Do You Prefer On Paper Or Off?

Lots of time to kill and enjoy the soaking/drying process? Get on-paper. Find soaking, drying tedious and messy? Get off-paper.

As someone who just bought 30lbs of stamps on paper I prefer off paper. But usually only soak the minimal number of stamps I need or want in the interest of time. Not to take the discussion in a different direction but as the years go by I have been buying less and less MNH in favor of either MH or Used if there is a large price difference. First is the fact that I know my wife/son will never recoup the money I spend on MNH so if I can get a nice stamp for cheaper I will. Second is some less worrying about maintenance and the use of cheaper mounts or hinges.

Personally I like on-paper as I enjoy soaking.

I prefer on paper because it has probablyly not been checked for watermarks and is slightly less likely to be another collectors dross. Since I got about 50% of the GB stamps wanted I find mixed or commemorative kiloware a waste of time, not needing more than about 1 in 400 stamps. For my Machin collection I stll look at kiloware on paper but I only put aside for soaking stamps that by colour value and design might be ones I still want. Even with Machins I can often buy acollection or stockbook with sorted Machins in and then I only have to confirm the previous owners identification.

If papers are large then YES, because I want to get those nice looking special postmarks

But... if papers are narrowly cut to the stamp, then I rather skip and take off-paper stamps, just so I don't bother soaking

For me in general, on or off comes down to a few things for removing the paper or not.

First, does it have a good postmark?
Second, is it a watermark stamp that you want to explore further?
Is it a stamp that you need in an album without paper?

I won a Facebook auction for a box of mixed stamps. Some on paper, and some not. I sort by country, then I sort the ones to stay on paper, and the ones that I will soak off.

Interesting question--and one which doesn't seem to have a simple answer to many folks.

I tend to prefer off-paper, mainly because the cost per unit measure is always lower. If I buy a pound of on-paper, by the time I soak, I have less than half that weight in off-paper stamps. I see most on-paper as more than half the price of off-paper, so fewer stamps.

HOWEVER, I find the best stamps buried in mounds of on-paper material. Seems they're not as easy to sort through for good stuff. I do enjoy soaking stamps too--and when there's a nice cancel or otherwise I'd like to keep the stamp on-piece, I get to decide, not someone (who soaks THOUSANDS of stamps for the kiloware, anyway??!!) else.

In about 2010, I bought 10 pounds of worldwide on-paper. There was lots of Africa in it, and I found about 8 or so Swaziland 575A. They're all still on paper, where they'll stay to make for easier authentication should the need arise now of for someone in the future. A couple have the cancel passing over the revalue, so that ought to add to the likelihood that the stamp would be judged authentic. Anyhoo, that was a nice find in that lot. I still have duplicates of stamps from that lot that I trade from time to time.

However, I DO prefer off-paper. I usually don't "discover" anything rare or unusual in kiloware of any sort, so the convenience and quantity for my dollars is worth it to me.

Josh

Greetings

For me it all depends on what my goals are at the time. When I studied machins I could get lots of good varieties in on paper kiloware that was really really cheap.

When I try on paper kiloware for Portugal and Colonies I get disappointed.

Ed