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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;gsalexan, post: 2890153, member: 24274&quot;]Today, I&#039;d like to discuss cancelled souvenir cards -- specifically those cancelled at the BEP Visitors Center. This is something that probably should have been posted <b>long</b> ago. So a little background:</p><p><br /></p><p>The special Visitors Center cancellation was first put into use in 1981 as a way to offer visitors (mostly stamp collectors) a cheap, convenient way to document their visit. Almost from the start, BEP souvenir cards have been show cancelled at the events they commemorate, particularly stamp shows that create special hand cancellations. So a Visitors Center cancel made sense to many philatelic collectors.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Visitor Center cancel is still around today and you&#039;ll see it on a lot of cards selling on eBay. The BEP often brings this hand cancel along to shows where they exhibit and sell products, as if it were a show cancel. Except that it&#039;s not. Many collectors believe that the VC cancel enhances the value of a souvenir card, just as a show cancel does. Except that it doesn&#039;t. In fact, it may actually reduce the value, compared to a mint card. A great many of those stamp collectors who were around back in the &#039;80s -- those who created and collected this kind of card -- are now long gone.</p><p><br /></p><p>Unlike a show cancel, VC cancels don&#039;t usually commemorate anything special, except one collector&#039;s trip to the BEP -- even if they match the date of the show. In the regular auction of the Souvenir Card Collectors Society, VC cancelled cards typically sell for less, if at all. This somewhat tracks on eBay, though many buyers don&#039;t recognize the difference between a VC cancel and a show cancel.</p><p><br /></p><p>I personally prefer mint cards over VC cancels. I like the cleaner look and I think they will be easier to sell, down the line. And while I don&#039;t want to deter any collector from deciding for themselves what to collect, I think it&#039;s a good idea to be aware of how fellow collectors perceive the material you like, so you aren&#039;t surprised later on.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]694322[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]694323[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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