A Beginner's Guide to Collecting Stamps Ep. 5 -- What Makes a Stamp Collectible?

[@GreatStampAdventure]

Thanks! I enjoy your beginner's guide tutorials. Always learn something, even though I already know something about the subjects. 🙂

[@psychbookman8613]

Excellent description, thank you

[@deborahlee9972]

Great information! I bring a slightly different philosophy to my collection. Do I like MNH options? Sure! But I also embrace the hinged, damaged, or used stamps. I even (gasp) love adding CTOs! For me, my collection is about entertainment and enjoyment, not a financial investment. That takes a lot of the pressure for perfection away.

[@silkontheweb]

Very good points! And I forgot to discuss CTOs... might make for a video down the road... some of my favorite stamps in my collection are used, one of the best parts of the hobby... endless possibilities and to each their own

[@davidkeeley8473]

I just happened to find this art stamp in the wild this weekend while sorting. MNH!! Happy to place it in my album. Thanks for sharing your passion. Always learning.

[@allmightalok]

Wow lovely ❤

[@barryfong2844]

Although I'm a seasoned philatelist, I found ur video very enjoyable

[@silkontheweb]

Thanks for saying so! I appreciate the feedback

[@joannewolfe5688]

When I started with Sho-guard mounts I moistened the entire back. Oops. Live and learn.

[@donbentley250]

Another great video. I use Showgard mounts for my Canadian stamps. I collect MNH whenever I can, but I collect used when they get pricey. I still use Showgard mounts in the hope I can replace the used one with a MNH stamp someday. I echo the above comment regarding CTOs being a future topic.

[@ericbond5276]

at 6:48, I collected socked on the nose or bullseye of Singapore since I've been there in early 2000's.

[@DeltaFH]

Excellent video. Hopefully this will help more beginners or start some beginners into this hobby. I do want to offer a counter point for @voneschenbachmusic comment about Germany 1933-1945 stamps. I would argue that 1933-1941 used stamps are a lot more common, especially 1933-1939 before the war starts. As stamps up until 1942 would postally expire if not used by a certain date and the excess unsold at post offices were supposed to be destroyed. Extra Souvenir sheets would typically end up with dealers. Likewise, there would be a fair bit more mail being sent during peacetime. During the war years you tend to find majority of letters using Hitler definitives and less people caring about the philatelic side of things. This is somewhat reflected in the catalog prices, where the earlier stamps have a greater ratio between MNH and Used, while the later stamps have a closer ratio between MNH and Used.

[@silkontheweb]

Thanks for adding the information! I'm a bit bummed I didn't mention there are definitely instances when the used is more collectible than mint... just slipped my mind... probably ought to have scripted this one out.

[@silkontheweb]

As to German stamps... also worth mentioning that a lot of 'used' stamps were forged with cancels years later, for the philatelic market

[@DeltaFH]

@@silkontheweb Absolutely. The most common being the final two issues with Berlin cancels. Most were just soldiers/people canceling themselves or getting a favor cancel from someone. As far as I know though none of the more complex fancy cancels got into anyone's hands, at least with the intention of forging cancels. So there is some protection there for the German collector of that period (that's what I specialize in myself). Love your content so far and look forward to your next video!

[@adamhuffman3354]

Yea I’ve come across those fake postmarks since I’m often looking for early used with nice cancellations. Kinda buyer beware. Also I use a lot of mounts. Don’t mind getting hinged stamps at all. I just don’t want to be the one doing it!!!

[@ChristiaanLammers]

Nice video, once again! What is your advice: if you collect MNH, would you only buy series, or are you okay with seperate stamps of a series too? I think I read somewhere that for used stamps it does not matter much, but for mint it is. Up until now I only collected used, but am interested in mint too. Both have their charms I would say. As I am relatively new to the hobby, I am curious what you and other think.

[@silkontheweb]

It's all great to me, honestly... I love used stamps, the cancels tell such stories to me... and from a collectibility stand point MNH are wonderful. I'll buy sets because it's often the most cost efficient way to collect, but individual stamps bought one at a time can absolutely add up to create a set on their own. Hope that helps?

[@chrislovesstamps]

@@silkontheweb absolutely does help. I understand what you are saying. Intend to like used because it is nice to complete sets ‘on your own’ instead of buying complete sets. Hope that makes sense.

[@deathofbarney]

An interesting thing Ive seen people do with filler stamps is place them upside down to remind themselves to upgrade :)

[@silkontheweb]

I've done that too! Flipping over ones with hinges helps in an album you're trying to fill with MNH

[@terrybunting8685]

Great video, i like how you put so much information into this. You have condensed all the learning process that most of us take a fair amount of time to reach. Fantastic, Thank you, and i really am looking forward to seeing more 🙂. Terry from Devon, uk

[@silkontheweb]

Thanks for the encouragement!

[@rogerturner1881]

on that 5c USA i noticed it has some 'spots' on the back on the gum, what do they come from [dust trapped on the gum] or? .Mostly the imperf ones in the 1800's are the worse for centering.

[@voneschenbachmusic]

For some countries the opposite is true - German stamps from 1933-1945 are plentiful mint but less so used...

[@silkontheweb]

Ah, great point, forgot to mention... that's absolutely true

[@fareast_de]

Awesome educational vid, thanks for sharing ! What is a perfect stamp ? First of all, it should be well printed and centered. The design should be sufficient for a wide range of customers, not just for some kind of "niche people". For collectors of today, the cancel should be centered in the middle of the stamp so they can read all details of this cancellation. Nowadays, condition is king. Like you said, the perforation should also be perfect, and no thin spots on the backside due to old hinge traces. So you often have a hard time if you buy e.g. a hundred year old stamp album because back in those days the quality standards were much different from today. Hope this little sermon wasn´t too much annoying. Greets from GER, U.

[@silkontheweb]

Please, always share! I really appreciate your insights... and my hope with this series is it'll become a resource for people learning the hobby... the more advice the merrier!

[@chrissahar2014]

I use Vario stocksheets of various types for different size stamps and put them in an archival type binder. I find it ids cheaper than buying the Davos hingeless binder and has more flexibility than mounting stamps into assigned places in a book. The main drawback is identification has to be done by you or you omit it (which is possible for modern stamps of the last few decades from several countries as the year of issue is printed on the stamp, although such details as tagging and paper etc is not given). My question are mounts placed into a stamp album cheaper than getting Vario stamp stocksheets to store stamps in an archival binder?

[@silkontheweb]

I haven't used Vario stock sheets so I couldn't say, though I like your system and agree about Davo... I want to expand my US collection into the later years but don't want to spend more on the album to hold them than I will on the stamps... it's a trade off. Do you drop little pieces of paper into the sheets for the info? I used to mostly use stock books and would do that. (What I know about mounts, BTW, is that they're costlier than I think they should be).

[@rogerturner1881]

Stanley Gibbons advise not to use those dble mounts, there is a vid .