Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
01:26:46pm
Kelly
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03:16:44pm
I know people who would say they never want a stamp with writing on the back. If that were the case, they could never own an Inverted Jenny. Every Inverted Jenny stamp has its pane position penciled on the back. Stamp dealer Eugene Klein did that after he purchased them from Mr. Robie. If you ever purchase an Inverted Jenny and it doesn't have the pencil, you do not have an authentic Inverted Jenny.
Bob
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04:22:25pm
It's not a big problem for me provided it is light & causes no damage through the stamp. I'm collecting something because of what it looks like from the front. It can be a pain in the neck when trading with someone (no offence intended to collectors who don't like it), when you have to check every stamp to make sure there's no pencilled numbers on the back, especially when dealing with older issues that have gone through heaven-knows how many hands.
Kelly
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04:33:08pm
There is a name for that kind of trading partner, Kelly, "ex-trading partners."
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04:37:42pm
LOL Charlie - you never cease to give me a laugh! :-D
Kelly
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For a used stamp or mint-hinged, I don't think much when I see a catalog# pencilled in. I prefer MNH to have a clean back, but if it marks some off the price, then I'll consider it. Some stamps will have an expertiser mark or advertiser mark. With some issues, that expertiser mark is one marker as to its authenticity...issue that Bob mentions is just one example.
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Only bothers me on mint stamps, or on stamps valued at over $10 apiece. Now that Scott is up to 7 volumes, it takes me too long to look up catalog numbers, so if someone does the work for me, I don't complain. Still looks good in the album!
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Kelly - I love you! I believe that writing on the back of stamps ruins/damages the stamps. Writing on the backs of stamps is my #1 pet peeve in this hobby.
- Never presume that the catalog number written on the back of a stamp is correct. Through the years numbers have changed, and collectors don't always get the number right either. Also, which catalog does the number relate to?
- expertizer marks on the backs of stamps have been extensively forged, so do not presume that the expertizer mark is genuine, or that the mark was put there by an expertizer. I once got an approval selection from a dealer. He ink stamped an "E" (his first initial) on the back of the stamps that he sent on approval. I didn't buy from that dealer.
- I just looked at a collection of MNH Germany. The person who put this collection together wanted only perfectly centered stamps. An impressive site of MNH stamps from Germany from the 1920s in particular. So what did he do? He wrote a catalog number across the back of each stamp - in ink. Don't ever try to tell me that a stamp with any type of markings/writing added by anyone is MNH.
- If I got a C3a, I would erase the pencil mark on the back of it.
I erase all markings on the backs of stamps. If the markings don't erase, then the stamp goes in the trash, or if valuable gets sold as a filler. I have seen collectors hunker down and emboss that stamp with the writing on the back so one could see it from the front - in the trash with that one too.
I just went through a sales circuit. Nice unused Great Britain,including high dollar officials. The stamps were all hinged in the sales book (I have no problem with that for old material like this). I drooled over the prospect of filling many holes in my GB collection, checked my wallet and saw that I could afford to make a big purchase. Turned the first stamp over to check the back. I then looked at the information that the seller wrote on the appropriate space for the stamp. I noticed an orange dot on the page near the price for the stamp. Yep, at the bottom right corner of the back of the stamp was an identical orange dot (orange sharpie, I think). The seller was concerned that in the event of a switcheroo, he could identify a substituted stamp. Well, my wallet wasn't opened that day. All the stamps were ruined.
- I have seen the backs of many stamps that looked like a ledger book with the new value added each year, and the old one crossed out.
- I have seen the same done with catalog numbers, years of issue, information about the stamp (like the one that had writing all over the back to describe the watermark. It was so bad that you couldn't see the watermark!
- I have seen stamps with the selvage still attached with writing...on the previously MNH stamp. The same goes for hinging. Let's not damage the selvage with writing and hinges. Stick the hinge on the stamp too to go along with the writing.
Years ago I found a mechanical drafting eraser at a garage sale. I bought it for $5. These devices cost upwards of $80, so this was a fantastic buy. I use a white plastic eraser stick in the device and use it to erase the markings on the backs of stamps. Yes, sometimes stamps get ruined. To me, however, the stamp was already ruined. I was trying to give it another chance.
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Writting on the back of a stamp is always a bad thing 
. If the stamp is hinged, let´s hope the writting is on the hinge which can be washed off.
Nice little device you have there Michael 
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Light pencil marks on the back of a used stamp have never bothered me. As a previous post stated I wouldn't count on the information being correct. To remove the pencil marks I have a smaller shaker can of finely ground gum eraser used for cleaning up drafting projects. I sprinke some on a clean sheet of paper and gently pass the stamp across the eraser on the paper using a top sheet of paper on a flat surface. All pencil marks disappear and I haven't damaged a stamp yet.
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08:50:57am
Long ago I decided to collect postally used world wide stamps and not gum. If I happen across gummed stamps, they get hinged just like all the others and if some note is nedded on the back, in light pencil, I have a drawer full of #2 Ticonderogas nearby and a good sharpener. And sometimes, not always, I clean the glutinous wash off along with other stamps that are being soaked. If that upsets the next owner, assuming there ever is a next owner, it will not be my problem.
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You are absolutely right Charlie. You acquired the stamp for your enjoyment and you are not to be told what to do with that stamp. If the next owner doesn't like it, then he can get a TS card from the chaplin.
Mike
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Charlie and Mike, I will give you that. If you bought it, you can do with it as you please, and you can hand out the "TS" cards all day and night for all I care.
However, make sure to keep one for yourself. If you ever need to sell your collection with the writing on the backs of stamps, reality must dictate that you must understand that such actions usually diminish the value of the collection and you will not receive as much for the collection as you would have if you would have put the notes elsewhere such as on selvage, album pages, or little paper squares alongside the stamp. Also, make sure your family understands that they will not get full selling value for the collection as well. They will love reading the "TS" card you leave them after you have moved on.
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Think about the hobby folks. We are in the business of collecting and once collected we should be interested in preservation in the state that we acquired it. I have learned that cleaning up a stamp risks damaging it. I try to take the approach of first "do no harm". I catalogue the stamp and note its condition, tears, hinge remnants, pencil marks, dirt, creases, gum and centering, but I never record that on the stamp.
A pencil mark on the back may devalue a stamp, but it does not destroy its collectibility. I don't like pencil marks but I will live with them. If I cannot find a VF MNH copy, then I will mount a MH example or a used copy. I choose to view my collection as something to be upgraded when I can find a better example and can afford to do so.
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I strongly prefer modern era stamps to be without any markings on the back. Most people do not scan or describe the backs of stamps before they try to sell them to you. One common problem I have with buying online or mail order is sometimes you wind up with a whole batch with writing on them. That is what frustrates me the most.
Josh
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I am with Charlie on this one. I rarely if ever look at the back of my stamps. Plus any thing I mark on the back gets covered by the hinge I put on it.
Alyn
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When you put a hinge over pencil markings, the hinge leaves a residue that prevents erasure of the markings.
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Michael as a collector of predominantly used stamps what is on the back of the stamp is of little concern to me. As long as the markings etc. on the front are ok, I am fine with it.
Unless I ever collect watermarks, the condition on the reverse of the stamp, is as far as I am concerned not important in the slightest. I sometimes chuckle when I think of all the hype that is made about gum condition because I picture albums looking like this: 
Cheers,
Alyn
edited by me for context, grammar and readability
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That gum has a wonderful patina to it
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09:19:48pm
I have a request written into my will about the stamps. Instead of a soft fluffy quilt pillow and blanket in a fancy coffin, I am to be laid out on a bed of Machins, naked and covered with a thicklayer of postally used world wide stamps.
That should solve the problem of fuel for the big oven during cremation.
.
Remember it isn't the cough that carries you off,
It's the coffin they carry you off in!
LAMOJ !
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09:35:16pm
Only you, Charlie. Only you :-D
I will never look at a Machin quite the same ever again :-)
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Charlie, what a wonderful idea! And I have several stockbooks full of Machins that I was going to sell. Now I can save the family some money and have them do that to me too!
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Charlie,
That is brilliant!!!
Alyn
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Looking forward to Linn's coverage of this, although, Charlie, I'm hoping you keep them waiting, at least until the Queen's centennial of ascension.
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alyn, if you hinge the stamp, why not write the note on the hinge?
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Hi Peter,
Because any notes I make are at the sorting stage. Generally this is years or months before I am mounting them on an album page.
Alyn
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Kelly and Michael (and anyone else to whom this may apply),
Next time you're throwing away your "garbage," throw it my way. I've always collected on a budget, and I've spent too many years looking at empty spaces because I could never afford old rarities. Now I love the "trash" and it's filling up my books nicely. I'm not collecting for investment, I'm collecting for fun. Filling up those long-empty holes is fun!
Chris
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Last time someone made that request of me, I did as he asked. He sent me back a note telling me to not send him any more "junk" like that.
When I am working on junky packets that are full of the same low-valued stamp, I am very liberal tossing away the ones with un-erasable writing, thins, tears, creases, folds, etc. I still wind up with 50% to 70% of the same stamp, however. I do not generally toss similar "deficient" stamps with a catalog value of $1 or more. I sell those as fillers, and plenty of people like to get those.
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lol. I was taught that beggars can't be choosers! I keep all that junk; if it's not something I want to put in a collection, the wife can take her craft decoupage medium and plaster them to boxes or baskets or whatnot and make interesting stamp-covered items.
Chris
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and don't forget to send your unloved Machins to Charlie for his shroud.
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now you wanna shoot someone for writing on a stamp??
I just got out of an auction last week (spent $100 for 5 boxes of stamps... most low value stuff, but lots of stuff... one box was a box for ice-skates that was filled.).. BUT there were at least two Federal Duck stamps (the RW50 is one for sure... not sure what I've got on the other one, as I haven't looked at it yet.)
Both are good shape... I've got a dealer that would buy them in their current condition (V-VF/Used) in a heartbeat (if i were to sell them, which of course, I'm not!), and the idiot wrote the year on the sheet margin on each of the stamps..
*Bangs his head in the desk in frustration*...
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I have to admit a lightly scribed pencil mark on the back of a stamp doesn't solicit much of a response one way or the other but this is from a guy who pencils Scott numbers just above his stamps on his album pages - small and neatly printed Scott numbers but I do it still.
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i) collecting stamps is a hobby for your own pleasure
ii) you collect whatever you want in the condition you feel appropriate for your purposes
iii) why should someone that doesn´t like penciled remarks on the back try to impose his point of view to others?
iv) when you show your stamp album to somebody else will you let him look at the back of the stamps?
v) or when somebody shows you his album will you turn the stamps over to see if they are "clean"?
CONCLUSION: a bit of tolerance wouldn´t do any harm
(by the way, I collect used stamps and don´t care about light markings on the back of the stamps)
Cheers, Miguel
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No, but when it comes time to sell, a dealer will see it, and then the collector will get all pissed off when offered a smaller than normal percentage for the stamps, if an offer is made. If you mess up the stamps, don't complain later on.
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06:27:34am
When it comes time to sell, I'll be dead and my ashes will be floating in the Gulf of Mexico or making their way though our septic system.
Light pencil marks are meaningless to most postally used collectors. I suspect the angst over writing on the reverse is mostly from those who also obsess over the gum.
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Charlie, I thought you were going to be in a box covered in Machins!!!!
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That's before the cremation
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I'm just gonna write on the fronts of the stamps from now on so as to not disturb the gum on the back. Nuff said.
Jeez folks. This topic has been beaten to death. Bottom line is this. If you don't like someone writing on the back of the stamps, don't deal with them, don't buy from them, don't trade with them. It's their collection. They can do what they want with them, hence the reason I will continue to write on the backs of the stamps I work with.
---Pat
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That's before the cremation
Good point.... I wonder if the different inks, papers, tagging used, etc., will give off any special colored flames? Charlie, can we all get a video of this so we can see?
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05:42:49am
" .... Charlie, can we all get a video of this so we can see? ...."
I have six children and currently fourteen grand children with more to come. Everyone of them over the age of ten has a functioning cell phone, and most have camera and video capabilities.
I simply cannot imagine them all turning their gadgets off at the same time especially if my departure is further delayed by the good cardiologists at the VA Hospital.
So the problem is not whether you can get a video, it is likely to be, which one to view on You-tube, the triple "X" rated one or the censored version.
Unfortunately, I suppose I won't see either.
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lol... can you imagine if they were told that they had to do without their cellphones for a month? I use my cellphone less than 60 minutes a month, and I don't text.
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I am extremely new to stamp collecting. I just wanted to say that, with popcorn in hand, I loved reading through this topic. Now I just thinking... wait, I've spent quite a bit of time studying my acquired stamp collection, never thought to turn em over and look at the back of them, hmm.
On a serious note: Interesting thoughts shared here, really appreciate the insight from all.
Thanks, Clayton
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04:43:58am
"....lol... can you imagine if they were told that they had to do without their cellphones for a month? I use my cellphone less than 60 minutes a month, and I don't text....."
I remember that before 1948,when my folks wanted to make a phone call to someone, usually they would go up to Pop-pop Johnson's apartment and ask if they would place the call for her. Sometime that year the phone wires were strung to our house and a black cradle dial phone became a special icon in our house, treated with as much reverence as the bronze statue of the Daibutsu of Kamakura on my mantle here today.
And it worked like magic.
When the holidays drew near and my mother wanted to give a holiday greeting to her relatives in Rennsalear, New York, about two hundred miles away, my father would ring up the local operator and tell her the number and within a half hour the operator would call back giving him a date and time that the call could be placed.
At the appointed time the whole family would gather around the mystical machine to watch the magic unfold and if at all possible take part in the wonders of modern communication.
And the best part was that it only took a minute or so for the Brooklyn operator to connect through the Westchester operator to the Poughkeepsie operator, who then got the Albany operator to ring the phone in Rennsalear, N Y.
So before you could say Jack Robinson , well, a thousand times, the phone wizards would sign off in succession and Aunt Lizzie's scratchy voice came on just like that. It was a curiosity the following year that in person her voice was pretty clear and not at all like what I had heard on the phone line.
Last month, while we were getting ready to start the processional for my youngest daughter's wedding, I asked one of my older grand daughters to tell my wife something, and noticed that rather than go up to the main deck The ceremony and reception dinner was being held on a dinner cruise yacht in Tampa.) and whisper in her ear, she whipped out her cell phone to call her sister who was sitting in the aisle behind he
r grandmother.
The good thing is the call didn't have to be connected thorough three or four phone operators.
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I know this is an old topic, but I had to add this to the discussion on writing on the back of stamps. This was included in a larger lot of "Vickies" that I acquired. Now this takes the cake regarding writing on the back of a stamp, eh?
No mistaking the watermark on this issue! 
Cheers,
Peter
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grrrrrrrrrrr
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12:52:48pm
Yeah, I write on the back of stamps (light pencil notations where there are varieties differing due to wmk, types or perfs) but it really is not a problem down the road as I have instructed my daughter to trash my collection when I die rather than sell it for pennies on the dollar. I am enjoying my little pieces of colored paper and I am doing it my way!
BTW, really like the idea of referring to Michael as "Michael numbers," makes him sound like a character on The Sopranos!
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There were so many Michael's, Rich's, Ted's, and Dave's on the other board that we pretty much had to adopt a few nick-names over the years to figure out who we were referring to. I know, I know, why type Tedski when you can type youpiao? Try typing youpiao a few times and you will understand -- it's a lot easier for me because I already know pinyin.
I type Michael##### because it's a lot faster than typing Michael78651.
As usual, there's only one...
k
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I also hate to see writing on the backs of stamps. This is also true of writing on covers. Much of this was done years ago when the backs of stamps were not all that important. Many dealers would use an ink stamp to mark the Scott Cat. # or the perforation on the back. Fortunately much of it is erasable. But the ones written in ink & some in pencil are hopeless to remove. Ted.
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Bobby, why are you against recycling your collection so that future collectors can add the stamps to their collections? If your daughter sells the stamps for pennies on the dollar or whatever, when she cashes the check, that will be more money in her bank account than there was before she got the check.
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11:27:29am
I was just kidding around. She can actually do with it as she pleases. In fact, I have begun to set everything up so that she can market the items online. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, she never developed an interest in stamps, but she does love the internet and already plays around with marketing some items online. I just don't want her giving the stuff away or getting duped. But the bottom line is I really will be past caring!
Who knows - by playing around with the residue of my life, she might actually develop an affection for the little pieces of paper!
Oh, and I already recycle through a stamp program one of my local club members has at the school at which he teaches. He annually exposes a couple of dozen or so kids to the wide world of philately.
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11:41:10am
Charlie said
"...I asked one of my older grand daughters to tell my wife something, and noticed that rather than go up to the main deck....and whisper in her ear, she whipped out her cell phone to call her sister who was sitting in the aisle behind her grandmother."
You gotta love these young folk. My nephew (who is 40 now, but still a youngster to me) is a big time attorney who, when he gets bored in the courtroom, texts messages to all and sundry!
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I'm rather ambivalent about a light pencil mark on the back of a stamp, but I do agree that the numbers are wrong often enough I don't usually trust them. I pencil the Scott number on the album page or include it on pre-printed pages.
To me pencil marks are like hinge marks - a good way for me to save money on stamps! I don't think I have a single stamp with a CV over $100 that DOESN'T have a hinge mark. If a light pencil mark will knock an additional 10% off the price, that works for me!
There is, however, a situation when I advocate that one MUST mark on the back of a stamp. I have "created" a fake 315 and fake 356. I did the 315 to show how easy they are to fake, but wrote 304 on the back with a blue sharpie. I did the 356 as a placeholder, but wrote 338 on the back with a yellow sharpie.
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I have one that has PI on the back and can be associated with the Masons. As far as study is concerned. And for bobby a wiseman can play the role of a fool but a fool can not play the role of a wiseman. In jest with your message below your avitar. Take care
Deano
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09:25:05pm
Deano said
"...but a fool can not play the role of a wiseman."
There are sure a lot of 'em in D.C. trying!
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Friedl Expertizing back in the 1950-1970's used to sign stamps, mint & used on the back.
My Israel #7, 8, 9 top values are all signed this way plus the certificate.
Richaard
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Here are the stamps
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Here is certificate
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.
(Modified by Moderator on 2013-05-16 06:33:39)
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RGNPCS: Nice Set of 1-9. Wow! Freidl only charged $5.00 to sign 3 stamps & issue a cert. Things have sure changed since'72. Ted.
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I on occasion (pretty rarely though) write lightly with a pencil on the back of my stamps. Why? For information purposes of course - for my benefit only. After all they're my stamps.
But more often than that, I erase pencil marks someone else put on the backs. They usually erase fully, sometimes not. Either way it doesn't bother me in the least.
Along time ago I learned that I cannot control everything in the world (and barely can control my own actions). If I didn't like pen or pencil marks, and I wasn't energetic enough to erase them, I'd give the stamps away, sell them or trash em.
Now, what I really hate are those people that ruin stamps by putting hinges on them. Now that drives me nuts!!! Why would they do that?
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I absolutely LOVE hinges, and markings, and thins, and pulled perfs!!!
That's likely the only way I will get a legit US 356 for under $1000!
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Lars, don't dash my dream of finding a perfect specimen in the next box lot I purchase 
.
But if I run across an example with writing on the back, a couple small thins and a couple missing perfs you won't hear me complain either.
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We can all dream, and maybe you WILL find a pristine copy in your next box lot. Noernberg found a set of Zeppelins in the back of a mostly empty stock book or something like that.
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I have tried to erase old pencil markings on back of stamps and only found that the white gum erasers really work. The Eberhard pink erasers only smear the old pencil markings. Also the pink eraser on top of old pencils only smear the graphite and then you cannot remove it. Try the white gum erasers before trying anything else and only a small area. I have had great success with these, but there is always the case where they do not even work, and then you just punt.....Sometimes it is better to just leave things alone and live with them. A Scotts # on the back of a stamp is not a bad thing if it is correct and if you can verify a different # then that is ok too. Trying to fix someone else error by erasing it is sometimes a detriment because you cannot completely remove it.
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A mechanical drafting eraser works best (with the white eraser). Get the pencil marks off of most stamps, unless the person doing the writing hunkered down on the pencil and embossed the writing through the front of the stamp.
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04:35:05pm
" .... A Scotts # on the back of a stamp is not a bad thing if it is correct ...."
Before anyone gets frantic about what appears to be a ms-identified Scott number keep in mind that Scott's Cataloges, in all their glory, is only popular in the US and Canada (Brookman). The number can be from any number of catalogs, especially when dealing with older stamps. In the US collectors may have used a Minkue catalog or the Minkus when it was called a Krause. In the UK and most of the Commonwealth nations Stanly Gibbons numbers are the standard. Of course in Germany and France the favored catalogs are Yvert et Tellier, Ceres, or Michel and even Zumstein. While the Scandinavian countries are covered well by the Facit Catalog, Norway also uses the Norgescatalogen and Denmark the AFA catalog.
Bale is used in Israel, Vlastos in Greece, Ma is the definitive Chinese catalog for up to about 1950, Seven Seas does a good job with Aussie stamps, Campbell Hall with New Zealand and Sakura covers Japan. There is a Sassone that specializes in Italy and the Dutch national catalog is the NVDK catalog.
I have accumulated usually older copies of all but the Campbell-Hall, which cost too much to ship from Wellington.
So if you identify a stamp that is wildly different from the penciled number on the back keep this in mind.
(If there are spelling errors, it is because I am too exhausted to roll over to the pile of books I just moved to my new Stamp room to check. But I think I am pretty close.)
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07:19:14am
We also need to keep in mind that Scott numbers have changed throughout the years. My 1922 Scott Catalogue has the current Scott 1 listed as Scott 28. 1-27 were the Provisional Issues. Airmails were lumped in with the rest of the regular stamps. C1-C3 were 430-432.
Bob
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Writing on the back of stamps mostly annoys me because it typically doesn't really TELL me anything. I find some copy of a stamp, and it say "357" on the back. So I look it up in Scott... and it's NOT no. 357. Then I look it up in a couple of other catalogs... and it's still not no. 357. So was this the 357th stamp in the former owner's collection? Or did he/she buy it in March of 1957?
Pencil marks are annoying because they are... for lack of a better word... "selfish." Most of the time, they only mean something to the person who originally wrote them, but serve a as source of frustration to every (most likely) subsequent owner of the stamp.
Just my $0.02 worth,
~Peter
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"Pencil marks are annoying because they are... for lack of a better word... "selfish." Most of the time, they only mean something to the person who originally wrote them, but serve a as source of frustration to every (most likely) subsequent owner of the stamp."
Exactly my point about hinging stamps. Purely a "selfish" action that only benefits the current collector.
I certainly reserve the right to be completely selfish with my stamps and don't consider myself a steward of postal history for the benefit of future collectors. My stamps and related material will belong to someone else in the future, most likely my children, but not yet. I certainly expect other collectors to have been selfish when I receive previously owned stamps. And I never worry about how frustrated a future owner may be with the condition of my stamps.
That's all academic though because, actually, I am probably more careful about the condition of my stamps than most folks. But... I reserve the right to mutilate them if I please.
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11:49:12pm
I plan to have my cardboard casket filled with Machins as they slide it down the track and into the crematorium. At last I will be free of my wife's setting the AC on super cold.
I have a wool blanket wrapped around my back and my old sailor's watch cap on my head, yes here in Florida, where it was a nice crispy 90ºF today.right
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No one, absolutely no one, can Machin-ate like Charlie can.
John Derry, with mouth agape
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A Service Dog gives a person with a disability independence. Never approach, distract or pet a working dog, especially when (s)he is in harness. Never be afraid to ask questions to the handler (parent).
16 Jul 2012
01:26:46pm
Why do people write on the back of stamps? I absolutely hate it - no one wants to trade stamps that have catalogue numbers on the back, etc. So a perfectly good stamp wasted?
Kelly
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Immediate Past President - West Essex Philatelic Society www.wepsonline.org
16 Jul 2012
03:16:44pm
re: Writing on back of stamps
I know people who would say they never want a stamp with writing on the back. If that were the case, they could never own an Inverted Jenny. Every Inverted Jenny stamp has its pane position penciled on the back. Stamp dealer Eugene Klein did that after he purchased them from Mr. Robie. If you ever purchase an Inverted Jenny and it doesn't have the pencil, you do not have an authentic Inverted Jenny.
Bob
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A Service Dog gives a person with a disability independence. Never approach, distract or pet a working dog, especially when (s)he is in harness. Never be afraid to ask questions to the handler (parent).
16 Jul 2012
04:22:25pm
re: Writing on back of stamps
It's not a big problem for me provided it is light & causes no damage through the stamp. I'm collecting something because of what it looks like from the front. It can be a pain in the neck when trading with someone (no offence intended to collectors who don't like it), when you have to check every stamp to make sure there's no pencilled numbers on the back, especially when dealing with older issues that have gone through heaven-knows how many hands.
Kelly
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
16 Jul 2012
04:33:08pm
re: Writing on back of stamps
There is a name for that kind of trading partner, Kelly, "ex-trading partners."
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A Service Dog gives a person with a disability independence. Never approach, distract or pet a working dog, especially when (s)he is in harness. Never be afraid to ask questions to the handler (parent).
16 Jul 2012
04:37:42pm
re: Writing on back of stamps
LOL Charlie - you never cease to give me a laugh! :-D
Kelly
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08:22:51pm
re: Writing on back of stamps
For a used stamp or mint-hinged, I don't think much when I see a catalog# pencilled in. I prefer MNH to have a clean back, but if it marks some off the price, then I'll consider it. Some stamps will have an expertiser mark or advertiser mark. With some issues, that expertiser mark is one marker as to its authenticity...issue that Bob mentions is just one example.
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09:21:09pm
re: Writing on back of stamps
Only bothers me on mint stamps, or on stamps valued at over $10 apiece. Now that Scott is up to 7 volumes, it takes me too long to look up catalog numbers, so if someone does the work for me, I don't complain. Still looks good in the album!
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11:06:59pm
re: Writing on back of stamps
Kelly - I love you! I believe that writing on the back of stamps ruins/damages the stamps. Writing on the backs of stamps is my #1 pet peeve in this hobby.
- Never presume that the catalog number written on the back of a stamp is correct. Through the years numbers have changed, and collectors don't always get the number right either. Also, which catalog does the number relate to?
- expertizer marks on the backs of stamps have been extensively forged, so do not presume that the expertizer mark is genuine, or that the mark was put there by an expertizer. I once got an approval selection from a dealer. He ink stamped an "E" (his first initial) on the back of the stamps that he sent on approval. I didn't buy from that dealer.
- I just looked at a collection of MNH Germany. The person who put this collection together wanted only perfectly centered stamps. An impressive site of MNH stamps from Germany from the 1920s in particular. So what did he do? He wrote a catalog number across the back of each stamp - in ink. Don't ever try to tell me that a stamp with any type of markings/writing added by anyone is MNH.
- If I got a C3a, I would erase the pencil mark on the back of it.
I erase all markings on the backs of stamps. If the markings don't erase, then the stamp goes in the trash, or if valuable gets sold as a filler. I have seen collectors hunker down and emboss that stamp with the writing on the back so one could see it from the front - in the trash with that one too.
I just went through a sales circuit. Nice unused Great Britain,including high dollar officials. The stamps were all hinged in the sales book (I have no problem with that for old material like this). I drooled over the prospect of filling many holes in my GB collection, checked my wallet and saw that I could afford to make a big purchase. Turned the first stamp over to check the back. I then looked at the information that the seller wrote on the appropriate space for the stamp. I noticed an orange dot on the page near the price for the stamp. Yep, at the bottom right corner of the back of the stamp was an identical orange dot (orange sharpie, I think). The seller was concerned that in the event of a switcheroo, he could identify a substituted stamp. Well, my wallet wasn't opened that day. All the stamps were ruined.
- I have seen the backs of many stamps that looked like a ledger book with the new value added each year, and the old one crossed out.
- I have seen the same done with catalog numbers, years of issue, information about the stamp (like the one that had writing all over the back to describe the watermark. It was so bad that you couldn't see the watermark!
- I have seen stamps with the selvage still attached with writing...on the previously MNH stamp. The same goes for hinging. Let's not damage the selvage with writing and hinges. Stick the hinge on the stamp too to go along with the writing.
Years ago I found a mechanical drafting eraser at a garage sale. I bought it for $5. These devices cost upwards of $80, so this was a fantastic buy. I use a white plastic eraser stick in the device and use it to erase the markings on the backs of stamps. Yes, sometimes stamps get ruined. To me, however, the stamp was already ruined. I was trying to give it another chance.
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re: Writing on back of stamps
Writting on the back of a stamp is always a bad thing . If the stamp is hinged, let´s hope the writting is on the hinge which can be washed off.
Nice little device you have there Michael
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re: Writing on back of stamps
Light pencil marks on the back of a used stamp have never bothered me. As a previous post stated I wouldn't count on the information being correct. To remove the pencil marks I have a smaller shaker can of finely ground gum eraser used for cleaning up drafting projects. I sprinke some on a clean sheet of paper and gently pass the stamp across the eraser on the paper using a top sheet of paper on a flat surface. All pencil marks disappear and I haven't damaged a stamp yet.
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
18 Jul 2012
08:50:57am
re: Writing on back of stamps
Long ago I decided to collect postally used world wide stamps and not gum. If I happen across gummed stamps, they get hinged just like all the others and if some note is nedded on the back, in light pencil, I have a drawer full of #2 Ticonderogas nearby and a good sharpener. And sometimes, not always, I clean the glutinous wash off along with other stamps that are being soaked. If that upsets the next owner, assuming there ever is a next owner, it will not be my problem.
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re: Writing on back of stamps
You are absolutely right Charlie. You acquired the stamp for your enjoyment and you are not to be told what to do with that stamp. If the next owner doesn't like it, then he can get a TS card from the chaplin.
Mike
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11:58:31am
re: Writing on back of stamps
Charlie and Mike, I will give you that. If you bought it, you can do with it as you please, and you can hand out the "TS" cards all day and night for all I care.
However, make sure to keep one for yourself. If you ever need to sell your collection with the writing on the backs of stamps, reality must dictate that you must understand that such actions usually diminish the value of the collection and you will not receive as much for the collection as you would have if you would have put the notes elsewhere such as on selvage, album pages, or little paper squares alongside the stamp. Also, make sure your family understands that they will not get full selling value for the collection as well. They will love reading the "TS" card you leave them after you have moved on.
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re: Writing on back of stamps
Think about the hobby folks. We are in the business of collecting and once collected we should be interested in preservation in the state that we acquired it. I have learned that cleaning up a stamp risks damaging it. I try to take the approach of first "do no harm". I catalogue the stamp and note its condition, tears, hinge remnants, pencil marks, dirt, creases, gum and centering, but I never record that on the stamp.
A pencil mark on the back may devalue a stamp, but it does not destroy its collectibility. I don't like pencil marks but I will live with them. If I cannot find a VF MNH copy, then I will mount a MH example or a used copy. I choose to view my collection as something to be upgraded when I can find a better example and can afford to do so.
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re: Writing on back of stamps
I strongly prefer modern era stamps to be without any markings on the back. Most people do not scan or describe the backs of stamps before they try to sell them to you. One common problem I have with buying online or mail order is sometimes you wind up with a whole batch with writing on them. That is what frustrates me the most.
Josh
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re: Writing on back of stamps
I am with Charlie on this one. I rarely if ever look at the back of my stamps. Plus any thing I mark on the back gets covered by the hinge I put on it.
Alyn
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08:48:08pm
re: Writing on back of stamps
When you put a hinge over pencil markings, the hinge leaves a residue that prevents erasure of the markings.
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re: Writing on back of stamps
Michael as a collector of predominantly used stamps what is on the back of the stamp is of little concern to me. As long as the markings etc. on the front are ok, I am fine with it.
Unless I ever collect watermarks, the condition on the reverse of the stamp, is as far as I am concerned not important in the slightest. I sometimes chuckle when I think of all the hype that is made about gum condition because I picture albums looking like this:
Cheers,
Alyn
edited by me for context, grammar and readability
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re: Writing on back of stamps
That gum has a wonderful patina to it
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
19 Jul 2012
09:19:48pm
re: Writing on back of stamps
I have a request written into my will about the stamps. Instead of a soft fluffy quilt pillow and blanket in a fancy coffin, I am to be laid out on a bed of Machins, naked and covered with a thicklayer of postally used world wide stamps.
That should solve the problem of fuel for the big oven during cremation.
.
Remember it isn't the cough that carries you off,
It's the coffin they carry you off in!
LAMOJ !
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A Service Dog gives a person with a disability independence. Never approach, distract or pet a working dog, especially when (s)he is in harness. Never be afraid to ask questions to the handler (parent).
19 Jul 2012
09:35:16pm
re: Writing on back of stamps
Only you, Charlie. Only you :-D
I will never look at a Machin quite the same ever again :-)
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12:15:38am
re: Writing on back of stamps
Charlie, what a wonderful idea! And I have several stockbooks full of Machins that I was going to sell. Now I can save the family some money and have them do that to me too!
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re: Writing on back of stamps
Charlie,
That is brilliant!!!
Alyn
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re: Writing on back of stamps
Looking forward to Linn's coverage of this, although, Charlie, I'm hoping you keep them waiting, at least until the Queen's centennial of ascension.
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re: Writing on back of stamps
alyn, if you hinge the stamp, why not write the note on the hinge?
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re: Writing on back of stamps
Hi Peter,
Because any notes I make are at the sorting stage. Generally this is years or months before I am mounting them on an album page.
Alyn
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re: Writing on back of stamps
Kelly and Michael (and anyone else to whom this may apply),
Next time you're throwing away your "garbage," throw it my way. I've always collected on a budget, and I've spent too many years looking at empty spaces because I could never afford old rarities. Now I love the "trash" and it's filling up my books nicely. I'm not collecting for investment, I'm collecting for fun. Filling up those long-empty holes is fun!
Chris
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06:23:28pm
re: Writing on back of stamps
Last time someone made that request of me, I did as he asked. He sent me back a note telling me to not send him any more "junk" like that.
When I am working on junky packets that are full of the same low-valued stamp, I am very liberal tossing away the ones with un-erasable writing, thins, tears, creases, folds, etc. I still wind up with 50% to 70% of the same stamp, however. I do not generally toss similar "deficient" stamps with a catalog value of $1 or more. I sell those as fillers, and plenty of people like to get those.
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re: Writing on back of stamps
lol. I was taught that beggars can't be choosers! I keep all that junk; if it's not something I want to put in a collection, the wife can take her craft decoupage medium and plaster them to boxes or baskets or whatnot and make interesting stamp-covered items.
Chris
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re: Writing on back of stamps
and don't forget to send your unloved Machins to Charlie for his shroud.
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re: Writing on back of stamps
now you wanna shoot someone for writing on a stamp??
I just got out of an auction last week (spent $100 for 5 boxes of stamps... most low value stuff, but lots of stuff... one box was a box for ice-skates that was filled.).. BUT there were at least two Federal Duck stamps (the RW50 is one for sure... not sure what I've got on the other one, as I haven't looked at it yet.)
Both are good shape... I've got a dealer that would buy them in their current condition (V-VF/Used) in a heartbeat (if i were to sell them, which of course, I'm not!), and the idiot wrote the year on the sheet margin on each of the stamps..
*Bangs his head in the desk in frustration*...
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re: Writing on back of stamps
I have to admit a lightly scribed pencil mark on the back of a stamp doesn't solicit much of a response one way or the other but this is from a guy who pencils Scott numbers just above his stamps on his album pages - small and neatly printed Scott numbers but I do it still.
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08:22:23pm
Approvals
re: Writing on back of stamps
i) collecting stamps is a hobby for your own pleasure
ii) you collect whatever you want in the condition you feel appropriate for your purposes
iii) why should someone that doesn´t like penciled remarks on the back try to impose his point of view to others?
iv) when you show your stamp album to somebody else will you let him look at the back of the stamps?
v) or when somebody shows you his album will you turn the stamps over to see if they are "clean"?
CONCLUSION: a bit of tolerance wouldn´t do any harm
(by the way, I collect used stamps and don´t care about light markings on the back of the stamps)
Cheers, Miguel
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12:00:17am
re: Writing on back of stamps
No, but when it comes time to sell, a dealer will see it, and then the collector will get all pissed off when offered a smaller than normal percentage for the stamps, if an offer is made. If you mess up the stamps, don't complain later on.
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
27 Aug 2012
06:27:34am
re: Writing on back of stamps
When it comes time to sell, I'll be dead and my ashes will be floating in the Gulf of Mexico or making their way though our septic system.
Light pencil marks are meaningless to most postally used collectors. I suspect the angst over writing on the reverse is mostly from those who also obsess over the gum.
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11:53:52am
re: Writing on back of stamps
Charlie, I thought you were going to be in a box covered in Machins!!!!
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re: Writing on back of stamps
That's before the cremation
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re: Writing on back of stamps
I'm just gonna write on the fronts of the stamps from now on so as to not disturb the gum on the back. Nuff said.
Jeez folks. This topic has been beaten to death. Bottom line is this. If you don't like someone writing on the back of the stamps, don't deal with them, don't buy from them, don't trade with them. It's their collection. They can do what they want with them, hence the reason I will continue to write on the backs of the stamps I work with.
---Pat
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04:13:14pm
re: Writing on back of stamps
That's before the cremation
Good point.... I wonder if the different inks, papers, tagging used, etc., will give off any special colored flames? Charlie, can we all get a video of this so we can see?
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
28 Aug 2012
05:42:49am
re: Writing on back of stamps
" .... Charlie, can we all get a video of this so we can see? ...."
I have six children and currently fourteen grand children with more to come. Everyone of them over the age of ten has a functioning cell phone, and most have camera and video capabilities.
I simply cannot imagine them all turning their gadgets off at the same time especially if my departure is further delayed by the good cardiologists at the VA Hospital.
So the problem is not whether you can get a video, it is likely to be, which one to view on You-tube, the triple "X" rated one or the censored version.
Unfortunately, I suppose I won't see either.
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07:48:53am
re: Writing on back of stamps
lol... can you imagine if they were told that they had to do without their cellphones for a month? I use my cellphone less than 60 minutes a month, and I don't text.
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re: Writing on back of stamps
I am extremely new to stamp collecting. I just wanted to say that, with popcorn in hand, I loved reading through this topic. Now I just thinking... wait, I've spent quite a bit of time studying my acquired stamp collection, never thought to turn em over and look at the back of them, hmm.
On a serious note: Interesting thoughts shared here, really appreciate the insight from all.
Thanks, Clayton
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
29 Aug 2012
04:43:58am
re: Writing on back of stamps
"....lol... can you imagine if they were told that they had to do without their cellphones for a month? I use my cellphone less than 60 minutes a month, and I don't text....."
I remember that before 1948,when my folks wanted to make a phone call to someone, usually they would go up to Pop-pop Johnson's apartment and ask if they would place the call for her. Sometime that year the phone wires were strung to our house and a black cradle dial phone became a special icon in our house, treated with as much reverence as the bronze statue of the Daibutsu of Kamakura on my mantle here today.
And it worked like magic.
When the holidays drew near and my mother wanted to give a holiday greeting to her relatives in Rennsalear, New York, about two hundred miles away, my father would ring up the local operator and tell her the number and within a half hour the operator would call back giving him a date and time that the call could be placed.
At the appointed time the whole family would gather around the mystical machine to watch the magic unfold and if at all possible take part in the wonders of modern communication.
And the best part was that it only took a minute or so for the Brooklyn operator to connect through the Westchester operator to the Poughkeepsie operator, who then got the Albany operator to ring the phone in Rennsalear, N Y.
So before you could say Jack Robinson , well, a thousand times, the phone wizards would sign off in succession and Aunt Lizzie's scratchy voice came on just like that. It was a curiosity the following year that in person her voice was pretty clear and not at all like what I had heard on the phone line.
Last month, while we were getting ready to start the processional for my youngest daughter's wedding, I asked one of my older grand daughters to tell my wife something, and noticed that rather than go up to the main deck The ceremony and reception dinner was being held on a dinner cruise yacht in Tampa.) and whisper in her ear, she whipped out her cell phone to call her sister who was sitting in the aisle behind her grandmother.
The good thing is the call didn't have to be connected thorough three or four phone operators.
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09:31:34am
re: Writing on back of stamps
I know this is an old topic, but I had to add this to the discussion on writing on the back of stamps. This was included in a larger lot of "Vickies" that I acquired. Now this takes the cake regarding writing on the back of a stamp, eh?
No mistaking the watermark on this issue!
Cheers,
Peter
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11:40:02am
re: Writing on back of stamps
grrrrrrrrrrr
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
30 Apr 2013
12:52:48pm
re: Writing on back of stamps
Yeah, I write on the back of stamps (light pencil notations where there are varieties differing due to wmk, types or perfs) but it really is not a problem down the road as I have instructed my daughter to trash my collection when I die rather than sell it for pennies on the dollar. I am enjoying my little pieces of colored paper and I am doing it my way!
BTW, really like the idea of referring to Michael as "Michael numbers," makes him sound like a character on The Sopranos!
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re: Writing on back of stamps
There were so many Michael's, Rich's, Ted's, and Dave's on the other board that we pretty much had to adopt a few nick-names over the years to figure out who we were referring to. I know, I know, why type Tedski when you can type youpiao? Try typing youpiao a few times and you will understand -- it's a lot easier for me because I already know pinyin.
I type Michael##### because it's a lot faster than typing Michael78651.
As usual, there's only one...
k
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03:52:32pm
re: Writing on back of stamps
I also hate to see writing on the backs of stamps. This is also true of writing on covers. Much of this was done years ago when the backs of stamps were not all that important. Many dealers would use an ink stamp to mark the Scott Cat. # or the perforation on the back. Fortunately much of it is erasable. But the ones written in ink & some in pencil are hopeless to remove. Ted.
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10:24:59am
re: Writing on back of stamps
Bobby, why are you against recycling your collection so that future collectors can add the stamps to their collections? If your daughter sells the stamps for pennies on the dollar or whatever, when she cashes the check, that will be more money in her bank account than there was before she got the check.
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
01 May 2013
11:27:29am
re: Writing on back of stamps
I was just kidding around. She can actually do with it as she pleases. In fact, I have begun to set everything up so that she can market the items online. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, she never developed an interest in stamps, but she does love the internet and already plays around with marketing some items online. I just don't want her giving the stuff away or getting duped. But the bottom line is I really will be past caring!
Who knows - by playing around with the residue of my life, she might actually develop an affection for the little pieces of paper!
Oh, and I already recycle through a stamp program one of my local club members has at the school at which he teaches. He annually exposes a couple of dozen or so kids to the wide world of philately.
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
01 May 2013
11:41:10am
re: Writing on back of stamps
Charlie said
"...I asked one of my older grand daughters to tell my wife something, and noticed that rather than go up to the main deck....and whisper in her ear, she whipped out her cell phone to call her sister who was sitting in the aisle behind her grandmother."
You gotta love these young folk. My nephew (who is 40 now, but still a youngster to me) is a big time attorney who, when he gets bored in the courtroom, texts messages to all and sundry!
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re: Writing on back of stamps
I'm rather ambivalent about a light pencil mark on the back of a stamp, but I do agree that the numbers are wrong often enough I don't usually trust them. I pencil the Scott number on the album page or include it on pre-printed pages.
To me pencil marks are like hinge marks - a good way for me to save money on stamps! I don't think I have a single stamp with a CV over $100 that DOESN'T have a hinge mark. If a light pencil mark will knock an additional 10% off the price, that works for me!
There is, however, a situation when I advocate that one MUST mark on the back of a stamp. I have "created" a fake 315 and fake 356. I did the 315 to show how easy they are to fake, but wrote 304 on the back with a blue sharpie. I did the 356 as a placeholder, but wrote 338 on the back with a yellow sharpie.
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08:27:34pm
re: Writing on back of stamps
I have one that has PI on the back and can be associated with the Masons. As far as study is concerned. And for bobby a wiseman can play the role of a fool but a fool can not play the role of a wiseman. In jest with your message below your avitar. Take care
Deano
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
15 May 2013
09:25:05pm
re: Writing on back of stamps
Deano said
"...but a fool can not play the role of a wiseman."
There are sure a lot of 'em in D.C. trying!
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re: Writing on back of stamps
Friedl Expertizing back in the 1950-1970's used to sign stamps, mint & used on the back.
My Israel #7, 8, 9 top values are all signed this way plus the certificate.
Richaard
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re: Writing on back of stamps
.
(Modified by Moderator on 2013-05-16 06:33:39)
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03:52:29pm
re: Writing on back of stamps
RGNPCS: Nice Set of 1-9. Wow! Freidl only charged $5.00 to sign 3 stamps & issue a cert. Things have sure changed since'72. Ted.
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re: Writing on back of stamps
I on occasion (pretty rarely though) write lightly with a pencil on the back of my stamps. Why? For information purposes of course - for my benefit only. After all they're my stamps.
But more often than that, I erase pencil marks someone else put on the backs. They usually erase fully, sometimes not. Either way it doesn't bother me in the least.
Along time ago I learned that I cannot control everything in the world (and barely can control my own actions). If I didn't like pen or pencil marks, and I wasn't energetic enough to erase them, I'd give the stamps away, sell them or trash em.
Now, what I really hate are those people that ruin stamps by putting hinges on them. Now that drives me nuts!!! Why would they do that?
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re: Writing on back of stamps
I absolutely LOVE hinges, and markings, and thins, and pulled perfs!!!
That's likely the only way I will get a legit US 356 for under $1000!
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re: Writing on back of stamps
Lars, don't dash my dream of finding a perfect specimen in the next box lot I purchase .
But if I run across an example with writing on the back, a couple small thins and a couple missing perfs you won't hear me complain either.
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re: Writing on back of stamps
We can all dream, and maybe you WILL find a pristine copy in your next box lot. Noernberg found a set of Zeppelins in the back of a mostly empty stock book or something like that.
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re: Writing on back of stamps
I have tried to erase old pencil markings on back of stamps and only found that the white gum erasers really work. The Eberhard pink erasers only smear the old pencil markings. Also the pink eraser on top of old pencils only smear the graphite and then you cannot remove it. Try the white gum erasers before trying anything else and only a small area. I have had great success with these, but there is always the case where they do not even work, and then you just punt.....Sometimes it is better to just leave things alone and live with them. A Scotts # on the back of a stamp is not a bad thing if it is correct and if you can verify a different # then that is ok too. Trying to fix someone else error by erasing it is sometimes a detriment because you cannot completely remove it.
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07:02:54pm
re: Writing on back of stamps
A mechanical drafting eraser works best (with the white eraser). Get the pencil marks off of most stamps, unless the person doing the writing hunkered down on the pencil and embossed the writing through the front of the stamp.
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
14 Jun 2013
04:35:05pm
re: Writing on back of stamps
" .... A Scotts # on the back of a stamp is not a bad thing if it is correct ...."
Before anyone gets frantic about what appears to be a ms-identified Scott number keep in mind that Scott's Cataloges, in all their glory, is only popular in the US and Canada (Brookman). The number can be from any number of catalogs, especially when dealing with older stamps. In the US collectors may have used a Minkue catalog or the Minkus when it was called a Krause. In the UK and most of the Commonwealth nations Stanly Gibbons numbers are the standard. Of course in Germany and France the favored catalogs are Yvert et Tellier, Ceres, or Michel and even Zumstein. While the Scandinavian countries are covered well by the Facit Catalog, Norway also uses the Norgescatalogen and Denmark the AFA catalog.
Bale is used in Israel, Vlastos in Greece, Ma is the definitive Chinese catalog for up to about 1950, Seven Seas does a good job with Aussie stamps, Campbell Hall with New Zealand and Sakura covers Japan. There is a Sassone that specializes in Italy and the Dutch national catalog is the NVDK catalog.
I have accumulated usually older copies of all but the Campbell-Hall, which cost too much to ship from Wellington.
So if you identify a stamp that is wildly different from the penciled number on the back keep this in mind.
(If there are spelling errors, it is because I am too exhausted to roll over to the pile of books I just moved to my new Stamp room to check. But I think I am pretty close.)
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Immediate Past President - West Essex Philatelic Society www.wepsonline.org
15 Jun 2013
07:19:14am
re: Writing on back of stamps
We also need to keep in mind that Scott numbers have changed throughout the years. My 1922 Scott Catalogue has the current Scott 1 listed as Scott 28. 1-27 were the Provisional Issues. Airmails were lumped in with the rest of the regular stamps. C1-C3 were 430-432.
Bob
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re: Writing on back of stamps
Writing on the back of stamps mostly annoys me because it typically doesn't really TELL me anything. I find some copy of a stamp, and it say "357" on the back. So I look it up in Scott... and it's NOT no. 357. Then I look it up in a couple of other catalogs... and it's still not no. 357. So was this the 357th stamp in the former owner's collection? Or did he/she buy it in March of 1957?
Pencil marks are annoying because they are... for lack of a better word... "selfish." Most of the time, they only mean something to the person who originally wrote them, but serve a as source of frustration to every (most likely) subsequent owner of the stamp.
Just my $0.02 worth,
~Peter
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re: Writing on back of stamps
"Pencil marks are annoying because they are... for lack of a better word... "selfish." Most of the time, they only mean something to the person who originally wrote them, but serve a as source of frustration to every (most likely) subsequent owner of the stamp."
Exactly my point about hinging stamps. Purely a "selfish" action that only benefits the current collector.
I certainly reserve the right to be completely selfish with my stamps and don't consider myself a steward of postal history for the benefit of future collectors. My stamps and related material will belong to someone else in the future, most likely my children, but not yet. I certainly expect other collectors to have been selfish when I receive previously owned stamps. And I never worry about how frustrated a future owner may be with the condition of my stamps.
That's all academic though because, actually, I am probably more careful about the condition of my stamps than most folks. But... I reserve the right to mutilate them if I please.
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
23 Jun 2013
11:49:12pm
re: Writing on back of stamps
I plan to have my cardboard casket filled with Machins as they slide it down the track and into the crematorium. At last I will be free of my wife's setting the AC on super cold.
I have a wool blanket wrapped around my back and my old sailor's watch cap on my head, yes here in Florida, where it was a nice crispy 90ºF today.right
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The past is a foreign country, they do things different there.
24 Jun 2013
02:19:11pm
re: Writing on back of stamps
No one, absolutely no one, can Machin-ate like Charlie can.
John Derry, with mouth agape
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