Are you a mint or used collector?

[crazyquilter]

Thanks to the thread by our member Chuck cbavier I got the idea to start a thread about mint and used stamps. Please let us know which you collect and why? Do you see a problem keeping both mint and used in the same album?

Another idea for discussion is more collectors are leaving the paper on the stamps because soaking or trying to remove the paper damages the stamp. A example is the new hologram stamp/sheets and new Great Britain Machin stamps or these 2009 Russia Kremlins stamps ( A dealer warned me not to soak these)
Would you add these to your used or mint collection if there was no postmarks?


 

[khj]

I collect both mint and used.

I will put both in the same album if I don't have a lot of stamps with both mint/used. Once I start getting a lot more, I will put whichever one has the higher catalog value in the main album and the other ones in a glassine or stockbook.

I don't soak stamps and usually don't acquire a lot of recent WW stamps on paper, so I leave the soaking problems to others. However, if I did soak stamps, I would not directly soak any stamp that has a hologram on it -- better to use limited moisture or chemicals applied through the backside. Holograms tend to crack/wrinkle as they dry because don't expand/contract like the stamp paper.

If the stamp has no postmark but shows signs of being used, I consider it a faulty used stamp (space filler). Sometimes you run across a bunch of unused no gum stamps -- these are typically all-different and were soaked from a collection in which the mint stamps got stuck to the album page. These I would consider faulty unused stamps. But if it is just one or two stamps, be careful, it may be a used stamp that didn't get cancelled or a used stamp in which the cancel got washed off.

Self-adhesive stamps, if they are still on the original liner, I consider mint. Self-adhesive stamps that got placed onto some other non-mail backing paper I consider faulty unused unless it is a linerless self-adhesive stamp (but those were largely experimental and very very uncommon). Any other self-adhesive I would consider used (faulty used if no cancel).

If you really want to open up a can of worms, ask about pre-cancels...

[JanetC]

I'm a lot like khj. I prefer mint, but if a used has a higher catalog value that will go in there too. I have recently started a second US album set for used mostly. The Mystic albums provide spaces for mint commemoratives (blocks or sheets) and the used singles look tacky stuck in a big square.

[mourningdoves]

Apr 24, 2017 8:13:56 GMT -5 crazyquilter said:

Thanks to the thread by our member Chuck cbavier I got the idea to start a thread about mint and used stamps. Please let us know which you collect and why?

Most of the time, I prefer used. If a stamp is of such a particularly intricate design that any cancellation will throw it off balance, I may prefer a mint copy. But nothing beats a used stamp with a nice legible postmark that tells me where it was mailed from and when.

To me, used and mint stamps are a bit like dogs and cats. Preferring one to the other is a personal response. But dogs are much more willing to share information, such as "Woof! Woof! There's a truck in the driveway!" or "Woof! Woof! There's a groundhog in the driveway!" It's like saying "Woof! Woof! Some guy dumped me into a letterbox in Rijeka!" But maybe that's just me.

Apr 24, 2017 8:13:56 GMT -5 crazyquilter said:

Do you see a problem keeping both mint and used in the same album?

It doesn't bother me at all. Some stamps are difficult to find (or unaffordable) in mint condition. Some are difficult to find in used condition, and not just contemporary topicals (hmm, that would be a good name for a furniture store). I've been spending time on Italian stamps lately, and a remarkable number of them (many from the Mussolini era, to be sure, but some going back to before World War I, and even some from as late as 1951) appear to have hardly ever been used to mail a letter. Were I to maintain separate mint and used Italian collections, they would both be woefully incomplete.

Apr 24, 2017 8:13:56 GMT -5 crazyquilter said:

Another idea for discussion is more collectors are leaving the paper on the stamps because soaking or trying to remove the paper damages the stamp. A example is the new hologram stamp/sheets and new Great Britain Machin stamps or these 2009 Russia Kremlins stamps ( A dealer warned me not to soak these)
Would you add these to your used or mint collection if there was no postmarks?

If I knew they had been on paper, I would consider them used, and less interesting than stamps with cancellations. In my Postcrossing days, I got my share of uncancelled stamps on postcards from Russia.

[mourningdoves]

Apr 24, 2017 10:21:42 GMT -5 khj said:

Self-adhesive stamps, if they are still on the original liner, I consider mint. Self-adhesive stamps that got placed onto some other non-mail backing paper I consider faulty unused unless it is a linerless self-adhesive stamp (but those were largely experimental and very very uncommon). Any other self-adhesive I would consider used (faulty used if no cancel).

I wasn't aware of any linerless self-adhesives besides the infamous U. S. Christmas stamp, though I imagine there must have been others.

Apr 24, 2017 10:21:42 GMT -5 khj said:

If you really want to open up a can of worms, ask about pre-cancels...

So, khj, what about those pre-cancels, eh?

[guyana1230]

It depends on the country, a few I collect mint and used, but most I only collect used.

[FairyFoot]

For the actual collection, used, but I do have a hoard of mint UK stamps for use on snailmail (I still have some Star Wars and Doctor Who).

[MikeC99]

I have both mint and used in my albums although with some countries like Canada and Germany I try to acquire MNH stamps except for the pre-WW1 issues. For a country like GB, I try to acquire stamps with nice cancels on earlier issues and have mostly mint (either MNH or MH) on post WW1 issues. I don't keep mint stamps without any gum unless they are early issues and I don't put CTO stamps or stamps on paper in my albums. Except for Canada, I don't collect any country's stamps beyond the late 1900s so I don't have many self-adhesive stamps to worry about. My modern Canada collection is all MNH so the self-adhesives are in the Quarterly Packs I buy from the post office.
Mike

[tony]

Hi stampers


Very interesting how we collect our stamps. I am a used including CTO for Eastern Europe, eg USSR.


Modern Self Adhesive I clean off paper with Fuelite works very well on most.

[rolf]

I collect mint and used.  My preference above all are bullseye-cancelled used examples.  For me, a full cancel adds a bit of interest.

[khj]

Apr 25, 2017 19:43:54 GMT -5 rolf said:

I collect mint and used.  My preference above all are bullseye-cancelled used examples.  For me, a full cancel adds a bit of interest.

Have you checked out the thread Worldwide Socked-on-the-Nose Cancels?

[zepherusbane]

I collect both. I like to have used as a first choice however. Exceptions to that include US modern sheets where I always try to collect both unused sheets and used singles. Also, my South Africa collection is primarily mint.

[greaden]

In general, I prefer postally used stamps.

For French general colonies, Thurn and Taxis, and early Austria, I strongly prefer clear postmarks identifying a town.

For the French Somali Coast, I prefer mint because I collect that country for the designs, and there were not enough towns to make postmarks interesting.

For stamps with excellent designs, especially European semi-postals, I prefer mint.

For North Borneo, where I am keeping it simple, I settle for CTO cancels that don't interfere with the central design, though I appreciate the occasional genuine cancel.

If there is a huge difference in price, I go for the cheaper one, not just so as to save money for buying more stamps but because the difference will motivate forged or erased cancels. Even for Thurn and Taxis, I prefer mint for the last round of stamps, where mint are valued at a buck while a postmark raises them to a grand.

I am not keen on paying the MNH premium for any country.

[JerryB]

Hi

I selected both Mint and Used.

For Colombia I have 2 collections, one mint and one used.  The used collection is sparse as I concentrate on the normal collection.

In general my collections are mostly mint.  Prior to about 1940's I collect both Used and Mint. Until the 1950's, Mint Hinged or Never Hinged. After the 1950's, Mint Never Hinged only. 



Jerry B  

[CanStamp]

I collect MNH for Canada and USA, all other countries I collect used and mint.

[angore]

US - Mint for later US, Unused / LH for expensive stamps
Other countries - mint and used

[toyempire]

I collect both mint and used, I tend to lean towards mint when possible as I like a clear view of the design. However, if canceled is more valuable I will often mount it instead of the mint example. I am also a sucker for a well centered cancel that clearly identifies the date, time and place where the stamp was used and will often mount a "socked on the nose" in preference to mint particularly on older stamps (pre-1940).

[FairyFoot]

I think many Postcrossers in the UK are happy people have collected mint stamps but, e.g. when they die, the relatives just sell them all to a dealer - and this dealer sells them as mint (with gum/still on the sheet if self-adhesive) still valid for postage at less than face value (about 25% off). I received my first order and am happy with it.

[jimbo]

I started collecting everything, mint and used, after seeing them side by side I decided on used for my album and place the mint in stock books.

[kacyds]

Most of my collection is used. Stamps are intended to be licked, stuck to an envelope and sent to its destination. I feel, "Whats the point of collecting a bunch of pretty colored paper, if it wasnt used for what it was intended for?"

Now I do have some mint stamps in my collection. If that is all I have to fill an empty spot, I will save them.

Just my 2 cents...