Selvage

Selvage, or selvedge, is the paper from the margins of a sheet or pane of stamps, either printed or blank. When it has something printed on it, it could be a tab.

The first reaction is probably to rip off a blank piece of selvage because the stamp won't fit into the frames space for it in your album. Maybe, it's even one with some kind of printing. But be aware of things like the colored Jubilee lines printed in the margins of the Great Britain Jubilee issues. They are just lines after all, but margin examples are quite scarce and in demand today.

Further, your off-center stamp with a piece of blank selvage might look a little better with that selvage still attached.

Are you going to tear off a piece of selvage that shows what you have is a straddle pane (guttersnipe) example?

If the stamp with blank selvage is used, wouldn't it make sense to keep the selvage when it shows a large part of a cancel?

Confused? Then it might be better to save that attached selvage in the end.  File:Malaysia 50s due corner.jpg 