“I have a piece of string. How long is it?” You don’t know? Why not? Without seeing it, you don’t know if it’s an inch long, several miles long, or whatever. Sometimes, this is how I feel about stamps.

People will send me an email or letter such as, “I have a stamp and the perforations are off. How much is it worth?” Well, it really depends.

It it’s a modern stamp and the perforations just touch the edge of the stamp design, then it’s just a very poorly centered copy and it’s going to no extra value.

On the other hand, say it’s a high denomination stamp like Scott #2542 and it’s misperforated so that the perforations run down the center of the stamp – then you have something of better value. Scott #2542 has a much smaller number of printed stamps than many commemorative or regular issue stamps. And with a drastic shift in the perforations, we could be talking $100 or more for this copy.

When asking a fellow collector or a dealer about a stamp, it’s best to have the actual item. Sometimes an image of the stamp may work depending on the question. For example, an image of an older Banknote stamp and asking if this copy is grilled (Scott #134-144), I’m probably not going to be able to tell that from a photo, especially if the grill is very weak. In this case, seeing the actual stamp is the only way to be sure.

If you’re going to ask a question, most times I need to see the actual stamp or a photo of it. Otherwise I feel like you’re asking me how long a piece of string is and I haven’t seen the string. A picture (or the actual stamp) is worth a thousand words.