Columbian Page With #230-238

Just wanted to share my favorite page and see how fellow enthusiasts rate it in terms of quality.

Scale 1-10 with 1 being the worst.

I am yet to procure unused #241-245. So not posting that page yet...

If any of these suck in terms of appeal, just point it out.






Note: Not interested in selling and praying I never will have to. And yes.. All of them are NH with PF/PSE certs.

Those are all very nicely centered.

You are off to a good start on this series.

Jim

a lovely well balanced page ananthveerappan, and excellent stamps too!

Well done

Awesome Great stuff, especially going after this set MNH... will get even more costly when you get up to 30c and higher. Awesome.

Only debatable presentation issue I see is the selvage with no imprint or plate number. This has been discussed in past. Perhaps page would present even nicer with selvage removed??? on 5 and 6c. I don't believe keeping selvage adds value? Regardless I respect keeping as well since likely certified with it and worry about damage with removal. MNH Columbian stamps are valuable so I respect your decision not to remove.

Also, the plate position is a bit more defined wwhen one keeps the selvage. I see absolutely no issue with this, especially on stamps this old. Beautiful page,

Peter

Beautiful stamps. As for selvage, I've never understood why collectors leave it on stamps. Who cares if it determines which side of the sheet the stamp came from? Why is that of any interest to a collector? It isn't to me. The problem with selvage is that it not only unbalances your album page but it looks half-finished like not removing a price tag from clothing.

What happens is that the first buyer of the stamp -- back in the 1890s, in this case -- leaves the selvage on the stamp for some reason, then as the stamp gets older and older each new owner is afraid to remove it because it "might" have some value. What value does selvage have? It has no plate number of identifying information. It's just paper. I'd remove it as soon as I purchased the stamp, remedying the mistake of all the other owners who were afraid to do so. I even collect modern stamps that way, removing them from the ridiculous sheets they're part of. I don't want multiples of stamps, and I don't want the border of the sheet, either. That's because I collect stamps, not the borders of stamp sheets. Too many collectors are too timid to question why they keep selvage, borders, and other material that is not "stamps".

The one place where blank selvage should not be removed, in my opinion, is on multiples since it helps hold them together better. And of course on plate singles, plate blocks, and other stamps where the selvage actually says something.

Unless you collect not just stamps, but also random selvage attached to stamps, I'd suggest you really should mount your stamps on a more appropriate page, one without boxes. I don't mean this isn't a beautiful collection of stamps, just that you've mounted stamps that stick out beyond the boxes you have on your page. And that looks a bit odd. A blank White Ace page with these stamps mounted differently would look better as far as I'm concerned (Not that you have to take my opinion seriously!). And I'd arrange them in pairs with the third pair being the selvage stamps. If you must collect selvage, that is.

I don't mind selvedge, for platers it narrows down position plus I think it gives an item eye appeal. (The absence of selvedge tells nothing, while even an unprinted tab of selvedge narrows down PP to a few possibilities.) To each their own taste, so to speak. If I use my tongs for NH stamps, I grip in selvedge area and never the stamp. I'd hide the #234 completely under a mount though, so easy to grab a shirt sleeve when the stamp is protruding. Nice page, the stamps themselves have a high standard of matching appearance.

Selvage in modern issues don't appeal to me much, unless they have the plate numbers. Even then, I might pass them, if need be.

While I give no preference to stamps with Selvage on these issues, I will still not remove any of them. To me, it is part of the stamp itself.

But when it comes to classics, it is a different story. This Selvage survived 125 years. Why deface it for no apparent reason!

Someday, someone might try to reconstruct an entire pane and this can help them !

Again, that's just my opinion...

Apparently it has never occurred to some people that there are collectors who like selvedge on a stamp, and who like knowing at least something of the original plate position. Why risk damaging a nice stamp to remove it? What I hate but see fairly often is stamps that have selvedge or even a plate number but they fold it under the stamp to put it in a mount. I've seen a lot of MNH stamps ruined that way.

Very nice which I would modify at all

I would replace the 2c since it is centered rather high and it is fairly cheap.

Thanks eyeonwall. I will certainly for it.

Very nice. I always enjoy looking at Columbians.

Personally, I like selvage, and would never remove it.

Since you asked, the 5c stamp is pretty off-center. No idea what your budget is, but, just ignoring that, there is room for improvement on that stamp. In any event, the one you have has nice color and there's nothing wrong with it. Its better than anything I have for this series.

Very nice. I'm with Txstamp and personally enjoy the look of selvage. I'm starting to collect unused, well-centered Wash Franks, and I've already noticed I'm a sucker for selvage. To me, it just adds to the "flavor" of the stamp, even if it has no markings. It's an artifact of the stamp production process, and thus holds value for me (I also don't mind straight edges or paste-up pairs for the same reason). However, I can understand that the asymmetry of it could bother some collectors.

I don't like to use pre-printed albums for mounting my stamps. I think DrewM's suggestion of using a blank--and thus, versatile--page would allow for better visual balance. Regardless, it is a lovely set.

I constructed this page using a blank white ace page and photo-shop.

Didn't expect me to acquire a couple of them with Selvage. That's why it is looking a bit odd...

I had already mounted a few by then.

Thinking of just having two stamps per page now, with a write up on each stamp below it.

As far as the selvedge issue goes I would leave it on. The only time I have a problem with selvedge of any kind is when the protruding selvedge covers an adjacent stamp in my album. Even then I still leave it on as I feel I'm only a temporary owner, and a conservator for future collectors.