Perforations on stamps - a big difference in value!

People sometimes wonder why stamps have these perforations, or teeth, and do they really matter in the value of the stamps...the short answer is YES!  Allow me to give you a brief history of perforations that I paraphrased from various sources.  And why you need to have a perforation gauge in your arsenal of stamp tools and stamp accessories.

Until about 1850 all stamps were issued imperforate, and had to be cut from the sheet with scissors or a knife. This was time-consuming and error-prone (as mangled stamps of the era attest). Since then, a perforation machine, based on Henry Archer's original design worked on a "stroke" principle. The arrangement of the pins enabled the top and sides of each stamp across the row to be perforated in a single operation, and this became known as "comb" perforation.

The standard for describing perforation is the number of holes (or the "teeth" or "perfs" of an individual stamp) in a 2-centimeter span. The finest gauge ever used is 18 on stamps of the Malay States in the early 1950s, and the coarsest is 2, seen on the 1891 stamps of Bhopal. Modern stamp perforations tend to range from 11 to 14.

Stamps that are perforated on one pair of opposite sides and imperforate on the other have most often been produced in coils instead of sheets, but they can sometimes come from booklet panes. Booklet panes can be associated with any combination of one, two or three imperforate sides. Sheet edges can produce any one imperforate side or two adjacent imperforate sides when the stamp comes from the corner of the sheet.

Variations include syncopated perforations which are uneven, either skipping a hole or by making some holes larger. In the 1990s, Great Britain began adding large elliptical holes to the perforations on each side, as an anti-counterfeiting measure.

For the stamp collector, perforations matter, not only as a way to distinguish different stamps (a perf 10 may be rarer and more valuable than a perf 11 of the same design), but also as part of the condition of stamps. Short or "nibbed" perfs are undesirable and reduce value, as are bent or creased perfs. Although the collector could count the number of holes using a ruler, the usual practice is to use a simple perforation gauge shown above, which has pre-printed patterns of holes in a selection of common perforations, requiring one merely to line up the stamp's perforations with the closest match.

Then, after many hours of stamp collectors eyes going blurry due to trying to align these little holes, the R&D team at SAFE designed the electronic Perfotronic.  The PERFOtronic automatically measures by rounding up or down to the next 1/4 perforation as shown in stamp catalogs. The processor of the unit is even able to calculate around missing perforations or perforation errors.  

So anyway you look at it, yes perforations are important to stamp collectors, so make sure you always have a perforation gauge with you at all times.  You never know - you might run into a great opportunity to buy a stamp that has a lot higher value than you think.

Just inherited a stamp collection...now what?

My brothers and I just inherited my Grandfather's stamp collection.  It has both used and not used (mint) stamps.  We have been told that it does have some very valuable stamps in it, but quite frankly we don't know which they are.  Can you help us?

The first thing I would suggest you do is organize the collection by country. In order to gather any information about a stamp, you would first need to know what country it is from.  In order to do this, the most cost effective method would be utilizing a stamp stockbook.  These are bound stockbooks (just like a book at the library) that are available in different sizes and configurations. 

You could also purchase stamp stock pages to place inside of a ringbinder as well which many stamp collectors do.  There are also hingeless stamp albums available for your mint stamps which are the optimum way to collect. But in reality, this will cost you more and since you are just trying to get organized, stamp tongs (which are like tweezers) specifically designed for stamps. this will get expensive. When you are placing a stamp in any type of system, you should use stamp tongs.

Lastly, once you are organized you could then either bring the collection to a local stamp dealer, or alternatively try to first value the stamps themselves using Scott Catalogs which are the industry standard.  These books, though quite expensive, do provide current market values of stamps.  These are all organized by country which is why I suggested this method earlier. 

I wish you all the best with your new collection.  Hope you and your family enjoy all the work and effort your grandfather put in building your collection!

Watermarks on stamps - cool!

People ask me all the time about watermarks and watermark detectors - some collectors don't even know that they exist on stamps.  Most modern stamps do not have watermarks on them, most likely due to the cost of manufacture.  A watermark is typically impressed on the base paper by a "DANDY" roller, which contains the watermark design, during the early stages of paper manufacturing. 

Since the same stamp could catalog at 10 cents or $1,000 all depending on the WATERMARK, it becomes imperative that you know i your stamp has the watermark or not.  Stamps sometimes come with the watermark imprinted inverted or sideways or inverted on the same stamp design.  And collectors value them differently.

Now on to how to find out if your stamp has a watermark.  The oldest and least expensive method is using watermark fluid and a watermark tray.  You simply place the stamp face down in the tray, and place a small amount of watermark fluid on the back of the stamp.  Hopefully the watermark can be seen.  The fluid then evaporates, leaving your stamp unharmed, just needing to dry.  A time consuming process to see many stamps.  Not to mention, the difficult in analyzing the design of the watermark.

This is why SAFE invented the Signoscope.  The world's first optic, electric watermark detector.  It operates only on glass, pressure and light.  No fluid is required and your stamps are never endangered.  You simply place the stamp in the tray, tighten the pressure, turn on the light and you see the watermark (or not).

These watermark detectors have the added benefit of being able to detect even slight variations in the thickness of the paper, making it very effective at spotting repairs and forgeries.  Even as simple as whether the stamp has been hinged in the past.  

To this day after 25 years of using the Signoscopes, I am amazed by their simplicity and convenience.   They have paid for themselves over and over!

           

What are my stamps worth...

I get calls weekly (as do many other dealers), asking how can they get a value of their stamp collection.  This question is usually posed by someone who is new to stamp collecting many times by virtue of an inheritance of a grandparent or someone else they were close to.  They could have received these in single approval cards, but usually they are found in a stamp stockbook, or printed stamp album.

Stamp collecting is not exactly a new trend sweeping through the world; In fact, philately (or the study of stamps), and stamp collecting have been of interest to many enthusiasts for over centuries. In fact, the American Philatelic Society (APS), which is the biggest congregation of philatelists and stamp enthusiasts in the world has over 40,000 members, was established in the year 1886.

However, the standards by which the marketability and collectable worth of stamps have more or less remained constant. Stamps, generally, are determined as worthy of being collected on the basis of the quality of the stamp and rarity.

Under the qualification of quality is firstly the physical wholeness of the stamp. In effect, it must not be creased, folded, and must still have complete perforated sides. In addition, considerations on its centeredness have the capacity to jack the prices up or drive them down. Centeredness means that the design is placed in equal distances from the perforated edges on all sides. An alternate definition for centeredness is that the perforated area under the design is much larger in measure than the one at the top.   These perforations are measured and cataloged using a perforation gauge.

Color also plays a huge factor in the quality of the stamp. Consistent exposure to the sun and wrong storage methods can cause the color of the design to fade. Moreover, many amateur stamp collectors make the mistake of soaking stamps to remove them from the paper without taking into consideration the ink used to print the stamp and the ink of the cancellation on a used stamp. Stamps issued before the 1940s were printed using fugitive ink, which runs in water. Other times, a used stamp will have a cancellation that runs on water. Soaking the stamp will cause the cancellation’s ink to run into the design, completely compromising the quality of the stamp.  When drying the stamps, many people use a stamp drying press or stamp drying book.

Aside from that, the condition of the gum or adhesive film at the back of the stamp is also taken into consideration. A stamp with its gum more or less still intact is much better than one that has been severely damaged by licking and sticking.

A mint or unused stamp has equal chances of being as expensive as a used stamp, and this is best determined by the availability of the stamp. A stamp with lesser propensity of being used on letters would be more expensive if it were acquired as a used stamp; a stamp, on the other hand, that was used in letters in huge volumes would obviously be much more expensive in its mint condition.

The exception to this general rule of thumb is stamps that were already acquired at a steep price. These stamps, acquired expensive even when they are used, will likely to have prices hiked if the great demand to acquire it continues to increase.

However, there may be great difficulty in trying to assess objectively the possible market value or worth of a stamp. Expert philatelists who are connoisseurs in stamp valuations are most likely able to objectively assess the worth of the stamp.

These expert philatelists are not very hard to find. They are usually some of the stamp enthusiasts who’ve had much experience in trading, selling, and collecting stamps. Their services are made most accessible to members of philatelic clubs of which they are part. Some associations that afford their members the services of expert philatelists include the American Philatelic Society (APS) and the American Stamp Dealers Association (ASDA).

On the other hand, other options are of greater accessibility especially to amateur stamp collectors. Across the country, most libraries have more or less an extensive collection of stamp catalogues that help guide stamp enthusiasts in finding out the various stamps issued under a particular theme or subject classification. Moreover, stamp catalogues contain a wealth of information as regards a certain price level for which these stamps are sold in the market.

Usually, stamp prices are a little bit higher than how they would be sold by individual sellers. Nonetheless, these catalogues are useful guides when it comes to at least being aware of what price range the stamp would fall under.  The most commonplace stamp catalogues available in the libraries include the US-based Scott, Britain's Stanley Gibbons, and Germany's Michel Catalog.

Stamps or Covers...why not both?

A recent collector said to me this past week, "I have a collection of about 500 stamps and some are individual but many are still on envelopes (covers).   I want to display my entire collection - what do you recommend?"

Besides having individual stamps, covers or more specifically, postal stationary, has become a widely growing area.  There is so much history that can be on any of these envelopes, a famous person, a town from a bygone area, interesting postal cancellations....

This collector actually has a wide range of choices.  It depends on whether they would like the First Day Covers stored in the same album as your stamps, or if they would like to store them separately.  In all of our stamp album systems, we have pages that will fit covers (2 and 3 pocket pages), along with pages for individual stamps with 6 to 8 strips on a page.  You simply select a ringbinder in one of these systems, and the number of pages of each style you need to basically create your own customized album with pages for each.

Alternatively, you could purchase a separate stockbook for stamps .  A 32 page model stockbook would most likely fit 500 stamps, but you might want to consider a 64 page stockbook to allow room for growth.

And then lastly you could purchase a separate cover album for all of the envelopes you have.  All of our postal stationary albums include some of the same systems for stamps mentioned above, but some are just made for covers specifically.  With SAFE, you have endless solutions.