Collectors collect in widely different qualities. Some are happy with faulty off center stamps (especially at steep discounts from catalog value). Some want only very nice stamps and a few want only the finest quality that money can buy. Every collector’s choice is his own but there is an interesting corollary that we have found between the quality that a collector desires and their personality.
First, most collectors are very comfortable with traditional “Very Fine” for most of the stamps. There are only a small percentage of collectors that collect at the fringes of the quality ranges-both at the “quality doesn’t matter” end and the “I only want perfect” end. And ironically, both of these extremes often share similar personality characteristics even though they want very different types of stamps. They tend to be messy, iconoclastic and want to play by their own rules. They tend towards the narcissistic end of the personality spectrum and are bombastic and need lots of affirmation. The vast majority of collectors are very happy to collect mainstream Very Fine, but those of us in the trade have learned to send away those collectors who demand only the very best or very worst.