Se-tenant

Se-tenant, or se-ten in collecting slang, refers to multiple stamps with different designs attached together. This can also refer to a stamp and an attached label but not a stamp with an attached piece of selvage or blank label. Se-tenant issues quite common today, but this was not always so.

It is preferable to keep se-tenant issues intact. That way, you can show the way the multiple was created. Still, for very modern issues, it makes little to no difference in price. Some collectors collect both the se-ten stamps and singles. It's your choice to do that, or maybe your fault for buying an album that includes spaces for both. In the case of se-ten stamps originating from a booklet, pane or sheetlet, it is necessary to keep the selvage attached. There is no right way to collect se-tenant issues except when several designs combine to form a unified image. When individual stamps are clearly separate designs, they can come in different orders or combinations. Some collectors demand a se-ten pair, block or strip in the exact order as illustrated in their favorite album, but this will not always be necessary. Eventually, a collector will find their favorite album will not accomodate a large se-tenant block and will have broken it up into singles. For example, there have been very few albums, if any, that allowed modern United States panes with 50 different designs to be displayed intact.        

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