subject: Mint Postage Stamps Can Be A Valuable Addition To Your Collection! [print this page] Mint Postage Stamps Can Be A Valuable Addition To Your Collection!
Although most collectors involve themselves with the used (or canceled) variety, a few enterprising men and women focus their endeavours entirely on mint postage stamps. This information is written to further explore the topic of mint stamps, and the reason why they are a popular collecting option.
Mint Postage Stamps: The Background
A mint stamp is really a stamp which is in its authentic condition of issue, is unused, hasn't been mounted and has the full quantity of glue on the rear. They could be purchased at postal outlets across the nation, or otherwise they could be obtained from quite a few sources on the net.
Mint Postage Stamps: How Is Their Worth Determined?
Do mint postal stamps hold more worth compared to used stamps? Or is it the other way around? There's no rule of thumb that says a mint is superior to a used stamp. It's rather a situation of supply and demand which best makes clear value determinations, and just how much a particular stamp is worth.
That being said, there are several definite characteristics which will help determine overall value, the initial being the physical wholeness of mint postal stamps. In essence, they cannot be creased, folded, and must have total perforated sides to be labeled as mint. Furthermore, their centeredness may jack the prices up or push them down. Centeredness signifies that the design is positioned in equivalent distances from the perforated edges on all sides.
Mint Postage Stamps: What About Color?
Color also plays a huge factor in the quality of the stamp. Steady contact with the sun and incorrect storage methods might cause the color fading, and eventual devaluing. Moreover, a lot of amateur stamp collectors make the error of soaking stamps to remove them from the paper with out considering the ink used to print the stamp plus the ink from the cancellation on a used stamp. Stamps released prior to the 1940s were printed using fugitive ink, that is water soluble. In other cases, a used stamp may have a cancellation that runs on water. Soaking the stamp will result in the cancellation's ink to run into the design, totally compromising the caliber of the stamp.
