seegod1
Member
Mostly lurking these days, but enjoying everyone's input!
Posts: 164
What I collect: Canada, Cats, Soccer, Religion, Royalty, Titanic, Stamps on Stamps, Number Ones
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Post by seegod1 on Apr 3, 2023 10:07:33 GMT
Hey all, so I really haven't been stamping much lately, just coming into the fora every day to see what's up and read the shoutbox!
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Beryllium Guy
Moderator
Posts: 5,652
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps 1840-1930
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Post by Beryllium Guy on Apr 3, 2023 15:05:45 GMT
Thanks for your post about the Stamp-Lift, mberry I have had the exact same experience, that the sponge eventually started to deteriorate, so I removed it entirely (it came out in bits and pieces) from the lid of the plastic box. I just went out and bought a new sponge, cut it to the right size, and inserted it back into the lid of the box. In truth, I haven't used the Stamp-Lift box since then, but I have to imagine it should be working again. Wouldn't that be a possibility to get yours operational again?
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mberry
Member
Posts: 978
What I collect: USA, USA Revenues, Beer Related Stamps and Revenues, US State Revenues, Stamp Show Stamps
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Post by mberry on Apr 3, 2023 18:31:54 GMT
Thanks for the idea @beryllium Guy!
Now, I just need to find the thing. Last time I used it was 1 divorce, 2 moves and a marriage ago. I am not sure it survived the first move, very possible I threw it away which is very unlike me. I usually hang on to things way to long with the intent on 'fixing' them. Sigh...
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eggdog
Member
I want a new Harley!
Posts: 464
What I collect: It's complicated....
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Post by eggdog on Apr 4, 2023 2:53:05 GMT
A few weeks ago, I bid on some lots in a Vance auction. I hardly ever win anything on Vance (I always suspected last-minute snipers, but the auctions are blind so I don't know how sniping would work there), so I basically forgot about it until the other day when I was sorting my email. I hadn't heard anything from them, but I called them up and found out that I'd won six lots. I have vowed, in public and in private, to stop buying stamps - especially box lots - until I get a handle on what I actually already have here. But since I didn't expect to win anything, I can write it off as unintentional, and not a failure to live up to my own promises. Right? Of course! Thank you - I knew you'd see it my way!
In some of the rest of my odd hours, I managed to get all my picture postcards filed where I want them. Or all of them except for some: a few that I couldn't file because I have to research them a bit more. For instance, I forgot where Mallorca is and whether it's the same thing as Majorca. (Spain, and yes.) And a few more turned up in the rest of the Vance box after I'd finished. (I should always put "finished" in "quotation marks" whenever describing any "of" my projects.)
And I'm sorting what I call my African Megamix (sounds like a dance-rock album, huh?), mixtures and kiloware I've accumulated over the years. I thought I had two or three pounds, but Kenya is 7 ounces just on its own so far and I'm not even halfway through, so it's probably more like six or seven pounds. Life has been stressful lately, and when I'm stressed there's nothing like taking a box of stamps and making little piles on the desk. There's a gadzooksful of cool postmarks here!
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Mr. H
Member
Member - APS #129381
Posts: 935
What I collect: US, Netherlands, Whatever suits my fancy.
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Post by Mr. H on Apr 4, 2023 15:04:39 GMT
Down to three shoeboxes of stamps from the tub. Here's a few of the recent finds that I found interesting.
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eggdog
Member
I want a new Harley!
Posts: 464
What I collect: It's complicated....
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Post by eggdog on Apr 5, 2023 3:35:56 GMT
Caught up on some of my inventorying work over the last few days. I've got Germany, Poland, and Norway mostly completed, and I've transferred previously-done France and Egypt into more usable forms. Jugoslavia and its dozens of components are well on their way. I'm also beginning to formulate an essay concerning the philatelic database and inventory software industry, or, not so much an essay as a slugging, no-holds-barred exposé. I'll post it here unless the New Yorker or Le Monde reserve rights. Down to three shoeboxes of stamps from the tub. Here's a few of the recent finds that I found interesting. Wow, talk about an evocation of an era. I'm gonna have "Backstabbers" going through my head for the rest of the week now! If any of you want to get the greatest signifying song ever into your head, go for it. (It doesn't start automatically. But it's an excellent remastering job.)
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,331
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Apr 5, 2023 9:56:57 GMT
More philatelic reading.
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philatelia
Member
Captain Jack - my best kiloware find ever!
Posts: 3,403
What I collect: Ireland, Japan, Scandy, USA, Venezuela, Vatican, Bermuda, Austria
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Post by philatelia on Apr 5, 2023 12:03:33 GMT
Very busy uploading approval books yesterday - mostly low value kiwis. THEN - 3 pounds of USA kiloware arrived most of which will go straight to the Vets. I did the first rough sort in about 3-4 hours and even though these were just common USA, I still had fun. You never know if you’re going to hit paydirt! This batch was mostly flags and nonprofits, but found a few that I needed. I estimate 2 3/4 pounds went directly into donate, a few ounces into the damaged pile and an ounce or two are for me to go over more closely. This mix was highly picked over and the clippings were mostly from about 10 years ago. It’s very difficult to find unpicked USA kiloware, that’s for sure. This batch also contained a bunch of stamps that had the perfs cut off, probably by an overly exuberant volunteer. Ouch! The best item that I found was a clean, used copy of the Georgia O’Keeffe painting from the 2013 art issue. This is a much better copy than the one in my collection. Today I have a pile of goodies sitting on my desk to get in the mail, trades and sales. Then - more laundry -ugh! Busy busy! Happy stampin’!
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Post by carabop on Apr 5, 2023 13:11:35 GMT
Had a nice early Easter dinner with family over the weekend. Time to get back to mounting the rest of 2022 in my album.
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eggdog
Member
I want a new Harley!
Posts: 464
What I collect: It's complicated....
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Post by eggdog on Apr 6, 2023 3:24:57 GMT
I finished sorting the African Megamix tonight. Out of the 54 independent republics in Africa, I have postally used stamps from 48 of them. Or to be more precise, I should say, "stamps that look genuinely postally used". I've seen stamps that were CTO'd and then put on envelopes (or pieces of paper that resemble the most-important-to-most-of-us corner of envelopes), and they haven't been exactly convincing. Fake used stamps that were more professionally or more subtly done have a chance of getting by me, no doubt about it. The ones I don't have: - Cape Verde: I don't have anything from Cape Verde, which kind of surprises me. Rhode Island and southeastern Connecticut have a significant number of residents whose ancestry goes back to Cape Verde, so I thought something would have turned up somewhere.
- Comoros: I don't have anything from the Comoros either, just an unused stamp from Mayotte, and that one has about 400 hinges on the back.
- Djibouti: I have a kinda nice collection of French Somali Coast stamps, but my only Djiboutis are CTO and I have nothing from the Republic of the Afars and Issas, which it was in between.
- Equatorial Guinea: one stamp from when it was a colony, only CTOs from its independent years. And they aren't terribly impressive.
- São Tomé & Principe: a couple of apparently used stamps from when it was a colony, one unused/no gum from independence.
- South Sudan: two mint stamps only, but I'll give myself a pass here as apparently South Sudan has never organized a postal service.
Bonus points: - The Sahawari Republic (Western Sahara): tons of CTOs that are obviously from different sources. This country has limited recognition from other countries and whatever "real" stamps they have issued are probably printed in and sold from Algeria, which hosts the executives of the group that is trying to get and maintain independence from Morocco. I think I've got a couple of stamps from when it was a Spanish colony - when Spain pulled out, Morocco and Mauritania divvied it up between them - but honestly, I haven't looked at Spanish colonial stamps in so long I'm not sure of the regions they cover, or if Spanish Sahara is equivalent to the territory in question here.
- Somaliland: the former British Somalia, functioning as an independent entity from Somalia, but diplomatically recognized by absolutely nobody. I don't know if they issue stamps. (Most of the stamps one sees from Somalia are fake, not authorized or even known about by whatever passes for a Somali government. I have one Somali stamp that looks like it has gone through a mail service somewhere, so I'm counting it as real for now but would not complain if I'm proven wrong.)
And oh yeah. Somehow I ended up with a surprising number of stamps from Swaziland, but none of them are under its new name (changed a couple of years ago), Eswatini.
I can't wait to bombard the date-postmark thread with some of the little beauties I've unearthed . But first I'll have to turn on my scanner.
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,331
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Apr 6, 2023 9:53:00 GMT
More reading....I was reading some back issues of the APRL Philatelic Literature Review. I find some of these articles, like the survey of SG catalogs. more interesting than the AP journal.
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drblade
Member
Posts: 726
What I collect: GB Unmounted mint & Machin definitives Q.E.II Used commemoratives
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Post by drblade on Apr 6, 2023 10:24:10 GMT
Not much done again this week, due to ongoing work on the house renovations which need to be completed by 12th April, after 12 months work, (it ain't gonna happen), too much rain with the final work needed being outdoors. Anyway managed to sell a couple of covers on eBay earlier this week & doing some double checking of my local auction lists before viewing next week. Happy Easter to all who celebrate it.
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norsten
Member
Posts: 174
What I collect: Definitives from Western Europe, Swedish postmarks
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Post by norsten on Apr 6, 2023 11:00:29 GMT
I have dived it into the world of Machins again and have started to consider to buy a more specialized catalogue. What is best, Deegam or Adminware? Or should I even consider Michel, Great Britain specialized?
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drblade
Member
Posts: 726
What I collect: GB Unmounted mint & Machin definitives Q.E.II Used commemoratives
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Post by drblade on Apr 6, 2023 14:59:48 GMT
I have dived it into the world of Machins again and have started to consider to buy a more specialized catalogue. What is best, Deegam or Adminware? Or should I even consider Michel, Great Britain specialized? Deegam is far more in depth than most, also The Stoneham GB Catalogue is very good. I think the latest edition of that is 17. (up to 2016). Lots of illustrations, individual stamps, panes & varieties + sensible market prices. norsten
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eggdog
Member
I want a new Harley!
Posts: 464
What I collect: It's complicated....
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Post by eggdog on Apr 7, 2023 2:14:01 GMT
My philatelic accomplishment of the day was booking a hotel room for the New England Stamp Show on May 5-7.
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,331
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Apr 7, 2023 9:56:29 GMT
Deegam is my primary specialist catalog but use the Adminware site as well. I find the Deegam organization best as a catalog (by denomination). Some catalogs organize by printer which I do not find useful. But then I do not care for Deegam relegating perf varieties as a 3rd tier aspect. In Deegam, gum and phosphor help determine main catalog listing.
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Post by michael on Apr 8, 2023 18:15:19 GMT
It has been a very good day with a visit to a local stamp fair. I spent most of my time with a specialised Australian dealer where all my budget went on a couple of gorgeous New South Wales proofs. Sitting next to me at the dealer's table was Hugh Jefferies (Stanley Gibbons catalogue editor) filling holes in his Australian States collection. Finished the day off with a homemade seafood linguine (monkfish, prawns and mussels) and a glass or two or three of my favourite Australian red wine. It doesn't get much better
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mberry
Member
Posts: 978
What I collect: USA, USA Revenues, Beer Related Stamps and Revenues, US State Revenues, Stamp Show Stamps
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Post by mberry on Apr 8, 2023 22:28:34 GMT
I have been going through my covers looking for April postmarks for the Postmark Calendar. I have all of the US State Birds and Flowers first day covers, anniversary is in a few days so I might just make my 50 posts then. Have also been trying to read through the recent threads on the forum. eggdog, looking forward to see your essay concerning the philatelic database and inventory software industry. I want to look through what is available.
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,331
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Apr 9, 2023 14:03:32 GMT
More work on my Machin pages as I check stamps and pages.
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Post by iswscwebmaster on Apr 9, 2023 14:58:24 GMT
Work has been keeping me away from any useful time with my stamps but I recently received a few bulk auction lots that I won. On Friday I spent a tom of time scanning covers for a couple of articles/posts I want to put up on my site. I have also recovered my Cancel DB so I am hoping to start contributing to that topic again soon.
I am hoping that things slow down a bit at work so I can get working on my stamps again.
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darkormex
Member
Swinging through Switzerland and getting tied up in Thailand
Posts: 2,145
What I collect: The World...just printing and mounting as I go...call me crazy!
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Post by darkormex on Apr 9, 2023 19:46:10 GMT
Hwaja and I spent this sunny 66°F, beautiful day in Michigan, working outside. We are removing our old garden boxes and creating a vegetable garden directly in the yard. Hwaja spent the morning removing tons of leaves from the flower gardens around the house while I dug up the portions of the yard that will eventually become our vegetable garden. It felt good to be outside and our dog, Casey, enjoyed the sun as well.
So, in case you are wondering why all the auctions popping up it is because I am finally giving up collecting worldwide stamps. I have decided that I will be keeping and continue to collect all countries that I have previously printed Steiner pages for, as well as all the collections that I started when I was younger (US, Soviet Union, Korea, Japan, Ceylon and Sri Lanka, Netherlands) and continue to collect and focus on only these areas. I just spend too much time working on things that I don't want to while these foundation collections gather dust. This is still a large chunk of global real estate but I really need to cut back and get rid of everything else.
So what that means is you will continue to see auctions, sales, the occasional giveaway and more as we head into the middle and latter parts of 2023.
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nikhil
Member
Working on Australia, GDR, Japan
Posts: 552
What I collect: I collect WW. Looking for early issues.
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Post by nikhil on Apr 10, 2023 11:51:43 GMT
Thought of posting an update here.
I have been busy with Studies, it's the final year of my Degree in Graphic Designing and Multimedia. Most of the classroom teaching is complete. Currently, I'm interning as well as freelancing.
Since college/ projects takes up a lot of my time, I haven't really got any chance for stamps. I still read through the forums to keep in touch with everything that's happening!
Stay healthy and stampy!
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brookbam
Member
APS 236261
Posts: 226
What I collect: US...everything until I decide what I don't want to collect! And now thanks to a TSF give-away I'm adding Space topicals!
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Post by brookbam on Apr 11, 2023 0:42:18 GMT
Thought of posting an update here. I have been busy with Studies, it's the final year of my Degree in Graphic Designing and Multimedia. Most of the classroom teaching is complete. Currently, I'm interning as well as freelancing. Since college/ projects takes up a lot of my time, I haven't really got any chance for stamps. I still read through the forums to keep in touch with everything that's happening! Stay healthy and stampy! I hear you...
It's starting to warm up here. I have a shop in town that I inherited from my dad. I don't heat it in the winter time so it's only a kind of a summer play thing for me. But I went down for the first time this afternoon because it was 76 degrees out. As it warms up more, I'll be down there a lot more up until about Oct. Then the place gets shut down for winter and I come home for the home hobby stuff.
But I am going to make a point of stopping in the forum every day or two and read through the postings and keep up with them. At least give my thumbs up if I don't have time for an actual reply.
On the un-godly hot South Dakota days, I may stay home in my air conditioned house and play with stamps instead
brookbam
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Post by sunshinerai on Apr 11, 2023 17:10:03 GMT
Today I sorted some African Republic stamps that had recently come through the post into my collection and made a cheeky purchase through eBay of some Belgian Congo stamps.
I also quickly chucked some Liberians into a book so that they were hanging around!
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philatelia
Member
Captain Jack - my best kiloware find ever!
Posts: 3,403
What I collect: Ireland, Japan, Scandy, USA, Venezuela, Vatican, Bermuda, Austria
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Post by philatelia on Apr 13, 2023 9:51:54 GMT
Woooeeeeee watermark fluid buzz! LoL I’ve been working on Norway and watermarked quite a large pile. I won’t go into a long debate on watermarking, but I get the best results with old fashioned dunk ‘em in Prinz Supersafe.
Anyways, the same dangerous thing happened that seems to accompany any serious work on a collection. I finally get all the new material tucked into the proper location on my Hagnar/Vario sheets and feel proud that my identify and put away file is empty then it happens - again. I get all immersed and fascinated by certain issues and yearn for more material to study. Then I catch myself browsing auctions. I bid on a collection and then I’m back to square one with more to identify and file. Rinse and repeat!
BUT golly gosh gee whiz (lol) - I start to build some pretty freakin’ cool in depth collections! This is an amazing hobby, isn’t it? The horizons stretch on forever…
Happy stampin’!
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mberry
Member
Posts: 978
What I collect: USA, USA Revenues, Beer Related Stamps and Revenues, US State Revenues, Stamp Show Stamps
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Post by mberry on Apr 13, 2023 12:07:31 GMT
Finally finished inventorying my covers in a spreadsheet and discovered I am missing a Scott catalog that covers Canada and Ireland. I have managed to accumulate over a dozen Scott catalogs that cover the world from numerous years, from 1968 to 2003 and not one covers these 2 countries. Surprised me since I do have a small collection of each. Looks like I will be expanding my library soon.
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sudbury12000
Member
Posts: 313
What I collect: Canada, Great Britain, Germany, World Pre 1925
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Post by sudbury12000 on Apr 13, 2023 12:35:17 GMT
mberry I too use the stamp lift. You are right, the sponges did not last. I did use some craft sponges and cut to shape. They work great. I tend to buy large lots and some of the mint stamps adhere to themselves and this is great way to separate without damaging the stamp, unless left too long! IF the gum sweats, the stamp is done. but I have had great success in claiming other wise bound to MNG in the collection. Also, I have had success with fugitive ink stamps, Great Britain QV surface prints on paper used. Once again, they cannot be left too long.
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philatelia
Member
Captain Jack - my best kiloware find ever!
Posts: 3,403
What I collect: Ireland, Japan, Scandy, USA, Venezuela, Vatican, Bermuda, Austria
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Post by philatelia on Apr 14, 2023 15:22:16 GMT
Stamping on hold for just a bit. Helping hubby make sense of his tax system. Yikes! April 14th! I’ll wrap up the giveaway and auction as soon as taxes are in the mail.
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stainlessb
Member
qaStaHvIS yIn 'ej chep
Posts: 4,638
What I collect: currently focused on most of western Europe, much of which is spent on France, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain Queen Victoria
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Post by stainlessb on Apr 14, 2023 15:32:18 GMT
About to head out for the Spring Sacramento Philatelic Society Stamp Show and man whatever table or spot they need me at! A beautiful day here. This year at a new location and parking is a bit less.... hopefully doesn't creat problems!
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Mr. H
Member
Member - APS #129381
Posts: 935
What I collect: US, Netherlands, Whatever suits my fancy.
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Post by Mr. H on Apr 14, 2023 15:45:55 GMT
Stamping on hold for just a bit. Helping hubby make sense of his tax system. Yikes! April 14th! I’ll wrap up the giveaway and auction as soon as taxes are in the mail. FYI - Taxes are not actually due until Tuesday, 4/18 this year. As the 15th falls on a weekend, they would normally be due on the following Monday, but the 17th is a local holiday in DC - Emancipation Day.
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