Found! Top Quality Mint Stamps from Denmark

One of my favorite parts of being a stamp collector comes from what I call "treasure hunting."

7 øre Christian X, XF post office fresh mint NH

Some collectors are very "neat and tidy" in their approach to collecting. They have a specific spot in the album they want to place a stamp in, and they go off and acquire that specific stamp without ever deviating from their "mission." That has never really been my approach... I like to "treasure hunt" through messy lots and accumulations to find "just the right thing."

We each have our own ways-- not implying that one is "better" than any other.

Whereas there is a lot of "fun" in the hunt, it has its downsides: Quite often you'll look through a box of "junky" stamps and come up with almost nothing, or nothing at all. That has happened to me, more than a few times. And then you're left to dispose of a box of junk, hopefully for a price that's somewhat close what you paid, in the first place.

One of the questions I often get asked goes along the lines of "but if it's already in a box as 'junk,' hasn't it already been gone through and the good bits removed?"

On the superficial level, the response would seem to be "yes." But on closer contemplation, if you are a specialist, odds are the collector who went through the box before you was looking for something different from you. True, you're probably not going to "accidentally" find a 4-margin Penny Black, but you might still find a rare variety, inverted watermark, cancel or something else that happens to be your area of expertise.

8 øre Christian X's 60th Birthday issue, mint NH

What keeps me going is that "treasure" does show up, and sometimes you can still find a veritable gold mine of goodies in an unlikely box of seemingly random junk.

Such was the case, with a recent "box lot" of European collections I bought-- basically unseen-- from a major auction in Norway. Although the box was mostly touted for its Germany and Malta (an unlikely combination?), there was also a sentence that caught my eye: "... also some older mint Denmark and Sweden on Hagner sheets, but most appear to be stuck down; a couple of pages of classic used Scandinavia in somewhat mixed condition."

"Box lots," of course, are rarely photographed for auction catalogues... you pretty much "get what you get," unless you're able to attend an auction preview, in person. Not so feasible when you live in the US, and the auction is in Norway!

For reasons unknown... but perhaps because the Germany seemed pretty nice and like I could parcel it out for the cost of the box and "take a chance" on the Scandinavia... I decided to "take a flyer" and placed a minimum opening bid on the lot. Somewhat to my surprise, the bid (about US$400) "stuck" and I became the owner of the lot. Of course, there were also auction fees to be paid, not to mention the cost of shipping a box from Norway to North America. Still, I was hopeful I'd have an enjoyable time sorting through the box and even be able to sell off the remainder and still break even.

5kr Postal Ferry stamp, XF mint never hinged

A few weeks later my box of stamps arrived. The German was much as expected. The Malta? Well, I don't know much about stamps from Malta, so I'll have to learn more about that... For my own purposes, though, it was the "used classic Scandinavia" that was of interest. And it was actually quite good, yielding several nice Danish skilling stamps with plate flaws along with some nice numeral cancels. That-- in and of itself-- made the purchase worthwhile, to me.

I was also reminded that the term "mixed condition" has different meanings in different parts of the world. In the US, it basically seems to mean "ALL stamps over 50 cents are faulty." In Europe-- Scandinavia and Germany, especially" it means "some are faulty and some are not." In this case, only about 1/4 had smaller to larger faults.

But that was not where the true "gold mine" was located.

The best part of the lot was the 75-odd Hagner sheets of mint stamps-- mostly from Denmark. They had been listed as "mostly stuck down" but I would attribute that description to a hurried (or lazy?) auction describer who determined there were "issues" on the first 3-4 pages and then characterized ALL the pages thusly. Of course, I'm not really "pointing fingers" here, because this WAS a messy box lot, and most auction houses don't have the time to thoroughly examine what basically amounts to a "job lot."

Rare early printing of 12 øre Bicolour, mint NH

As it turned out, only a few dozen stamps (out of many hundreds) were stuck down, or partially stuck down, or had minor gum damage from someone trying to "unstick" them.

But here's the amazing thing about the remainder: They were obviously collected by someone who was a stickler for quality: Almost everything was pristine mint, never hinged... and clearly had been stored "properly" as the gum was fresh, and the stamp colors bright. Not only that, most stamps were in choice VF or XF centering. On top of which, many were from that "difficult" period between 1875 and the 1950's where you can certainly find "mint stamps," but almost all stamps were hinged, to put in album... the condition of gum was not considered nearly as important as it is today.

It also soon became clear that the original collector had known quite a lot about Danish stamps, because there were many scarce types and varieties included in the lot. Even after pulling almost 200 stamps for my own collection, I had 100's of exceptionally nice mint NH Denmark left over. The photos on the page are just a few of them, but they are representative of just how nice this otherwise "ordinary sounding" box lot turned out to be.

I suppose the "moral" of this story is that "treasure" is still out there, for stamp collectors, waiting to be found. All the "good stuff" has NOT "already been found." In this example, it turned out that a box I paid about US $650 for (after shipping) contained several hundred VF and XF mint NH stamps with catalogue values between $15 and $100. Did I "get lucky?" Probably so-- but it does happen.

60 øre Christian X, the scarce brown and ULTRA

On a more personal level, this story is a good example of why I collect stamps the way I do. I suppose I would be a more "methodical" collector if I didn't also enjoy the "trading" part of stamp collecting-- helping the stamps I don't need "find new homes." Because-- as I mentioned above-- just because I have looked at these stamps doesn't mean that someone with different interests from me won't find them interesting, and of value.

In the course of the next few weeks, I will be putting some of the stamps I decide not to keep into my eBay and other online shops... there are some really good stamps, and it's always nice to be able to offer "top quality," since so much that's offered online is in pretty dodgy condition.

For those who regularly read these pages-- yes, I do still mostly collect postally used stamps. If-- and only IF-- I come across a super nice mint NH copy of any stamp from Denmark or Sweden, I will add it in-- these are specialized collections for me that I have been working on for over 30 years... and by now they are made up of pretty much "anything that appeals to me," including mint, used, postmarks, covers, varieties and whatever I can find.

Which is my own take on the saying "There is no 'right' or 'wrong' way to collect stamps."

Thanks for reading!

Writing on Stamps: It's selfish!

As a life long collector-- and a fairly active trader on eBay and other sites-- I have looked at a lot of stamps.

I am also well aware of the fact that there is no "right way" to collect stamps, but that doesn't mean I am exempt from having a few pet peeves, when it comes to philately. One of my pet peeves is "writing on the backs of stamps."

Among "serious" stamp collectors, there is some debate about whether or not something written in pencil on the back of a stamp reduces its value, or is "neutral." Personally, I don't mind if there is a small lightly penciled number on the back of a stamp, if someone feels compelled to add one.

There was also a day gone by when experts would sign the back of a stamp-- in pencil-- and it actually added to the value of the stamp.

That, however, is a far cry from the backs of some (surprisingly many!) stamps I have seen... where a collector (or series of collectors) have attempted to document the entire history of the stamp and its catalogue value on the back surface. To me, that is a complete no-no.

You might ponder why it's a bad idea to write on stamps, since we don't generally see the back, in the first place. I see a number of reasons-- based on experience-- why the practice should be avoided.

For one, pencils can be pretty sharp, and most people don't have a "light hand" when they write. I have seen some really good stamps rendered valueless because the pencil point actually damaged the paper.

Two, some collectors are "purists" and will be sufficiently annoyed by a pencil note that they will try to erase it. Unless you are extraordinarily careful and gentle (and skilled!) odds are you'll actually damage the stamp by trying to erase pencil marks-- causing a shallow thin, or at least unwanted bends/creases, which in turn will reduce the value of the stamp.

Three, most who write on the backs of stamps are doing so for identification purposes... and a large percentage of the numbers I see are just plain "wrong." Why? Sometimes because the collector really didn't know what he or she was doing and wrote a number down that never was right, to begin with. This then misleads the next owner of the stamp. Alternately, the writer might have lived in a different country, and the Michel number they wrote looks "wrong" compared to the Scott number we're trying to establish for the stamp.

Which leads me to the deeper "why" writing on the back of stamps really annoys me: It's selfish, in the sense that it disregards the next owner of the stamp. A simple number may only be useful to the original writer, while a more useful complete sentence like "Michel 83, 2007 value 300 Euros" is truthful and helpful, but simply too much writing to put on a stamp.

My advice? Don't write on the backs of stamps!

The Pursuit of Quality Stamps

When I was a little kid, my dad started me on stamp collecting. His advice to me was simple, and largely based on his own life-long experience as an art and antiques collector:

1. Collect what you like, and what appeals to you; don't chase "popular trends." YOU have to like what you're doing, not other people.
2. Always buy the very best you can afford; market tastes change, but quality never goes out of style.

When I was six, these perhaps didn't seem very important. The excitement of collecting stamps revolved around "collecting one each of the whole world."

However, my dad "stuck to his guns," in a gentle sort of way... teaching me about the inherent beauty of "high quality," and made "finding the very best" part of the fun of stamp collecting, even as early as when I was a teenager. By the time I was 12-13, I no longer had any interest in adding stamps with faults to my collection... unless they were high value classics I couldn't afford in any other condition. Even so, I was always on the lookout for "something better" to fill a space occupied by a ratty looking stamp.

40 years later, I am going about stamp collecting pretty much the same way, always focusing on finding "quality stamps" not just "stamps" for my various collections.

My dad knew what he was talking about. There's a lot of talk these days about the "decline" of the stamp market and our "dying" hobby, and how there are no new generations entering philately, and how many 16-year olds have never actually used a stamp on a letter... and so on. As I look around-- at large auction houses, or individual seller sites like eBay or BidStart or even the APS Sales Division, there's a huge volume of material for sale... suggesting there are many more sellers than buyers in the market.

And yet?

Superior quality stamps-- old and newer alike-- are extremely difficult to find, and often command "stupid" prices, when they do show up for sale.

My dad's underlying philosophy behind "buying quality" was simple: scarcity. No matter what, there will never be more "top quality" copies of any given stamp no longer for sale at the post office. A top quality stamp has only two "paths" to follow. It is either handled well, and remains "a top quality stamp," OR some collector carelessly handles it to cause a tiny hinge thin, or a torn perf, or drops it on the floor and creases it while picking it up. And so, it no longer is part of the "top quality" pool of available copies. A "junky" stamp will always be a junky stamp. It has no way to become a "top quality" stamp. And because top quality stamps can become junky stamps due to mishandling and accidents... the available pool of "junky" stamps is not static... it can actually grow, over time.

Of course, I don't actually collect "quality" stamps for their worth-- that's just a "coincidental incentive bonus." I collect quality stamps because the aesthetic beauty of something perfect or almost perfect appeals to me... and because I enjoy the "treasure hunt" challenge that goes with finding "the best stamp" rather than just "a stamp." This especially holds true for newer issues that are common and can be found by the thousands... yet finding a superb copy can be quite challenging.

Beauty, of course, is in the eye of the beholder. My dad originally wanted me to (or at least "hoped that I would") collect mint NH stamps because they were "pristine." It didn't really appeal to me, though. The number of ways we can mess up gum seemed "risky" to me-- all that worry about toning, foxing, wrinkling, fingerprints, moisture? No thanks! I also didn't like the fact that gum was one of the most forged/faked things on stamps... and it bugged me to have to pay so much attention to what was going on on the back side of the stamp FACING the album page, not the side you were looking at. But-- above all-- I liked the idea of having stamps that "told a story."

Mint stamps don't really have much of a "story." The story of a mint stamp (at least to me) goes something like "I was printed in Belgium in 1903. Here I am. The end." Not enough "meat" on those bones, for my liking.

A used stamp with a legible postmark tells a better story, like "I was printed in Denmark in 1880. Somebody bought me, but didn't put me on a letter to be mailed from the town of Hillerød until 1898. Most likely I was on a letter next to another stamp, because the postage rate had changed from 8 øre to 10 øre between the time I was printed and the time I was used." To me, that's just more interesting. Romantic foolishness? Whatever...

Getting back to "beauty being in the eye of the beholder," beautiful postmarks are a major reason why I collect used stamps. Not only do I like the "story" aspect, and the challenge of finding that "perfect strike," but I like the additional fact that it keeps the hobby affordable for me... because I can collect a whole group of different socked-on-the-nose postmarks on the same inexpensive stamp, and still have them be "different," for the purposes of my collections. Postmarks can add almost infinite variety and possibilities to a stamp collection.

Sometimes I get the impression that quite a few collectors "lose interest" when they reach the point where filling "the next blank space" becomes incrementally more costly. Suddenly you find yourself with just 17 empty spaces in the album, facing the fact that the next space will cost you at least $100.00 to fill. It was a point I reached with my Denmark collection when I was about 16-17... and there was no way for me to continue the collection, on a schoolboy's budget... so I branched out.

But we all have different motivations for collecting stamps. It seems to me that the driving motivation of those who simply "collect one of each" is to have a "complete" collection. For me, the driving motivation behind stamp collecting is.... the actual collecting; the finding; the treasure hunt. In a sense, it parallels the popular saying that "life is not about the destination, it's about the journey." Having a "complete" collection just... just sounds too much like a "destination" or "goal," rather than an ongoing pursuit or hobby. I'm not looking for a point where I am "done" with my collection... I have no plans to reach "done."

That said, there is-- of course-- no "right" or "wrong" way to collect stamps.