Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Long story short, I've got an accumulation of covers that's been going on for a couple of years, both from incoming mail to me or my father, (with whom I've been living for a while ) as well as covers I've bought just because they looked or seemed interesting to me, with a thought that one day I'd make a collection out of that accumulation. Now that time has come, as I'm getting ready to move out on my own, and feel the necessity to slim down before I move out by year's end, January the latest.
So, here's my question : What makes a cover an acceptable item for a collection? What i mean to say isn't the viability of collecting first day covers or anything like that, but rather, grading standards. What would keep you from adding a cover to your collection, a tear, a wrinkle, a stamp with a bent corner but still on an intact cover, etc.? I ask as I intend to weed out all covers whose condition makes them unsuitable for collecting.
I thank you, my fellow stamp collectors and philatelists in advance for your time.
-StampCuratorix
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Great question.
Usually covers are collected because of study of:
Rates (Different amounts people paid for different postal services)
Postmarks or cancels: They collect a specific type of postmaark or cancel. Examples could be machine cancels, fancy cork cancels, etc.
Postal History of a particular locality: This usually represents itself as a collection of the postal history of a particular state or region.
Postmark Date Collection: Some people collect covers because it has the same date as their birth-date or favorite holiday.
Auxiliary Markings: Collect covers that have markings added by the postal service to show how they processed the mail.
Or it could be a combination of these, or just collect what you like I have alot of covers that I collected because I liked them. I like going back through the boxes of them remembering the places, people and situations in which I obtained each cover.
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Why judge them at all? Keep the ones you like, put the rest of them in a lot and auction them off either on eBay or the Stamporama auctions here! I buy those 100 or 500 odd cover hoards just to see what's in them. There are things you would throw out that someone else would include in their collection.
For instance, my 75 year old aunt sold her house last year. She gives me an envelope full of stamps. The envelope is a 1965 cover that her best friend in college had sent to her at an old address I remember when I was a kid. The postmark was from a New Jersey town that I didn't have in my NJ postmark cover collection.
I was happy to get this cover, but the sad part was that the envelope was full of worthless used stamps on paper... paper corners of covers she recently tore them off! When I asked she said, "Who would want old envelopes?!" Well, ME! There was probably some great old family names and addresses and some postmarks I could've used.
People collect all kinds of covers. I have my NJ postmarks, which are up to three binders now. I also like any reference to cars, like covers mailed from car companies in the 1930s, and dealers with interesting auto related corner cards. So you never know exactly what people are collecting.
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11:48:33pm
You already wrote the answer;
" ... Just because they looked or seemed interesting to me, ...."
I have lots of covers like that. And I can seldom riff through a cover album or one of the shoebox files without pausing here and there to enjoy some of them.
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You only have to keep the ones you like.
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Interesting that no one has yet mentioned the word "condition".
Whereas with stamps, the condition is very important indeed. I wouldn't add a stamp with pulled perf, or a thin or tear or a crease to my collections - unless as a space filler for something I couldn't possibly afford in good condition. Having said that, I have twice now found on this site stamps I never expected to be able to afford being offered at prices far lower then I'd seen elsewhere.
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Aamil,
you got lots of good answers here, with Antonio's being, in my mind, the most comprehensive.
I don't know that that answers YOUR question. If it doesn't, please ask again. As you can see, there's 20 guys describing 20 instances of cover collecting, all different.
As Strider mentions, condition is a consideration, but how it's factored depends on what you collect. Bob Ingraham, Antonio, and I all collect auxiliiary markings, often put there because of damage. We like rotten, smelly covers. Jeff Shapiro does too.
If you're trying to amass a collection of used singles, clean crisp covers with well centered stamps is probably ideal; if you're collecting rates or markings, it doesn't matter much, if at all.
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I forgot to mention that I have an album I refer to as "Cool Stuff". It's a collection of covers that are interesting and I like. There is no other theme to this album, and I've found when I have a non-collector come to my home, this is the first thing I'll show them because there are things of general interest in there.
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05:59:21pm
Hello all, StampCuratorix here again after a long time away.
Long story short, I've got an accumulation of covers that's been going on for a couple of years, both from incoming mail to me or my father, (with whom I've been living for a while ) as well as covers I've bought just because they looked or seemed interesting to me, with a thought that one day I'd make a collection out of that accumulation. Now that time has come, as I'm getting ready to move out on my own, and feel the necessity to slim down before I move out by year's end, January the latest.
So, here's my question : What makes a cover an acceptable item for a collection? What i mean to say isn't the viability of collecting first day covers or anything like that, but rather, grading standards. What would keep you from adding a cover to your collection, a tear, a wrinkle, a stamp with a bent corner but still on an intact cover, etc.? I ask as I intend to weed out all covers whose condition makes them unsuitable for collecting.
I thank you, my fellow stamp collectors and philatelists in advance for your time.
-StampCuratorix
Login to Like
this post
re: Question about weeding a cover accumulation
Great question.
Usually covers are collected because of study of:
Rates (Different amounts people paid for different postal services)
Postmarks or cancels: They collect a specific type of postmaark or cancel. Examples could be machine cancels, fancy cork cancels, etc.
Postal History of a particular locality: This usually represents itself as a collection of the postal history of a particular state or region.
Postmark Date Collection: Some people collect covers because it has the same date as their birth-date or favorite holiday.
Auxiliary Markings: Collect covers that have markings added by the postal service to show how they processed the mail.
Or it could be a combination of these, or just collect what you like I have alot of covers that I collected because I liked them. I like going back through the boxes of them remembering the places, people and situations in which I obtained each cover.
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likes this post.
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re: Question about weeding a cover accumulation
Why judge them at all? Keep the ones you like, put the rest of them in a lot and auction them off either on eBay or the Stamporama auctions here! I buy those 100 or 500 odd cover hoards just to see what's in them. There are things you would throw out that someone else would include in their collection.
For instance, my 75 year old aunt sold her house last year. She gives me an envelope full of stamps. The envelope is a 1965 cover that her best friend in college had sent to her at an old address I remember when I was a kid. The postmark was from a New Jersey town that I didn't have in my NJ postmark cover collection.
I was happy to get this cover, but the sad part was that the envelope was full of worthless used stamps on paper... paper corners of covers she recently tore them off! When I asked she said, "Who would want old envelopes?!" Well, ME! There was probably some great old family names and addresses and some postmarks I could've used.
People collect all kinds of covers. I have my NJ postmarks, which are up to three binders now. I also like any reference to cars, like covers mailed from car companies in the 1930s, and dealers with interesting auto related corner cards. So you never know exactly what people are collecting.
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
28 Jul 2016
11:48:33pm
re: Question about weeding a cover accumulation
You already wrote the answer;
" ... Just because they looked or seemed interesting to me, ...."
I have lots of covers like that. And I can seldom riff through a cover album or one of the shoebox files without pausing here and there to enjoy some of them.
Login to Like
this post
re: Question about weeding a cover accumulation
You only have to keep the ones you like.
Login to Like
this post
re: Question about weeding a cover accumulation
Interesting that no one has yet mentioned the word "condition".
Whereas with stamps, the condition is very important indeed. I wouldn't add a stamp with pulled perf, or a thin or tear or a crease to my collections - unless as a space filler for something I couldn't possibly afford in good condition. Having said that, I have twice now found on this site stamps I never expected to be able to afford being offered at prices far lower then I'd seen elsewhere.
Login to Like
this post
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re: Question about weeding a cover accumulation
Aamil,
you got lots of good answers here, with Antonio's being, in my mind, the most comprehensive.
I don't know that that answers YOUR question. If it doesn't, please ask again. As you can see, there's 20 guys describing 20 instances of cover collecting, all different.
As Strider mentions, condition is a consideration, but how it's factored depends on what you collect. Bob Ingraham, Antonio, and I all collect auxiliiary markings, often put there because of damage. We like rotten, smelly covers. Jeff Shapiro does too.
If you're trying to amass a collection of used singles, clean crisp covers with well centered stamps is probably ideal; if you're collecting rates or markings, it doesn't matter much, if at all.
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re: Question about weeding a cover accumulation
I forgot to mention that I have an album I refer to as "Cool Stuff". It's a collection of covers that are interesting and I like. There is no other theme to this album, and I've found when I have a non-collector come to my home, this is the first thing I'll show them because there are things of general interest in there.
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