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Hi,

Let's say you have an imperforate stamp with 4 generous margins.

Is it acceptable to do some trimming to get it centered if 1 of the margins are a bit thicker than the other 3? Or maybe trim all 4 margins down a tiny bit to remove a small tear in one margin.

Is this considered bad form, or is it acceptable?

Personally it offends my sense of aesthetics to see the stamp off-center when a quick trim will center it. But I'm not sure if it is a good idea.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Here's an interesting one.

This was on my Rarity page:

http://www.glenstephens.com/rarity.html

I asked there if the buyer wanted me to trim it as shown, or keep it as is.

What would others here do with this stamp if you owned it? A scissor cut would be simply cosmetic, like tearing off a piece of untidy selvedge of a perforated stamp.

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1855 Cape Of Good Hope 1d Deep Rose Red Triangle Unused: Clean and fresh with frame line of adjoining stamp at right. SG 5b £650 = $A1,625. Guaranteed No thins, creases, tears or toning or repairs. Only 15% of Gibbons for an all-time "Classic" that is now over 150 years old!

A simple scissor trim at right and at base as per mock up shown here, would oddly improve the appearance greatly - not detract from it! I did not do it as I was in 2 minds, but would, if the buyer asked for it to be done.

.

Here's an example:



I had thought about evening up the bottom edge.

But what I have decided to do is to use a scrapbooking technique and place a suitably coloured (not decided yet, maybe cream or ivory) matte under the stamp, then centre the image on the matte and leave the stamp as is.

A common stamp I would trim ... but many imperfs are scarce, and I would leave those as they are.

_________________
A man might as well marry ... if he finds a good wife he will be happy ... if not, he will become a philosopher.
Collecting Greater New Guinea & Macropods (Kangaroos & Wallabies).

Perfectly fine. They had to be cut the first time with scissors, so a tidy up is no problem at all and will make them look much better.

The only proviso is to make sure the margins are good to start with, don't end up with no margins.

_________________
Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

Thanks for all the replies.

I think I might go ahead and trim. I just wanted to make sure I'm not committing some cardinal philatelic sin.

@GlenStephens: Funny you should use cape triangles as examples. 2 of the stamps I want to trim are actually cape triangles that I'm bidding for on ebay. So I don't even own them yet.

Just personal taste...







PS - I only use a guilotine.

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Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

Hi,
I am european and therefore for philatelists in US, UK and Australia a bit crazier than you.
My opinion is, that just those inegalities give to stamps a bit of personality. And you want to cut it away.
I don't weep, but I am near to it.
But do what you seem not to let.

Who needs neat centring?



I agree with Heinz55: even up the margins, and you take away character from the stamp. I enjoy seeing the stamp just as it came across the counter. But then I do collect Uglies anyway ...

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'First I'll steal all the money, then I'll kill everybody, and then I'll go away', Père Ubu

Allanswood, Greg

I am shocked, stunned and flabbergasted that you could do such a thing - trimming your 1s. deep dark green, as shown.

As a former auction describer, the top stamp would be described as "mostly large to huge (or enormous) margins all around," that there are slightly smaller margins at the lower-left could be completely ignored since the stamp would be photographed.

The bottom stamp would be described as "small (or full) even margins," and looks like a weak sister on a photo-plate, since everyone knows what the margins are like on these.

These comments assume that you are not trimming away otherwise callable faults. Even in that respect you are not helping yourself since the tiniest of translucencies still shows (as blackish) at the lower-left in the margin.

As it now exists the stamp would be classified as deficient in the Michel catalogue, since your newly created margins are less than 50% of the distance between.

Sorry to say this but the word menace comes to mind.

Kindest regards, Richard

Richard, you are being kind - I was horrified.

As I possibly have more imperforte stamps than most members on SB, I have never, nor shall I ever take scissors to stamp. (Contrary to my signature line, which refers to the actual separation of stamps for postal use)

I looked at the 1/- with those gorgeous huge margins and almost cried at the after image.

This will, I hope be a successful learning lesson, albeit possibly an expensive one. Collecting impreforate stamps means accepting irregularities. Not all stamps will be the same size, nor will they fit into similar spaces in an album.

All that said, the after image is still an attractive stamp.

Regards,

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Mike
Why do we need perforations? Scissors are cheap!

O M G how could you ever think about trimming such stamps like that !

Leave theses stamps as they are !!!

GlenStephens

I had to reply to the Allanswood situation first, since that was more serious to me.

I know we are in the 'service industry' and I am familiar with 'the customer is always right' philosophy, even though I do not always subscribe to it. Thank Heavens yours is only a mock up. There is nothing you can do to improve the ragged (close, touched, slightly in) margin at bottom-left on your 1d. Deep Rose Red.

So yours is best left untouched.

I will have more to say on this thread tomorrow.

Kindest regards, Richard

I suspect Allanswood was 'pulling our leg' with the 1/- green.

That takes a stamp worth 2x and turns it into one worth 1x.

The 1d Red however does looks "neater" trimmed, in my view anyway.

Personal choice as always with stamps.

Glen

Then it would be a case of evil thoughts rather than evil deeds.

Kindest regards, Richard

I agree with the others, it astounds me that any collector would trim an example such as this for any reason. Anyone who would trim a Cape Triangle like that should be banned from collecting for life.

By the way it seems to me it is the same scan (see the white dots all exactly at the same place) and it is only a photoshop

Do not make that again I will have a heart attack

Well it did elicit comments from both sides of the arguement. It's just a photoshopped mockup, you can see that from a mile away.

Personally I've never felt the need to trim any of my triangulars.

And as the OP has not shown which stamps he feels the need to trim, I can't comment on an end result.

It all depends on how 'off balance' the stamp looks to start with.


(Must go dig out that old mint woodblock pair from the edge of sheet and trim them up to! Might even turn them into singles. )

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Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

My thoughts exactly! These margin can never be replaced once trimmed away. Large margins on any side of an imperforate stamp are a commodity one should preserve (in my opinion).

As with most questions, the answer is "It depends".

The Green COGH triangle shown above is clearly a case of leave well alone.

The stamp below I would have no problems tidying up the top & squaring off the bottom. It's worthless, and better copies are available by the bucket load.

_________________
Always on the lookout for Australian pre decimal First Day Covers.

Hi

I would not trim anything, no matter how tempting it may be. There may be a reason for the margins as they are.

For instance, early Colombia imperforate issues. The margins may give a clue to the plate (lithograph stone) location. Trimming the margins destroys any attempt at determining the location.


I do not think that there is ever a "It depends".

Jerry B

Hi Tony

This block is a thing of beauty - warts and all

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Philatelists are not boring old F A R T S that smell of mothballs

I was also horrified at Allanswoods chop job. I agree with all of you. Leave it alone. It's beautiful as it is...otherwise reminds me of circumcision... 99% of the time unnecessary and done largely for cosmetic reasons (religious reasons aside).

_________________
"Making money is a hobby that will complement any other hobbies you have, beautifully." - Scott Alexander
I collect Souvenir Sheets postally used on cover, WW used stamps up to 1957 except everything of Brasil and Argentina.

Thanks for all the responses.

I decided not the trim the 'off center' stamps.

But I'm still considering if it might be a good idea for this one. A tiny bit of trimming will make that tear in the bottom right corner look a little bit less pronounced.

Before:


Proposed cut:

Do NOT

What about cases where you have a marginal single of a perf-ed stamp, and the selvedge has toning...doing a 'haircut' on the selvedge to trim off the toned area could exorcise that little demon.

_________________
Collecting Mongolia; Thailand; Indo-China; Mourning Covers; OHMS.
My online 'store': http://stampsfromaethelwulf.blogspot.com/

Aethelwulf, you have provided a genuine "medical" reason for giving a little trim. But I would still do so only as a last resort.

_________________
"Making money is a hobby that will complement any other hobbies you have, beautifully." - Scott Alexander
I collect Souvenir Sheets postally used on cover, WW used stamps up to 1957 except everything of Brasil and Argentina.

All concerned

Allanswood



Well I certainly did not spot it. I do actually have Photoshop on my MacBook Pro but have never used it myself relying on Graphic Design friends to help me out - so that makes me look both stupid and lazy. More fodder for the critics!

Anyway thank Heavens you did not use the guillotine.

Now this is an example of me improving my computer skills, not by much, of course, since I have lost the originals in iPhoto when they were cropped, transferred to Documents and then to Photobucket.



A triangular block of four of the 1855-63 4d. Blue on white paper, as it was purchased by me in a Spink sale in March 2002. It had a hinge with a notation in turquoise ink indicating that the consignor had purchased the item from Stanley Gibbons.

I found out from checking prior sales that the block was originally in the H. R. Harmer, Inc. Alfred H. Caspary, British Commonwealth, Part Three, Possessions in Europe, Asia and Africa, February 24-26, 1958 Sale as Lot 269 - as a block of six - see below. It realized U.S. $150.



I have yet to find out from an old boss of mine whether Stanley Gibbons was the original purchaser of the block. He has, I believe, microfilm copies of the auctioneers copies of the sales' catalogues.

So it is possible, at least, that Stanley Gibbons, the world's best known retailers, performed the surgery on what was a most unusual block of six.

I feel that this surgery would be welcomed by most other Stampboarders.

Kindest regards

Richard Debney

Not by me, I'm too much of a purist.