Good on ya Greg - as soon as I mention Cuba, Philippines and Puerto Rico you add a few to your auction listings. Thanks for that and also from someone I can trust to get the identification right. And, by the way, I did bid on the ones I need. I do have to be careful though since some of my Puerto Rico is put in by series (date) and not numbered. This early Spanish era stuff is very tricky!!
Sometimes I come across accumulations of early Spanish colonies, you know the ones with king Alfonso XII and the infant king Alfonso XIII. Mainly Cuba, Philippines and Puerto Rico. Most of the time I just put them in the approvals, no time and don't feel like putting in much time to determine what they are, so I leave that to the buyers who may find a bargain. I notice many shades, but never bothered to look for watermarks etc.
As my US collection progressed I decided to collect US Philippines, Puerto Rico, Cuba, etc. Then after a while I decided to expand these US "protectorates" to the era covered by my first three volumes of Scott's International, i.e. 1840 to 1955. I seem to be doing well with the newer time period but rarely see older Philippines and Puerto Rico. I know these stamps are a pain because of water marks and perfs, which I hate but put up with. Are these "Spanish Era" stamps not collected by many people? I am curious about something else about these stamps. I remember one of the sellers saying that with stamps with watermark differences he/she just lists it as the lower valued variety. Is this common or do people who state a number actually check to see if it is accurate? Not a problem, but it makes it tougher to get certain stamps. And also, could you please say if you are not actually checking for varieties, or maybe not give a number at all and just sell by face?
re: Why do I never see...?
Good on ya Greg - as soon as I mention Cuba, Philippines and Puerto Rico you add a few to your auction listings. Thanks for that and also from someone I can trust to get the identification right. And, by the way, I did bid on the ones I need. I do have to be careful though since some of my Puerto Rico is put in by series (date) and not numbered. This early Spanish era stuff is very tricky!!
re: Why do I never see...?
Sometimes I come across accumulations of early Spanish colonies, you know the ones with king Alfonso XII and the infant king Alfonso XIII. Mainly Cuba, Philippines and Puerto Rico. Most of the time I just put them in the approvals, no time and don't feel like putting in much time to determine what they are, so I leave that to the buyers who may find a bargain. I notice many shades, but never bothered to look for watermarks etc.