Cutting Booklets Down To Panes

No....just the incorrect imformation.

I scan all four sides of the cover regardless if there's writing or a design on a side.

Next, I carefully fold back the cover to expose the pane, but do not fold the cover under the pane.

Then I print all four sides of the scanned cover on the same page that displays the pane.

This way, everything is displayed on the same page and there's no confusion as to which booklet it is, as there are varieties in the production of some booklets. Eg. different printing on the inside of the cover page or on the back side of the back cover.

Of course, how booklets are opened and displayed depends on the type of booklets. For me, opening the standard Canadian "integral" booklets from 1968 on is a given. I open these to know what is inside and I choose to remove the sealing glue where this is used. For my older booklets that are stapled, I would never explode them for reasons of permanently damaging them as expressed by some others here.

For display or exhibit, I would try to include the complete booklet and samples of the stamp panes separately if I can afford them. My basic philosophy is not to destroy anything but to use the whole booklets, panes, or exploded material that is already available. I recently acquired a bunch of mid twentieth century exploded Canadian booklets from someone on ebay for a song. He had removed the stamp panes and was selling the remaining booklet parts. Really nice to be able to display some of the internal cover sides or inserts but I would not want to break these up myself.

On the other hand, for inexpensive booklets where there are more copies available than there will ever be collectors for, I think it is reasonable to explode a booklet or display the stamp panes separately. Hard choices for any collector though. I have a nice binder of Canadian booklets from the 1930's through to the 1960's that includes complete booklets with descriptive labels for each. It is a pretty nice and reasonably valuable collection, but I have to admit that it is rather boring to page through the album and see a bunch of similar covers with no stamps in site!

"I appreciate all the input on this subject. I am leaning heavily towards keeping the items intact.




Peter, maybe purchase one like it on ebay (A single to display) or, perghaps an already "exploded" book to show what they look like fron, back & postage without destroying the original. Sound plausible? -Jeff

Also, Kevin, I would like to apologize for being "snappy" I had chemotherapy that day and nothing was going well for me that particular day, so for the record I think you are a very smart fella who knows his stamps and history very well and I apologize. I want no trouble with any of our family OK? Your friend (I hope) -Jeffrey

I used to me a Marine Corps. Military Police and sometimes my attitude gets the better of me and I'm truly sorry. -Jeff

Also I just noticed that this is an old "gussyboy" post and I haven't seen/heard from him in almost 4-5 years and hope he's dong fine; so it's an older post anyway. Again,
kevin I apologize. Sincerely, Jeff

I've seen a fair number of rusted staples in my time; in fact, the moisture content of the paper, no matter how low it is, pretty well guarantees rusting over time.

Q/ Why isn't removing the staples the first, responsible step in booklet ownership?

Scanning the interior pages of a booklet requires that you BEND the cover back, introducing a new & irreversible defect.

Q/ Why isn't putting a bend in a booklet cover the same sin as pushing a wet a hinge down onto our precious gum?

On Antiques Roadshow - just to rock one of my favorite hobby horses - removing the staples would be a sensible & acceptable precaution and, better yet, wait for it, re-stapling the booklet before display would be an acceptable 'restoration'.

Disturbed cover should be just as big a problem as disturbed gum.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

I_Love_Stamps...Great info...Soooo much detail, by the time I finished it I forgot what I read at the beginning......haha

Good stuff...

It's funny how a thread gets resurrected now and then. The additional perspective and input is helpful.

To be frank, I went ahead and exploded some booklets and kept others intact. I'm choosing my own ways to display my collection and that's working just fine for me. History can judge me well after I'm gone.

And then, serendipitously, I got another horde of booklets in an auction lot in the past year, so I'm back to questioning my methods. And so it goes...

Q/ Does Bill Weiss have the requisite equipment & expertise to certify UXBOS? (Unexploded Booklet, Original Staple)

C'mon, Bill, in for a penny, in for a pound :)

Siegel is particularly diligent about noting that a stamp was 'lifted' from a cover in order to confirm the watermark.

What if the Evil UK Cartel bought loose covers & loose booklet panes in order to create intact booklets?

How would we ever know, if Bill were not permitted to 'lift' the staple and examine the selvage of the panes? Xray?

Disturbed Staples, Disturbed Gum, Disturbed Values ...

Here's an idea: Before exploding a booklet for scanning and/or display, drive a nail down thru the cover & the stamps.

That way, when the booklet is re-assembled, and all those holes line-up nicely, we would know that they all were of one piece.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey