Whatcha Been Stamping?

Another day with a cluster of arrivals. I posted some of these on more related threads.

The insects issue from TAAF I had been looking forward to for quite a while:
thestampforum.boards.net/post/62192/thread

Postal stationary from the TAAF featuring the "Marion Dufresne" research vessel:
thestampforum.boards.net/post/62193/thread

A couple of stamps from Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, including the issue featuring the shipwreck of the "Penny Fair" :
thestampforum.boards.net/post/62191/thread

The Niger "Secours National" issue of 1941 (this is my first set of this joint issue across several French colonies), featured in part in:
thestampforum.boards.net/post/62195/thread

Also in the mail were the latest issues from Germany and France.

Then started cataloguing my second Canadian stockbook.

Today is a GOOD stamp day! 

Every spare minute, and there are not too many while we are on a 2-week babysitting duty, is taken up with this Commonwealth Collection.
But I am still enjoying being back with stamps for the first time in 6 years and I even mentioned on another thread that I might , just might take one country and start a small collection......but don't tell the Cinderellas !! 

In their favour, the first purchase since my return from Europe has arrived. a nice little lot of Cinderellas. Which reminds me, I haven't even put away all those cindies I came back from Europe with !!!! 

Londonbus1.....too much to do and not enough time. (searching ebay for time)

Xavier, as one who appreciates high quality 19th Century stamps, please permit me to say that this is a spectacular example of this stamp--look at those margins!  Wow!!

If the fuzzy postmark is bothering you, then let's make a trade!

Yes, I can!  The Ceylon collection is especially nice.  I have my eye on some of those, too. 

Yesterday evening, I was cataloguing some more of my Canadian stamps, from the 1950s and 1960s. Some of the definitive issues during that period were issued with tags, i.e. phosphorescent vertical bars, either on the side(s) or the middle of the stamps. On many of those, one can see the bar(s) with the naked eye. But, strangely enough, most of them did not light up under my UV lamp. Thus, I was wondering if my UV lamp was either working at the wrong wavelength (it's a German make, maybe not the same phosphor was used in Canada as in Europe), or if the phosphorescence of the tagging bars could have dimmed away with time (these stamps are after all some 60 years old) or because of exposure to air/humidity. Can anybody advise on this?
Cheers,
Xavier.

The other thing with GB phosphor bands is the wavelength and colour variations. Initially shortwave was used but was changed to longwave. The colours include green, yellow and blue.

Generally it takes twenty seconds for the eye to adjust to a dark room. This suggests waiting that long before using a lamp on the feinter reactions.

I returned home last night from the brothers' AppleFest dinner his wife cooked up - mmmm, mmmm good, to find that a lot I bid on at an auction won. 2,522 mostly used German stamps & covers. I just hope it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to ship it out to me! Once it arrives, it’ll keep me busy for some time.

I have been finally mounting my Faroes, some of which have been languishing in a stock book since 1984 (!) so I had better get at that quick today to finish up what is left.

I have too much to do as it is without adding more! Ah, keeps me out of trouble though. Good thing I am retired with plenty of time on my hands now!

Last night I finished cataloguing my Canadian stockbooks (including the Canadian provinces). Found a few nice things that would fit in the current threads, which I'll try and post tonight. Also ordered two big sets of Egyptian (pre-1958 and UAR period) stamps, along with a few modern South African issues, a few German issues to fill in my 1933-45 period collection, and some more Europa 2018 bridges. Will show some when they come home!

Cannot wait to see your Provinces, specially New Brunswick....I am missing #3 and # 4 - have an offer for #3 from Deveney Stamps (or Saskatoon) too much $$ for.....you have to be patient at times
René

Darn - double darn.

So I am busy busy designing album pages for my Faroes collection. I'm happily chugging away, when all of a sudden, I note that I am missing the Kirkjuböur Cathedral Ruins issue of October 17, 1988 (Scott #182-185 CV:$5.70). And I JUST ordered a bunch of stamps from the APS StampStore the other day. Sheesh! What else am I missing? Well, beside most of 1991-2018, but I have only a few stamps from 2016 when I opened an account with them. But later cancelled as their billing process was a shambles, at least IMHO.

So that set will be on order when next I submit an order, or does someone have a spare MNH they can send me now? 

Today, we had the announcement of the winners for the Physics Nobel Prize, which was awarded, in part, to Gerard Mourou of France and Donna Strickland of Canada, for their work on high-power ultrafast lasers (a laser pictorial shown from a detail of the sheet issued by France in 2001 for "A century of science", Michel #3564). 



Donna Strickland is only the third woman ever to win the Nobel Prize in Physics.
The first woman to win it was of course Marie Curie, pictured below with her husband, another winner, on stamp YT#127 from French Oceania in 1938, part of a colonial series). And the first Physics Nobel prize for work done in Canada (at my McGill alma mater) was to Ernest Rutherford (hence the issue on the right, Canada Sc #534 in 1971).



And the first science Nobel Prize won by a Canadian was the 1971 Chemistry Prize by Gerhard Herzberg (pictured here from Canada issue Sc#2062).



Now, tonight I'll be going through some piles of things that don' t fit in albums. If and when I find pretty pieces, I'll post a few...

Last night I spent several hours at a stamp collecting friend's house. He is in his 80's, and I've known "Tom" (not his real name) for about ten years through our local stamp club. I felt quite honored, as I know Tom is a private sort; he has been collecting nearing 75 years now! And what a collection Tom has--we spent the majority of the time just thumbing through pages and pages of Scott albums....he pretty much collects only to 1940 and I have yet to see such near-completion in a world-wide collection.  Something most "world" collectors only dream of.....

Years ago Tom gave me his "want list" as collector friends often do. We talked at length about how, in some cases, catalogue value has little bearing on relative scarcity of certain stamps. For instance, his want-list had quite a few Central and South American stamps, which were in some cases less than a dollar catalogue value. Yet Tom has been on a decades-long search, submitting his want-lists to so many dealers and collectors afar and near, to lesser avail as he nears completion and fills those elusive empty album spaces.

I won't go into detail on how many stamps Tom has, but suffice it to say he has an extremely low percentage of "missing" (needed) stamps. At least according to Scott's catalogue; I questioned him about collecting non-Scott listed watermark, perforation varieties and the like. Like many collectors, I also use other publisher catalogues to organize my stamps.  Stanley Gibbons, Michel, Yvert, Hermes, Brusden-White, and others all come to mind as especially helpful for non-Scott listed varieties and issues.  

Again his answer reminded me how beloved and revered the US catalogue maker/publisher is. "If it's not in Scott's, it isn't worth putting in my album" seems to be near the norm for a lot of US collectors.  Fairly typical of some US-centric collectors, I've found.  The best thing about stamp collecting, we both agreed, is there is NO RIGHT or WRONG way to collect; album choices, catalogue publishers, and the wide variety of stamp-related supplies and literature attest to that!  And of course the many threads and discussion here on our forum debating the choices we all have.  Viva la Internet ! ! !

Gingerly I brought up the subject of having an "exit strategy" and thankfully Tom indicated to me he was well aware of disposal options, but it is a subject and necessity which is often put off until it's too late. We also talked about the stamp auction market and other venues for liquidating (or in some cases donating) substantial accumulations. Something for everyone to think about, and perhaps put to paper, to file with other important documents, especially as it regards our more valuable holdings. No-one wants, upon our passing, just "any old" dealer or any one else rummaging through our albums, perhaps plucking juicy nuggets and then offering a pittance of their market value to our heirs.

After the midnight hour had struck I realized it was time to head home--Tom was more than generous in some of the peripheral material he was happy to sell me for a pittance; I came home with three incomplete, but nice albums (two were Scott Specialized) which were virtually empty but many pages were in like-new shape. I will be working on remounting South America, Venezuela, and some areas of Germany, for weeks to come. For those interested, the type of albums I am trying to complete for my world-wide collection (a major work in progress!) are Scott Specialized. The heavier, light-manila colored pages are usually printed only on one side. They will last literally several lifetimes, if properly taken care!

All in all a fun, educating evening of stamp-talk & trades!


--Jim Wentzell
stampguyaps177-681

"The afterglow of phosphorescence can be relatively faint. I use a completely darkened room, in my case the guest bathroom which has no windows (and no guests)...."





I had to chuckle at that one, Ryan!    

Just imagine the following possible dialog between you and an unknown occupant of your guest bathroom.....



(unobserved guest of Ryan's):  "uh, EXCUSE me, I am NOT FINISHED in here!"

(Ryan, picking up dropped jaw from said bathroom floor). "um, oops, SO SORRY ma'am, I din't SEE you in here!"

(unobserved guest): "Of course you didn't see me....I keep the lights off when I'm doing my business..."

(Ryan, after gaining just a bit of his composure): "Again, I am SO SORRY to disturb you, but might I ask, WHY you are still in my home, two days after my last dinner party?"

(unobserved guest): "well, it was just so nice and cozy in here.  I truly hope you don't mind!  By the way, you are out of toilet tissue, you know."

(Ryan, reaching towards the cabinet under the sink) "Well, no, we keep the spare toilet paper under here (hands her a roll).  Take your time, just hurry up.  I'd like to use this room to tell if my stamps glow in the dark!"

(unobserved guest): "Uh-oh.  I may have used some old pages from some books I borrowed from the other room.  Since I hadn't seen any toilet tissue I just reached over there and took some books since nothing else was available!  I thought it felt kinda strange with all the bits of the paper fluttering about.... "

(Ryan, shrieking and nearly strangling guest) "My stamps!  My stamps are RUINED!!!"