Purging Best Practices For Many Many Duplicates.

Curious if anybody has any best practices for identifying stamps that are just worthless in quality for purging a collection with many duplicates.

My question is driven from the articles that I have read over the years where for example; bold cancellations that take over the stamp are not desirable. However, then I read another article that states certain cancellations are "special" regardless of how thick it is.

In conclusion, I'm scared to throw any of "gray area" quality stamps away. This is mainly due since in the back of mind I have the worry that I threw something away that I just did not know how to identify correctly .. hence missing an opportunity to add another stamp to my collection. It is more important to me to collect the stamps even if the one has a minor crease in it. Hence .. I'm curious about other people experiences and what you have done to cross over this mind hurdle.

I am a new collector but I would not throw anything away. The value in my stamp collection is the one that I created to enjoy possessing them and organizing them. You can created a marked over category and keep them. Keeping them will alleviate any worry about disgarding one or two of value. Richard

Joost, we have answered this problem before. You can always donate these stamps. APS is one taker - they use them at stamp shows to give away to children. Another possibility is the boy and/or girl scouts. Maybe a local stamp club or hospital.
You might want to use the "search" function on this page to get more answers,

Peter

My apologies. I did search within the forum prior to posting and was not satisfied with some of the answers. I will be better in the future

No need to apologize for anything. Just trying to help - the one thing I am trying to get across is that stamps do not need to be thrown away no matter how common

Peter

I have made friends with many collectors outside the US and exchange stamps with them regularly no charge we just cover our own postage when sending. It gets them more stamps and me many newer stamps from countries I could not other wise get. I don't collect from the profit side but for relaxation and enjoyment. I got many of the names from using postcrossing.

I donate them to my stamp club.

Jack Kelley

I donate to the APS and more specifically the Stamps Teach or other youth programs.

Seems like the OP is not asking what to do with his duplicates, but rather how to identify which ones are worthless? Is that correct?

There are standard ways to grade your stamp in terms of intact perfs, well centered, etc. Just look in the front of a Scott (or other) catalog.

In terms of cancelations, go by what looks good to you. Generally, light, clear cancelations are preferred (to those who collect used stamps; some prefer only unused stamps).

If I have a duplicate of a particular stamp, I usually compare the two and keep the one that I think is more attractive (however that is defined) and the other goes in my duplicate envelope.

@chris2015, that is exactly correct. For example, some older stamps had been hinged in a previous albums and have some hinge damage (dark spot on the bottom of the stamp). If you are not able to see the darkness come through to the top is that still considered a stamp worth something. I'm a collector, not a reseller. But I would like to grade some of my older used and unused ones so I could sell them in the future or give them away as a quality stamp.

In terms of hinge damage, the main problem is thinning of the stamp, either before the hinge was originally applied, or when the hinge was removed. Heavy hinging or a hinge remainder makes the stamp less attractive, but I shouldn't throw away a duplicate for that reason, and soaking will usually clean it up a bit - although it may also reveal unsuspected faults! If they're common stamps - and most are - it's probably not worth agonising too much over them.