"Processing" a Worldwide Box Lot

Having had some experience of mixed lots, I find the best thing to do is to sort into countries and do the intial discard of damaged or known unwanted items. In a couple of places I have stacks of empty mushroom punnets which I use to hold each country mid process. It also means tha if there are not too many or too few stamps they can be stacked to save space.

Nice thread, Mark (madbaker )!  Let's see if I can contribute something.  You asked:
Well, please see below my solution.  I admit that I borrowed this idea after seeing portable boards for working on jigsaw puzzles.  I thought why not do the same thing using regular document folders?  And here is how it looks:


I like to use colored folders, as it helps me to see perfs when working on the stamps and to keep them straight.  When closed up for putting away, I stack all the folders and slide them into a heavy plastic sleeve to hold things together a bit better, but the plastic sleeve is not absolutely needed, as long as you are careful when handling.


When I have access to the dining table, I take the folders out of the sleeve and lay them out like this.


Then I can open them up and pick up where I left off with everything still in its pile.  And of course, the process works just the same way in reverse when you need to clear up for dinner.  Simply close up the folders, stack them, and slide them back into the plastic sleeve.  There you have it.

Caution:  Be careful to keep the stack horizontal at all times, or else you will end up with a big mixture all over again!  I have forgotten occasionally and carried the folder stack a bit carelessly, and then found to my chagrin that I undid some of my work.  But normally, this is a good temporary measure when you have a sorting project that will take some time.  You can always set it aside when desired and resume it again at a later time.

Hope this helps, Mark, and have fun with the sorting!  It's one of my favorite stamping activities.... making order from chaos. 

Hi madbaker

I used to sort large volumes of stamps for a stamp store owned by a friend.  I devised a method which was easy and quick.  At first the method seems complicated but once you start it it is fairly simple.
See the post:  thestampforum.boards.net/post/13276/thread

In the first post click on Sorting Stamps.pdf and download the PDF.

Jerry B

Hi darkormex

The desk on which I would work stamps is small.  I didn't have a card table so I sat on the floor to sort stamps.  I forgot to lock the cat out of the room and after the first fiasco I learned to lock him out
Jerry B

Great stuff, Mark (madbaker), I love accruing bonus points.... I'll be cashing those in at some stage! 

Also glad if I could help Darrin (darkormex), too.  Thanks for your positive comments!

I should also add that it was Jerry's (Jerry B) stamp-mixture sorting method that originally brought me into TSF back in Nov-2016, so a good memory for me there.  It's great to see that good advice has no expiration date!

Another nice feature about using the modular approach when sorting is that you can re-arrange the folders whenever you want to, or even just do detailed work on the contents of a single folder without the distraction of all the other material, if you wish.  I like it because it makes it easy to stop and start as desired, and it works well when prime work spaces are at a premium like they are in my current living situation.

You commented:
Unfortunately, this is one of hazards of creating order from chaos.  Do your best when going through the box, but accept that there will be some re-tracing of steps at different points in the process.  For me, at least, this has been inevitable due to the amount of disorganized material I have now acquired.

No matter what, have fun with it, and by all means, please post some photos to show us your progress.

-Chris 

Beryllium Guy, I already tried this out last night with manila files and a closeable plastic paper/file sleeve similar to what you have in the photo and it was magical.