I was at Orcoexpo yesterday and beyond having a lot of fun and spending way too much money, I got to talk to some of my dealer friends that I haven’t seen for a while. As I was poking through their boxes, there was a guy sitting next to me who said he only collects used stamps and saw that I was only pulling mint.

So we talked about it.

Now my reasons are myriad. First off, I don’t like used stamps. I know you can talk about the history, but most used stamps, at least off-paper used, you have no idea where it’s been or what it’s done, so that’s not really an argument to make. It’s kind of a vague concept unless you’re collecting covers, which I simply do not do.

I’ve tried to collect used. I’ve tried to force myself into it. I picked New Zealand as my “used country” and after a couple of weeks, I gave up. I just didn’t like doing it.

The other reason, and probably the one that’s most convincing, is that unless you’re collecting a major country, like the U.S. or Britain or maybe Canada, it’s damn hard to get postally used stamps. It’s especially hard to find dealers who carry such things by Scott or other catalog number. Of every table I sat down at yesterday, only one had any used in their boxes. Everyone else, at least in the countries I was looking for, it was mint only.

I get that some people like getting huge piles of kiloware and sorting through it, hoping to find something they can use. I’m not like that. The last kiloware I went through ended up with me having a headache and a sore back and nothing of any substance to show for it. My goal in collecting is to fill holes. That’s all I did yesterday. I want to have as close to a complete collection as I can and when I get there, I pick a new country and start over. There are some small countries that are complete, at least up to the point that I choose to give up. There are some that will probably never be complete. I finished my U.S. collection back into the 1910s yesterday, filling in some of the last holes that, for reasons unknown, I had missed. Everything from 1900 on is mint. I allow myself used before that, but I try not to. Some countries put out far too many stamps to ever complete the collection. I was filling in some PRC yesterday, but for modern stamps, they put out close to 200 stamps per year. Japan is worse, which my wife collects, they put out 350+ every year. That’s a lot to keep up on, which is why I tend to stop collecting at some point because it feels like I’m running on a treadmill. No thanks. Tons of other interesting countries to go after.

However, it’s really hard to get a complete used collection without jumping through hoops because it’s hard to find dealers that have a reasonably complete set. I could sit down yesterday and complete full years if I needed to, but for used? That simply wouldn’t have been possible.

So that’s why I don’t try. Those relatively few New Zealand stamps that I got, those will sit in the album until I replace them with mint, never-hinged. It might  be more expensive over time, but at this point in my life, time is money and my time is worth more than whatever additional costs there are. I explained that to the guy sitting next to me and he just shrugged and went  back to digging through a tub of stamps. I’m sure I left the show with far more than he did, all of which had a place in my collection. If it makes you happy, go for it, but for me, give me mint all the way.