I have come across this while looking through auction lots.
You pick up an album and your wee heart gives a lurch when you spot a £5 Queen Victoria Orange, a £1 PUC or an 1869 5 Franc. Then you realise its a scan or a photocopy or just a cut out illustration from some other auction catalogue!!
May the perpetrators be tarred, feathered, dragged through the streets, broken on the wheel, hung drawn and quartered. If that can't be done I hope their teabag bursts!!
Just joking, whatever you want to do to "spice" up your collection go ahead and do it. It is YOUR collection and the rest of the world can go hang!
Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather have a blank than a fake, or facsimile or whatever. I don't mind if the stamp is a bit cheaper because of a small amount of damage - at least it's real!
I am pretty new to stamp collecting. So, take this with a grain of salt.
I liken this practice to being not much different than using album pages with images on them. But nicer. I have tried this and have mixed feelings about it. I generally like it better than images on the album page but I only do this in one of my collections -- U.S. high denomination stamps. There are some stamps I have one copy in my main collection but am not interested in having another example. And some I just will not have for awhile or maybe ever.
Below is an example page. The replicas have a black border. They would not fool anyone with a glass but to the naked eye are quite attractive.
They definitely look better than empty spaces.
Thanks for the feedback, I don't intend to sell my collections so I guess the ones I do this for will be a surprise for whoever owns them next 7
When I bought airmail #s 1, 2, & 3, they came on Scott National pages
that had black mounts along with many of the other stamps that I mostly
already had. So I kept those pages and filled in the rest of the US
airmails except the Zeps which of course, were black blank gaps.
Whenever I thumbed past the three open spaces I'd feel like I was missing
something. One day I carefully trimmed three beautiful postally used
examples and inserted them in their spots.
That made me feel better.
Most of the few people I bother to show the album to are oblivious to the
substitutes, but for the occasional purist I have carefully penciled in
neat script the single word, "effingo" beneath the set.
Seems reasonable to me, although I no longer routinely use proprietary albums, mostly because I don't like to have incomplete album pages, and I know that I wouldn't be content having a copy of a stamp rather than the real thing. Instead of albums, I use use stock books and only display stamps from my collection on web pages or in exhibits.
I also collect picture postcards, as items collateral to my primary collecting interests — commercial aviation, astronomy, the Battle of the Atlantic, RAF/RCAF Bomber Command during the Second World War, and the Vietnam War. It would have been easy to download and hi-res images of most of the postcards I have bought, but having a concrete thing — anything! — in my hand beats having the same thing as a virtual image. I just can't think of a collection of virtual images more desirable than real objects. On my web pages, I always identify images of my stamps, covers, postcards, and collateral items as being "From Bob Ingraham's collection".
Bob
I saw the use of facsimiles by dealer selling Thai revenues outside the Bangkok GPO on weekends. He was selling pages using black mounts with early sets and filled in the missing spots with self printed copies on a black background. I thought the pages were very attractive. I use my own designed albums with Clive's AlbumEasy software and also use black mounts. I don't want to not put empty spaces for stamps I cannot afford as just one day I might happen upon some of the rarities at a price I can afford.
As an example the first Siam stamp issue of 1883 had a top value, one fuang, which was never issued. The market price is somewhere between $1000-$2000 and it's unlikely without a lottery win I will buy one. I think I will mount a copy in its place with "facsimile" diagonally printed across it in a contrasting colour. After all many albums were printed with pictures showing where the stamps should go.
I guess it's a hobby with many different opinions. A friend commented the other day on why some collectors didn't mount their stamps back-to-front to show the quality of the gum side as this is such an important factor to them
It's your collection. If you want to put scans of stamps you don't have on the pages, then do it. Just don't pass them off as genuine.
I don't have a page scanned to show here (I'll do so if I find one) but I put a scanned picture in some of my blank spots for rare stamps I will never have, and for stamps to remind me of what they look like in case I see them in Approvals/Auction without the catalogue number.
To make sure they are not mistaken for the real thing I have them at about 3/4 size - looks way nicer than a blank spot and ensures they will not be mistaken for a real stamp.
Cheers, Dave.
As far as I know nobody here is talking about passing them off as genuine so bringing that up is a bit OTT.
As a manager of a bricks and mortar stamp shop, and having worked as both a lotter and an auctioneer; as soon as I see a collection with pictures in it, I stop and hand it back to the customer. I cannot trust any of the stamps in the collection.
David
Don't a lot of retail albums have pictures in them? Aren’t they useful tools to help collectors quickly recognize stamps they need?
I wonder if we aren’t overthinking the concept “scan = scam”?
HolocaustStamps wrote, “Don't a lot of retail albums have pictures in them? Aren’t they useful tools to help collectors quickly recognize stamps they need?
Absolutely! Illustrated proprietary albums provide a good overview of stamps issued by any given country. My first lessons about Canadian stamps came from an illustrated album, but I soon ran into problems: I didn’t like all of the stamps that were pictured, and I couldn’t see spending money to complete pages with stamps that I didn’t like. And then there were varieties of stamps that I came across, as well as used stamps with interesting cancels, not to mention covers, none of which had pre-printed spaces. I tried using blank pages, but that wasn’t satisfying because I couldn’t enhance use my printer to enhance them with frame lines and text. For a while I printed my own pages on letter-size paper and used ring books and sheet protectors to store them. These days I use stock books to store stamps and, covers, only taking them out to scan for use in web pages.
Bob
"As a manager of a bricks and mortar stamp shop, and having worked as both a lotter and an auctioneer; as soon as I see a collection with pictures in it, I stop and hand it back to the customer. I cannot trust any of the stamps in the collection."
Danny:
You're missing the point. Pre-printed albums with pictures are a hallmark of the hobby. I am talking about collectors who take a pre-printed album, mount stamps in the correct spots and everything is good. It is when they mount pictures of the stamps instead of the actual stamps.
David
Good clarification David G. I scan a 3/4 jpg onto my pages (like the pre-printed albums). I would be cautious of a scan being full-size, in colour, and mounted as if the stamp - but not sure if I’d reject buying a collection out of hand.
Perhaps a somewhat transparent diagonal red imprint across the face of a scanned/mounted stamp indicating it as such might be a useful protocol.
" ... as soon as I see a collection with pictures in it,
I stop and hand it back to the customer. ..."
That is about the way I feel about those closed mounts.
A properly hinged stamp can be examined with the gentle
flick of a finger.
CDJ1122:
Agreed!
David
Talking about closed mounts - I also collect Marvel Silver Age comics, a collection I started in about 1960. I really don't like the way some people are handling the hobby. They are starting to do the same thing that collectors of sports cards have been doing for years, sealing them in "mounts" that, if opened, eliminate the value. I like to read my comics, I wonder how often I have read my Amazing Spiderman #1 that I picked up on the way to choir practice in 1963. Sealing stuff up, or away, takes away the fun of collecting. So help me, if anyone asks me to delete this because it's off topic, I will get real pissed!!
"That is about the way I feel about those closed mounts.
A properly hinged stamp can be examined with the gentle
flick of a finger."
I do not understand the comment about Hawid being a monopoly. Showgard and Prinz/Scott are far more popular here in the US but both are split back type.
Was the sealed mount comment more relevant to the old "Protective Mounts" that encased the stamps that required surgery to extract?
I like top loading mounts (Hawid) and do not use images in place of stamps. It seems like too much trouble.
"I do not understand the comment about Hawid being a monopoly."
And then someone invented those bulletproof
plastic cases to "protect" their investment
in mint postal labels.
I believe that Showgard (Vidiforms) is a separate from Prinz/Scott. Lighthouse sells mounts but do not know who makes them. Lighthouse also sold HAWID in addition to their own.
Showgards and Prinz are physically different in several ways but that does not mean one company could not make both.
In Canada, UNI-SAFE is available and they are sold in a plethora of sizes.. They are similar to Hawid mounts.
Wanna collect photos? Buy an HE Harris Catalog... collection instantly complete!
My own collection is free form on my own 2 pocket pages. Thus, it always looks complete to the casual viewer (not that I get many of those) since there aren't any blank spaces!
I was looking at a friends Canada revenue collection the other day, note he mounts all his stamps in the black mounts, and pointed out a nice war tax overprint that I wished I had in my collection, He said oh that's just a printed copy of the stamp I have in my regular Canada collection. I wasn't going to buy another copy because I already had it in another collection, so I just scanned and printed a copy for this album.
I looked closer and it was almost impossible to tell it wasn't real because of the black background.
So this got me to thinking about all those missing stamps that I have spaces for that I will never get that leave nasty holes in my albums.
I was wondering what folks think of printing out the scans of those and filling in the holes with them. Like India #1 that Steiner left a hole for but was never issued and I know I will never get, or that b1 from French Morocco.
I must admit it has me very tempted.....
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
I have come across this while looking through auction lots.
You pick up an album and your wee heart gives a lurch when you spot a £5 Queen Victoria Orange, a £1 PUC or an 1869 5 Franc. Then you realise its a scan or a photocopy or just a cut out illustration from some other auction catalogue!!
May the perpetrators be tarred, feathered, dragged through the streets, broken on the wheel, hung drawn and quartered. If that can't be done I hope their teabag bursts!!
Just joking, whatever you want to do to "spice" up your collection go ahead and do it. It is YOUR collection and the rest of the world can go hang!
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather have a blank than a fake, or facsimile or whatever. I don't mind if the stamp is a bit cheaper because of a small amount of damage - at least it's real!
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
I am pretty new to stamp collecting. So, take this with a grain of salt.
I liken this practice to being not much different than using album pages with images on them. But nicer. I have tried this and have mixed feelings about it. I generally like it better than images on the album page but I only do this in one of my collections -- U.S. high denomination stamps. There are some stamps I have one copy in my main collection but am not interested in having another example. And some I just will not have for awhile or maybe ever.
Below is an example page. The replicas have a black border. They would not fool anyone with a glass but to the naked eye are quite attractive.
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
They definitely look better than empty spaces.
Thanks for the feedback, I don't intend to sell my collections so I guess the ones I do this for will be a surprise for whoever owns them next 7
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
When I bought airmail #s 1, 2, & 3, they came on Scott National pages
that had black mounts along with many of the other stamps that I mostly
already had. So I kept those pages and filled in the rest of the US
airmails except the Zeps which of course, were black blank gaps.
Whenever I thumbed past the three open spaces I'd feel like I was missing
something. One day I carefully trimmed three beautiful postally used
examples and inserted them in their spots.
That made me feel better.
Most of the few people I bother to show the album to are oblivious to the
substitutes, but for the occasional purist I have carefully penciled in
neat script the single word, "effingo" beneath the set.
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
Seems reasonable to me, although I no longer routinely use proprietary albums, mostly because I don't like to have incomplete album pages, and I know that I wouldn't be content having a copy of a stamp rather than the real thing. Instead of albums, I use use stock books and only display stamps from my collection on web pages or in exhibits.
I also collect picture postcards, as items collateral to my primary collecting interests — commercial aviation, astronomy, the Battle of the Atlantic, RAF/RCAF Bomber Command during the Second World War, and the Vietnam War. It would have been easy to download and hi-res images of most of the postcards I have bought, but having a concrete thing — anything! — in my hand beats having the same thing as a virtual image. I just can't think of a collection of virtual images more desirable than real objects. On my web pages, I always identify images of my stamps, covers, postcards, and collateral items as being "From Bob Ingraham's collection".
Bob
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
I saw the use of facsimiles by dealer selling Thai revenues outside the Bangkok GPO on weekends. He was selling pages using black mounts with early sets and filled in the missing spots with self printed copies on a black background. I thought the pages were very attractive. I use my own designed albums with Clive's AlbumEasy software and also use black mounts. I don't want to not put empty spaces for stamps I cannot afford as just one day I might happen upon some of the rarities at a price I can afford.
As an example the first Siam stamp issue of 1883 had a top value, one fuang, which was never issued. The market price is somewhere between $1000-$2000 and it's unlikely without a lottery win I will buy one. I think I will mount a copy in its place with "facsimile" diagonally printed across it in a contrasting colour. After all many albums were printed with pictures showing where the stamps should go.
I guess it's a hobby with many different opinions. A friend commented the other day on why some collectors didn't mount their stamps back-to-front to show the quality of the gum side as this is such an important factor to them
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
It's your collection. If you want to put scans of stamps you don't have on the pages, then do it. Just don't pass them off as genuine.
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
I don't have a page scanned to show here (I'll do so if I find one) but I put a scanned picture in some of my blank spots for rare stamps I will never have, and for stamps to remind me of what they look like in case I see them in Approvals/Auction without the catalogue number.
To make sure they are not mistaken for the real thing I have them at about 3/4 size - looks way nicer than a blank spot and ensures they will not be mistaken for a real stamp.
Cheers, Dave.
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
As far as I know nobody here is talking about passing them off as genuine so bringing that up is a bit OTT.
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
As a manager of a bricks and mortar stamp shop, and having worked as both a lotter and an auctioneer; as soon as I see a collection with pictures in it, I stop and hand it back to the customer. I cannot trust any of the stamps in the collection.
David
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
Don't a lot of retail albums have pictures in them? Aren’t they useful tools to help collectors quickly recognize stamps they need?
I wonder if we aren’t overthinking the concept “scan = scam”?
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
HolocaustStamps wrote, “Don't a lot of retail albums have pictures in them? Aren’t they useful tools to help collectors quickly recognize stamps they need?
Absolutely! Illustrated proprietary albums provide a good overview of stamps issued by any given country. My first lessons about Canadian stamps came from an illustrated album, but I soon ran into problems: I didn’t like all of the stamps that were pictured, and I couldn’t see spending money to complete pages with stamps that I didn’t like. And then there were varieties of stamps that I came across, as well as used stamps with interesting cancels, not to mention covers, none of which had pre-printed spaces. I tried using blank pages, but that wasn’t satisfying because I couldn’t enhance use my printer to enhance them with frame lines and text. For a while I printed my own pages on letter-size paper and used ring books and sheet protectors to store them. These days I use stock books to store stamps and, covers, only taking them out to scan for use in web pages.
Bob
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
"As a manager of a bricks and mortar stamp shop, and having worked as both a lotter and an auctioneer; as soon as I see a collection with pictures in it, I stop and hand it back to the customer. I cannot trust any of the stamps in the collection."
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
Danny:
You're missing the point. Pre-printed albums with pictures are a hallmark of the hobby. I am talking about collectors who take a pre-printed album, mount stamps in the correct spots and everything is good. It is when they mount pictures of the stamps instead of the actual stamps.
David
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
Good clarification David G. I scan a 3/4 jpg onto my pages (like the pre-printed albums). I would be cautious of a scan being full-size, in colour, and mounted as if the stamp - but not sure if I’d reject buying a collection out of hand.
Perhaps a somewhat transparent diagonal red imprint across the face of a scanned/mounted stamp indicating it as such might be a useful protocol.
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
" ... as soon as I see a collection with pictures in it,
I stop and hand it back to the customer. ..."
That is about the way I feel about those closed mounts.
A properly hinged stamp can be examined with the gentle
flick of a finger.
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
CDJ1122:
Agreed!
David
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
Talking about closed mounts - I also collect Marvel Silver Age comics, a collection I started in about 1960. I really don't like the way some people are handling the hobby. They are starting to do the same thing that collectors of sports cards have been doing for years, sealing them in "mounts" that, if opened, eliminate the value. I like to read my comics, I wonder how often I have read my Amazing Spiderman #1 that I picked up on the way to choir practice in 1963. Sealing stuff up, or away, takes away the fun of collecting. So help me, if anyone asks me to delete this because it's off topic, I will get real pissed!!
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
"That is about the way I feel about those closed mounts.
A properly hinged stamp can be examined with the gentle
flick of a finger."
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
I do not understand the comment about Hawid being a monopoly. Showgard and Prinz/Scott are far more popular here in the US but both are split back type.
Was the sealed mount comment more relevant to the old "Protective Mounts" that encased the stamps that required surgery to extract?
I like top loading mounts (Hawid) and do not use images in place of stamps. It seems like too much trouble.
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
"I do not understand the comment about Hawid being a monopoly."
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
And then someone invented those bulletproof
plastic cases to "protect" their investment
in mint postal labels.
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
I believe that Showgard (Vidiforms) is a separate from Prinz/Scott. Lighthouse sells mounts but do not know who makes them. Lighthouse also sold HAWID in addition to their own.
Showgards and Prinz are physically different in several ways but that does not mean one company could not make both.
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
In Canada, UNI-SAFE is available and they are sold in a plethora of sizes.. They are similar to Hawid mounts.
re: Adding printed scans to your collection?
Wanna collect photos? Buy an HE Harris Catalog... collection instantly complete!
My own collection is free form on my own 2 pocket pages. Thus, it always looks complete to the casual viewer (not that I get many of those) since there aren't any blank spaces!