When Have You Thrown A Stamp Away And Why? Did You Feel Guilty?

There is a active market for Damaged stamps ,Fakes and Forgeries .

It is very simple buy a country collection of cheap 2 cents stamps for a few bucks and then added in the damaged and fakes and put it up for auction and some clown thinks they are getting a bargain and "WALA" the seller double or triple their money .

I tossed some fake US coils. Had they been real, would have been pretty high value. The original stamps they were made from were worth pennies. Didn't feel guilty at all. In fact, I felt like I prevented someone in the future from committing fraud or making a costly mistake. Tossed the certs too since they were now irrelevant.

Out of curiosity, risny, why would you not donate the fakes and certs to the APS for their reference collection?

Probably should have. Was not aware that existed. Will keep in mind for next time.

I throw away common low value defintiives if I think they detract, rather than add, value to the lots of mixed stamps I sell on ebay.
For example, US 1938 Presidential 3 cent violets go straight in the trash unless they have some special feature (coil, pre-cancel, perfin etc.)

As part of the down-sizing of my former world wide collection, I've pulled out the 8 remaining Scott International albums from a collection I bought in the mid-1980s (was originally 8 total), and one bought in the mid-1990s (was 9 total). Filled a LOT of holes in the worldwide collection out of those 17 albums.

Each will be gone through one final time. I expect some pages will go to the Rocky Mountain Philatelic Library to support their programs. Pages that are damaged in some way; or with common values; will end up in the recycle box. Rocky Mountain Stamp Show in late May has a kids booth, so some pages may go for that. And no guilty feelings at all from these dispositions. 8 albums from these collections, and contents; plus other purchased albums from the past; already are gone.

There are a few countries for which I have yet to make a decision; save or donate. Countries like classic Persia (I have a Persiphila catalog to help ID fakes and reprints); China, including lots of 1940s overprints and surcharges; etc.

Fascinating info

" US 1938 Presidential 3 cent violets go straight in the trash unless they have some special feature (coil, pre-cancel, perfin etc.)"
A lot of people would want those.
Climber Steve; Rocky Mountain looks like an active stamp collecting town, nice!

Louise: thanks for your kind thoughts. Yes, the Denver area seems to do OK despite not having all the shows that happen on the two coasts (or three if one counts the Gulf Coast). If you have access to the February 18, 2019 issue of Linn's Stamp News, check out Ken Lawrence's article on one of those 1938 Presidential, 3 cent violet, covers. The article has a strong Colorado connection.

Basic question; legitimate or forgery; a 3 cent cover canceled on the battleship USS Tennessee on December 7, 1941. A fascinating article of philatelic sleuthing.

Sounds pretty dodgy to me. I imagine that the crew would have been too busy with other things during and after the attack, so the key question is: Would mail have been postmarked on a Sunday before 8 a.m.?

I binned some more perfectly fine stamps yesterday -- I had some wodges of stamps that were all stuck together, as they had been left in an old album, had collected near the spine and a mix of damp and pressure, with mint and used and stamp hinge remains, had all stuck together and needed to be soaked even to see what was there.
So a lot of perfectly ok stamps, such as mint German inflation issues, ended up without gum and it wasnt worth the time to dry them out and stick them in the junk box.

I don't know if it's the same all over the world, but collectors are on a steady and fast decline in denmark, as well as an overflowing market of wonderful stamps at cheap prices never before seen.

this means that even the stamps that were out of reach for most are easy to get a hold of now. The common material, is so cheap now that you can get everything you want, without having to buy defective stamps.

still you see alot of people, mainly elderly, trying to sell defective stamps at much too high prices.

there is no reason to keep those heavily cancelled, defective stamps alive, when there is such a flood of nice material available.

that is why I throw away stamps instead of circulating them.

i don't know if this is the case where you guys live, but i'm guessing it's a global picture.

I am a grey panther - well my hair has not turned but I am nearly 60 so I identify. Please do not blame things on the older folks who mostly know more about it than you Sir. And I think it is great that good stamps can be found at a reasonable price now. I am sure that will not last. There are several reasons, nadirs go up, people are going back to typewriters for privacy, letters are more personal to a friend or loved one, and times they are a changing. Lower carb "footprint" getting back to minimalism and the basics and what is really important is the newest, "Thing" , "Fad" coming on strong. And one thing we can be sure of is that just like us our stamps are not getting younger- Although we can try. The fact is that they are all a little piece of history. Use your imagination and project yourself 100 years into the future. If humankind does not blow itself off this Earth spaceship we travel on, all these stamps will be worth more- alot more. Use your-here is a good idea- your "common" or damaged stamps to turn your grandkids into collectors- let them hold them with their fingers and connect, hey if it was good enough for Franklin D Roosevelt it is good enough for your grandchildren.
One of the saddest things I saw- I observe and listen so I am sure I catch more than most people and that is why I write, is when a grandmother was playing with her little girl and said "look at the pretty flowers" but, when the child ran up to the flowers and reached out to touch them the grandmother shouted NO look don't touch. How sad.
I have started some stapled sheets I title flawed and damaged to place those stamps in. They are a good reference for me to look up and some of the cancels are worth keeping anyway. Later.

I recently acquired a large collection of Great Britain penny reds (ie: letters in all 4 corners and perforated).

A proportion of the stamps are in below average to frankly tragic condition.

I'm still sorting them out, but would be happy if anyone wants the damaged stamps for craft projects or that sort of thing.

Please let me know

Yes please!...for my collection...




Your talking my language......gotta love the tragics.

No problems Rod. I will be in touch down the track to get them to you.

Tragic? Some are what you might call deperforated!