Hinging Will Decrease the Value of Mint Sets
Question: I’ll bet you get tired of answering the question “How much are these stamps worth?” My own question is: Does mounting with hinges significantly detract from the value of mint-new issues? I collect for fun, not investment. I actually prefer to mount stamps with hinges but I am concerned that I may be needlessly damaging them.--G.R.
Answer: No, I don’t get tired of talking about stamp prices. We live in such a material, money-oriented society that you would have to make a conscious effort to avoid discussing the cost of things whenever the conversation turns to things that can be bought and sold.
The cost of gasoline, food, housing and services is part of our everyday speech. Why not talk about the prices of collectibles also, such as art, old furniture, coins and stamps? You have to start somewhere to get interested in philately.
The problem, of course, is when you begin to think that money is more important than anything else, you try judging only by the price tag. It is a sad fact that ignorant people know the price of everything but the value of nothing.
To answer your more important question, hinging does decrease a stamp’s value. Many collectors and investors will not even look at a mint stamp if the gum has been disturbed by a stamp hinge. If you buy an expensive unhinged mint issue, I recommend that you keep it in some type of mount and never hinge it.
Or if you would rather save a lot of money, buy lightly hinged unused stamps at a fraction of what you would pay for never-hinged copies, and you don’t have to worry if the stamp has been regummed or the hinge mark fraudulently removed.
Q: I don’t want to spend a lot of money. How can I learn the basics of stamp collecting before investing money that I can’t afford to lose?--W.A.
A: Go to the public library and read their philatelic books. Visit a local dealer and ask for advice. Talk to any stamp collectors that you know and ask them how they recommend you get started. Philately need not be expensive; there is something for every budget.
If you enclose $1 and ask for “Stamp Collecting Made Easy,” you will receive a 96-page booklet by writing to Linn’s Stamp News, P.O. Box 29, Sidney, Ohio 45365. This booklet is specially designed to help beginning collectors learn stamp terminology, and it will introduce you to collecting techniques in terms that are easy to understand.
Q: Please evaluate these items: A Portuguese Halley’s Comet stamp, Russian issues showing the Bolshoi Theater and Russian Composers (photocopy enclosed), and a set of 4 Swiss fairy tale stamps (Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, etc.).--B.H.
A: Current Scott’s catalogue values are $1.50 mint, 75 cents used for the 1986 Comet issue; $16.50 mint, $2 used for your Russian stamps; and $3.12 mint, $1.08 used for the Swiss set of 1985. Your Soviet stamps were issued in May, 1951 to honor the 175th anniversary of the founding of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.
Q: My stamp from Portugal shows an airplane propeller, is red in color, and is in nice mint condition. I can’t figure out the denomination, however. It says “1$50” in the lower right corner of the stamp’s design. Can you tell me about this issue, and how to read the denomination?--J.S.
A: Portuguese currency units are escudos and centavos, with 100 centavos equal to 1 escudo. The way they write the amount, which totals 1 escudo, 50 centavos--or 1 1/2 escudos--is 1$50.
Your stamp can’t be red because the 1$50 value of this air mail set from 1936-1941 was issued only in dark blue and has a current catalogue value of 70 cents mint, 45 cents used, in U.S. money. The 2$50 stamp of the set was rose red, valued at $1.10 mint, 45 cents canceled in U.S. money.
Q: I have some old passports that bear British Consular Service stamps. Also I have a small photo of a gentleman that has a green 3-cent U.S. Internal Revenue stamp with George Washington’s picture. Was this some sort of a tax stamp?
I also have a blue French stamp, postmarked without a date. I believe it to be 50 or 150 francs. It has a profile of Pasteur on it, and the letter dates from around 1926. What is the value of these items?--S.R.
A: Maybe a few dollars for the passports and revenue-stamped photograph. Most U.S. or foreign revenue stamps are not rare or valuable because they were issued in large quantities and collector demand is less than for “regular” postage stamps from the country.
Between 1923 and 1926, France issued a series of Louis Pasteur stamps of various denominations. None of them were over 1 1/2 francs in face value, so your stamp must be valued at either 50 centimes or 1 1/2 francs in issue value. You imply that the stamp is on its original envelope, making it a little more desirable than an off-cover specimen, but still worth only about $1 or so in 1989 U.S. dollars.
Q: My Bulgarian souvenir sheet shows the first Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, and the dates 1961-1971. What is it worth?--P.S.
A: Issued on April 12, 1971, the 10th anniversary of the first human being in space, your Bulgarian souvenir sheet has a current catalogue value of $2.25 mint, $1.75 canceled.
Q: What does t.t.p. mean? I have seen this in connection with auction lots of canceled stamps.--H.B.
A: “Tied to piece” refers to a stamp still glued on a portion of its original envelope, with the cancellation covering both the stamp’s surface and the envelope paper at the stamp’s edge. When a stamp is “tied on” there is some good evidence that it genuinely belongs with the cover or piece of cover on which it is affixed.
Depending on the stamp and its cancel, it is normally worth more when tied than in a used and off-cover state.
Q: I have a very old 25-cent newspaper stamp with Abraham Lincoln’s portrait in the center. It is red and in nice condition. Can you comment on the value and circumstances of issue?--R.K.G.
A: Starting in 1865, the U.S. government required use of newspaper stamps for prepayment of postage on bulk shipments of periodicals. You either possess the 1865 variety in orange red shade, priced in Scott’s catalogue at $85, or the 1875 printing in dark carmine, cataloguing $70.