Envelope Stamps And Mounting In An Album.

I have a hundred or more used U.S. "postal stationary" envelopes from the 1930's – 1960's (not all unique of course) because I acquired the contents of an elderly relative's attic several years ago, and I have other "envelope stamps" also.

I've been wondering what to do with these, as in how to archive or mount them without destroying any philatelic value, modest as that may be, if any.

• Should one cut out the embossed envelope stamp and mount just that? If so, is there a prescribed size for the cutout or margin to be maintained around the envelope stamp image? I presume it should be a square cut (many of the envelope stamp images are oval in shape)?


• Should one preserve the complete cancellation? I know we don't do that with used stamps, but those are typically soaked off the envelope anyways.


• Should one preserve the postmark?


• Is it best to preserve the entire envelope rather than cut out the embossed stamp area of the envelope?

Thank you.
Mike

Generally, it's best to preserve the whole envelope. The only reason cut squares were popular in the first place, long ago, was to mount them in albums, but there are cover albums you can buy nowadays to display and keep the entire item. You don't lose any of the postal markings or other interesting aspects of the cover doing that.

"Is it best to preserve the entire envelope rather than cut out the embossed stamp. . . "

Unless you are a cut square collector, absolutely keep the whole envelope, as-is.

(A few pix would be nice.)

Thank you so much codehappy and ThomasGalloway for your replies! My collection curation (but not my collecting) has been on hold for a few years but now I have more time and space to work with it, and I've gotten into the box with the postal stationary envelopes, both postally used and mint.

A few year ago (pre-internet forum days) I poised this question at the local stamp club and to dealers I traded with and received varied replies. Those who primarily collect stamps thought the "embossed postage" (for lack of a better term) could / should be cut out (hence the term "cut square" perhaps) and album mounted, just as one would soak a stamp off the envelope and album mount it. Those whose interests tended more toward covers / stationary / postal history were all about preserving the entire envelope (and I can appreciate that aspect also).

In addition, I have H.E. Harris album pages for both Envelope Stamps ("cut square" format) and Postal Stationary (whole envelopes and post cards).

I'm thinking now I may take an "all of the above" approach. For some issues I have multiple items and I'll take a "cut square" from one of those, or I'll scan an item and take a digital "cut square", and mount those on the "Envelope Stamps" pages. Otherwise I'll keep the envelopes and post cards intact.

I'm off to work this morning but I'll try to scan and post some pics later this evening or tomorrow!

Several thoughts come to mind (from a strong postal history bias):

Save postal artifacts such as covers/cuts/stamps in the largest possible form you can easily store. The highest monetary value is retained by keeping items in their most original condition/form. My bias: always save the full mail piece. It's hard to undo scissor cutting and soaking.

Cut squares and 2x4 clippings for postmarks are largely out of favor. Many envelopes come in a variety of sizes, watermarks, etc. Some of these combinations are quite scarce and become indistinguishable from their common counterparts when cut down. What appear to be duplicates are often not upon close examination.

Why spend the effort to destroy the postal history value? I am always surprised at the number of unusual markings, rates, and dates I can glean from dealer dollar boxes. The value is not in the postal franking, but in the use - as a whole mail piece.

Postal cards should not be cut down at all.

Don't be a slave to any album's format if it doesn't satisfy you. If I were assembling an envelope or postal card collection, I would make my own pages to mount the entire items.

I will also jump on the postal history side of this, in favor of preserving things, at least until you gain a full understanding of what you have. Even then...

A lot of people like to collect town postmarks by state, for example. That's one whole area of collecting that gets impacted by the destruction of covers.

In addition, particularly with postal history (versus stamps), the ugliest looking cover can often be of significant interest and/or value. With stamps, we all want to get the best looking, highest quality that we can find - for the most part. With postal history, regardless of whether its really ugly or not, if it somehow has a historical tie-in to anything of importance, then that can make it either desirable as a collectible, or important for historical study, or both.

I like this idea, have your cake (cut square) and eat it too. The album pages represent the postal stationery items you've found, while you still are able to preserve the whole item.

Here are some of my postal stationary items:

I use Vario pages to store. If you want to mount in an album with stamps, you can consider thw clear ones.

Vario pages for me too, Angore. We certainly think alike. Except that I exclusively use the blacked backed ones.

Jack Kelley