Whatcha Been Stamping?

My USPS email notifications tell me I have 5 items coming my way today. Also 2 “packages” (USPS is liberal in their interpretation of that word) Looks like a good afternoon ahead.

My Monday morning surprise.

Grabbed my coffee, went to my desk and noticed a stamp on the floor (hmmm ?). Imagine my delight. a SON France 5F Sage, maybe not in the grandest of shape, but a jewel no less, and it appears to be a color variety I need!!

So a bath and then onto the page!

usually mondays are rather quiet!

I've been pulling US plate blocks out of crystal mounts, Showgards and other similar mounts (I really like the crystal mounts!...[sarcasm off] the past week or so. I don't know how many I've pulled so far. A thousand? Maybe more? Then I've been putting them in 104 dealer cards. I have no idea how many more to go yet...I have a Scott Plate Block album that I am working on now that is 2" thick that is full of plates and I just started. I have two more albums sitting on a shelf that I know of for sure to go through yet. Oh....there will be more....
Mike

I'm sliding back into modern Canadian definitive stamps. It helps to have a good catalogue and the Unitrade catalogue does a great job of grouping and explaining the definitive issues.

Although they were workhorse stamps, annual rate increases meant that new definitives were issued nearly every year from 1997 - 2012 or so. And with reduced mail volumes, I bet they will be a bit of a challenge to collect used. But I spent most of the day building a list of them all so I have it handy as I go to club meetings. Those rummage boxes of mix seem more interesting to me now.

I have bought stamps everywhere.
This morning I received my Austria Scott # 1 yellow, bought on Hipstamp but from APS-store - I was impressed with the mailing. Most sellers would send it in a very small envelope as 1 copy of X stamp but with good protection. However the envelope ws 9" X 6", sent from Bellefonte, PA with an interesting submission form-Country-Description of the stamp, condition, 2020 Cat value, even the seller Item No. An Order Number with details of buyer (me), dates, item description with Order details/price etc.... A return form was included in case a return was requested with expertizing extensions. - I was impressed with APS-store 

René

Looks like lots of stamp time over the next few days. My wife has Covid so pretty much isolation. I hope I don't get it. Prior to this it has stayed away from our doorstep. We have been exposed a number of times. The most recent was her mother and it looks like mom shared..... I just got my 4th booster, so I'mm hoping to dodge it again.

Will try again tomorrow to get the OK for her to tak Paxlovid.

Damn the plague!

I have had 2 mild COVID experiences as well as 6 shots. I will get another booster in August prior to an Ireland trip which will be 6 months since my last positive case. My last mild case was in February and my doctor and pharmacist did not encourage me to take Paxlovid unless I was getting severe symptoms. As you know the shots/busters are meant to reduce the level of illness. They do not guarantee you do not get it. One of my sisters and partner are just recovering from their first time getting it. Take care.  

Thanks renden and hdm1950. Since today was day 1 and symptoms not real severe they would not OK Paxlovid for my wife. I have tested negative, but in the event I get it (which I expect I will this time around) I reported myself as positive and got Paxlovid OK'd (I'm older, chronic sinus issues and hypoglycemic so I was an easy A )....

and i made a big pot of beans with smoked pork shank yesterday so we're set, pantry is stocked enough to get us through without having to leave.

If they think she should take it, we'll get it OK'd and start he on mine.

Protocols.....

I'm just awaiting the arrival of some more Machin stamps for my specialist collection. My local stamp auction is coming up at the end of next week so 6 lots have been earmarked to view some time between Monday & Friday next week. I'm looking at 1 high value lot out of the 6 so I may be skint by the end of this month!! or not.

Day 3, so far so good. All quiet on the Covid front. My wife is somewhat better (her appetite and sense of smell have returned). With every twinge or oddness I'm immediately trying to decide if the onset has begun, but so far my imagination has been at times too suspect...

I have made a great deal of progress laying pages for Memel under French Administration, beginning with the Germania provisionals which France allowed to continue until they could issue their own postage stamps.

I may switch over to France 'proper" as there are a 'few' more pages to be made that do not require a decision on which direction to go regarding how many varieties to include, as well a quite a few postmark and perfin pages.

Right this minute I think I need to go outside and water the garden before it gets too warm (and see what ripened since yesterday!)

I'm changing my avatar today in honor of my son winning the bronze medal at the French national rowing championship (skiff J16 category).

And I have a new stockbook to help decompress Greenland and then Asian A-B countries.

And I will be drawing lots for my summer clearance give-away, of course!

So, it's hot and muggy today and my wife and I are just chillin' ... doing stampy things. I'm doing something with Hugarian Newspaper stamps and my wife calls me over and asks me about a stamp she found in a kiloware mix. Would I mind looking it up in a catalogue? A 'minor' interruption, right?

So, I do. I don't do much with South American stamps. It's usually all new to me. I am familiar with the Pacific War and the use of occupation stamps by Chile in Bolivia in the early 1880's - but that's about it. 



It seems straightforward enough. A 1937 revaluation of a Bolivian stamp from 1925 ... from 2 centavos to 5. It has an overpint: Comuni-/caciones/D.S./25-2-37/0.05

And that's where my curiosity kicks in. I don't know much about the country. So, I start looking around. Wow! a fascinating political-economic history from Colonial days to independence, the Chaco War with Paraguay between 1932 and 1936, political unrest, generational change, more political unrest, a couple of military coups, new elections ... all just before this stamp was reissued in 1937 with its overprint. I ended up going down yet another rabbit hole this afternoon looking at their monetary policies and their challenges with inflation. 

An interesting postal history too. For example, apparently British stamps were used between 1865 and 1878 at the port of Cobija and can be identified "by the cancellation C39".

So, there went my afternoon. I gave my wife the information she wanted ("the stamp is Sc. 233 or Michel Nr. 254") but I was left with a lot of do-list items of my own. What does the overprint refer to - a government or executive order to change postal rates (I assume)? What is cancellation C39 and what does it look like? How do I find or get those British Stamps used in Bolivia? And, is this just another form of "British Offices in ... "?

Yet another reminder of how kiloware can strike out of the blue and sent you off on a new path.