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Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
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if they are on COVERS, rather than on piece, i'd leave them right where they are. Common stamps are likely to have lots more value, to someone, on cover than soaked. If they are on piece, it's up to you. Were it me, and I didn't need them, I wouldn't bother UNLESS I was using this a learning experience for soaking.
if that doesn't answer your question, ask more
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Nope, not on covers, just pieces.
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The older (pre-Machin) QEII come in several different watermarks, and also experimental graphite lines on the back. It can be difficult to properly ID the stamp if it is still on piece.
Still, I personally dislike to soak stamps. I put 99% of the stamps I get on paper in a cigar box. About once a year the box is full and I auction them off.
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I find that soaking stamps is not a big deal, but there are obviously better ways for me to spend my time.
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02:15:59am
There are nights when I sleep for several hours and then wake up after the witching hour. No sense in trying to go back to sleep. I might read a book or fool with mounting some stamps. I might find something absorbing on the Sundance Channel or The Independent Network, The History Channel or NGC, but if I have a box of used stamps on paper, I will probably fire up the coffee pot, get some quiet classical music playing and simply wile away the hours soaking the stamps, drying and sorting into glassines. Often I will find an interesting postmark, a SOTN or just a common stamp that I like. Either way, I'll soon tire and can slip quietly back into the soft welcoming arms of Morpheus.
Since you are just getting back into collecting, Ray, I'd suggest at least holding the on-paper stamps because every so often you will discover some minor variety of a common stamp that you were not aware of and you will be able to dig back through such accumulations seeking that elusive variation.
A good example of this are the British "Wildings" of Queen Elizabeth, issued 1953 to about 1967, that were mentioned by Michael. There are three basic sets, differing by water mark, but then, the watermark crown may be inverted, or sideways pointing left or right. The last set may have the mentioned graphite lines on the reverse, or phosphor bands on the front, or even a few with both phosphor and graphite lines. And then some of these also exist with the watermark inverted or sideways as well.
Most of these also exist with broad inked bars on the front to show they were used by Postal training facilities, Just these major varieties of the common Wildings can fill several album pages with about 170 stamps.
The Red Wilding also was reprinted recently as a part of a celebratory souvenir sheetlet with a a 1st NVI value that has what the Brits call the "Wonkie" watermark, meaning "diagonally."
Then there are examples that were overprinted for use in Tangiers or Morocco, Kuwait or Bahrain and several that were given decimal values and issued on small panes.
Another similar example is the 1995-'97 "Flag Over Porch" US 32¢ issue.
We can collect the 12 primary varieties but with a little work a collector learns that there are over 60 variations of this stamp.
Even those simple looking Karsh Portraits of the Queen on Canada stamps that start with five different stamps can be explored and about 30 varieties found.
So before you toss those inexpensive definitives into the trash or give them away, wait till you have discovered all the possibilities.
And then there are the Machin Heads of Queen Elizabeth II and the several thousand totally absorbing collectable varieties of postally used singles, but that is a story for another night.
Charlie Jensen
Lecanto, Florida
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Amen to CDJ's post!
I never throw a stamp out unless it is damaged in some way. I seldom keep stamps on piece unless it is a complete and interesting cover. And to add to his examples, in looking through the Canadian 1967 QEII Centennials, I have found several copies of the "blinkie, gazer and zombie" varieties of the 2 cent green and other plate flaws in the 8 cent and 15 cent values. You need to get an old Darnell catalogue to know about these varieties because some of them don't show up in Unitrade.
Just goes to show that you never know what you will find in even the most common of stamps. So, I would never file them away without checking them. I suppose it's not necessary to soak them but, like CDJ, there are times when this activity can be therapeutic.
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Ray:
I place all my stamps on paper in a box located adjacent to my wine cabinet. Every time I am at contretemps concerning "soaking", I top up my wine glass and consider the human condition, such as it is. My dear wife insists it is not the stamps that are soaking.
I am certain that you will adopt my practice.
John Derry
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John:
I absolutely love your approach--far less compulsive & demanding than mine, which is: put stamps on paper in a box; at irregular intervals feel compelled to soak those suckers until the box is empty. THEN try and sort them. I haven't tried the glass of vino approach, but I will definitely try it.
Roger
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12:47:25pm
My approach is even simpler. Since I do not collect anything after 1940, I just put them in a zip-lock bag, and when it gets full, donate it to a youth group I know of - let them soak 'em!
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Well, I've continued to soak them, and found some in better shape than ones already in my collection. However, I think I might try the vino approach. But since I've never acquired a taste for vino, I'll use beer instead.
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take the path of yeast resistance and hop to it with barley a second's delay
daVINd
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03:25:55pm
groannnnnnnn! puns already? 
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at least the moderator didn't boot me or ban me for life
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YET.
That's a boot in the bun for a pun that was beerly funny.
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05:52:45pm
My little dears, who learn to read, pray early learn to shun,
The very silly thing indeed, which people call a pun,
Read Entick’s rules and ‘twill be found how simple an offense,
It is to make the self same sound afford a double sense.
For instance ale may make you ail, your aunt an ant may kill,
You in a vale, may buy a veil, and Bill may pay the bill,
Or if to France your barque you steer, at Dover it may be,
A peer appears upon the pier, who, blind may go to sea.
Thus one might say, when to treat good friends accept our greeting,
‘Tis meet that men who meet to eat should eat their meat when meeting,
Brawn on the board’s no bore indeed, although from boar prepared,
Nor can the fowl on which we feed, foul feeding be declared.
Thus one ripe fruit may be a pear, and yet be pared again,
And still be one, which seemeth rare, until we do explain,
It therefore should be all your aim to speak with ample care,
For who, however fond of game, should choose to swallow hair.
A fat man’s gait may make us smile who have no gate to close,
A farmer sitting on his style, no stylish person knows,
Perfumers, men of scents must be, some Scilly men are bright,
A brown man oft deep read we see, a black a wicked wight.
Most wealthy men good manners have, however vulgar they,
And actors still the harder slave, the oftener they play,
So poets can’t the baize obtain, unless their tailors choose,
While grooms and coachmen, not in vain, each evening seek the Mews.
The dyer who by dying lives, a dire life maintains,
The glazier, it is known, receives his profits from his panes,
By gardeners Thyme is tied, ‘tis true, when spring is in its prime,
But time and tide won’t wait for you, if you are tied for time.
Then now you see, my little dears, the way to make a pun,
A trick which you, through coming years, should sedulously shun,
The fault admits of no defense, for wheresoe’er found,
You sacrifice sound for sense, the sense is never sound,
So let your words and actions too, one single meaning prove,
And just in all you say and do you’ll gain esteem and love,
In mirth and play no harm you’ll know when duty’s task is done,
But parents ne’er should let you go unpunished for a pun.
Thomas Edward Hook 1800
NOTESL::
"ENTICK's Rules = A 19th century book of grammar.
"Scilly man" = From the Scilly Isles at the southwest tip of England.
"baize" = a soft felt like cloth.
Mews = Stables
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I got hooked into reading that!
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Lovely Charlie. Your memory for these wonderful words of wit is phenomenal and you should be on the stage......the next one leaves in ten minutes. LOL
And then there was the guy who sent twenty different puns to his friends, with the hope that at least ten of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.
Mike
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03:10:21pm
Damn, David! See what you started! Now the whole Stamporama website will be infected with the "pun" virus.
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We like to share it. So, have pun on us.
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4 lines of Starkist was all I could handle. I would tell you my favorite joke but this place is notorious for no sense of humor.
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I'm just reviving a stamp collection I had as a teen, and I'm going through bags of pretty common stamps. Is it worthwhile to soak common definitive stamps off their envelopes? I'm talking about QEII heads from Great Britain in the 1950s, Franco on 1950s Spanish stamps, QEII on Canadian stamps from the 1950s. I seem to have dozens and dozens of these. Should I leave them on the paper and stick them in a closet somewhere, or soak them off even though everyone probably has their own multiples of these as well.
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re: Should I even bother to soak definitives?
if they are on COVERS, rather than on piece, i'd leave them right where they are. Common stamps are likely to have lots more value, to someone, on cover than soaked. If they are on piece, it's up to you. Were it me, and I didn't need them, I wouldn't bother UNLESS I was using this a learning experience for soaking.
if that doesn't answer your question, ask more
Login to Like
this post
re: Should I even bother to soak definitives?
Nope, not on covers, just pieces.
Login to Like
this post
re: Should I even bother to soak definitives?
The older (pre-Machin) QEII come in several different watermarks, and also experimental graphite lines on the back. It can be difficult to properly ID the stamp if it is still on piece.
Still, I personally dislike to soak stamps. I put 99% of the stamps I get on paper in a cigar box. About once a year the box is full and I auction them off.
Login to Like
this post
re: Should I even bother to soak definitives?
I find that soaking stamps is not a big deal, but there are obviously better ways for me to spend my time.
Login to Like
this post
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
09 Mar 2013
02:15:59am
re: Should I even bother to soak definitives?
There are nights when I sleep for several hours and then wake up after the witching hour. No sense in trying to go back to sleep. I might read a book or fool with mounting some stamps. I might find something absorbing on the Sundance Channel or The Independent Network, The History Channel or NGC, but if I have a box of used stamps on paper, I will probably fire up the coffee pot, get some quiet classical music playing and simply wile away the hours soaking the stamps, drying and sorting into glassines. Often I will find an interesting postmark, a SOTN or just a common stamp that I like. Either way, I'll soon tire and can slip quietly back into the soft welcoming arms of Morpheus.
Since you are just getting back into collecting, Ray, I'd suggest at least holding the on-paper stamps because every so often you will discover some minor variety of a common stamp that you were not aware of and you will be able to dig back through such accumulations seeking that elusive variation.
A good example of this are the British "Wildings" of Queen Elizabeth, issued 1953 to about 1967, that were mentioned by Michael. There are three basic sets, differing by water mark, but then, the watermark crown may be inverted, or sideways pointing left or right. The last set may have the mentioned graphite lines on the reverse, or phosphor bands on the front, or even a few with both phosphor and graphite lines. And then some of these also exist with the watermark inverted or sideways as well.
Most of these also exist with broad inked bars on the front to show they were used by Postal training facilities, Just these major varieties of the common Wildings can fill several album pages with about 170 stamps.
The Red Wilding also was reprinted recently as a part of a celebratory souvenir sheetlet with a a 1st NVI value that has what the Brits call the "Wonkie" watermark, meaning "diagonally."
Then there are examples that were overprinted for use in Tangiers or Morocco, Kuwait or Bahrain and several that were given decimal values and issued on small panes.
Another similar example is the 1995-'97 "Flag Over Porch" US 32¢ issue.
We can collect the 12 primary varieties but with a little work a collector learns that there are over 60 variations of this stamp.
Even those simple looking Karsh Portraits of the Queen on Canada stamps that start with five different stamps can be explored and about 30 varieties found.
So before you toss those inexpensive definitives into the trash or give them away, wait till you have discovered all the possibilities.
And then there are the Machin Heads of Queen Elizabeth II and the several thousand totally absorbing collectable varieties of postally used singles, but that is a story for another night.
Charlie Jensen
Lecanto, Florida
Login to Like
this post
08:10:37pm
re: Should I even bother to soak definitives?
Amen to CDJ's post!
I never throw a stamp out unless it is damaged in some way. I seldom keep stamps on piece unless it is a complete and interesting cover. And to add to his examples, in looking through the Canadian 1967 QEII Centennials, I have found several copies of the "blinkie, gazer and zombie" varieties of the 2 cent green and other plate flaws in the 8 cent and 15 cent values. You need to get an old Darnell catalogue to know about these varieties because some of them don't show up in Unitrade.
Just goes to show that you never know what you will find in even the most common of stamps. So, I would never file them away without checking them. I suppose it's not necessary to soak them but, like CDJ, there are times when this activity can be therapeutic.
Login to Like
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The past is a foreign country, they do things different there.
19 Mar 2013
01:24:23am
re: Should I even bother to soak definitives?
Ray:
I place all my stamps on paper in a box located adjacent to my wine cabinet. Every time I am at contretemps concerning "soaking", I top up my wine glass and consider the human condition, such as it is. My dear wife insists it is not the stamps that are soaking.
I am certain that you will adopt my practice.
John Derry
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: Should I even bother to soak definitives?
John:
I absolutely love your approach--far less compulsive & demanding than mine, which is: put stamps on paper in a box; at irregular intervals feel compelled to soak those suckers until the box is empty. THEN try and sort them. I haven't tried the glass of vino approach, but I will definitely try it.
Roger
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
19 Mar 2013
12:47:25pm
re: Should I even bother to soak definitives?
My approach is even simpler. Since I do not collect anything after 1940, I just put them in a zip-lock bag, and when it gets full, donate it to a youth group I know of - let them soak 'em!
Login to Like
this post
re: Should I even bother to soak definitives?
Well, I've continued to soak them, and found some in better shape than ones already in my collection. However, I think I might try the vino approach. But since I've never acquired a taste for vino, I'll use beer instead.
Login to Like
this post
Auctions
re: Should I even bother to soak definitives?
take the path of yeast resistance and hop to it with barley a second's delay
daVINd
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this post
They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
19 Mar 2013
03:25:55pm
re: Should I even bother to soak definitives?
groannnnnnnn! puns already?
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re: Should I even bother to soak definitives?
at least the moderator didn't boot me or ban me for life
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re: Should I even bother to soak definitives?
YET.
That's a boot in the bun for a pun that was beerly funny.
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this post
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
19 Mar 2013
05:52:45pm
re: Should I even bother to soak definitives?
My little dears, who learn to read, pray early learn to shun,
The very silly thing indeed, which people call a pun,
Read Entick’s rules and ‘twill be found how simple an offense,
It is to make the self same sound afford a double sense.
For instance ale may make you ail, your aunt an ant may kill,
You in a vale, may buy a veil, and Bill may pay the bill,
Or if to France your barque you steer, at Dover it may be,
A peer appears upon the pier, who, blind may go to sea.
Thus one might say, when to treat good friends accept our greeting,
‘Tis meet that men who meet to eat should eat their meat when meeting,
Brawn on the board’s no bore indeed, although from boar prepared,
Nor can the fowl on which we feed, foul feeding be declared.
Thus one ripe fruit may be a pear, and yet be pared again,
And still be one, which seemeth rare, until we do explain,
It therefore should be all your aim to speak with ample care,
For who, however fond of game, should choose to swallow hair.
A fat man’s gait may make us smile who have no gate to close,
A farmer sitting on his style, no stylish person knows,
Perfumers, men of scents must be, some Scilly men are bright,
A brown man oft deep read we see, a black a wicked wight.
Most wealthy men good manners have, however vulgar they,
And actors still the harder slave, the oftener they play,
So poets can’t the baize obtain, unless their tailors choose,
While grooms and coachmen, not in vain, each evening seek the Mews.
The dyer who by dying lives, a dire life maintains,
The glazier, it is known, receives his profits from his panes,
By gardeners Thyme is tied, ‘tis true, when spring is in its prime,
But time and tide won’t wait for you, if you are tied for time.
Then now you see, my little dears, the way to make a pun,
A trick which you, through coming years, should sedulously shun,
The fault admits of no defense, for wheresoe’er found,
You sacrifice sound for sense, the sense is never sound,
So let your words and actions too, one single meaning prove,
And just in all you say and do you’ll gain esteem and love,
In mirth and play no harm you’ll know when duty’s task is done,
But parents ne’er should let you go unpunished for a pun.
Thomas Edward Hook 1800
NOTESL::
"ENTICK's Rules = A 19th century book of grammar.
"Scilly man" = From the Scilly Isles at the southwest tip of England.
"baize" = a soft felt like cloth.
Mews = Stables
Login to Like
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re: Should I even bother to soak definitives?
I got hooked into reading that!
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re: Should I even bother to soak definitives?
Lovely Charlie. Your memory for these wonderful words of wit is phenomenal and you should be on the stage......the next one leaves in ten minutes. LOL
And then there was the guy who sent twenty different puns to his friends, with the hope that at least ten of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.
Mike
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
20 Mar 2013
03:10:21pm
re: Should I even bother to soak definitives?
Damn, David! See what you started! Now the whole Stamporama website will be infected with the "pun" virus.
Login to Like
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re: Should I even bother to soak definitives?
We like to share it. So, have pun on us.
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re: Should I even bother to soak definitives?
4 lines of Starkist was all I could handle. I would tell you my favorite joke but this place is notorious for no sense of humor.
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