About Stamps

Newer-issue stamps have to be purchased, used and sent through the mail, and then be trimmed off the piece. It can take a little while for us to get enough used stamps to offer.

The number of stamps with premium centering depended on how carefully the stamp was removed from the sheet or how precisely they were perforated. Due to this, the number of stamps with fine, very fine, or superb centering is unknown. See Mystic’s grading guidelines here.

From the 1940s to present, all plate block positions on sheets of stamps are worth about the same. For pre-1940 flat-plate-printed sheets, plate blocks with wider margins generally are worth more than plate blocks with thinner margins.

A First Day Cover (FDC) set has a cover for each single stamp in the set. The First Day Cover with a block or strip of stamps is one cover with the block or strip of attached stamps. Click here to see an FDC set and click here to see multiple stamps on a single cover.

Watermarks are translucent letters or patterns impressed into the paper used to produce certain older US stamps. Click here for tips on identifying stamps with watermarks.

Ziplock bags are OK for general stamp storage. We recommend storing unused and expensive stamps in albums, archival-quality mylars or glassines, or other storage intended for stamps. Click here to see Mystic’s recommended stamp storage options.

Mystic’s American Heritage Collection contains US Commemorative stamps issued from 1935 to the present. Volume 1 contains stamps from 1935 though 1994. Volume 2 pictures stamps from 1995 through 2010. And Volume 3 has stamps from 2011 though the present. Mystic’s Advanced Heritage Collection contains stamps issued from 1847 though 1934, plus US Airmails. Current American Heritage Collection members can call our customer service representatives at 1-800-433-7811 to join the Advanced Heritage Collection.

Yes! You can find it here. This Explorer Worldwide Collection Kit was created by H.E. Harris and contains a high-quality album, hinges, a magnifier, and some worldwide stamps. That’s everything you need to get started collecting!

The stamp margins vary a little depending on how it’s trimmed. These imperforates are cut by human hands, so the margins will not be perfectly even, but we can assure you that 2-3 of the margins will be large enough to show the stamp was cut from an imperforate press sheet. Additionally, imperforate stamps will not have the scoring on the back that regular stamps with die cuts have. Mystic guarantees that every imperforate stamp we sell is authentic.