Statesman Stamper
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Posts: 211 
What I collect: Worldwide, all eras
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Post by Statesman Stamper on Oct 22, 2023 19:26:56 GMT
I have been a subscriber to Linn's Stamp News for the last couple years. I receive the hardcopy monthly issue as well as the weekly digital version. Aside from scanning the classifieds in each issue, I also read each week's "Kitchen Table Philately" column. For those of you who may not be familiar with it, each week an anonymous reviewer goes through a mixture. Most of the time, these mixtures have been ordered from the classifieds in Linn's. Typically the reviewer points out any stamps of interest in the mix and breaks the reviewed sample down in terms of Scott catalogue value to provide a cost-to-CV ratio as one means of evaluating the quality of the mixtures. Earlier this month I received an offer on a five pound mixture of world stamps off paper from an eBay seller. I had bought a similar mix from the same seller a while back and had really enjoyed working through it, so I figured I'd pick up another to keep me busy as the colder weather begins moving in. Three days after purchasing the latest mix a full USPS medium flat rate box (11" X 8.5" X 5.5") arrived. Here is a pic of the top of the pile.  From the seller's description: From my prior experience with one of these, there will be a small amount of damaged, some stamps with bits of paper still stuck on the back that will need to be soaked, and a small number of CTOs and non-stamp items. In five pounds of stamps all of these amounted to maybe two ounces. Didn't impact my fun in any way, so I saw no reason to grumble to the seller. As a way of increasing my participation on the board, I thought it might be fun to share some of my journey through the box. My first step will be a rough sort through the mix, which I will detail in my next post. Dale |
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Statesman Stamper
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Posts: 211
What I collect: Worldwide, all eras
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Post by Statesman Stamper on Oct 22, 2023 19:28:23 GMT
In the past when approaching a large off paper mixture I would typically sort countries alphabetically. For smaller mixes this usually works just fine, but on a larger mix I have found it less satisfying. I end up with piles of stamps, but progress just feels slow. For my current mix, I'm going to try something a little different. As I work through it, I'm planning to use four groupings to start:
GB + Empire + Commonwealth
Europe
Americas
Everything else
This reflects the rough order I'd like to work on once everything has been sorted. I use plastic food storage containers with lids to keep intermediate sorts in, as there tends to be less pain if I knock the stack of them over.
Dale
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JeffS
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Posts: 2,609
What I collect: Oranges Philately, US Slogan Cancels, Cape of Good Hope Triangulars, and Texas poster stamps and cinderellas
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Post by JeffS on Oct 22, 2023 21:20:26 GMT
Looks like a fun lot~
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rod222
Member
Posts: 9,914
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps, Ephemera and Catalogues
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Post by rod222 on Oct 23, 2023 0:15:51 GMT
My regime, and I deal with 1000's of "swaps" at a time.
I search for a cardboard box, at the supermarket, that will hold an A4 wide envelope , it has to be that wide (and a long. box)
They do exist.
Then I buy Post office envelopes, say 4 packages, and begin adding country titles with a sharpie.
You will need approx 300-400 countries.
Sort your stamps into piles, you can do say 300 at a time, and just place them in the country envelope in your box.
There, all finished and ready, neatly stored in 1 location, for your next step, all stamps in one area, and ready for the next step.
Then as you sit down on a Sunday afternoon, and you think "I'll work on Dahomey today, pluck out the envelope ....Voila!
Then, the countries yo don't collect, ready in ebvelopes, to pass on to your swap colleague, they will appreciate all 1 country in 1 envelope...win win.
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Post by dgdecker on Oct 23, 2023 0:24:20 GMT
My regime, and I deal with 1000's of "swaps" at a time.
I search for a cardboard box, at the supermarket, that will hold an A4 wide envelope , it has to be that wide (and a long. box)
They do exist.
…..
Then as you sit down on a Sunday afternoon, and you think "I'll work on Dahomey today, pluck out the envelope ....Voila!
Then, the countries yo don't collect, ready in ebvelopes, to pass on to your swap colleague, they will appreciate all 1 country in 1 envelope...win win.
This is how I try to sort through my collections…..it is a slow process but I can easily sort through the countries I do not collect. |
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Post by dgdecker on Oct 23, 2023 0:24:52 GMT
In the past when approaching a large off paper mixture I would typically sort countries alphabetically. For smaller mixes this usually works just fine, but on a larger mix I have found it less satisfying. I end up with piles of stamps, but progress just feels slow. For my current mix, I'm going to try something a little different. As I work through it, I'm planning to use four groupings to start: GB + Empire + Commonwealth Europe Americas Everything else This reflects the rough order I'd like to work on once everything has been sorted. I use plastic food storage containers with lids to keep intermediate sorts in, as there tends to be less pain if I knock the stack of them over. Dale Hours of fun! |
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rod222
Member
Posts: 9,914
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps, Ephemera and Catalogues
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Post by rod222 on Oct 23, 2023 1:58:17 GMT
1 example of mine, "Stamp tabs and labels" 1 of the 400 or so "countries" envelopes
includes others such as "Indicia" "press cuttings" "registration Labels" "cinderellas" "eyenhallow" "staffa" "surf Island" "Sealand " "Japan Prefectures" et al ad nauseum.
I'd have somewhere in the range of 100-200 stamp tabs/ labels to eventually try and identify
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madbaker
Member
Posts: 693
What I collect: (Mark) General worldwide collector (to 1975 or so) with a soft spot for Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
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Post by madbaker on Oct 23, 2023 2:01:51 GMT
I have been a subscriber to Linn's Stamp News for the last couple years. I receive the hardcopy monthly issue as well as the weekly digital version. Aside from scanning the classifieds in each issue, I also read each week's "Kitchen Table Philately" column. For those of you who may not be familiar with it, each week an anonymous reviewer goes through a mixture. Most of the time, these mixtures have been ordered from the classifieds in Linn's. Typically the reviewer points out any stamps of interest in the mix and breaks the reviewed sample down in terms of Scott catalogue value to provide a cost-to-CV ratio as one means of evaluating the quality of the mixtures. ... As a way of increasing my participation on the board, I thought it might be fun to share some of my journey through the box. My first step will be a rough sort through the mix, which I will detail in my next post. Dale Fantastic! I'm a big fan of Kitchen Table Philately and I dream about buying a lot like this. I look forward to your updates as you make sense of this monstrosity. 💖 |
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Post by nick2302 on Oct 31, 2023 2:01:17 GMT
I tried that ONCE buying from a person who a reviewer had written up in Linn's. It was a nightmare of junk I got back, and I had to write the seller about 5 times asking where was this mix I had sent the money for. I never got an actual response from him but I got this envelope and when I opened I could not believe what was in that pile. If there was 1 of the dark blue Jefferson (I think there were hundreds of that same stamp). I wrote the seller back that I was not pleased with this worthless pile of junk stamps (all thought I was very diplomatic and requested to send the mess back and he could try again or refund my money. Needless to say I never heard back from him. So I have been unduly sour about buying mixes off paper.
Nick
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Post by carabop on Oct 31, 2023 2:48:10 GMT
I have recently bought 3 different mixes from 3 different sellers. 1 from a reputable seller on hipstamp this one great, 1 from a antique seller on eBay this mix was ok and got my money’s worth, the 3rd was from a reputable seller on eBay this mix was also great and got more than double my money’s worth. In my opinion it really depends on who you buy from. Curious to see what Statesman Stamper has found. Actually I’m curious to see what others have found in their mixes. |
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Ryan
Member
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 2,721
What I collect: If I have a catalogue for it, I collect it. And I have many catalogues ....
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Post by Ryan on Oct 31, 2023 9:26:51 GMT
Earlier this month I received an offer on a five pound mixture of world stamps off paper from an eBay seller. I have great fun with ye olde pile of dross (cheap stamps) and I see all kinds of stuff in there which is right up any number of alleys for me. Brunei? Great! Gilbert & Ellice? Great! Belgian Congo & Iceland & French India & big multicoloured Laos engravings & imperfs & postage dues & imperf postage dues? Any number of alleys worth of great! Hopefully you'll end up enjoying the sorting & identifying / cataloguing / elsewise as much as I would. Ryan |
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Statesman Stamper
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Posts: 211
What I collect: Worldwide, all eras
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Post by Statesman Stamper on Nov 2, 2023 11:02:28 GMT
I wanted to give a short update.
Rod's rod222 posts showing his method of sorting a mix into envelopes by country got me to pause and spend some time thinking. That is never a bad thing, especially since I was only about 1000-1500 stamps into the box. Sorting into the larger groupings as I had originally planned would mean that I'd be touching each stamp at least twice. In the past this wouldn't have bothered me because I would notice stamps on the second pass that didn't catch my focus the first time through. On a really good mixture, this nearly doubles the enjoyment. I could continue this way on this current mix, but I had to consider the amount of time available to me for stamping activities over the next month or two. These days when the weather is nice enough I've been getting a lot of walking in, and this takes away from time I might otherwise be sitting at my desk with tongs in hand. For the next little while, I just don't have the time available for sorting twice. Plus, this box isn't the only mix in the queue.
So I picked up a box of 6" x 9" envelopes and started going back through the four piles I had, splitting out roughly by country. Some stuff like Australian or Indian states will get lumped together in a single envelope. I don't believe I'll get enough of any one entity to justify having individual envelopes for them. It would be a wonderful surprise to be proven wrong on this. 
I finished the re-sort Tuesday evening. I've used roughly 160 or so envelopes so far, which I'll admit is more than I'd have thought for such a small number of stamps. I may need to pick up another box of envelopes before too long.
I plan to dive back into the box this weekend. I'll try to post scans of anything interesting I find along the way.
Dale
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Statesman Stamper
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Posts: 211
What I collect: Worldwide, all eras
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Post by Statesman Stamper on Nov 2, 2023 11:14:40 GMT
I tried that ONCE buying from a person who a reviewer had written up in Linn's. It was a nightmare of junk I got back, and I had to write the seller about 5 times asking where was this mix I had sent the money for. I never got an actual response from him but I got this envelope and when I opened I could not believe what was in that pile. If there was 1 of the dark blue Jefferson (I think there were hundreds of that same stamp). I wrote the seller back that I was not pleased with this worthless pile of junk stamps (all thought I was very diplomatic and requested to send the mess back and he could try again or refund my money. Needless to say I never heard back from him. So I have been unduly sour about buying mixes off paper. Nick,
Sorry to hear about your bad experience. Sounds like it would have left a bad taste in my mouth, too. I haven't bought many mixes out of Linn's classifieds, and none since the 1990s. At this point, I can't remember if those experiences were good, bad, or otherwise.
I have been unhappy with a couple "grab bag" lots purchased from eBay. I'm sure you've seen similar ones, with the seller quoting some amount of catalogue value for $9.95 or $19.95. The problem with these, from my experience, is that the seller is calculating CV without regard to condition of the actual stamps. Oh well. We live and learn.
Dale
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rod222
Member
Posts: 9,914
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps, Ephemera and Catalogues
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Post by rod222 on Nov 2, 2023 11:36:13 GMT
I wanted to give a short update.
Rod's rod222 posts showing his method of sorting a mix into envelopes by country got me to pause and spend some time thinking.
So I picked up a box of 6" x 9" envelopes and started going back through the four piles I had, splitting out roughly by country. Some stuff like Australian or Indian states will get lumped together in a single envelope. I don't believe I'll get enough of any one entity to justify having individual envelopes for them. It would be a wonderful surprise to be proven wrong on this.
I finished the re-sort Tuesday evening. I've used roughly 160 or so envelopes so far, which I'll admit is more than I'd have thought for such a small number of stamps. I may need to pick up another box of envelopes before too long.
I plan to dive back into the box this weekend. I'll try to post scans of anything interesting I find along the way.
Dale
@statesman stamper I am so pleased Dale, Good on you! You won't regret it. Organisation (esp a worldwide collector) is absolutely mandatory, if you don't want end up with stamps everywhere Imagine taking a 12 month rest from stamps, you get back into it, all is sorted and ready. You want to do swap, pick out your Ireland envelope, all's good. ---------------- Now here's the low down, from a WW collector, I have TWO boxes ! yikes, That hold all my unprocessed stamps  One box "TO SORT" one box "TO Album" Say 2000 come in, I sort into the "To Sort" box then if I am working on Denmark, pull out the DK envelope find the stamps I need, they go into "to album" for when I am mounting. Getting the right box size is important. Yes, it's basically madness, but someone has to do it. |
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madbaker
Member
Posts: 693
What I collect: (Mark) General worldwide collector (to 1975 or so) with a soft spot for Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
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Post by madbaker on Nov 2, 2023 16:52:59 GMT
I have a similar system to Rod, but my 'to album' section is a series of stockbooks rather than another box. My focus is on reducing the 'to album' pile significantly before adding to the 'to sort' pile.  That's why I'm watching this thread with such interest. I don't need to buy my own mix yet - I can get the thrill from reading about your adventures instead. Question for rod222 -- how do you manage duplicates? I imagine you're building packets regularly to send to your trading partners. Do you have a third 'to go' box? |
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philatelia
Member
Captain Jack - my best kiloware find ever!
Posts: 3,408
What I collect: Ireland, Japan, Scandy, USA, Venezuela, Vatican, Bermuda, Austria
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Post by philatelia on Nov 2, 2023 17:19:37 GMT
I separate out the stamps from the countries I collect and put them in pocket files. When I feel like working on a country I pull the file, dump out all the new material and have fun. Looking at that pic, the Canada folder is bulging and full of goodies! I put the duplicates on Manila cards to await being donated, sold, traded or filed in my red boxes on 104 cards. The countries I don’t collect go in a similar arrangement in a separate place. USA and Ireland go in a different drawer. FYI I bought commercial grade office furniture from an American manufacturer - National - 30 years later it’s still like new. Worth every penny!  Those tubs in the front are the active auction lots and material prepping for auction.  |
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rod222
Member
Posts: 9,914
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps, Ephemera and Catalogues
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Post by rod222 on Nov 2, 2023 20:01:03 GMT
madbakerI basically follow "Philatelia" in the above post, In fact my 400 stamp albums, mirror her Bookcase, mine are in steel stationery cupboards. how do you manage duplicates? I imagine you're building packets regularly to send to your trading partners. Do you have a third 'to go' box? Trading partners are (or can be) difficult, I have tried them all, Most collectors have discrete "want lists" , special countries, etc, entirely understandable. As a WW collector, I cannot handle that. As Philatelia does, if I want to work on Denmark say, I pull out the DK envelope, (in the sort box) Tip out the stamps , open my Denmark Album, and segregate those stamps that need mounting The rest go in an Envelope "Denmark duplicates" and into a drawer When I do a trade, I pull out say 30 envelopes of country duplicates into a box and mail off You just need to find partners who can handle that (not easy) Example: Received a package from North America recently, inside were packets of Germany (Occupation ~ Berlin) Pulled out the Album, segregated those I needed rest into a duplicates envelope, marked "Germany Occupation "Berlin " Sc# 9N1 Onwards" all ready to mail off to Ireland, or where ever the next trader is. Trading with an open and boundary free stamp countries, is time saving and anxiety free regime. perhaps only suitable for WW collecting. Of course, one gets lots of commons, but there is always surprises, ephemera, trading stamps, indicia, souvenir sheets It's fun!
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rod222
Member
Posts: 9,914
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps, Ephemera and Catalogues
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Post by rod222 on Nov 3, 2023 0:55:10 GMT
Those tubs in the front are the active auction lots and material prepping for auction.
a constant irritation, for mine as well.
Especially when they get heavy.
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philatelia
Member
Captain Jack - my best kiloware find ever!
Posts: 3,408
What I collect: Ireland, Japan, Scandy, USA, Venezuela, Vatican, Bermuda, Austria
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Post by philatelia on Nov 3, 2023 9:17:48 GMT
I know what you mean, rod222 . Normally I only take out one binder at a time so they don’t lean quite so much, but I had two or three pulled and then FLOPPPPPP. I wouldn’t leave them like that for any length of time though. Hmmm I should keep use an few empty binders as spacefillers to prevent the leaning. 400 albums? Wow! I only collect about 20 countries so mine fit on one wall. You must have either a room full, or shelves in rows like a library. 400! Whew! |
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rod222
Member
Posts: 9,914
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps, Ephemera and Catalogues
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Post by rod222 on Nov 3, 2023 9:43:54 GMT
I know what you mean, rod222 . Normally I only take out one binder at a time so they don’t lean quite so much, but I had two or three pulled and then FLOPPPPPP. I wouldn’t leave them like that for any length of time though. Hmmm I should keep use an few empty binders as spacefillers to prevent the leaning. 400 albums? Wow! I only collect about 20 countries so mine fit on one wall. You must have either a room full, or shelves in rows like a library. 400! Whew! I have these plastic "L" shaped bookends, bought from a charity shop, they are good for quickly slipping under the last binder, to hold the row. My problem is, I use sheet protectors, on all my album pages so that adds to the weight, and reduces how many album pages to a binder (hence more albums / binders used) For the big country collections (eg Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Mongolia etc) I would be lucky to get 10-15 years of Steiner Pages in 1 album. PS: empty binders ! that's not a bad idea, My Burroughs album binders are roughly $7 each. |
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Post by southafrica1 on Nov 4, 2023 19:35:16 GMT
looks like a really good mix...much better than the usual which has tons of eastern europe cto's and lots and lots of duplication. Am looking for a similar lot to keep me busy during the coming winter months. I saw one upcoming lot in an auction but it is 60 lbs of off paper mixture stuff. Enough for the next five years or so. I may give myself an early birthday present and take a chance and bid on it.
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