microns of shortened perf, but they'll agree on what 0 microns off-center looks like, and on what 0 microns of shortened perf looks like, and why you really want 0 of each.

But opinions vary (WIDELY) as to what an 'ideal' GPU (Genuinely Postally Used) stamp might be:

- one collector's light cancel is another collector's illegible cancel;

- one collector's enough-of-a-town-name is another collector's excess information;

- one collector is happy with a year, while another requires a full date;

- one collector wants Socked On The Nose, while another prefers Tapped On The Corner;

- etc, etc, etc.

So the MNHOG Conditionistas get a universally agreed upon target - and get to quibble about the impact of various deviations - while the GPU (Genuinely Postally Used) crowds gets a variety of standards to choose from without the assurance that comes from a near-universal standard.

And the lack of that single near-universal standard - and the fact that every GPU stamp is a little different than every other - is the reason that so many GPU collectors are more likely (than MNHOG collectors) to have multiple copies of any individual stamp ... you can score that as an advantage, or as a disadvantage, as you prefer.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

With specialized collections in albums, I want one of each: first the page with mint, and then the following page with used. Then there might be a page for used blocks/multiples, exceptional cancellations, and errors/oddities.

With the modern, self-adhesive stamps, I don't want the mint/unused at all.

It is like the Hitler stamps. You had an arrogant dictator who thought he would live for a thousand years, so gobs of stamps were printed. But there wasn't enough time to use them compared to the number printed. Similar thing with the Confederate States during the Civil War.

With so many countries having such diverse economic issues, will the euro hold together? We will see.


-IBFS

MrEos, this is a notice that I have stolen that phrase and am henceforth incorporating it into as many of my communications as I can. Thank you!

Actually it is not that important whether they are cancelled or not, primarily because I collect them to help tell the history of a particular region/country.

In general I prefer un-cancelled stamps (gum condition is not important). However, I do like cancelled stamps where the date and postmark location are readily identifiable.

Michael