Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
I've become exasperated with all the variations, papers, perfs, and reprints. So I have decided only to collect from pre-WWI onwards. My brain has gone numb even looking at these and trying to figure out which of numerous possible Catalog #s they could be.
Any comments on the individual ones? Is this the sort of stuff where I might be (...shiver...) better off listing on eBay to get a wider audience of purchasers with money to burn? I'm afraid to auction off and have people come back with a complaint it wasn't the stamp they thought it was - they could probably send me back a knock-off and I wouldn't know the difference. Alternatively, is this the type of thing our "For Sale" is good for to negotiate outside an auction format?
Thanks for any feedback.
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Sadly, the long-running Washington-Franklin issues come long after your "pre-WW1" cutoff, and the varieties therein will further numb your brain.
Trying to protect my brain, I've thought about making a 'what is worth looking out for' list.
One problem is setting a cut-off value. Five bucks? Ten? Twenty?
I think that the answer is to cut-off the quantity, eg, make it 'the fifty US classics most worth looking out for'.
Of course, the shorter the list, the more futile the effort and, the longer the list, the more effort ... even as it remains futile.
All of which leaves the issue of the grills. They can be hard to spot, even with high magnification and varied angles of incidence (of the illumination, and the eye). Do we include them, or not?
Then there are the oft-forged fancy cancels and, especially if you collect revenues, the manuscript cancels.
Knowledge is power, but only if you've got some.
There's no question that, if you love stamps, and pour hours into learning about them, you create the possibility that you might spot something, someday, that offers a (small) financial reward for all that time & effort.
But (as your numbed brain illustrates nicely) I do not think that it works in reverse, eg, that in the hope of spotting something, someday, you pour hours into learning about stamps.
That would be too much like a job, and an awful one, at that.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
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Thanks ikepPikey, my brain is somewhat Comfortably Numb now...
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As someone who only recently returned to a general USA collection, I haven't even begun to dig into the many varieties of face same early stamps. I have seen big lots of all different Washington Franklins on eBay, and figure one day my lowball bids will win me a starter set. Right now I cannot gather a lot of enthusiasm for a perf gauge, but it will probably happen when I run out of easy stuff to find!
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""I've become exasperated with all the variations, papers, perfs, and reprints""
But...but, that's half the fun. When I have to pull out the perforation gauge and watermark fluid I feel I am on the hunt. there is nothing like settling in on one stamp and nailing it down. As for selling stamps on eBay not knowing what # or year they are -- not good. The times I get a stamp falsely advertised, I immediately add that seller to my dreaded Black List. I keep that list stuck to my computer monitor, and whisper dark oaths and curses, and never buy from them again. grrrrrr!
Nice stamps by the way,
Cheers!
Eric
PS..is that 2 cent "Black Jack" shown used or unused? Either way I will buy it from you any old day if the price is reasonable.
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In the oldest album inscribed "... 1921 ... age 14 1/2"there are about 100 US stamps 1904 and earlier - a bunch of the Expositions and portraits such as these scans.
I've become exasperated with all the variations, papers, perfs, and reprints. So I have decided only to collect from pre-WWI onwards. My brain has gone numb even looking at these and trying to figure out which of numerous possible Catalog #s they could be.
Any comments on the individual ones? Is this the sort of stuff where I might be (...shiver...) better off listing on eBay to get a wider audience of purchasers with money to burn? I'm afraid to auction off and have people come back with a complaint it wasn't the stamp they thought it was - they could probably send me back a knock-off and I wouldn't know the difference. Alternatively, is this the type of thing our "For Sale" is good for to negotiate outside an auction format?
Thanks for any feedback.
Login to Like
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re: THE HOARD #2
Sadly, the long-running Washington-Franklin issues come long after your "pre-WW1" cutoff, and the varieties therein will further numb your brain.
Trying to protect my brain, I've thought about making a 'what is worth looking out for' list.
One problem is setting a cut-off value. Five bucks? Ten? Twenty?
I think that the answer is to cut-off the quantity, eg, make it 'the fifty US classics most worth looking out for'.
Of course, the shorter the list, the more futile the effort and, the longer the list, the more effort ... even as it remains futile.
All of which leaves the issue of the grills. They can be hard to spot, even with high magnification and varied angles of incidence (of the illumination, and the eye). Do we include them, or not?
Then there are the oft-forged fancy cancels and, especially if you collect revenues, the manuscript cancels.
Knowledge is power, but only if you've got some.
There's no question that, if you love stamps, and pour hours into learning about them, you create the possibility that you might spot something, someday, that offers a (small) financial reward for all that time & effort.
But (as your numbed brain illustrates nicely) I do not think that it works in reverse, eg, that in the hope of spotting something, someday, you pour hours into learning about stamps.
That would be too much like a job, and an awful one, at that.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
Login to Like
this post
re: THE HOARD #2
Thanks ikepPikey, my brain is somewhat Comfortably Numb now...
Login to Like
this post
re: THE HOARD #2
As someone who only recently returned to a general USA collection, I haven't even begun to dig into the many varieties of face same early stamps. I have seen big lots of all different Washington Franklins on eBay, and figure one day my lowball bids will win me a starter set. Right now I cannot gather a lot of enthusiasm for a perf gauge, but it will probably happen when I run out of easy stuff to find!
Login to Like
this post
re: THE HOARD #2
""I've become exasperated with all the variations, papers, perfs, and reprints""
But...but, that's half the fun. When I have to pull out the perforation gauge and watermark fluid I feel I am on the hunt. there is nothing like settling in on one stamp and nailing it down. As for selling stamps on eBay not knowing what # or year they are -- not good. The times I get a stamp falsely advertised, I immediately add that seller to my dreaded Black List. I keep that list stuck to my computer monitor, and whisper dark oaths and curses, and never buy from them again. grrrrrr!
Nice stamps by the way,
Cheers!
Eric
PS..is that 2 cent "Black Jack" shown used or unused? Either way I will buy it from you any old day if the price is reasonable.
Login to Like
this post