Sheets Of Used Stamps

First of all, "Hi". I'm new here and not really sure of what I'm doing (either in the forum or with my stamps).

Several decades ago I used to collect stamps and have a typical novice's small collection. I've nver got rid of them because I always thought I'd get back into it in retirement, when my working life is behind me.

A few weeks ago, a relative who knows I used to collect stamps passed to me a 'collection' that they had in their attic. It is basically two, 24" cube cardboard boxes, stuff with stamps and assorted paraphernalia. Though most of it is kiloware (bags and bags of it), there are some first day covers, mint sets, and a couple of albums. I decided I needed to join an online community where I might seek some expert help as I wade through this Aladins Cave.

One thing that immediately caught my eye was a bundle of USED RSA 7c stamps still in sheets. Are they best soaked off the backing, and are they best kept as intact as possible, or doesn't it really make any difference?

LOL ... Sorry for the long-winded introduction building up to such a small question. And if I've posted in the wrong place, please accept my apologies and move me on.

Thanks all.
John

Hi John......

Welcome to the club.

In my opinion...........I would leave just about everything intact as found until you have a little control over the unorganized chaos. Also, as you learn about collecting and exactly what you have you can decide for yourself what would be best for you. You can always soak anything you'd like later......but it's difficult to unsoak things. The same would be true for any covers you might find.

Don't be in a rush to soak things......many are worth much more as intact items.

In the end, it is your collection.....all decisions are yours.....it is totally up to you to decide what your collection should contain.

Hi John,

Welcome to SCF.

You have received some good advise there.
Hope to see some pics of your collection, soon.

Steve

I agree with the advice..welcome also

That is great advice ... as a side note, since I am a cheque collector, I often see practically worthless bulk revenues often cut off cheques and think, "Boy, I wish I was able to obtain the cheque that came from." Just an example of not soaking until you're certain it's the best course of action.

Thanks guys - makes sense. I'll start by getting the bundles unrolled and finding some method of storing them flat until I decide what to do with them. Then it's a case of working my way through the rest, bit at a time. No doubt I'm going to have lots of beginners questions along the way.

John......

Ask as many as you want......you'll find many friendly , helpful folks here.

Hi,

By way of re-introducing myself I thought I'd post again in this old topic. I hope that's okay. Yes, it's taken me over 6-years to finally make any headway with the boxes of stamps that I first posted about. LOL.

I took heed of the good advice given and put my first efforts into sorting the thousands of stamps into countries, of which there are over 200. I am now working my way through the countries alphabetically, removing duplicates and placing the best of each stamp into a stockbook.

With regards to the advice given about soaking off, would I be right in assuming that the Australian stamps in the attached photo are better left as they are.

It's fairly obvious that there's a lot about this stuff that I don't understand so I'm expecting to be asking lots of questions.

John

Long time no see!

I can't see a reason to keep these stamps on a torn cover such as this one.

If this cover was mine, I'd trim around the edges a little and keep it intact, for the cancels.

Thank you both very much. I think what I've learnt from this is that there's no "right or wrong", just "preference". Since I have the stamps as individuals already I think I'll trim up this cover a little and keep it intact. Not sure why .... it just feels right.