I'm not familiar with Fidelity stamp albums. Who makes them and are they only available on eBay?
https://www.chinastampsociety.org/fidelity-album-pages/?MainCat=31
These are now sold by the China Stamp Society. You do not have to belong to buy them but if you join you get a discount. These originally were published by the Fidelity Trading Co from 1979 util a few years back when licensing was given to the CSS. The album pages include a checklist and space is provided for the 'Liberated areas' pre 1949.
OK, that makes sense. I used to be a member of the China Stamp Society but my collecting interests moved away from China for the most part. I still actively collect Philippines though.
I haven't done much with China in the past few years. It is just way too expensive for anyone to do much in unless you concentrate only on it as a single interest. I have to wonder about how much the prices are rigged in some areas.
I agree 100 percent with you. And then there's all of the forgeries and counterfeits that are philatelic minefields. I don't think it's a good idea for me to spend any extra money on Chinese stamps. If they show up in a worldwide lot then of course that's fine...I'll keep them but I'm not going out of my way to buy Chinese stamps again.
China is an interesting area because of the sharp division
at 1949. On the one hand the PRC issues seem excessive,
overpriced and difficult due to the forgeries, counterfeits
and official reprints. Plus, speculators abound.
The Taiwan issues are also produced ed in abundance but
I do not think they are beset with the forgeries, counterfeits
and official reprint problem.
What always interested me was the pre-revolution issues,
especially those genuinely used with readable clean cancels.
I became interested in the different printings of the Junk-Reaper
stamps and often found small folders being offered filled
with a multitude of stamps on dealers throwaway counter.
A fortuitous purchase of a Ma's catalog ( First Edition,
Printed 1947 by the Shun Chang & Co, Shanghai ) led me
to look carefully at the different overprints, the secret marks
and the overprint varieties on all the extras I had built up.
I soon realized that to most dealers Chinese Stamps were
an annoyance to be discarded for whatever some fool would pay.
Having just married, '68, and with a baby soon on its way,
there were many evenings to pore over the the stamps and find
the secret marks, the plate varieties and of course, the
overprint variations listed in that catalog.
Over the years I added other long definitive sets to my area
of interest but I still will grab up almost any miscellaneous
accumulation of Chinese stamps in the hope of finding
some stamps that are different from whet I have already mounted..
NOTE:: One thing about my copy of "Ma", Chinese printing presses
have no shame when reprinting books to sell cheaply. They even
include the warning about re-printing.
IMO, if someone wants to collect an Asian country, Japan is a far better choice. You don't have all the tough modern spaces that the PRC has.
I know for many the pull of China collecting is studying all the overprints for varieties. To me that's just mind numbing. Japan has a ton of forgeries to content with on early issues. I finally wound up just buying forgeries and filling space with those, with a note explaining so in my album. I can collect Japan to a greater degree of completion than China. To each his own, however.
Well, I just scored a Ma catalogue off of eBay so I’m anxious to study it when it arrives. Maybe if will give me more confidence in collecting China. Certainly it should make a difference as it’s one more resource that will be available to me than I had before. Feeling hopeful.
Well at least, new to me.
I won an Ebay auction for a set of Fidelity pages and binders through 2001 for PRC stamps. This is not one of my primary collecting areas but I got a good price and since I have been thinking about dabbling in this area, why not? I know I will never fill some of the spaces in the front of the album, I may need to be satisfied with unofficial reprints for a lot of spaces in the 1960's. It just seems like it may be a good time to explore this area, some prices seem down a bit.
I'd be interested to hear from anyone else collecting this area. How are you doing in finding stamps you need?
re: New PRC Album
I'm not familiar with Fidelity stamp albums. Who makes them and are they only available on eBay?
re: New PRC Album
https://www.chinastampsociety.org/fidelity-album-pages/?MainCat=31
These are now sold by the China Stamp Society. You do not have to belong to buy them but if you join you get a discount. These originally were published by the Fidelity Trading Co from 1979 util a few years back when licensing was given to the CSS. The album pages include a checklist and space is provided for the 'Liberated areas' pre 1949.
re: New PRC Album
OK, that makes sense. I used to be a member of the China Stamp Society but my collecting interests moved away from China for the most part. I still actively collect Philippines though.
re: New PRC Album
I haven't done much with China in the past few years. It is just way too expensive for anyone to do much in unless you concentrate only on it as a single interest. I have to wonder about how much the prices are rigged in some areas.
re: New PRC Album
I agree 100 percent with you. And then there's all of the forgeries and counterfeits that are philatelic minefields. I don't think it's a good idea for me to spend any extra money on Chinese stamps. If they show up in a worldwide lot then of course that's fine...I'll keep them but I'm not going out of my way to buy Chinese stamps again.
re: New PRC Album
China is an interesting area because of the sharp division
at 1949. On the one hand the PRC issues seem excessive,
overpriced and difficult due to the forgeries, counterfeits
and official reprints. Plus, speculators abound.
The Taiwan issues are also produced ed in abundance but
I do not think they are beset with the forgeries, counterfeits
and official reprint problem.
What always interested me was the pre-revolution issues,
especially those genuinely used with readable clean cancels.
I became interested in the different printings of the Junk-Reaper
stamps and often found small folders being offered filled
with a multitude of stamps on dealers throwaway counter.
A fortuitous purchase of a Ma's catalog ( First Edition,
Printed 1947 by the Shun Chang & Co, Shanghai ) led me
to look carefully at the different overprints, the secret marks
and the overprint varieties on all the extras I had built up.
I soon realized that to most dealers Chinese Stamps were
an annoyance to be discarded for whatever some fool would pay.
Having just married, '68, and with a baby soon on its way,
there were many evenings to pore over the the stamps and find
the secret marks, the plate varieties and of course, the
overprint variations listed in that catalog.
Over the years I added other long definitive sets to my area
of interest but I still will grab up almost any miscellaneous
accumulation of Chinese stamps in the hope of finding
some stamps that are different from whet I have already mounted..
NOTE:: One thing about my copy of "Ma", Chinese printing presses
have no shame when reprinting books to sell cheaply. They even
include the warning about re-printing.
re: New PRC Album
IMO, if someone wants to collect an Asian country, Japan is a far better choice. You don't have all the tough modern spaces that the PRC has.
I know for many the pull of China collecting is studying all the overprints for varieties. To me that's just mind numbing. Japan has a ton of forgeries to content with on early issues. I finally wound up just buying forgeries and filling space with those, with a note explaining so in my album. I can collect Japan to a greater degree of completion than China. To each his own, however.
re: New PRC Album
Well, I just scored a Ma catalogue off of eBay so I’m anxious to study it when it arrives. Maybe if will give me more confidence in collecting China. Certainly it should make a difference as it’s one more resource that will be available to me than I had before. Feeling hopeful.