Selvedge

A (Announcer) Here's another participant. Sir, are you willing to be interviewed for our listening audience?

S (Selvedge) Sure

A Are you a stamp collector?

S No, not really. I do not collect stamps.

A So what do you expect to find at this event that you do collect?

S Selvedge

A Selvedge? Again, I'm not familiar with that term.

S Selvedge, selvedge. It's the edges of sheets of stamps.

A So you are looking for stamps with selvedge?

S No, just selvedge.

A Where do you find selvedge, mostly?

S At post office trash receptacles. Sometimes I hit a treasure trove. Well, I used to. But lately, with the self stick stamps, and roulette cuts, not so much.

A How do you display your collection? I would presume there is no album designed for your specialized collection.

S Right I use stock books with clear pockets.

A Is there organization in your stock books?

S Oh, sure. I have each page in the stock books set aside for a specific color, pattern, and perforation.

A And no stamps?

S Right.

A So do you collect other forms of selvedge?

S For sure. I really like to collect the paper between gutter pairs. Germany has some great issues of gutter paper. Just recently I bid on and won ten German gutter pairs from the World War Two era.

A That must have cost quite a bit.

S I didn't mind.

A So you mounted these gutter pairs in an album?

S Oh, no. I tore off the stamps at each end and put the gutter paper in the gutter paper stock book.

A What do you do with the stamps in a case like that?

S I discarded them. They are of no use to me for my collection.

A Are there any other areas of selvedge that you collect?

S For sure. I collect United States stamp plate numbers.

A Plate numbers. You mean plate blocks with plate numbers, surely.

S No. Remember, no stamps. Just the plate numbers. They are quite colorful.

A. Come on. You mean you buy plate blocks only to save the number on the selvedge?

S Right.

A I'm afraid to ask what you do with the stamps, in that case.

S I lick them and stick them on out going mail.

A So what is your favorite selvedge type?

S Oh, for sure it has to be the top of stamp sheets recently issued that show an enlarged view of the theme of the stamp.

A For example?

S Well the Legends of the West has great graphics on the selvedge. As do the Marilyn Monroe and James Dean issues. And let's not forget Mr. Zip. Not to mention my very favorite selvedge, the maps and details about the second world war which were issued some years ago.

A No stamps, just selvedge. Have you thought about expanding your collection?

S Yes. I want to begin collecting perforations.

A You mean the little dots of paper that are punched out of a sheet of stamps to make the perforations?

S Yes. That's it. But I can't seem to figure out how to mount them. I have quite a few, but will have to wait until I can find a way to mount them. It could be by size or color. I don't know, yet.

A Back to the studio.

S You did not ask me about the selvedge on booklet panes. Sometimes there are staple holes. But that is all part of the hobby. Recently booklet panes have quite colorful and numerous numbers on the tabs of each pane.

A Back to the studio.