DannyS

13 Apr 2021
02:45:00am

I just watched a YouTube video by Ted Talks Stamps on the acidity of common philatelic accessories. I guess living out in the tropics makes me a bit more sensitive to introducing acid to nearby stamps. He found stamp hinges, glassline envelopes and stock book pockets, and manilla paper to be fairly acidic while most copy papers seemed safe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1gFvCYr244&t=909s

This got me thinking about how our views on the conditions of the back of stamps often doesn't make sense, especially with older stamps. I looked up the acidity of gum arabic, I think a common gum used on early stamps. It has a ph of 4.5 which makes it quite acidic. The logic would be to remove old hinges and the gum from early stamps whether hinged or not, but this would reduce its value considerably.

I shouldn't moan too much as I was quite happy to pick up the 1977 Thai railways set mounted mint for £3 on eBay instead the almost £20 it catalogues unmounted mint here in Thailand. If anyone feels discomfort because someone has written on the back of one of their rare stamps please feel free to send it to me as I will try and find a new home for it

Remember stamp collecting is first and foremost a hobby. The investment value should be secondary.

 
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smauggie

13 Apr 2021
09:23:17am

re: At times our hobby defies logic

I have been involved in some discussions about gum. The consensus is that one day all gum will need to be removed from stamps to preserve them. This is one reason why I have no qualms in collecting used stamps.

 
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Opa

13 Apr 2021
12:00:02pm

re: At times our hobby defies logic

The airmail set from 1936 had the same gum as the Ostropa block.I bought a set with the origal gum. I decided not to remove the gum. The gum or paper have not changed any since I bought them aboutz 30-35 years ago, wouldn´t bend the stamps though.

 
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cdj1122

re: At times our hobby defies logic

" ... When someone asks me what my collection is worth...
I can say 1) i don't know 2) not much 3) with the exception
of my family and. my health...its everything. ..."

I'm the same way, Phil. I never tried to keep track of the
total value. I enjoy the stamps and sets, usually used,
preferably postally used, although that seems to have become
almost impossible these days with so many countries ( ???)
that have essentially non-literate populations emitting so
much postal paper.
I do make a small notation in pencil now and then when I
mount something that cost me more than $20.oo, at the bottom
of the page. But what is such a note worth that was written
on a page of Washington-Franklins fifty or sixty years ago ?
With the birth of the computer age spread sheets are readily
available but from what I have read, it appears that as much
time is spent keeping track of the Wholesale or retail value,
unless the collector prefers the mythological catalog "Value."
The less said about that the better.
My first album was a child's world wide album in about 1944
and I have been at it rather continuously except for the last
high school and first college years.
I prefer soaking, sorting swapping, mounting and, yes, even
just chatting about my accumulations, not record keeping.
In the words of the long past Colonel Greene, a well known
wealthy collector oc the 1920s and '30s, ;
"You do not know what stamps can do to a man."

Apologies to our members of what was once called "the distaff
side," I am fairly sure that Stamping was overwhelmingly a
male avocation.
Here is a note about the then famous Colonel H. R.Green.
" .... Partly from Wikipedia: Edward Howland Robinson "Ned" Green (August 22, 1868 – June 8, 1936), also known as Colonel Green, was an American businessman, the only son of the notorious miser Hetty Green (the "Witch of Wall Street").

Hetty was descended from the Howland and Robinson families, whose fortunes were made in the 19th century New Bedford whaling industry. Hetty inherited millions of dollars as a young woman and devoted her life to shrewd investing and bare-knuckled negotiations. She became one of the wealthiest individuals in the world. Hetty also became infamous for her excessive frugality. It was Hetty's unwillingness to spend money on proper medical treatment that led to the amputation of her teen-age son Edward's left leg. He spent the rest of his life hobbling on a cork prosthetic leg.

When Hetty died at age 81 in June 1916, her estate was variously estimated to be worth between $80 million and $200 million -- more than J.P. Morgan. Hetty's vast assets were divided equally between Edward and his sister, Sylvia. While Sylvia continued her quiet and relatively modest lifestyle, it was Edward, freed from his mother's domination, who went on a massive spending spree. He was also free to marry Mabel Harlow, whom his mother had referred to as "Miss Harlot". Mabel and Edward met in Chicago 24 years earlier when she was practicing her trade as an exotic dancer and prostitute. She left the smitten Edward to marry another man. Some time later, Edward and Mabel reunited in Texas, and he hired the voluptuous redhead to be his "housekeeper" on a more permanent basis.

The Colonel collected stamps in similarly bold manner. He would acquire entire collections intact, including the J. K. Storrow collection of U.S., which cost $77,500 and would probably be worth millions today. His visits to New York City's Nassau Street stamp district were legendary. He would sit in a chauffeured limousine with his artificial leg propped up. Dealers would bring him their offerings, and he would pay in cash. His stamp and coin collections were organized by a corps of young women who called their affectionate employer "Uncle Ned".

When the Colonel died in 1936, his estate became the focus of multi-state battle over death taxes. Four different states claimed that the Colonel was a resident, a problem created by Green lifetime effort to claim residence in Texas while living in other places. After four million words of testimony and 2,855 exhibits, the Supreme Court ultimately decided in favor of Massachusetts, which received $5,250,000 in taxes. The Colonel left his estate to his sister, Sylvia Wilks, who simply added the $30 million to her non-interest bearing checking account at Chase National. His stamp collection was dispersed in a series of 28 auctions over four years, comprising some 50,000 lots.

In 1918, he purchased the sheet of Inverted Jenny stamps from the dealer Eugene Klein for $20,000. On Klein's advice, he broke the sheet up into blocks. He put one stamp in a locket he gave to his wife (Position 9). ...."

 
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DaveSheridan

18 Apr 2021
12:33:31pm

re: At times our hobby defies logic

"At times"?????

Think about what we do. We spend our life, or at least a healthy chunk of it, poring over pieces of paper that have let people send letters.

Slow down and mull that over.

We are weird people!

 
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BenFranklin1902

Tom in Exton, PA
18 Apr 2021
01:07:31pm

re: At times our hobby defies logic

 
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cougar

18 Apr 2021
11:22:17pm

re: At times our hobby defies logic

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philb

19 Apr 2021
08:45:48pm

re: At times our hobby defies logic

i guess we are what we were born to be. I have a friend that spends his time cutting and storing fire wood even though he has enough wood to last him 4 lifetimes.

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cdj1122

re: At times our hobby defies logic

:" ... but also interesting how people wanted to impose
their own values on others! ..."

This country was built by people who wished to be free of other
often oppressive ideas, who once safely here, immediately began
to impose their personal ideas, and beliefs, customs, habits
and even morals, on those who later followed as well as those
whose ancestors had been here for thousands of years.
Philately is not that different.
We are just fortunate that
the fad of mounting stamps on a wall with thumb tacks
fell by the wayside.
I suppose I could say, "It's the American way."

In fact I bet there is somone thinking that my ideA is off topic !
HUZZAR

 
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cdj1122

re: At times our hobby defies logic

" .... I like it my way. ...."

It may have been your friend's brother or a first cousin, but I was showing someone just like that who was aghast that I had a few extra copies of some stamps with different but interesting cancels mounted in the open margins. He was aghast that for some I had one hinged under another. Those are the kind of people who it is much better to avoid, evade or shun for your sense of equanimity.

I am, have been and expect to remain, happy "doin' what comes naturally" for me.

" ....Folks are dumb where I come from,
they ain't got any learnin',
Still they're happy as can be,
Doin' what comes naturally.
Oh ya don't have to know,
How to read or write,
When you're out with a girly,
In the pale moon light.
That comes naturally ! ! ! ....'"

Which has nothing directly to do with the philatelic subject,
but was rattling around in one of the empty corners of my head,
so I thought I'd bedtter share it.

 
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youpiao

27 Apr 2021
08:39:37am

re: At times our hobby defies logic

 
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cdj1122

re: At times our hobby defies logic

" ... our dreams, ideals, and longing for far away places. ..."

Right you are, but add, our memories.

 
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