scb
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Post by scb on Dec 6, 2016 8:14:31 GMT
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scb
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
Posts: 313
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Post by scb on Dec 5, 2016 7:05:16 GMT
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scb
Member
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
Posts: 313
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Post by scb on Dec 3, 2016 6:38:25 GMT
Sorting my way through a stack of modern (1960s onwards) Syria. Lots and lots of 'plain looking' (you might even say dull) definitives - but I kind of like them.
-k-
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scb
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
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Post by scb on Oct 11, 2016 15:16:49 GMT
Ouch... I kind of hoped you would know (we collectors love to know whether or not something is soakable or not - hint, hint, wink, wink - please make it part of your new issues detail sheet). I'll much rather keep it on paper till I get some data from others who have tried, LOL.... Or since you've got somewhat unlimited supply of these (at least compared to my one and only copy), you could put up a youtube video on how KEP philatelic dept tests their products If it soakable, then 3-4 minutes in hot (but not boiling) water should show whether or not it floats off or not. -k-
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scb
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
Posts: 313
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Post by scb on Oct 10, 2016 16:06:16 GMT
kepstamps .... It's here! It's here! 13 days makes this faster than mail between US and Europe Now, the million dollar question. If I try to soak the stamp off from paper, will it come off nicely? It seems like self-adhesive, so depending on the gum used it may or may not soak. -k-
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scb
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
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Post by scb on Oct 7, 2016 6:54:50 GMT
Amos is not the only one doing discount sales. Also Michel does them almost monthly, and there are some pretty good offers (discounts range from -30% up to -60% of full price for catalogs that are one or two editions behind). Definitely no need to buy catalogs at full price -k-
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scb
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
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Post by scb on Sept 26, 2016 14:16:01 GMT
As for your desire to have a postally used single of KEP stamps in your collection, how about we send you one.... Woo-hoo! You just made my day Will be sending PM with my address... I hope you don't mind me sharing the item on my stamp blog & social media when it arrives -k-
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scb
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
Posts: 313
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Post by scb on Sept 23, 2016 6:59:52 GMT
kepstamps ... This might be a trade/commercial secret, so no need to answer if you feel uncomfortable. I recall from Michel that the print runs for KEP stamps are really low - 15-30,000 copies per set. What percentage of those prints runs are used for postage, and what is for philatelic sales (mint stamps + fdc's)? Or if that is too much/detailed to asked - what is the amount of mail (paid with stamps) that KEP transmits on annual level? The reason I'm asking that so far I have seen just one or two postally transmitted covers (both sold at very crazy prices), zero postally used singles (my preference), and plenty of mint (on 'new issue' dealer desks).... And I see a lot of worldwide stamps each year so this is highly unusual. So am I chasing fool's gold when trying to come up with postally used singles of KEP stamps as part of my evergrowing world collection (of used stamps)? -k-
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scb
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
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Post by scb on Sept 21, 2016 12:00:08 GMT
Howdy Iona, Trust me, despite the two opinions above, Kyrzyg (both KEP and Kyrzyg Post) stamps are very much sought after with a lot of us worldwide collectors. But the KEP stamps are facing a kind of 'chicken vs. egg' dilemma, as the stamps are nowhere to be found/seen with exception of mint ones(that can be easily ordered from any new issue dealer, but at a cost far higher than what most worldwide collectors consider fair ). And for us collectors it is very hard to talk and write about something which we don't have/possess So possibly KEP (and Kyrzyg Post) should consider creating some kind of philatelic programme that would provide (genuine used) stamps as kiloware, mixtures etc. And of course it should be at a reasonable price (say 50 grams of kiloware at 5€ + postage), or 25 used stamps at 5€ (postage worldwide included).... Once we collectors start finding the stamps, then showing interest and making any kind of talks on them will be much easier. -k-
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scb
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
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Post by scb on Sept 20, 2016 6:20:37 GMT
Peter Winter was the modern day equivalent of Fournier in number of ways.
-k-
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scb
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Post by scb on Sept 2, 2016 6:22:12 GMT
Beauty (as well as ugly) is always in the eye of the beholder... I recall getting my first copy of this stamp sometime in early 1990s and wondering what it was all about for years. Even on worldwide scale this kind of 'text only' design for a stamp is pretty unique.
But yes, a big "4" would have made it much simpler and more elegant.
-k-
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scb
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
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Post by scb on Aug 15, 2016 7:35:29 GMT
Familiar page; have been (and referenced) it number of times on various 'copyright related' talks. The background discussions make an interesting background read as well - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons_talk:Stamps/Public_domain At one point Wikipedia was planning to remove ALL images of German stamps because of copyright practices - talk about insanity of it. Anyway, Wikipedia's copyright practices is one of the reasons why I blog instead of putting stuff on Wikipedia. Another major reason is that in order for some detail to end up on Wikipedia, it has to become from creditable source. so basically any kind of 'new research' is worthless unless it is published on established magazine or book. And yes, blogs or forums (or websites in general) do not count as creditable source in terms of Wiki editors. It definitely makes Wikipedia a poor playground for stamp collector who likes to record and share new information. Personally I add 'The designs of stamps and postmarks are copyright of issuing postal authorities and their designers' to my blog and live with it/consequences that might come (that said, I have specifically asked permission from few postal authorites; quickest response took about 5 minutes; the longest was about 3 months). If I were using Blogspot/Blogger/Wordpress.com then I might have a different approach as their TOS are pretty strict on use of copyrighted content/media, and blogs have vanished for much smaller violations. -k-
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scb
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
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Post by scb on Aug 12, 2016 6:08:52 GMT
OK folks. I know I've been a lazy updater on my updates, but please try to endure. Below are highlights of SCB from this summer season: - Yes, I broke the 100,000 stamp limit (and am actually very close to 101K by now) There's a special post taking a detailed look on the insides of a collection of this size, and how to proceed towards the next milestone of 200,000 stamps. - There's a set of posts aimed for those aspiring on becoming philatelic bloggers (or writers), but the key piece is titled Does anyone collect stamps anymore (or what any aspiring philatelic blogger/writer should know about human search behaviour). It should be worth a read even if you never write a single word, as it tells more about the human side of things than authoring. - It seems no matter where I look, I come up with fakes and forgeries old and new. (not a bad thing as I am trying to build up a side collection of worldwide fakes). At first I stumbled upon a modern Chinese postal forgery (and found Chinese online reference listing hundreds more), then I found a very rough Nabha fake overprint before entering the classic stamps of Charkhari (nothing but fakes). And the most recent post, a puzzling set of stamps from Indore, is likely about fake as well. I am slowly but surely beginning to understand why some large scale worldwide collectors are so paranoid. - And on the non-technical side of collecting there are few more posts covering cultural and historical tidbits on stamps of Israel and Finland. I think that especially the post about Finland came out just perfect. And there's several 'less interesting' (IMHO) updates; a complete listing of all new articles/entries can be found at www.stampcollectingblog.com/archivesOther newsworthy stuff... SCB is now at 1,000 subscribers (about one in ten being paying Premium subscribers with access to everything; the rest use the free option with limited access). My thanks to all who have subscribed to this experiment of mine. Lets enjoy the last days of summer. Sadly autumn season seems to be just around the corner... -k-
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scb
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
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Post by scb on Jul 19, 2016 13:46:39 GMT
Yikes... Is it already three years? It feels like yesteryear.... Anyway, congrats to everyone -k-
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scb
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
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Post by scb on Jun 22, 2016 11:59:58 GMT
Hi Belti, I think I recognize your nick/alias from StampBoards -k-
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scb
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
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Post by scb on Jun 10, 2016 10:42:11 GMT
Welcome aboard manishmo. Just visited your blog - a nice start -k-
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scb
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
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Post by scb on Jun 1, 2016 9:49:16 GMT
Congrats Gerben! I've got a hunch this is just a beginning, and SWH will grow & evolve beyond your wildest dreams. Mark my words, in two years time SWH will reach 20.000 people in single month when folks realize the value you're providing.
-k-
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scb
Member
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
Posts: 313
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Post by scb on May 20, 2016 5:11:27 GMT
Time for another monthly update on what's cooking inside SCB.... First, there's a few new articles. The first entry is about the Dutch Armenwet stamps and how to ID genuine overprint from fakes (which are plenty). Second addition, titled 'Artifacts of war' takes a deep dive into various war-time issues and 'cinderellas' that most general catalog omit. And then there's three entries titled 'marginal notes'; these are short (but hopefully sweet) tidbits about stamps of Spain, Italy (like the faked partisan stamp illustrated below), and Germany. Other stuff... My world collection is ticking at 99,300+ stamps. Hopefully will reach the 100K mark within the next few weeks. As always, hope you enjoy the entries. -k-
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scb
Member
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
Posts: 313
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Post by scb on Apr 15, 2016 6:12:48 GMT
Ahoy all my fellow collectors, it's time for another monthly update on what's been cooking inside SCB in the past month. For starters there's five new articles: SCB's stamp exchange has been on a short break for the past few weeks, but will re-open next week when I'm through the last pieces of the '7K stamp backlog'. As always, hope you enjoy reading SCB. -k-
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scb
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
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Post by scb on Mar 15, 2016 9:32:24 GMT
Howdy folks, Time to update this topic with what's been going on at SCB within the last month. For starters there's three new stamp articles. A review of Delsing's 'Stamps and quality' takes a look of this interesting title covering the topic of quality (or more precisely all those things that we collectors consider faults). The second new article is about modern French stamp with altered perfs; stamps like these are the prime reason why I created my digital perf gauge (see my signature if you don't know what I'm talking about). And the third new entry continues to introduce perf variants that major catalogs omit; this time I'm looking at some 1960s Ecuadorian stamps. I'd also like to thank everyone who's subscribed. 250 subscribers (about third paid, rest with free subscription/trial) in about three weeks is amazing. Never thought so many would follow to the 'subscribers side'. But apparently some of my philatelic write-ups hit a sweet spot and attract folks Anyway, over & out this time... I'll try to update this topic in about month. -k-
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scb
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
Posts: 313
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Post by scb on Mar 14, 2016 12:21:50 GMT
This one seems to be a Religious stamp, the top line google translates as Bear ye one another's burdens
Yep. Asevelipapit was a registered association of Finnish military priests during Word War II. The 'Asevelipapit' roughly translates to 'Brothers in arms', and 'Kenttätervehdys' translates as 'greetings from the battlefields'. Have seen different (military and Christmas themed) postcards issued in their name. They also had some (religous) book publishing business too AFAIK. -k-
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scb
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
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Post by scb on Mar 12, 2016 16:14:21 GMT
Londonbus1.... Your comments and stories are a pleasure to read as always Actually I don't know how USPS does the cancels but having visited one 'philatelic factory' last summer I witnessed a wonderful 'printing machine' where the postal worker placed a bunch of (upcoming first day) covers, and about minute later all 100 were cancelled identically. Works with sheets as well they told. Considering the cost (and varying quality) of manual labor I very much doubt USPS (or any other postal operator) would spend any time on hand cancelling except for show purposes. -k-
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scb
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Post by scb on Mar 12, 2016 9:49:27 GMT
Yep, that's a favor cancelled copy.
-k-
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scb
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Post by scb on Mar 12, 2016 5:24:32 GMT
I don't know of any USA CTOs or did I miss something? Let's start with USPS 'American commemorative cancellations'... Some might call these favour cancelled, but these are 100% printed CTOs (sorry for watermarked image, just grabbed this from my stamp blog) Have been issued since 1972... These are 'philatelic products' identical to CTOs except some 'clever marketing'. Even the gum is there, LOL. -k-
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scb
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
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Post by scb on Mar 10, 2016 5:34:19 GMT
I'll chime in my 5 cents worth... Not knowing much about modern mint US stamps, but I do have plenty of experience of modern Finnish (self-adhesive) stamps.
Yes, the gum can bleed through as described. It just converts to 'sticky' grayish stuff that flows through on both sides of the sheet and stains (and sticks on everything).
Alternatively it tries as 'yellow gunk' and the stamps falls itself.
The first can happen in just few weeks (usually involves exposure to heat/sunlight); the latter is when storing stamps longterm in normal 'collector conditions' . Have seen stamps fall/peel off from postcards and clippings that were just 3-10 years old.
So based on what I know of Finnish stamps I would say it's possible. And yes, it scares the **** out of me when thinking long term storage. Fortunately my interest lies in used stamps only and this will likely solve the 'unsoakable' problem if I just live long enough, LOL.
-k-
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scb
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
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Post by scb on Mar 8, 2016 6:29:37 GMT
The only thing I'd add to Rods excellent summary is that just about all countries out there have CTO-issues on some point in time. Some more some less. You'll learn this as you advance. And CTOs can have very different formats and appearance besides the corner-cancel and inclusion of gum (a lot of CTOs have been produced without gum to save production costs). Here's a piece of Hungary: on the left CTO, on the right postally used). Again, you'll learn different country (and era) specific CTO-practices as you advance. -k-
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scb
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
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Post by scb on Feb 28, 2016 7:28:14 GMT
Add 32 years for me (god I'm feeling old all of a sudden).
Now at 432.
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scb
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
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Post by scb on Feb 27, 2016 7:41:56 GMT
scb Query: Will it matter, if we say scan at 600dpi, then crop the image before using your software? ie altering the image size. Thanks. Cropping doesn't matter IF the stamps pixel dimension remains the same (in the end, cropping is some removal of excessive empty space) . But if you crop/resize so that it alters the stamp pixel dimension too, then it will matter because the utility will fail to determine lengths properly. That said, if you do resize a stamp this way, then also the DPI needs to be changed by same degree to come up with proper result. I.e. If you've got a 1200 DPI scan with stamp width of 1098 px, and you reduce its pixel dimension to 768 px (70% of the original), then the DPI to come up with proper answer should be set to 840 (70% of the original). Got it ? -k-
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scb
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
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Post by scb on Feb 27, 2016 4:21:31 GMT
scb I am hereby writing this testimonial. I tried scb's perf tool and I made it work! Anyone that knows me should now be in a state of shock as I am the most computer illiterate person on this site. It was only last year I learned how to bookmark a page and only last month I learned how to operate two windows at once.I'll only say scb made a simple to use tool that is a joy to use. FROG You got me shocked allright The fact that you and several others have stated that this is easy-to-use is music to my ears. -k-
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scb
Member
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Now at 100,000+ worldwide stamps, and progressing one stamp at a time towards the 200K
Posts: 313
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Post by scb on Feb 26, 2016 16:59:40 GMT
If we marry PostmasterGS "Stampfix" software, we can scan a platen of stamps, and accurately measure the perfs, in half the time. Not so surprisingly I've given quite a lot of thought for the automation (and do even have a 'rough draft version' that does perf auto-detection under specific circumstances; but it would require huge amounts of finetuning/testing before release). But like most things related to tech, it's a double-edged sword. Automation can save time on one point, but on the other hand it is 'cold' and impersonal process. Part of the fun of collecting is the fact that stamps are 'tangibles', and they demand the collector to spend time working with them. If you remove the 'spend time' part, are you removing the 'fun factor' as well? Getting bit philosophical with this, but this is the kind of stuff that geeks like me ponder on long and cold winter nights -k-
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