Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Scott number but not this. Why would anyone spend so much time doing all
this on the back of stamps and in what appears to be a fine felt tip pen?
Must of had a lot of time on their hands.
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Unfortunately there are a few numbskulls in the world.
I recently bought some British Commonwealth First Day covers from the 1960's. Half of them had been put in ring binders. Not in plastic pockets but having holes punched in them!!!!
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ouch- that hurt my soul
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Ugh...
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Question from Josh: Why??
Answer: from your local stamp dealer....
We still see the very odd item like this at the shop. Fortunately, this does not happen much anymore, but up until the mid- to late-1970s, a number of people (mostly men) entered the hobby for the first time.
1. They never read a book about "How To Collect Stamps".
2. They never went to a stamp club or met with a fellow collector.
3. They never read a stamp collecting magazine or Newspaper like Canadian Stamp News, Linn's Stamp News, etc.
4. They had no concept of condition, or preserving what they had for furure generations.
5. They did think they were going to get rich.
Fortunately, most of them are long gone, and the average person entering the hobby to-day really does read-up (on-line perhaps) and gets the fundamentals of the hobby.
David Giles
Chris Green Stamps
Ottawa, Ont, Canada
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Remember... it is a hobby and different strokes for different folks. If a person wants to drop a couple of hundred thousand on an inverted Jenny and put it in his album with scotch tape... that's his perogative! 
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"If a person wants to drop a couple of hundred thousand on an inverted Jenny and put it in his album with scotch tape... that's his perogative! Laughing"
Not only is he a bad collector, also a lousy investor.
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I have seen plenty of that through the years. I have also seen the backs of stamps used as a value ledger, with the back of the stamp just about full of writing like the image above. Left side catalogue year. The right side, the catalogue value. Of course with all that writing on the back, the value was nullified.
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02:59:53am
" .... Fortunately, this does not happen much anymore, but up until the mid- to late-1970s, a number of people (mostly men) entered the hobby for the first time. ...."
Yes for about fifty years the hobby was full of "Investors" (a la Joseph Granville ) who actually were the cause of the Mint-Never in the same room as a hinge, matched plate block craze. Today, thanks to them there are still unsold reserves of MNH sheets being sold as discount postage at just about every show and stampstore I have ever visited.
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"Writing on reverse side of stamp. Why ?"
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For myself I abhor even a pencilled number on the reverse, can cope with a hinge or hinge mark but hate those numbers, some of which are now incorrect as catalogues have changed over the years.
Even the softest of erasers (rubbers for the UK readers)will damage the paper.
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Some of it may have been for trading purposes..when exchanging stamps stamps by mail.
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It looks to me like the collector who wrote on the stamps was knowledgeable enough to identify the stamps using a Scott catalog. The numbers and descriptive info match corresponding Iceland Scott numbers and descriptions.
Why? My guess is that the person did not mount his/her stamps in an album but had enough of them that he/she could not remember the data for each, hence the writing on the reverse to avoid having to re-search the catalog for an item at some point in the future.
Writing on the back of used stamps is not a crime, however, doing so in anything other than pencil is not considered good collecting practice, and as noted by some above, even pencil notes are verboten. It is just the way some people collect and we need to let it go.
FF
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We may jeer but we are in a hobby with MNH and MH where logic on aging stamps would point towards the removal of gum being in the best interests of condition.
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I found an earlier discussion on this board here :
https://stamporama.com/discboard/disc_main.php?action=20&id=5993
I personally also think that there should be no notes on the back of a stamp.
An exception to this are the expertise stamps, which is common in Germany.
Certified by Dr Stein and Tust
Today, however, more and more certificates and "kurz-befunden" are issued.
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My mantra - first do no harm!
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In a postage lot I bought once was a run of 1950s plate blocks that each had the Scott number written n pen on the selvage.
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Found hundreds of these in a box lot purchase.I can understand a penciled
Scott number but not this. Why would anyone spend so much time doing all
this on the back of stamps and in what appears to be a fine felt tip pen?
Must of had a lot of time on their hands.
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11:23:03am
Approvals
re: Why??
Unfortunately there are a few numbskulls in the world.
I recently bought some British Commonwealth First Day covers from the 1960's. Half of them had been put in ring binders. Not in plastic pockets but having holes punched in them!!!!
Login to Like
this post
re: Why??
Question from Josh: Why??
Answer: from your local stamp dealer....
We still see the very odd item like this at the shop. Fortunately, this does not happen much anymore, but up until the mid- to late-1970s, a number of people (mostly men) entered the hobby for the first time.
1. They never read a book about "How To Collect Stamps".
2. They never went to a stamp club or met with a fellow collector.
3. They never read a stamp collecting magazine or Newspaper like Canadian Stamp News, Linn's Stamp News, etc.
4. They had no concept of condition, or preserving what they had for furure generations.
5. They did think they were going to get rich.
Fortunately, most of them are long gone, and the average person entering the hobby to-day really does read-up (on-line perhaps) and gets the fundamentals of the hobby.
David Giles
Chris Green Stamps
Ottawa, Ont, Canada
3 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
re: Why??
Remember... it is a hobby and different strokes for different folks. If a person wants to drop a couple of hundred thousand on an inverted Jenny and put it in his album with scotch tape... that's his perogative!
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
Approvals
re: Why??
"If a person wants to drop a couple of hundred thousand on an inverted Jenny and put it in his album with scotch tape... that's his perogative! Laughing"
Not only is he a bad collector, also a lousy investor.
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10:10:34pm
re: Why??
I have seen plenty of that through the years. I have also seen the backs of stamps used as a value ledger, with the back of the stamp just about full of writing like the image above. Left side catalogue year. The right side, the catalogue value. Of course with all that writing on the back, the value was nullified.
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
04 Oct 2020
02:59:53am
re: Why??
" .... Fortunately, this does not happen much anymore, but up until the mid- to late-1970s, a number of people (mostly men) entered the hobby for the first time. ...."
Yes for about fifty years the hobby was full of "Investors" (a la Joseph Granville ) who actually were the cause of the Mint-Never in the same room as a hinge, matched plate block craze. Today, thanks to them there are still unsold reserves of MNH sheets being sold as discount postage at just about every show and stampstore I have ever visited.
Login to Like
this post
re: Why??
"Writing on reverse side of stamp. Why ?"
Login to Like
this post
re: Why??
For myself I abhor even a pencilled number on the reverse, can cope with a hinge or hinge mark but hate those numbers, some of which are now incorrect as catalogues have changed over the years.
Even the softest of erasers (rubbers for the UK readers)will damage the paper.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: Why??
Some of it may have been for trading purposes..when exchanging stamps stamps by mail.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: Why??
It looks to me like the collector who wrote on the stamps was knowledgeable enough to identify the stamps using a Scott catalog. The numbers and descriptive info match corresponding Iceland Scott numbers and descriptions.
Why? My guess is that the person did not mount his/her stamps in an album but had enough of them that he/she could not remember the data for each, hence the writing on the reverse to avoid having to re-search the catalog for an item at some point in the future.
Writing on the back of used stamps is not a crime, however, doing so in anything other than pencil is not considered good collecting practice, and as noted by some above, even pencil notes are verboten. It is just the way some people collect and we need to let it go.
FF
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this post
re: Why??
We may jeer but we are in a hobby with MNH and MH where logic on aging stamps would point towards the removal of gum being in the best interests of condition.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: Why??
I found an earlier discussion on this board here :
https://stamporama.com/discboard/disc_main.php?action=20&id=5993
I personally also think that there should be no notes on the back of a stamp.
An exception to this are the expertise stamps, which is common in Germany.
Certified by Dr Stein and Tust
Today, however, more and more certificates and "kurz-befunden" are issued.
Login to Like
this post
re: Why??
My mantra - first do no harm!
2 Members
like this post.
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re: Why??
In a postage lot I bought once was a run of 1950s plate blocks that each had the Scott number written n pen on the selvage.
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this post