"Finally, in my opinion, if you are out to buy large quantities of stamps (100K is an awful lot) - then you ought not buy them as single stamps.
"
I much prefer buying collections, or even better, accumulations if it contains at least a handful of stamps I need. As Theresa said, I can upgrade many items as well and then pass the remainder on to someone else, usually the Boy Scouts as I don't like holding on to duplicates.
Agreed! I'm organizing and then filling out my USA collection. Lord knows I don't want to be buying this all one at a time at retail. I've had pretty good luck buying accumulation lots on eBay. I've bought a few poorly described lots that nobody really bid on and upon receiving them, have realized that I just bought 50-80 year old mint stamps and plate blocks at 50% of face. That has filled out my pages for those eras and has given me loads of similar duplicates to trade, put in auctions or approvals.
Thanks for splitting this up, Theresa.
Anyway... I agree with you that buying collections, mixtures, and accumulations is the way to go. But... Having reached the 100K stamp limit with my world collection recently, I can already see there will eventually be a limit with this approach (somewhere between 200-250K stamps I'd say).
Sure, one can go on with it forever, but eventually the 'growth/progress' will slow down significantly and maybe even halt; and all that hard work and no play would make Jack a dull boy
Considering that there are roughly 800K face different issued stamps worldwide, it is surprising how little variety collections actually have and contain. Possibly the only major exception are specialized lots and collections (and they usually get pricey).
Delphi's stamp forum has got a good talk on topic - http://forums.delphiforums.com/stamps/messages?msg=52378.1 ... Of course one could ask whether or not the catalog values are right if the stamps are so difficult to locate.
Anyway, here's a pic of my current acquisition strategy (heavily simplified, but it gives a good overview. I'm currently adding roughly 10K stamps a year (some of them end up to my backlog, some go straight to collection):
And like stated on the original topic, I would definitely love to utilize the SoR approvals as well if it was more cost effective.
-k-
I suppose it all depends on what you want. Want to fill lots of inexpensive holes, buy the big lot. Want a nicely centered mint stamp with a cat of $100+ buy the stamp. I also find myself buying individual stamps at the auctions (here and elsewhere) where they fit into my collection/accumulation.
It is one of the unique advantages of the Stamporama auction and approvals, you can even buy the exact lower-value stamps you need, too.
I would LOVE to be able to find great box lots or accumulations. My problem is knowing how to put a value on it. If you bid $200 on a lot and you get $50 of material out that you want to keep for your collections, what do you do with the other $150? Youre suddenly in the stamp dealer business.
For me, its tough enough finding the stamps I DO want, with the right look at the right price. The few times I've done it I wasn't satisfied with buying the stamps I DIDN'T want.
Having said that, it's not hard to understand the economics of buying large collections and breaking them down to flesh out your own collections and turn the rest for profit. Many people do it and they do it well and often.
My approach has been to pick a country or topic out of my Statesman WW album and buy a few fair size lots/accumulations that I can easily spot larger quantities of material that I need. Then start searching the approvals here to find the stamps I need to fill in spaces. In the process, I start printing off pages and housing them into their own albums. When I hit a dry spot, I start another country or topic. I always watch for the larger lots in my areas of interest, but eventually you get to the point where your getting more duplicates then needed stamps.
There's nothing like large accumulations to get the ball rolling and the approvals are a perfect way to plug holes. I use both.
WB
Hungary for Stamps said:
"I agree that if you are planning on acquiring 100K stamps, either starting from zero or starting from an existing 100K you want to augment to 200K, its a very poor plan to purchase single stamps from an online approval book. For one it'll take forever and you'll probably end up paying 10 to 25 more.
Buying collections is still the best plan of action. If its a general worldwide collection, you can pull out the stamps you need, and relist the remainder as a somewhat sparser collection. Recall we are talking about low-value stamps to start with (given that's what should be sold/bought in the approval books), so you're not necessarily robbing the collection of its best bits.
The other option is to focus a bit more and perhaps buy a collections targeted at a single country at a time or collection of related countries.
The added benefit of this approach is collections often yield nice surprises and occasionally, superb finds."
"My problem is knowing how to put a value on it. If you bid $200 on a lot and you get $50 of material out that you want to keep for your collections, what do you do with the other $150? Youre suddenly in the stamp dealer business.
"
Buying collections offers serendipity: you get things that you would not have thought to look for, which can be really nice.
But I'm {understatement} not good about getting rid of the dupes {/understatement} ...
... so nowadays I'm buying more individual items.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
"eventually you get to the point where your getting more duplicates then needed stamps. "
So true about reaching a point where you need so few that you must resort to buying one at a time. Although to be honest, I have bought lots just for one or two stamps. When I calculated the cost to buy the stamps individually, I could buy the whole lot for almost the same price! And I wonder where all these duplicates came from?
Many of you answering this question seem to enjoy the same hobby, revolving around auctions, collections, multiple duplicates, re-selling, and general amassing.
I follow a very different line; I buy individual stamps (or more frequently sets). Having chosen my area of interest, I make a list of the stamps that qualify for that interest, using what catalogues I have, as well as online sites like Colnect and Stampworld.
With this list I attend the Strand Stamp Fair or Stampex to see how much I can buy from (1) Andy Faulkner and (2) Howard Hatton.
When I've exhausted them I turn by post to D.J.M. Kerr or, less often, Tony Bray.
Lastly I go on to Delcampe for what remains.
Occasionally I use a more specialist online or stamp fair dealer, but by the time we've reached this stage items are becoming very expensive, or simply scarce.
Apart from my ever-expanding WW2 collection, now in the slow process of assembling, researching and writing up into albums, I have the following collections, all acquired in the above fashion:
British Commonwealth QE2-to-independence mint and used
Third Reich mint and used
RSFSR
Soviet recess stamps 1924-1974
The Ivan Dubasov collection
The Great Terror (all these mint only)
The Third Reich used collection was begun, it is fair to say, with a joblot of the cheapest stamps sold at £5 or so. All the rest ticked off set by set, or single by single, and supplemented with the occasional cover or postcard.
I forgot to mention my GB to 2000 material, no rarities, mainly because I set no great store by them and rather hope my heirs will value them more than I do!
Anyone else collect like this?
Would love to see some eBay auctions that people thought were good candidates and why.
I'm just an auction junkie.
Show me an auction with mixed lots in boxes and I'm in heaven.
Once you get one or two home you can take out what you want for your own collection, put aside items for research.
Its amazing what you can find and where it can take you, much research on George VI's visit to Canada, more research into Japanese Dragons etc. etc..
Pop the remainder into the approvals/auctions.
Get moaned at by "she who thinks she must be obeyed". What more stamps? When are you going to get rid of all these boxes?
Finest Kind.
"
Would love to see some eBay auctions that people thought were good candidates and why. "
Thanks for posting that Tom. Great example. I'm not sure if it's because the listing has closed and is now old but looks like there's no description at all. Just one small picture??? Not sure if I would bid but then again there's people that bid big money on a one line description and no pictures. You can't let your fear of being disappointed cripple you sometimes you just gotta trust your instincts and see what you get.
I tend to buy single stamps or sets because I tend to like MNH varieties. I have purchased collections from time to time, like I recently did with Thailand, where I hope to gain some new items, upgrade others, and trade the rest.
Some countries where I know I already have a lot of duplicates, I will shy away from buying collections, like Switzerland or Ireland. (Sorry, Theresa, I will leave the specking and stumping to you.)
BOB
For me, buying (small) collections has multiple benefits: first of all I get new stamps for my own collection. What is left will be traded or sold (mostly through the approvals) which means that I get funds to buy a. New collections and b. Single stamps or sets that I can use. Using this system I am not bothered with higher postage costs that much because that's paid for by the profits of my sales. Selling is fun, no denying that, but it is mainly a way of indirect trading.
Another additional benefit of acquiring duplicates through buying accumulations is that it turns our mostly solitary hobby into one that's more eh... social. With several large bags full of stockbooks I go to stamp markets and club meetings where I can trade with other collectors.
Anybody should of course choose their own strategy but this works for me.
Jan-Simon
"
I'm not sure if it's because the listing has closed and is now old but looks like there's no description at all. Just one small picture???"
I just bought another misc lot today:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Stamp-Collection-and-miscl-stamps-Mostly-US-/222181506766?nma=true&si=Sj2jqZZbc0vZJQyOKQwMXFU0ZMo%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
Total with postage is $23. I bought it primarily because I wanted the Farley imperfs. I was looking in my album the other day and I even skipped the Scott numbers when creating pages because I didn't have any! And that was the weak point of my otherwise complete 1930s US commemoratives.
So figure I've got $23 worth of Farleys. The rest of the stuff including the over $20 face value mentioned in the Minuteman album (which is the same album I bought as a kid) is all free.
Were the kittens on the box any part of your decision-making process?
"Were the kittens on the box any part of your decision-making process?"
I regularly buy collections for only a few items within it. If you include shipping to England from the States, I tend to lose money but as my collections are made in the states I have no choice. And Yes as someone said in here, you do become a sort of dealer and I have found that selling the things I did not need from the collection usually pays for my shipping costs. I have got to say, I have met some great people in the states through stamps and Ebay.
So for me buying both single and collections is part of collecting, obviously bargains are nearly always found in collections.
However, my main collecting theme is what drives me and again makes both collections and singles desirable and I do not buy for what something is worth, I buy for theme.
I once saw a collection and had it not been so expensive, I would have brought it purely for the hand writing and detail the person had gone to, in information, rather than the stamps collection it self. The father that created this collection must have spent hours on it, only for the daughter to sell it. It is also funny how your opinions change, I used to despair when someone would brake up a collection for sale.
But as others have said in here, if you only need a few items for your own collection then it obvious why collections get broken up.
I think the old saying "You cant please people all the time" comes into play.
In the end it comes down to the buyer / collector and their issues.
Julian
This topic came up on a another thread and I think it is one that is interesting. If you posted there, please join in the discussion here. There were a few great comments.
I posted the following response in the other thread;
"Finally, in my opinion, if you are out to buy large quantities of stamps (100K is an awful lot) - then you ought not buy them as single stamps.
"
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps
I much prefer buying collections, or even better, accumulations if it contains at least a handful of stamps I need. As Theresa said, I can upgrade many items as well and then pass the remainder on to someone else, usually the Boy Scouts as I don't like holding on to duplicates.
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps
Agreed! I'm organizing and then filling out my USA collection. Lord knows I don't want to be buying this all one at a time at retail. I've had pretty good luck buying accumulation lots on eBay. I've bought a few poorly described lots that nobody really bid on and upon receiving them, have realized that I just bought 50-80 year old mint stamps and plate blocks at 50% of face. That has filled out my pages for those eras and has given me loads of similar duplicates to trade, put in auctions or approvals.
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps
Thanks for splitting this up, Theresa.
Anyway... I agree with you that buying collections, mixtures, and accumulations is the way to go. But... Having reached the 100K stamp limit with my world collection recently, I can already see there will eventually be a limit with this approach (somewhere between 200-250K stamps I'd say).
Sure, one can go on with it forever, but eventually the 'growth/progress' will slow down significantly and maybe even halt; and all that hard work and no play would make Jack a dull boy
Considering that there are roughly 800K face different issued stamps worldwide, it is surprising how little variety collections actually have and contain. Possibly the only major exception are specialized lots and collections (and they usually get pricey).
Delphi's stamp forum has got a good talk on topic - http://forums.delphiforums.com/stamps/messages?msg=52378.1 ... Of course one could ask whether or not the catalog values are right if the stamps are so difficult to locate.
Anyway, here's a pic of my current acquisition strategy (heavily simplified, but it gives a good overview. I'm currently adding roughly 10K stamps a year (some of them end up to my backlog, some go straight to collection):
And like stated on the original topic, I would definitely love to utilize the SoR approvals as well if it was more cost effective.
-k-
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps
I suppose it all depends on what you want. Want to fill lots of inexpensive holes, buy the big lot. Want a nicely centered mint stamp with a cat of $100+ buy the stamp. I also find myself buying individual stamps at the auctions (here and elsewhere) where they fit into my collection/accumulation.
It is one of the unique advantages of the Stamporama auction and approvals, you can even buy the exact lower-value stamps you need, too.
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps
I would LOVE to be able to find great box lots or accumulations. My problem is knowing how to put a value on it. If you bid $200 on a lot and you get $50 of material out that you want to keep for your collections, what do you do with the other $150? Youre suddenly in the stamp dealer business.
For me, its tough enough finding the stamps I DO want, with the right look at the right price. The few times I've done it I wasn't satisfied with buying the stamps I DIDN'T want.
Having said that, it's not hard to understand the economics of buying large collections and breaking them down to flesh out your own collections and turn the rest for profit. Many people do it and they do it well and often.
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps
My approach has been to pick a country or topic out of my Statesman WW album and buy a few fair size lots/accumulations that I can easily spot larger quantities of material that I need. Then start searching the approvals here to find the stamps I need to fill in spaces. In the process, I start printing off pages and housing them into their own albums. When I hit a dry spot, I start another country or topic. I always watch for the larger lots in my areas of interest, but eventually you get to the point where your getting more duplicates then needed stamps.
There's nothing like large accumulations to get the ball rolling and the approvals are a perfect way to plug holes. I use both.
WB
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps
Hungary for Stamps said:
"I agree that if you are planning on acquiring 100K stamps, either starting from zero or starting from an existing 100K you want to augment to 200K, its a very poor plan to purchase single stamps from an online approval book. For one it'll take forever and you'll probably end up paying 10 to 25 more.
Buying collections is still the best plan of action. If its a general worldwide collection, you can pull out the stamps you need, and relist the remainder as a somewhat sparser collection. Recall we are talking about low-value stamps to start with (given that's what should be sold/bought in the approval books), so you're not necessarily robbing the collection of its best bits.
The other option is to focus a bit more and perhaps buy a collections targeted at a single country at a time or collection of related countries.
The added benefit of this approach is collections often yield nice surprises and occasionally, superb finds."
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps
"My problem is knowing how to put a value on it. If you bid $200 on a lot and you get $50 of material out that you want to keep for your collections, what do you do with the other $150? Youre suddenly in the stamp dealer business.
"
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps
Buying collections offers serendipity: you get things that you would not have thought to look for, which can be really nice.
But I'm {understatement} not good about getting rid of the dupes {/understatement} ...
... so nowadays I'm buying more individual items.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps
"eventually you get to the point where your getting more duplicates then needed stamps. "
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps
So true about reaching a point where you need so few that you must resort to buying one at a time. Although to be honest, I have bought lots just for one or two stamps. When I calculated the cost to buy the stamps individually, I could buy the whole lot for almost the same price! And I wonder where all these duplicates came from?
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps
Many of you answering this question seem to enjoy the same hobby, revolving around auctions, collections, multiple duplicates, re-selling, and general amassing.
I follow a very different line; I buy individual stamps (or more frequently sets). Having chosen my area of interest, I make a list of the stamps that qualify for that interest, using what catalogues I have, as well as online sites like Colnect and Stampworld.
With this list I attend the Strand Stamp Fair or Stampex to see how much I can buy from (1) Andy Faulkner and (2) Howard Hatton.
When I've exhausted them I turn by post to D.J.M. Kerr or, less often, Tony Bray.
Lastly I go on to Delcampe for what remains.
Occasionally I use a more specialist online or stamp fair dealer, but by the time we've reached this stage items are becoming very expensive, or simply scarce.
Apart from my ever-expanding WW2 collection, now in the slow process of assembling, researching and writing up into albums, I have the following collections, all acquired in the above fashion:
British Commonwealth QE2-to-independence mint and used
Third Reich mint and used
RSFSR
Soviet recess stamps 1924-1974
The Ivan Dubasov collection
The Great Terror (all these mint only)
The Third Reich used collection was begun, it is fair to say, with a joblot of the cheapest stamps sold at £5 or so. All the rest ticked off set by set, or single by single, and supplemented with the occasional cover or postcard.
I forgot to mention my GB to 2000 material, no rarities, mainly because I set no great store by them and rather hope my heirs will value them more than I do!
Anyone else collect like this?
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps
Would love to see some eBay auctions that people thought were good candidates and why.
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps
I'm just an auction junkie.
Show me an auction with mixed lots in boxes and I'm in heaven.
Once you get one or two home you can take out what you want for your own collection, put aside items for research.
Its amazing what you can find and where it can take you, much research on George VI's visit to Canada, more research into Japanese Dragons etc. etc..
Pop the remainder into the approvals/auctions.
Get moaned at by "she who thinks she must be obeyed". What more stamps? When are you going to get rid of all these boxes?
Finest Kind.
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps
"
Would love to see some eBay auctions that people thought were good candidates and why. "
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps
Thanks for posting that Tom. Great example. I'm not sure if it's because the listing has closed and is now old but looks like there's no description at all. Just one small picture??? Not sure if I would bid but then again there's people that bid big money on a one line description and no pictures. You can't let your fear of being disappointed cripple you sometimes you just gotta trust your instincts and see what you get.
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps
I tend to buy single stamps or sets because I tend to like MNH varieties. I have purchased collections from time to time, like I recently did with Thailand, where I hope to gain some new items, upgrade others, and trade the rest.
Some countries where I know I already have a lot of duplicates, I will shy away from buying collections, like Switzerland or Ireland. (Sorry, Theresa, I will leave the specking and stumping to you.)
BOB
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps
For me, buying (small) collections has multiple benefits: first of all I get new stamps for my own collection. What is left will be traded or sold (mostly through the approvals) which means that I get funds to buy a. New collections and b. Single stamps or sets that I can use. Using this system I am not bothered with higher postage costs that much because that's paid for by the profits of my sales. Selling is fun, no denying that, but it is mainly a way of indirect trading.
Another additional benefit of acquiring duplicates through buying accumulations is that it turns our mostly solitary hobby into one that's more eh... social. With several large bags full of stockbooks I go to stamp markets and club meetings where I can trade with other collectors.
Anybody should of course choose their own strategy but this works for me.
Jan-Simon
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps
"
I'm not sure if it's because the listing has closed and is now old but looks like there's no description at all. Just one small picture???"
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps
I just bought another misc lot today:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Stamp-Collection-and-miscl-stamps-Mostly-US-/222181506766?nma=true&si=Sj2jqZZbc0vZJQyOKQwMXFU0ZMo%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
Total with postage is $23. I bought it primarily because I wanted the Farley imperfs. I was looking in my album the other day and I even skipped the Scott numbers when creating pages because I didn't have any! And that was the weak point of my otherwise complete 1930s US commemoratives.
So figure I've got $23 worth of Farleys. The rest of the stuff including the over $20 face value mentioned in the Minuteman album (which is the same album I bought as a kid) is all free.
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps
Were the kittens on the box any part of your decision-making process?
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps
"Were the kittens on the box any part of your decision-making process?"
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps
I regularly buy collections for only a few items within it. If you include shipping to England from the States, I tend to lose money but as my collections are made in the states I have no choice. And Yes as someone said in here, you do become a sort of dealer and I have found that selling the things I did not need from the collection usually pays for my shipping costs. I have got to say, I have met some great people in the states through stamps and Ebay.
So for me buying both single and collections is part of collecting, obviously bargains are nearly always found in collections.
However, my main collecting theme is what drives me and again makes both collections and singles desirable and I do not buy for what something is worth, I buy for theme.
I once saw a collection and had it not been so expensive, I would have brought it purely for the hand writing and detail the person had gone to, in information, rather than the stamps collection it self. The father that created this collection must have spent hours on it, only for the daughter to sell it. It is also funny how your opinions change, I used to despair when someone would brake up a collection for sale.
But as others have said in here, if you only need a few items for your own collection then it obvious why collections get broken up.
I think the old saying "You cant please people all the time" comes into play.
In the end it comes down to the buyer / collector and their issues.
Julian