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Post by jamesw on Oct 22, 2013 2:44:33 GMT
So we've all bought or have acquired collections or lots of stamps, whether at auction or through friends. Ever find anything really nice that you weren't expecting? Could be something valuable or odd or rare, but what ever it was, it surprised you. I'll start. I've been lucky a couple of times. But here's one I didn't expect. A friend gave me her husbands old collection last year. He didn't want it. And initially, though there was lots of nice stuff, and a few interesting little bits, I saw nothing earth shattering. Until I showed a few pieces on SCF (that other wealth of knowledge) when someone pointed something out to me, that I certainly NEVER expected. This block of very common 1967 MNH definitives, precancelled, actually have a fairly high catalogue value. In my 2011 Unitrade they come in at $45 each, so that's $180 for the four. Not bad for 8ยข face value. If it had been a plate block it would have been $1200! but alas, no numbers. Not bad for something I was going to toss. They are newer than I collect, and I don't generally collect precancels. But there were a pile of various precancels, so I figured they make an interesting vario page. Guess who's in the centre of it all? So let's see yours...  |
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Ryan
Moderator 
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 2,749 
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 25, 2013 2:22:09 GMT
I remember that - I was the one who pointed them out!
I don't have my Unitrade in front of me, but as I recall, that plate block value will actually be for the warning strip, the full text with the legalese that usage requires authorization. Those are blocks of 20, essentially the end two columns from the sheet. In those days, plate blocks were still strictly from philatelic stock, which were the same sheets but trimmed with larger margins. Field stock, the normal stuff you would find in a post office, were trimmed with smaller margins and the plate designations were snipped off. I think all the Centennial precancels were printed on field stock.
Ryan
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Ryan
Moderator
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 2,749
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 25, 2013 2:36:32 GMT
I have a couple of things I can post here, mostly because I've already posted them elsewhere, which means I've already scanned them! ha ha In any case, they fit in well with the topic. They weren't bought with the intention of getting something special - they came in bulk lots and were complete surprises when I found them. First, a couple of Brazilian perforation errors.   Next, a Bavarian stamp printed on the gummed side.   I have a couple more treasures like that, I'll have to scan them to show them off. In the meantime, here's one that doesn't really fit in the sense that I bought it knowing what I was getting. Except I don't know what it is! Is it possible that this could be an albino (mostly albino) engraved stamp, or has the stamp ink somehow been removed without removing the precancel ink?  Ryan |
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Post by jamesw on Oct 25, 2013 3:14:06 GMT
That's right Ryan, it was you. I'm much obliged for your keen eye and knowledge.
But my block certainly pales in comparison you your finds. Nice misperfs and backprinting.
I can hardly wait to see what other members can come up with.
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I.L.S.
Departed
Rest in Peace
I am in Clearfield, Pa. I love US Classic covers!
Posts: 2,113
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Post by I.L.S. on Oct 25, 2013 9:59:23 GMT
One dreary winters' day after shoveling snow for 3 hours all I wanted to do was to get a hot cup of coffee and go to bed. I happened to glance down on the kitchen table at the mail that miraculously showed up that day and noticed a rather plain looking envelope addressed to me. I opened it up and almost hit the floor! I was completely stunned. The accompanying note said that he had no one to pass his collection to so he was trying to find good homes for a few items and he thought that this belonged at my house! I totally agreed. lol But yes a surprise just out of the blue a mint, original gum scott #239. See scans below.Scott #239 Close-up of Scott #239
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I.L.S.
Departed
Rest in Peace
I am in Clearfield, Pa. I love US Classic covers!
Posts: 2,113
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Post by I.L.S. on Oct 25, 2013 10:51:01 GMT
I also once received quite a few Soldiers mail covers from WWII. by a good fellow and a forum member both here and SCF. Thank you James!
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Ryan
Moderator
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 2,749
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 26, 2013 0:57:15 GMT
Here's one that Jerry B might like. It's another double perforation, this time from Ecuador. I almost missed this one the first time I looked through the bulk group of Ecuador stamps I had bought - the perfs are mostly blind and weren't immediately obvious. This scan shows them clearly enough, though.  Ryan |
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graphis
**Member** 
Inactive
Posts: 15
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Post by graphis on Oct 31, 2013 12:10:00 GMT
I once bought a cover with a Canadian 1897 issue of a Queen Victoria Jubilee stamp..which I found in a dollar box. When I got home I inspected the covers I bought for inserts i.e letters etc..and low and behold in the Vickie cover was another Jubilee stamp..MNH!...i took it to another stamp dealer who gave me a $50.00 store credit for it.
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firstfrog2013
Member 
Posts: 3,276
What I collect: BNA Liberia St Pierre U.S. Bolivia Turkey
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Post by firstfrog2013 on Oct 31, 2013 14:52:31 GMT
A lot I won recently to add used copies to lonely mint leaf queens contained three large queens.One off these old beauties was a #33 and the other two are the blueish shade of the 2 cent.Really a great surprise and nice addition.
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I.L.S.
Departed
Rest in Peace
I am in Clearfield, Pa. I love US Classic covers!
Posts: 2,113
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Post by I.L.S. on Oct 31, 2013 14:56:36 GMT
I once bought a cover with a Canadian 1897 issue of a Queen Victoria Jubilee stamp..which I found in a dollar box. When I got home I inspected the covers I bought for inserts i.e letters etc..and low and behold in the Vickie cover was another Jubilee stamp..MNH!...i took it to another stamp dealer who gave me a $50.00 store credit for it. That's an awesome score! Congrats!! |
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antoniusra
Member
Inactive
Actively pursuing every stamp I do not have and continuing to expand my site.
Posts: 416
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Post by antoniusra on Oct 31, 2013 19:46:41 GMT
I've had many nice surprises but this one has a pretty good story to go along with it. It also shows it can happen to anyone, you just have to keep your eyes open and then how to capitalize on it. I live 2 miles down a gravel road from a small town of 2,000 in Eastern Kansas. We have a small post office and they have a very small display, at the counter, of stamps on hand. Back in 2001 I was looking at the display to see what stamps I wanted to get for my regular mail (I don't collect current issues). I spotted this Deer sheet (Scott 3363a) and something appeared out of whack. I snatched it plus another for mail and headed home. I had no idea what kind of an error this was but it seemed pretty dramatic. I got on the Ebay chat board and showed it asking if anyone knew what type of error it was. After awhile someone in Canada came up with the answer and the answer was Repellex, as in water repelling ink. Seems a small drop of water turns into an oval that repells the ink resulting in the absence of ink. It seems this is something that happens frequently with Canadian stamps so the fellow who let me know was quite familiar with the error. I got all the info I could and emailed it to Linn's Stamp News and it was featured in the next months edition. A week later the article was put up on Linn's Ebay blog. Well I had got my Ducks in a very nice row so now it was time to get rid of this item that I really had little interest in. I listed it on Ebay with a hidden reserve of $1,200 hyping it up nicely with the Linn's article. It seemed good that it was fresh in Linn's readers minds as well. Well I got my $1,200 (not bad for $6.60 investment) and much of it was turned into stamps I wanted. The guy that bought it must have just had cash he did not know what to do with. He was really not a stamp collector but he heard that stamp errors was a good place to put his money. Below is a scan of the sheet also the articles from Linn's (3 diff parts of pages) and Linn's Ebay    |
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Post by stampgeezer on Oct 31, 2013 20:27:00 GMT
A-Ra, that is a remarkable story. I did not know we had a celebrity on TSF!
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I.L.S.
Departed
Rest in Peace
I am in Clearfield, Pa. I love US Classic covers!
Posts: 2,113
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Post by I.L.S. on Oct 31, 2013 20:47:11 GMT
That's really awesome! Great eye A-Ra!!
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Ryan
Moderator
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 2,749
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, 2013 23:43:08 GMT
No $1200 score here - maybe it's worth at least double catalogue value, though, so that would move it all the way up into the 40 cent range. ha ha Many stamps from Spanish Morocco have a control number printed on the back, just like stamps from Spain back in the days of King Alfonso XIII. These numbers are seldom very high - I have maybe 20 or 25 of these stamps that I've found in kiloware and various lots, and maybe only 3 of them have control numbers higher than 10,000. But this one came in a lot of 500 assorted mint stamps that I won on eBay, and it's definitely the lowest control number I've seen so far. I have a corner stamp on another value in the set and the control number on that means that the sheets were likely 5 x 7, thus the #98 here is from the final column on the sheet.   Ryan |
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Post by spain1850 on Nov 3, 2013 3:38:19 GMT
I can't even think of all the nice surprises I've had over the years. I really like buying groups of unassuming stamps with the thought of making "finds". It' the thrill of the hunt. I probably have some nice surprises sitting in boxes or envelopes right now, they just haven't been discovered yet. Here are some things I just got in a collection of loose Denmark stamps, which I posted about in the "latest acquisitions" thread.  A nice selection of early Imperfs, including the 16s (first stamp, first row) which I haven't tried id'ing yet. A couple sound, 4-margin copies of the 4s issue, including one with roullete perforations (3rd stamp second row). Also, the first perforated stamp in the 3rd row has a railway cancellation (I believe). All nice surprises for me since none of them were apparent in the scans provided with the ebay listing. There will be more surprises for me from this lot I'm sure, which I will show. |
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firstfrog2013
Member
Posts: 3,276
What I collect: BNA Liberia St Pierre U.S. Bolivia Turkey
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Post by firstfrog2013 on Nov 5, 2013 20:07:06 GMT
While not involving recent purchase while re-doing modern Canada (boring I know) I came across these little gems and yes you have to look at catalog cause who can remember modern catalog numbers?Several varieties of 792 including the "no postage" and double cameo,a 929i if you don't have this its going out of sight fast, and to my surprise a 996ii didn't remember this must have been in my variety days.
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Ryan
Moderator
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 2,749
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 Jan 27, 2014 22:37:02 GMT
I've come across another nice find in a bulk purchase. It's not so easy to find Iraqi stamps in bulk, and I happened to come across a Danish eBay seller with 130 grams of off-paper stamps from Iraq (that's quite a haul, perhaps 2000 stamps, that will help build a good trading stock). The vast majority of them were from the Republic era, but there are some from Saddam's era as well. Around 1993, Iraqi stamps took a huge downturn in printing quality, presumably due to them no longer using stamp printers from outside the country. Most of these later stamps have poor printing resolution and dreadful colour alignment, and it looks like they weren't too efficient at cancelling stamps either (at least not on the stamps in this mix, probably 2/3 of these later used stamps don't have any cancellation on them). Here's a double perforation error I found in the mix. Or triple perforation - you can see the remnants of a third perforation pass just at the left edge of the small attached bits.  Ryan |
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