99 - New Jersey Postal History Society

What Makes a Cover Special?Evaluating A CoverAre you a collector who looks atthe price of a cover before anythingelse? If you do, you aredenying yourself knowledge, andProbably many worthwhile covers.If you pass by a cover withoutevaluating it because the price isout of your budget, you arc not assimilatingany information on thevalue of postal history.A useful practice is to evaluate acover without looking at the price,then after a through evaluation,look at the price. If you believe itis far too high, you may havemissed something. A dealer is inthe business of SELLING covers.His prices need to be in line withthe market value or he doesn't sellhis inventory. If you believe thatthe price is far too low you alsohave probably missed something.Some Criteria:Is the cover priced too low becauseof a stamp missing—is therate correct? Has a stamp beenreplaced? Are all the markingscorrect? Do these markings belongon this cover? What is thecondition of the cover? Is thebackflap missing? Is the coverreduced? Is it repaired? Rebacked?Have markings beenremoved or added? Is it a stamplesscover with stamps added? Ifall the tests have been passed thenyou indeed might have a bargain.Is It Really Too High?Are the cover and the stamp insuperb condition? Condition isone factor on which you need toplace your own value. How importantis condLition.to you? Willyou ever see a cover in this immaculatecondition again? Whatare the stamps on the cover? Arethey valuable soft paper officials?Are they high priced grilled BankNotes? Does the cover have amixed issued franking? Is there arare marking that you have overlooked?Is the cover addressed toa rare destination—for example, acover addressed to Shanghai andmailed from Nagasaki is not avery usual cover. Was the rate inuse fora very short period of time?Hidden ValuesThere are many aspects to postalhistory that are "hidden" and areprivy only to those who are veryknowledgeable. Such things asautographs and covers posted fromDPO's (Dead Post Offices) willraise the value of a cover. Thereare so many conditions that enterinto the evaluation of a cover thatcatalogs can only be used asguides. If you are dependent oncatalog values you are going to be"cutting off your nose to spiteyour face."LearningAs I have mentioned before themore you know the greater yourenjoyment is going to be. Toincrease your knowledge askquestions of dealers and fellowcollectors. Join societies in theareas that interest you and, ofcourse, read as much as you can.Reprinted frem 11e 1