Are Duplicates Worth Collecting?

"Sometimes the rarer varieties might be worth far more than the common variety........" Perfect example = classic Mexico through the 1880s or so, with all the District overprints and years.

Definitives or bulk the same duplicates or as I call them the unlovable stamps.

The dislike for the mentioned stamps lead me to offering commemorative only. Still get duplicates but comm's only are by far more popular.

Makes no difference to the price of kiloware accept the cost of mailing.You can get a kg of 50% comm's & 50% defin's or 500g of comm's only for the same price.

But have people who will take all the unlovable stamps I can supply them.

People collect stamps in as many ways as possible. Good to think outside the square. Would never rubbish anyone for buying defin's only.It is their choice to collect how they like.

I say this every few years, so apologies to those who have heard it over and over, but those glassines and stock pages full of "duplicates" give me new things to look for all the time.

I learn about something (more often than not right here) and go look for some feature I never knew to look for before. I've been through some assortments three, four, or more times looking for something new (to me). That's in large part why I hesitate to sell off anything.

For those most common of stamps that literally turn up by the hundreds, I've taken to throwing them in a donation bin to donate to the Holocaust Stamp Project http://www.foxboroughrcs.org/studen...amp-project/

The funny part is that once in awhile I'll be looking through my collection, and I'll (embarrasingly) notice that some of the stamps that are going into the donation bin are better than ones in my own album. Those common-as-dirt letter-rate definitives were some of the very first stamps I mounted when I was first starting back collecting, and I just mounted the first copy I had, which often wasn't a great example. Being among the most common stamps, I'd rarely go back to look at them or see if they needed upgrading, so I'll still notice some real dogs once in awhile in my collection amongst those most common and worthless stamps.

Not only do I have duplicates (many by the hundreds, a few by the thousands), but at times I have intentionally bought heavily duplicated lots. It is like a treasure hunt for me and 1 good plate variety, better cancel or watermark variety can make the price of the whole lot worth it. Almost to the point of being able to just toss out the ones I don't find interesting, but I keep them because I'm sure I might have missed something else interesting.

making sure the duplicates are duplicates is a good point... a beginner may think Washington 2centers are all the same, and later on they learn that is far from true!

Back in the 50s & 60s,I was feverishly collecting everything that could be stuck on an envelope. A lot of my hard earned money from working at Mercy hospital washing dishes (75¢ ph)went to acquiring more and more stamps. I had no idea what I was going to do with them all. Today many- many of those envelopes filled with duplicates, say early Germany SC#s 35s - 500s are pretty cool to revisit and pour through. One purchase was a world wide collection of a couple hundred envelopes filled with duplicates that had not been touched since 1916. now after returning to the hobby after about a 25 year absence, there are some really nice finds in today's terms. I only wish all those first day covers had as many good surprises. Will my grandchildren have the same pleasure in say another 20 - 40 years when they are going through grampa's boxes?? I have made sure my children are aware of the contents of glassine filled boxes labeled duplicates.