Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
How do you open your incoming mail and where do you open it: Sharp knife, letter opening, scissors? Eagerly tear open by hand? Left side? Right side? Top? Bottom. Under the envelope flap.
Just curious.
Bruce
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Sharp Swiss Army knife - Stamp side first along top - I start there in case I am over zealous with the blade and ruin the stamps.
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Old fashioned letter opener. I turn the envelope around and do as you do. However, if the stamps are ones I want to keep, I open the envelope at the bottom or side without stamps using a razor knife. I keep stamps like that on cover; I rarely soak them off any more.
Peter
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I usually tear the envelope. I don't much care about the modern stamps I toss in the trash. I'll probably regret that one day though when they are classics.
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Letter opener. Top left to bottom. Save everything including modern postage labels
Collector or pack rat .. You decide
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If it is a cover I would like to keep I use scissors to cut off a hair's width off the non-stamp edge of the cover.
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I open envelopes at the top with a sharp object if it is a keeper. If I cut the stamps from the envelope, it does not really matter how I open the envelope, right?
I do not recommend reducing the envelope by cutting a strip from the envelope to open at left or top. Many cover collectors will consider these envelopes damaged and inferior to those opened without reduction.
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09:59:47am
" ...Many cover collectors will consider these envelopes damaged and inferior to those opened without reduction. ..."
Yes, that would be their good excuse to offer a lower amount during a negotiation.
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Letter opener almost always. Sometimes I will use a scissors to cut off one edge of the envelope if there is tape present at that edge.
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If it's a bill I favor a Chainsaw right down the middle. Otherwise, I have a nice very sharp 6" mini Damascus Steel Sword that I have been using for 25 years! 
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"a nice very sharp 6" mini Damascus Steel Sword "
does it look like this Toledo?
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Very similar, I have one like that as well. .
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10:27:52pm
Michael
I have 3 just like the one you show. My parents brought them back from Spain in the early 60s.
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Aren't these cool.... I found mine in an antique store for $6.00...... I also have a set of 18 Hors d'oeuvre skewers in an umbrella like holder..... skewers look same as the letter opener. The swords skewers have slight differences and the holder is very ornate.... I have never seen anything like these on-line
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For those who are just tossing modern stamps on mail into the trash, if they're commemoratives, they're pretty desirable to others.
If they're common definitives, they could really be used at the Holocaust Project:
http://www.foxboroughrcs.org/students-families/frcs-holocaust-stamp-project/
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I certainly agree with everyone that opposes "throwing stamps in the trash". We have many requests for stamps and remember "one stamp collectors trash is another stamp collectors treasure".
Back to the subject of opening mail at home; while not as elaborate as a Damascus sword, I use a Japanese 8" sword for the purpose of opening mail and have had it for many years. There used to be a tassel on one end, but that went by the wayside several years ago!
Mike
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Mini Tanto, another good one, I like it. 
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"For those who are just tossing modern stamps on mail into the trash, if they're commemoratives, they're pretty desirable to others.
If they're common definitives, they could really be used at the Holocaust Project:
http://www.foxboroughrcs.org/students-families/frcs-holocaust-stamp-project/
"
I get a very small number letters a year with US stamps on them, all definitives that I can recall. Not worth the time IMO to even think about it. That may seem strange for a stamp collector to have that attitude, but that's mine.
Now I will keep the stamps (and cover) sometimes from a shipment of stamps or supplies I order that the thoughtful seller applied.
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I try to open at the bottom with a letter opener. This is not always possible then I very carefully open at the top with a very sharp small swiss army knife.
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I use the scissors and I cut it from the left side. (the other side of the stamps)
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I bought this dagger from a friend at work who sold knives. It makes a nifty envelope opener and discourages sneaks from putting my good stamps on the utility bills. heh heh
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02:59:09pm
I use a very sharp pocket knife to slit open envelopes I receive in the mail, the ones I want to keep, that is. Unless the sender has gone tape crazy, I find the top corner opposite where the stamps are placed, and insert the knife there, working my way downward to the bottom corner along the natural fold line of the envelope.
How do you open your incoming mail and where do you open it: Sharp knife, letter opening, scissors? Eagerly tear open by hand? Left side? Right side? Top? Bottom. Under the envelope flap.
Just curious.
Bruce
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re: Opening Mail At Home
Sharp Swiss Army knife - Stamp side first along top - I start there in case I am over zealous with the blade and ruin the stamps.
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03:50:18pm
re: Opening Mail At Home
Old fashioned letter opener. I turn the envelope around and do as you do. However, if the stamps are ones I want to keep, I open the envelope at the bottom or side without stamps using a razor knife. I keep stamps like that on cover; I rarely soak them off any more.
Peter
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re: Opening Mail At Home
I usually tear the envelope. I don't much care about the modern stamps I toss in the trash. I'll probably regret that one day though when they are classics.
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this post
11:26:59pm
re: Opening Mail At Home
Letter opener. Top left to bottom. Save everything including modern postage labels
Collector or pack rat .. You decide
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this post
re: Opening Mail At Home
If it is a cover I would like to keep I use scissors to cut off a hair's width off the non-stamp edge of the cover.
2 Members
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re: Opening Mail At Home
I open envelopes at the top with a sharp object if it is a keeper. If I cut the stamps from the envelope, it does not really matter how I open the envelope, right?
I do not recommend reducing the envelope by cutting a strip from the envelope to open at left or top. Many cover collectors will consider these envelopes damaged and inferior to those opened without reduction.
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
22 Mar 2014
09:59:47am
re: Opening Mail At Home
" ...Many cover collectors will consider these envelopes damaged and inferior to those opened without reduction. ..."
Yes, that would be their good excuse to offer a lower amount during a negotiation.
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11:13:10pm
re: Opening Mail At Home
Letter opener almost always. Sometimes I will use a scissors to cut off one edge of the envelope if there is tape present at that edge.
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12:12:26am
re: Opening Mail At Home
If it's a bill I favor a Chainsaw right down the middle. Otherwise, I have a nice very sharp 6" mini Damascus Steel Sword that I have been using for 25 years!
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re: Opening Mail At Home
"a nice very sharp 6" mini Damascus Steel Sword "
does it look like this Toledo?
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08:35:57pm
re: Opening Mail At Home
Very similar, I have one like that as well. .
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
23 Mar 2014
10:27:52pm
re: Opening Mail At Home
Michael
I have 3 just like the one you show. My parents brought them back from Spain in the early 60s.
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re: Opening Mail At Home
Aren't these cool.... I found mine in an antique store for $6.00...... I also have a set of 18 Hors d'oeuvre skewers in an umbrella like holder..... skewers look same as the letter opener. The swords skewers have slight differences and the holder is very ornate.... I have never seen anything like these on-line
Login to Like
this post
re: Opening Mail At Home
For those who are just tossing modern stamps on mail into the trash, if they're commemoratives, they're pretty desirable to others.
If they're common definitives, they could really be used at the Holocaust Project:
http://www.foxboroughrcs.org/students-families/frcs-holocaust-stamp-project/
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re: Opening Mail At Home
I certainly agree with everyone that opposes "throwing stamps in the trash". We have many requests for stamps and remember "one stamp collectors trash is another stamp collectors treasure".
Back to the subject of opening mail at home; while not as elaborate as a Damascus sword, I use a Japanese 8" sword for the purpose of opening mail and have had it for many years. There used to be a tassel on one end, but that went by the wayside several years ago!
Mike
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08:57:49am
re: Opening Mail At Home
Mini Tanto, another good one, I like it.
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re: Opening Mail At Home
"For those who are just tossing modern stamps on mail into the trash, if they're commemoratives, they're pretty desirable to others.
If they're common definitives, they could really be used at the Holocaust Project:
http://www.foxboroughrcs.org/students-families/frcs-holocaust-stamp-project/
"
I get a very small number letters a year with US stamps on them, all definitives that I can recall. Not worth the time IMO to even think about it. That may seem strange for a stamp collector to have that attitude, but that's mine.
Now I will keep the stamps (and cover) sometimes from a shipment of stamps or supplies I order that the thoughtful seller applied.
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this post
re: Opening Mail At Home
I try to open at the bottom with a letter opener. This is not always possible then I very carefully open at the top with a very sharp small swiss army knife.
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this post
10:26:39am
re: Opening Mail At Home
I use the scissors and I cut it from the left side. (the other side of the stamps)
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re: Opening Mail At Home
I bought this dagger from a friend at work who sold knives. It makes a nifty envelope opener and discourages sneaks from putting my good stamps on the utility bills. heh heh
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