Keeping on eye for the quality is something I think many collectors do. Personally I admit that I’m in constant process of enhancing the quality of items in my collection. For the next couple of posts I’ll be writing up some notes about quality in general as well as diving more in-depth into world of measuring quality (grading). Though stamps and collectors have been around for 160 years, this topic continues to be still under heavy debate (to my amazement).

Personally I review each stamps quality in two separate areas: the quality of print, and the current physical condition of the stamp.

The quality of print is about reviewing how properly the printer managed in his job – it covers everything from print impression accuracy to colors, centering and perforation.

The current physical condition deals with how well the stamp has been preserved into our days. Does it have folds, foxing, missing perfs, fainted colors etc?

As this is a huge topic, I will purge in with each of these in more detail in upcoming posts.

Does quality and grading matter in general? Right now my view is slightly double-edged…

IMHO the bottom line with quality should be that items in collection should please the collector. Most stamp collectors (me included) collect just for their personal pleasure. What others think of items included in collection is of very little importance in this aspect.

However, stamp collectors and philatelists are also a community. In this scope it is important to understand and follow common quality guidelines – they specify what other collectors (and dealers) want and provide from each other. Also monetary valuations (catalog value, closing prices etc) are in close connection to quality. So in this aspect each and every collector is heavily bound to various quality guidelines.

Despite various disagreements relating quality, bottom line is very simple and something all agree: the better condition items are in; the more potential (in every aspect) they possess.

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