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General Philatelic/Gen. Discussion : Technology and Stamp Collecting

 

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rrraphy
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Retired Consultant APS#186030

18 Sep 2014
01:04:16pm

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I found this old article I wrote 5 or more years ago. Seems like a good topic, even today. Here it is, with just a few more ideas thrown in, and some minor updating.


Technology and Philately. I hope to open a new area of discussions here.

I am amazed at how backward stamp collectors are in their use of technology. I think the application of technology to stamp collecting can do a lot to facilitate storage, improve the display of stamp collections, allow flexibility in moving stamps, designing pages to fit one's varied needs and reduce costs significantly. May even encourage new stamp collectors.
Why would anyone pay on average 30 to 50 cents per page to Scott, Minkus or Lindner and be stuck with an impractical non standard page format, ever increasing costs, lack of flexibility and archaic stamp mounting technology?
Why is it that the best stamp hinges (which still damage your stamps) are no longer made today?

So my first topic has to do with some of the technological ideas I have been experimenting with, for albums and pages. Any one else has suggestions, recommendations, or technical info to share? This is a work in progress, so your ideas are welcome.

HERE IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN EXPERIMENTING WITH, AND RECOMMEND AS OF NOW:

Use a better quality heavy duty presentation style 3 ring binder, and use binders of 1, 1 1/2 or 2 in width. Use the lay flat D rings binders. A bit more expensive, but so much better to use. You can color code your binders, or the cover page to help manage your collection. By the way, purchased at Costco, they are top quality with locking mechanism, and cheaper than anything I have found elsewhere. Comes in white or white, or white..lol

Use an using acid free 65 lb, cover stock, for paper to mount your stamps. (My colors of choice, Natural, or Cream, and I use a bright Red, Yellow etc.. for the section dividers and for album cover pages, including the spine titles). These will run you around $10 for 250 pages. I use Waussau paper (The company has now been acquired) . You can also use 70 lb heavy paper available in 500 reams of pages, at the same price. They just work fine with sheet protectors (see below). Regular 24 lb paper also works fine, without adding too much volume to your books (a growing problem as collection always need more room, while space reduces with age). If you work with non standard page sizes, you can buy oversize 11" by 17" reams and cut the page sizes you want to fit your album.

Print your own pages using layout software....for example the format of http://www.stampalbums.com/ (subscribe, or better get the cd rom). I find these pages the easiest to use, and if lazy, you can even order any and all printed pages if you don't want to print them yourself from http://www.albumpages.net/ at fairly economical rates.
(By the way, they will also print pages for other formats than 8.5x11, such as Scott size paper, etc..)

Mount your stamps with archival removable Scotch 811 tape. (So much more flexible than archaic technology hinges which leave marks and cannot be moved). I use them on used stamps and Mint hinged stamps, but they can also be used on MNH (I do use them on MNH now as well), they don't leave a mark on the stamp at all, (but occasionally leave a slight residue after many years when peeled off, which can be easily rubbed off with absolutely no mark on the stamp....this problem seems to be vanishing with the latest versions of the tape) ( I am not sure what 3M has done about this, but they seem to be much better today than the tape I used 5 years ago).
I always say that it is a temporary solution, but after years of testing, I am leaning at making it permanent. (see discussion elsewhere on the topic).

If you want, protect your pages with Avery Acid Free sheet protectors ( I buy them at Costco for about $12 for 200 heavyweight pages). This eliminates the use of costly stamp mounts, although I do use mounts on the most expensive stuff. You can stick them with the removable Scotch 811 tape rather than moisten them and glue them on the pages....I now use the 811 tape on the upper half portion of all my mounts, facilitating movement, and preserving pages pristine)

Mount envelopes (FDC or others) using transparent acid free pressure sensitive photo corners (Pioneer) You can use the blank side of the pages (with sheet protectors) for "sexying" up your album, and for greater ease of use!

This seems to work well overall to cut costs and improve the display quality of the collection, and to allow great flexibility. Has anyone else been experimenting with these or any new technology? I now use the heavier weight card stock and have a template for covers (2 to a page) with corner slots allowing the mounting of the envelopes without any other hardware.

rrr...

Other topics I would like to bring out for future discussion for Technology and Philately are:
Scanning for Watermarks, Use of Computers for Collection Management, Web site resources for collectors, Collection Storage, Topical guides, Catalog cross-indexing resources, microscopes, watermark detectors, and of course methods for removing paper adhesion from these collector unfriendly modern self adhesive stamps...etc..etc...
Many of these topics have been discussed in the past (Thanks to Kim and Michael in particular, and others..mea culpa, my failing memory just wants to store and not retrieve..) and deserve further discussion.

Anyone want to pick up an additional subject for exploration and suggestions? ""


(Modified by Moderator on 2014-09-18 13:24:07)
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TuskenRaider
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18 Sep 2014
05:17:10pm
re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

Hi everyone;

It is often true that "keep it simple" is the best and easiest way to do things. That is why many collectors do not rely heavily on 'technology'.

I spent many years learning many complicated engineering software packages, and highly complex technical medical electronics, micro-chip design and sophisticated micro-mechanical technologies. And nowadays so have many folks had to work 40 hour weeks on these infernal machines.

I'm retired as are many other collectors, and we don't want to be attached by the hip to all this technical stuff. I think it's great we can communicate via internet, and purchase/trade via internet, but don't want to learn additional software programs so I can produce spreadsheets to 'manage my collection'. I don't see a need for most collectors to 'manage a collection'. If they worked most of there working life as 'bean counters' maybe they might enjoy that, but most collectors have not.

For most people stamp collecting involves, selection of a country/topic, buying packets of stamps, sorting them, and mounting them. But please Ralph don't expect everyone to want to collect just like you do, it just isn't realistic, and you'll just get yourself frustrated. I read these threads and can't for the life of me figure out why anyone would talk for hours about a single stamp, but I'm gradually learning to just ignore them, for my own sanity. Rolling On The Floor Laughing

Just some thoughts tho...

Keep on stampin
Ken Tall Pines

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philatelia
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18 Sep 2014
06:54:52pm
re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

To some folks dabbling in new tech is as much a hobby as sorting bits of paper. I know my hubby loves reading tech sites and magazines, attends a computer club and has a room full of parts for building computers. I'm not surprised that some folks love to combine stampin and tech. If they are having fun, then that's super! If they find something clever to help us all with some drudgery then that's really super! So go get 'em rrraphy!!!Applause

Personally, I had enough tech on my job and when I retired I left that behind - I spent my last two years chasing electrons doing board level electronics repairs. Now I'm happy to let hubby set up the tech for me.

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Bobstamp
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22 Sep 2014
11:15:09pm
re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

My stamp collecting didn't start to "take off" until the computers arrived. I was living in Prince George, BC, 800 km north of Vancouver and a million light years from civilization; the local stamp club had folded, and I was relying on one stamp shop and a couple of local vest pocket dealers for stamps, and beginning to make my own album pages on my computer, and begun taking baby steps in creating my own, mostly philatelic web pages.

By the time my wife and I moved to Vancouver in 2001, I was a regular buyer on eBay and participating actively in Stamporama, which had "gone digital" by that time. I became webmaster for the British Columbia Philatelic Society (it hadn't previously had a web site), and volunteered as exhibits chair for VANPEX, a job which really did require the internet for advertising and organizing the exhibition. I also began to create my own exhibits, and began to rely heavily on Google, Wikipedia, and email for research and even collaboration with other collectors.

Today I just can't imagine getting along without my computer, my iPhone, and my iPad, not to mention a good colour printer and a scanner. And, honestly, I just don't understand the Luddite collectors among us who are so scornful of computers and the internet.

Bob

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TuskenRaider
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22 Sep 2014
11:43:15pm
re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

Hi Everyone;

I don't scorn the infernal machines, I just don't like PCs very much and don't want to organize a collection using a machine. I'm a former Macintosh user and so don't have much respect for PCs.

I like to look for town cancels on stamps, especially British ones, and look up the towns on Wikipedia, and read about their history, and their economic pursuits.

I learned how Bognor Regis got its current name. It was formerly known as Bognor, until King George V, convalesced there. After much pleading to add 'Regis" to the town name, the King agreed. He apparently didn't like the place that much. In case you don't know Latin the word Regis means "of the King", at least in this context I think it does. So I don't really scorn the things, I probably use them somewhat differently than most folks do.

Wikipedia is an incredibly powerful teaching tool, for research and learning.

Keep on stampin
Ken Tall Pines

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StanC
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23 Sep 2014
08:18:07am
re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

I use a mac and an iPad for my collecting and education when it comes to gathering information and keeping track of my collection. I've added a nice scanner to my arsenal along with a liberal use of the SOR forum.

In the real world, I'm a web developer for a telco and am constantly in front of the computer during the day. But, I tend to agree with others that after a long day of looking at the computer, all I want to do is look at and study stamps and their history.

So, I'm using tech much like Ken to fill in the blanks with the history of either stamps or cancels. At some point, I'm probably going to build a website with the stamps and history of my grandfather's collection.

Stan

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BobbyBarnhart
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin

23 Sep 2014
09:16:29am
re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

I think that whatever you started with is most likely your system of choice. Although I was first introduced to 'puters by a Commodore 64, I soon gravitated to a Radio Shack TRS80, and thence onward to other DOS based systems. So my choice is a Windows based environment. I have many friends who are still devotees of Linux based systems, and few, like yourself, who swear by Apple. Whatever floats your boat, as long as you maintain computer literacy. I liken disdain for computers and modern technology in general in the 21st century to illiteracy in the 20th century.

As far as the use of technology to keep track of my collection, I do not so do any more than I used a pencil and paper in 60s or a typewriter in the 70s - just too much work! Since I am an hoarder anyway, having duplication doesn't bother me.

But I would be lost without the internet, my scanner, my printer, etc., I just choose to use them in other ways.


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tuscany4me
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23 Sep 2014
12:55:27pm
re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

I downloaded a program for keeping track of my stamps. I think someone here on SOR suggested one a long time I ago. May be on my computer here somewhere. I think I tried it but never used it.


I try to scan all my stamps, but I'm sure I miss many. And much of my collection I have on Pinterest.

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Bobstamp
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23 Sep 2014
01:20:08pm
re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

Ah, another TRS80 user!

The TRS80 was our first computer, weighing in at a whopping 64K! There were no displays at that time, not for home use anyway, so we hooked our up to our TV and played games., which were loaded onto large modules that slid into a port on the side of the computer, if I recall correctly. We had bought a spreadsheet module for it, couldn't figure out how to use it, and returned it. A few months later, I attended an in-service training session to introduce us teachers to the internet; the instructor tried but failed to log in to a web site, or any web site, so he went on to other topics, one of which was word processing and printing on a dot matrix printer. As a former journalist, I was reborn at that moment.

Soon we had purchased a word processing program, a printer, two floppy disc drives, and an $800 portable colour television to use as a display. That whole set-up cost more than $5,000. The first time my wife sat down to "word process" a letter to her parents, the computer ran out of memory and locked up, and she lost the entire letter.

Our son, Paul, wanted a Commodore 64 for games, so we bought one of those for him, but within a short time the first Apple computers came out. Our school board had selected Apples for use in the classrooms, so we bought the first of many Apples and now, of course, iPhones, iPods, iPads, iThis and iThat.

Susan and I are moderately literate when it comes to computers. We both have our own web sites, and deal with most problems on our own, but our son, Paul, is our computer guru. He also designed software which allows us to create attractive web pages with simple text commands.

I have no trouble understanding that many older people in our society are overwhelmed by the complexities of computers and the internet; Susan and I often ask Paul for help with problems. I think that the computer industry has made serious errors in creating the complexity of computers and the internet. If cars had as many problems as computers, there would be Congressional hearings , not that Congress would be able to do anything about it but blame Obama!

Computers have certainly been good for Paul. is making a good living selling ebooks about pain control from his web site, which he designed from the ground up. He's a massage therapist, but his first job as an adult was with a company that designed web sites, using both Apple and PC platforms, so he is at home so to speak with both platforms. He could easily get a job as a computer technician, but he's making a lot more money selling his ebooks.)

Apple computers are expensive, no question. Several years ago I told Paul that we were thinking of buying PCs to save a bit of money. He said, "Father, I want you to go to your room and think about that!" We still have Apples. In fact, last year our son bought each us 27" iMacs with fusion storage (traditional hard drive combined with flash memory).

Bob




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philatelia
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23 Sep 2014
02:35:16pm
re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

WOW - The changes we have seen in our lifetimes!

Hubby started computer engineering school at University of Michigan using a sliderule and then got his first TI calculator and thought he was the coolest geek on campus! We had a commodore 64, then we were busy with work and didn't buy another computer until we bought a Pentium 60 and thought we were the coolest nerds on the block. LOL. Wow have things progressed!


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Bobstamp
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23 Sep 2014
03:05:08pm
re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

The first computer I saw was at the Scripps Oceanographic Institute in California. A high school friend had married a student there; when I was in Hospital Corps School in San Diego, they invited me to their home for dinner and took me on a tour of the institute. The computer (probably several computers) were housed in large cabinets, with lights flashing (at least I think there were lights flashing, but that could be a false memory created by Hollywood), and big reels of magnetic tape whirling back and forth and starting and stopping. I don't think I had a clue, then, just what computers were for. And it would be another 20 years before the TRS80 computer came into my life.

Bob

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larsdog
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APS #220693 ATA#57179

23 Sep 2014
05:53:03pm
re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

The first computer I saw was the IBM 360 at University of Illinois when I was going to Engineering school. Had to punch cards and drop a deck into a card reader to run programs. When I was a Senior my father bought a Commodore (I think) with a tape recorder for a hard drive and an impact printer that was LOUD!

Not counting the TI-59 programmable calculator I was given when I started as a Manufacturing Engineer at Texas Instruments in 1980, my first computer was a TI 99/4A. Totally worthless for anything except the game "Hunt the Wumpus". I'm not making that up. I started with TI PCs at work, then the big challenge was DOS v. OS/2 when we migrated to IBM PCs when TI got out of the market.

Now I have a Windows PC at work, a Windows laptop that travels between work and home, a Windows PC at home, a Mac at home, an iPad and iPhone. Nothing I enjoy more than turning them ALL off and reading a good book. I refuse to get a Kindle. I have enough photons pulsing at 60 Hertz towards my eyes in a day as it is!

Lars

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larsdog
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APS #220693 ATA#57179

23 Sep 2014
07:10:03pm
re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

I am also very close to the OLDEST Engineer alive that never used a sliderule, even in school.

Lars

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StanC
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23 Sep 2014
08:25:20pm
re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

My dad taught me how to use a sliderule, but I've forgotten how to use it now. I started with a TRS-80 progressed to a Franklin Ace (Apple II Clone, back when Apple clones existed), and then finally to any assorted PC's with Dos, Windows 1.0, Windows 3.1, etc. Finally in 2012, I moved to the dark side and bought a Macbook Pro, and I don't think I'll ever go back to a PC. It does everything I'd ever want a computer to do.

Does anyone remember the Tandy 1000 or 2000 or the KayPro computer? I think I had those back in the late 80's. The technology has progressed, and I've just found a device that I can use to magnify the stamps without having to scan them. The Hamilton Visual Presenter allows me to look at a stamp on a TV or computer monitor that magnifies it enough to see even the fine detail. That really helps when there's detail I can't see with a magnifier.

There again, technology in moderation is a good thing. And I do own a Kindle. I wouldn't go anywhere without it.

Stan

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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..

24 Sep 2014
11:25:27am
re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

When I die I hope they stuff my Dietzgen Log-log-deci-trig slip stick in the coffin with me.
Last year one of my grand daughters had some of her ROTC friends over one rainy weekend. Somehow the subject of solving math problems by hand came up (These kids are achievers ) after all.)and I wanted to show them, roughly, how to solve simple problems with my almost sixty year old slide rule. They were fascinated, especially when I dug out one of my navigators note books and showed them the long form solution to a spherical triangle problem that calculated the sailing distance from the Tokoyo Sea Buoy to a point just off the Panama Canal that I had worked out years ago (1968).
Apparently schools today never mention such primitive means of working out complex problems. If fact they were never shown how logarithms actually worked either, despite logs being he base that allows computers to multiply and divide. I gave two of them each an inexpensive plastic slide rule that I had used to teach my children as they grew up the fundamentals that were being ignored at what I still consider one of the better school systems in this part of Florida.
If there is ever one of those gigantic EMF bursts from our Sun that takes out the computers and satellites this nation will be helpless.

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larsdog
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APS #220693 ATA#57179

24 Sep 2014
12:07:12pm
re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

"If there is ever one of those gigantic EMF bursts from our Sun that takes out the computers and satellites this nation will be helpless."



True, but if that happens no quantity of slide rules or amount of knowledge as to how to use them will get us out of THAT mess!

Lars

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sheepshanks
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24 Sep 2014
12:30:25pm
re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

From what I am reading in this post I think my ZX81 ts outdated. It at least got people interested in computers and took away some of the mystery. We then got a BBC2 and then a pc running W 95, which I still have working. Came with 2 meg of hard drive and 8k of ram. Upgrading hard drive to 10meg cost me a 100 pounds. Now have pc and laptop with W7 and the good lady has a laptop and w8, which defies all logical working and personally is microsofts biggest screw up to date. Last night to open her email attachments I had to forward to me and copy to memory stick and then save to her computer.
hopefully the next version will go back to basics and work more intuitively.
Vic

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sheepshanks
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24 Sep 2014
12:32:36pm
re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

Ps I still have a slide rule and my brain can do sums without a calculator.
but getting older, think my hard drive is getting too full.
vic

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collectordave

05 Jun 2018
01:48:58am
re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

New member old thread so sorry for bumping.

Collected stamps from whole world for over forty years now just Portugal and colonies. retired engineer that programmed computers etc. I still do mental arithmetic and use a slide rule occassionaly.

Interested in computers and stamp collecting and after paying many hundreds of pounds for catalogues and stamp albums started my own project to collect stamp data and produce album pages. (you can see this here worldcollector.eu). I use Windows PCs, Macintosh and UNIX.

Early stages yet but growing. If anyone with a computer tells you that stamp collecting is simple the answer is yes and no.

Most programmes I have purchased and used were very simple lists where I found it easier to use a spreadsheet but as I grew in knowledge these became tedious to use and moving country using a different catalogue was a nightmare.

Free programmes are also the bane of my life some are truly free others allways have a sting in the tail.

Please visit the site check it out and let me know your thoughts.

Kind regards

collectordave

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malcolm197

05 Jun 2018
07:27:35am
re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

I have only one thing to say about technology. Make sure that it is your servant and not your master !

I am not particularly tech-savvy, but I do love the internet ( and forums ) to increase my knowledge about stamps, collateral information, and out-of the way knowledge. It is my servant. The day that I allow it to influence the way I live, or destroy my social skills ( or my ability to think or use my own judgement) is the day that it becomes my master, and when that day arrives I will put it away for good.

I might be a Luddite, but sometimes I despair at the way some younger people have lost their sense of discernment as a result of some of the trash peddled on social media.

Malcolm

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angore
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Al
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05 Jun 2018
08:24:17am
re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

Computers and the Internet are essential tools for me. I would not be collecting to the degree without them. I remember the mail order days when you bought sight unseen if you could not make it to shows.

I like computers for what they do and not for the technology. I am not chasing the latest technology (processors, OS, new smart phones, 4k LCD, etc). I was more into technology when I was into audio equipment and do not live on my phone as some do these days.

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Tom in Exton, PA

05 Jun 2018
04:00:12pm
re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

The Internet and computers make collecting much easier today. Just eBay alone has allowed me to find and purchase many previously elusive pieces I needed for my collection. It has made the difficult to find, fairly commonplace.

"I remember the mail order days when you bought sight unseen if you could not make it to shows.
"



I recently came across one of those old time dealers. He sent out a brick of paper, printed so small it was nearly unreadable. Each cover was a line of text. No photos. He wanted payment to provide scans, either black and white or color copies. Just like 1980!

I bought a dozen covers from him, sight unseen, since his descriptions seemed good and honest. When I got them, a wouldn't have purchased at least 25% of them if I had seen them first. No, I won't be buying there again. It's way too easy to buy from eBay or other sites that provide a photograph of each piece.

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rrraphy
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Retired Consultant APS#186030

05 Jun 2018
04:59:31pm

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re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

Interesting article in the June 2018 issue of American Philatelist on Watermark Detection. Lots of informative information.

Also (not connected to this topic, but of interest), an article on "Our earliest Cancellations", featuring Cancels and Postal Markings of the first US stamp issue.

rrr...

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karlfry
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05 Jun 2018
07:52:07pm
re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

Use to make pages with my trusty typewriter and "my best" penmanship! Sr. Shelia would have been prouAngeld!

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ikeyPikey
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05 Jun 2018
09:38:26pm
re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

"As far as the use of technology to keep track of my collection, I do not so do any more than I used a pencil and paper in 60s or a typewriter in the 70s - just too much work! Since I am an hoarder anyway, having duplication doesn't bother me."



Way too much work.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey
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"I collect stamps today precisely the way I collected stamps when I was ten years old."
        

 

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rrraphy

Retired Consultant APS#186030
18 Sep 2014
01:04:16pm

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I found this old article I wrote 5 or more years ago. Seems like a good topic, even today. Here it is, with just a few more ideas thrown in, and some minor updating.


Technology and Philately. I hope to open a new area of discussions here.

I am amazed at how backward stamp collectors are in their use of technology. I think the application of technology to stamp collecting can do a lot to facilitate storage, improve the display of stamp collections, allow flexibility in moving stamps, designing pages to fit one's varied needs and reduce costs significantly. May even encourage new stamp collectors.
Why would anyone pay on average 30 to 50 cents per page to Scott, Minkus or Lindner and be stuck with an impractical non standard page format, ever increasing costs, lack of flexibility and archaic stamp mounting technology?
Why is it that the best stamp hinges (which still damage your stamps) are no longer made today?

So my first topic has to do with some of the technological ideas I have been experimenting with, for albums and pages. Any one else has suggestions, recommendations, or technical info to share? This is a work in progress, so your ideas are welcome.

HERE IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN EXPERIMENTING WITH, AND RECOMMEND AS OF NOW:

Use a better quality heavy duty presentation style 3 ring binder, and use binders of 1, 1 1/2 or 2 in width. Use the lay flat D rings binders. A bit more expensive, but so much better to use. You can color code your binders, or the cover page to help manage your collection. By the way, purchased at Costco, they are top quality with locking mechanism, and cheaper than anything I have found elsewhere. Comes in white or white, or white..lol

Use an using acid free 65 lb, cover stock, for paper to mount your stamps. (My colors of choice, Natural, or Cream, and I use a bright Red, Yellow etc.. for the section dividers and for album cover pages, including the spine titles). These will run you around $10 for 250 pages. I use Waussau paper (The company has now been acquired) . You can also use 70 lb heavy paper available in 500 reams of pages, at the same price. They just work fine with sheet protectors (see below). Regular 24 lb paper also works fine, without adding too much volume to your books (a growing problem as collection always need more room, while space reduces with age). If you work with non standard page sizes, you can buy oversize 11" by 17" reams and cut the page sizes you want to fit your album.

Print your own pages using layout software....for example the format of http://www.stampalbums.com/ (subscribe, or better get the cd rom). I find these pages the easiest to use, and if lazy, you can even order any and all printed pages if you don't want to print them yourself from http://www.albumpages.net/ at fairly economical rates.
(By the way, they will also print pages for other formats than 8.5x11, such as Scott size paper, etc..)

Mount your stamps with archival removable Scotch 811 tape. (So much more flexible than archaic technology hinges which leave marks and cannot be moved). I use them on used stamps and Mint hinged stamps, but they can also be used on MNH (I do use them on MNH now as well), they don't leave a mark on the stamp at all, (but occasionally leave a slight residue after many years when peeled off, which can be easily rubbed off with absolutely no mark on the stamp....this problem seems to be vanishing with the latest versions of the tape) ( I am not sure what 3M has done about this, but they seem to be much better today than the tape I used 5 years ago).
I always say that it is a temporary solution, but after years of testing, I am leaning at making it permanent. (see discussion elsewhere on the topic).

If you want, protect your pages with Avery Acid Free sheet protectors ( I buy them at Costco for about $12 for 200 heavyweight pages). This eliminates the use of costly stamp mounts, although I do use mounts on the most expensive stuff. You can stick them with the removable Scotch 811 tape rather than moisten them and glue them on the pages....I now use the 811 tape on the upper half portion of all my mounts, facilitating movement, and preserving pages pristine)

Mount envelopes (FDC or others) using transparent acid free pressure sensitive photo corners (Pioneer) You can use the blank side of the pages (with sheet protectors) for "sexying" up your album, and for greater ease of use!

This seems to work well overall to cut costs and improve the display quality of the collection, and to allow great flexibility. Has anyone else been experimenting with these or any new technology? I now use the heavier weight card stock and have a template for covers (2 to a page) with corner slots allowing the mounting of the envelopes without any other hardware.

rrr...

Other topics I would like to bring out for future discussion for Technology and Philately are:
Scanning for Watermarks, Use of Computers for Collection Management, Web site resources for collectors, Collection Storage, Topical guides, Catalog cross-indexing resources, microscopes, watermark detectors, and of course methods for removing paper adhesion from these collector unfriendly modern self adhesive stamps...etc..etc...
Many of these topics have been discussed in the past (Thanks to Kim and Michael in particular, and others..mea culpa, my failing memory just wants to store and not retrieve..) and deserve further discussion.

Anyone want to pick up an additional subject for exploration and suggestions? ""


(Modified by Moderator on 2014-09-18 13:24:07)

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TuskenRaider

18 Sep 2014
05:17:10pm

re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

Hi everyone;

It is often true that "keep it simple" is the best and easiest way to do things. That is why many collectors do not rely heavily on 'technology'.

I spent many years learning many complicated engineering software packages, and highly complex technical medical electronics, micro-chip design and sophisticated micro-mechanical technologies. And nowadays so have many folks had to work 40 hour weeks on these infernal machines.

I'm retired as are many other collectors, and we don't want to be attached by the hip to all this technical stuff. I think it's great we can communicate via internet, and purchase/trade via internet, but don't want to learn additional software programs so I can produce spreadsheets to 'manage my collection'. I don't see a need for most collectors to 'manage a collection'. If they worked most of there working life as 'bean counters' maybe they might enjoy that, but most collectors have not.

For most people stamp collecting involves, selection of a country/topic, buying packets of stamps, sorting them, and mounting them. But please Ralph don't expect everyone to want to collect just like you do, it just isn't realistic, and you'll just get yourself frustrated. I read these threads and can't for the life of me figure out why anyone would talk for hours about a single stamp, but I'm gradually learning to just ignore them, for my own sanity. Rolling On The Floor Laughing

Just some thoughts tho...

Keep on stampin
Ken Tall Pines

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philatelia

18 Sep 2014
06:54:52pm

re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

To some folks dabbling in new tech is as much a hobby as sorting bits of paper. I know my hubby loves reading tech sites and magazines, attends a computer club and has a room full of parts for building computers. I'm not surprised that some folks love to combine stampin and tech. If they are having fun, then that's super! If they find something clever to help us all with some drudgery then that's really super! So go get 'em rrraphy!!!Applause

Personally, I had enough tech on my job and when I retired I left that behind - I spent my last two years chasing electrons doing board level electronics repairs. Now I'm happy to let hubby set up the tech for me.

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Bobstamp

22 Sep 2014
11:15:09pm

re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

My stamp collecting didn't start to "take off" until the computers arrived. I was living in Prince George, BC, 800 km north of Vancouver and a million light years from civilization; the local stamp club had folded, and I was relying on one stamp shop and a couple of local vest pocket dealers for stamps, and beginning to make my own album pages on my computer, and begun taking baby steps in creating my own, mostly philatelic web pages.

By the time my wife and I moved to Vancouver in 2001, I was a regular buyer on eBay and participating actively in Stamporama, which had "gone digital" by that time. I became webmaster for the British Columbia Philatelic Society (it hadn't previously had a web site), and volunteered as exhibits chair for VANPEX, a job which really did require the internet for advertising and organizing the exhibition. I also began to create my own exhibits, and began to rely heavily on Google, Wikipedia, and email for research and even collaboration with other collectors.

Today I just can't imagine getting along without my computer, my iPhone, and my iPad, not to mention a good colour printer and a scanner. And, honestly, I just don't understand the Luddite collectors among us who are so scornful of computers and the internet.

Bob

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TuskenRaider

22 Sep 2014
11:43:15pm

re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

Hi Everyone;

I don't scorn the infernal machines, I just don't like PCs very much and don't want to organize a collection using a machine. I'm a former Macintosh user and so don't have much respect for PCs.

I like to look for town cancels on stamps, especially British ones, and look up the towns on Wikipedia, and read about their history, and their economic pursuits.

I learned how Bognor Regis got its current name. It was formerly known as Bognor, until King George V, convalesced there. After much pleading to add 'Regis" to the town name, the King agreed. He apparently didn't like the place that much. In case you don't know Latin the word Regis means "of the King", at least in this context I think it does. So I don't really scorn the things, I probably use them somewhat differently than most folks do.

Wikipedia is an incredibly powerful teaching tool, for research and learning.

Keep on stampin
Ken Tall Pines

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StanC

23 Sep 2014
08:18:07am

re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

I use a mac and an iPad for my collecting and education when it comes to gathering information and keeping track of my collection. I've added a nice scanner to my arsenal along with a liberal use of the SOR forum.

In the real world, I'm a web developer for a telco and am constantly in front of the computer during the day. But, I tend to agree with others that after a long day of looking at the computer, all I want to do is look at and study stamps and their history.

So, I'm using tech much like Ken to fill in the blanks with the history of either stamps or cancels. At some point, I'm probably going to build a website with the stamps and history of my grandfather's collection.

Stan

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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
23 Sep 2014
09:16:29am

re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

I think that whatever you started with is most likely your system of choice. Although I was first introduced to 'puters by a Commodore 64, I soon gravitated to a Radio Shack TRS80, and thence onward to other DOS based systems. So my choice is a Windows based environment. I have many friends who are still devotees of Linux based systems, and few, like yourself, who swear by Apple. Whatever floats your boat, as long as you maintain computer literacy. I liken disdain for computers and modern technology in general in the 21st century to illiteracy in the 20th century.

As far as the use of technology to keep track of my collection, I do not so do any more than I used a pencil and paper in 60s or a typewriter in the 70s - just too much work! Since I am an hoarder anyway, having duplication doesn't bother me.

But I would be lost without the internet, my scanner, my printer, etc., I just choose to use them in other ways.


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tuscany4me

23 Sep 2014
12:55:27pm

re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

I downloaded a program for keeping track of my stamps. I think someone here on SOR suggested one a long time I ago. May be on my computer here somewhere. I think I tried it but never used it.


I try to scan all my stamps, but I'm sure I miss many. And much of my collection I have on Pinterest.

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Bobstamp

23 Sep 2014
01:20:08pm

re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

Ah, another TRS80 user!

The TRS80 was our first computer, weighing in at a whopping 64K! There were no displays at that time, not for home use anyway, so we hooked our up to our TV and played games., which were loaded onto large modules that slid into a port on the side of the computer, if I recall correctly. We had bought a spreadsheet module for it, couldn't figure out how to use it, and returned it. A few months later, I attended an in-service training session to introduce us teachers to the internet; the instructor tried but failed to log in to a web site, or any web site, so he went on to other topics, one of which was word processing and printing on a dot matrix printer. As a former journalist, I was reborn at that moment.

Soon we had purchased a word processing program, a printer, two floppy disc drives, and an $800 portable colour television to use as a display. That whole set-up cost more than $5,000. The first time my wife sat down to "word process" a letter to her parents, the computer ran out of memory and locked up, and she lost the entire letter.

Our son, Paul, wanted a Commodore 64 for games, so we bought one of those for him, but within a short time the first Apple computers came out. Our school board had selected Apples for use in the classrooms, so we bought the first of many Apples and now, of course, iPhones, iPods, iPads, iThis and iThat.

Susan and I are moderately literate when it comes to computers. We both have our own web sites, and deal with most problems on our own, but our son, Paul, is our computer guru. He also designed software which allows us to create attractive web pages with simple text commands.

I have no trouble understanding that many older people in our society are overwhelmed by the complexities of computers and the internet; Susan and I often ask Paul for help with problems. I think that the computer industry has made serious errors in creating the complexity of computers and the internet. If cars had as many problems as computers, there would be Congressional hearings , not that Congress would be able to do anything about it but blame Obama!

Computers have certainly been good for Paul. is making a good living selling ebooks about pain control from his web site, which he designed from the ground up. He's a massage therapist, but his first job as an adult was with a company that designed web sites, using both Apple and PC platforms, so he is at home so to speak with both platforms. He could easily get a job as a computer technician, but he's making a lot more money selling his ebooks.)

Apple computers are expensive, no question. Several years ago I told Paul that we were thinking of buying PCs to save a bit of money. He said, "Father, I want you to go to your room and think about that!" We still have Apples. In fact, last year our son bought each us 27" iMacs with fusion storage (traditional hard drive combined with flash memory).

Bob




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philatelia

23 Sep 2014
02:35:16pm

re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

WOW - The changes we have seen in our lifetimes!

Hubby started computer engineering school at University of Michigan using a sliderule and then got his first TI calculator and thought he was the coolest geek on campus! We had a commodore 64, then we were busy with work and didn't buy another computer until we bought a Pentium 60 and thought we were the coolest nerds on the block. LOL. Wow have things progressed!


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Bobstamp

23 Sep 2014
03:05:08pm

re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

The first computer I saw was at the Scripps Oceanographic Institute in California. A high school friend had married a student there; when I was in Hospital Corps School in San Diego, they invited me to their home for dinner and took me on a tour of the institute. The computer (probably several computers) were housed in large cabinets, with lights flashing (at least I think there were lights flashing, but that could be a false memory created by Hollywood), and big reels of magnetic tape whirling back and forth and starting and stopping. I don't think I had a clue, then, just what computers were for. And it would be another 20 years before the TRS80 computer came into my life.

Bob

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larsdog

APS #220693 ATA#57179
23 Sep 2014
05:53:03pm

re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

The first computer I saw was the IBM 360 at University of Illinois when I was going to Engineering school. Had to punch cards and drop a deck into a card reader to run programs. When I was a Senior my father bought a Commodore (I think) with a tape recorder for a hard drive and an impact printer that was LOUD!

Not counting the TI-59 programmable calculator I was given when I started as a Manufacturing Engineer at Texas Instruments in 1980, my first computer was a TI 99/4A. Totally worthless for anything except the game "Hunt the Wumpus". I'm not making that up. I started with TI PCs at work, then the big challenge was DOS v. OS/2 when we migrated to IBM PCs when TI got out of the market.

Now I have a Windows PC at work, a Windows laptop that travels between work and home, a Windows PC at home, a Mac at home, an iPad and iPhone. Nothing I enjoy more than turning them ALL off and reading a good book. I refuse to get a Kindle. I have enough photons pulsing at 60 Hertz towards my eyes in a day as it is!

Lars

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larsdog

APS #220693 ATA#57179
23 Sep 2014
07:10:03pm

re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

I am also very close to the OLDEST Engineer alive that never used a sliderule, even in school.

Lars

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StanC

23 Sep 2014
08:25:20pm

re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

My dad taught me how to use a sliderule, but I've forgotten how to use it now. I started with a TRS-80 progressed to a Franklin Ace (Apple II Clone, back when Apple clones existed), and then finally to any assorted PC's with Dos, Windows 1.0, Windows 3.1, etc. Finally in 2012, I moved to the dark side and bought a Macbook Pro, and I don't think I'll ever go back to a PC. It does everything I'd ever want a computer to do.

Does anyone remember the Tandy 1000 or 2000 or the KayPro computer? I think I had those back in the late 80's. The technology has progressed, and I've just found a device that I can use to magnify the stamps without having to scan them. The Hamilton Visual Presenter allows me to look at a stamp on a TV or computer monitor that magnifies it enough to see even the fine detail. That really helps when there's detail I can't see with a magnifier.

There again, technology in moderation is a good thing. And I do own a Kindle. I wouldn't go anywhere without it.

Stan

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24 Sep 2014
11:25:27am

re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

When I die I hope they stuff my Dietzgen Log-log-deci-trig slip stick in the coffin with me.
Last year one of my grand daughters had some of her ROTC friends over one rainy weekend. Somehow the subject of solving math problems by hand came up (These kids are achievers ) after all.)and I wanted to show them, roughly, how to solve simple problems with my almost sixty year old slide rule. They were fascinated, especially when I dug out one of my navigators note books and showed them the long form solution to a spherical triangle problem that calculated the sailing distance from the Tokoyo Sea Buoy to a point just off the Panama Canal that I had worked out years ago (1968).
Apparently schools today never mention such primitive means of working out complex problems. If fact they were never shown how logarithms actually worked either, despite logs being he base that allows computers to multiply and divide. I gave two of them each an inexpensive plastic slide rule that I had used to teach my children as they grew up the fundamentals that were being ignored at what I still consider one of the better school systems in this part of Florida.
If there is ever one of those gigantic EMF bursts from our Sun that takes out the computers and satellites this nation will be helpless.

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larsdog

APS #220693 ATA#57179
24 Sep 2014
12:07:12pm

re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

"If there is ever one of those gigantic EMF bursts from our Sun that takes out the computers and satellites this nation will be helpless."



True, but if that happens no quantity of slide rules or amount of knowledge as to how to use them will get us out of THAT mess!

Lars

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sheepshanks

24 Sep 2014
12:30:25pm

re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

From what I am reading in this post I think my ZX81 ts outdated. It at least got people interested in computers and took away some of the mystery. We then got a BBC2 and then a pc running W 95, which I still have working. Came with 2 meg of hard drive and 8k of ram. Upgrading hard drive to 10meg cost me a 100 pounds. Now have pc and laptop with W7 and the good lady has a laptop and w8, which defies all logical working and personally is microsofts biggest screw up to date. Last night to open her email attachments I had to forward to me and copy to memory stick and then save to her computer.
hopefully the next version will go back to basics and work more intuitively.
Vic

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sheepshanks

24 Sep 2014
12:32:36pm

re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

Ps I still have a slide rule and my brain can do sums without a calculator.
but getting older, think my hard drive is getting too full.
vic

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collectordave

05 Jun 2018
01:48:58am

re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

New member old thread so sorry for bumping.

Collected stamps from whole world for over forty years now just Portugal and colonies. retired engineer that programmed computers etc. I still do mental arithmetic and use a slide rule occassionaly.

Interested in computers and stamp collecting and after paying many hundreds of pounds for catalogues and stamp albums started my own project to collect stamp data and produce album pages. (you can see this here worldcollector.eu). I use Windows PCs, Macintosh and UNIX.

Early stages yet but growing. If anyone with a computer tells you that stamp collecting is simple the answer is yes and no.

Most programmes I have purchased and used were very simple lists where I found it easier to use a spreadsheet but as I grew in knowledge these became tedious to use and moving country using a different catalogue was a nightmare.

Free programmes are also the bane of my life some are truly free others allways have a sting in the tail.

Please visit the site check it out and let me know your thoughts.

Kind regards

collectordave

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malcolm197

05 Jun 2018
07:27:35am

re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

I have only one thing to say about technology. Make sure that it is your servant and not your master !

I am not particularly tech-savvy, but I do love the internet ( and forums ) to increase my knowledge about stamps, collateral information, and out-of the way knowledge. It is my servant. The day that I allow it to influence the way I live, or destroy my social skills ( or my ability to think or use my own judgement) is the day that it becomes my master, and when that day arrives I will put it away for good.

I might be a Luddite, but sometimes I despair at the way some younger people have lost their sense of discernment as a result of some of the trash peddled on social media.

Malcolm

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angore

Al
Collector, Moderator
05 Jun 2018
08:24:17am

re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

Computers and the Internet are essential tools for me. I would not be collecting to the degree without them. I remember the mail order days when you bought sight unseen if you could not make it to shows.

I like computers for what they do and not for the technology. I am not chasing the latest technology (processors, OS, new smart phones, 4k LCD, etc). I was more into technology when I was into audio equipment and do not live on my phone as some do these days.

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BenFranklin1902

Tom in Exton, PA
05 Jun 2018
04:00:12pm

re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

The Internet and computers make collecting much easier today. Just eBay alone has allowed me to find and purchase many previously elusive pieces I needed for my collection. It has made the difficult to find, fairly commonplace.

"I remember the mail order days when you bought sight unseen if you could not make it to shows.
"



I recently came across one of those old time dealers. He sent out a brick of paper, printed so small it was nearly unreadable. Each cover was a line of text. No photos. He wanted payment to provide scans, either black and white or color copies. Just like 1980!

I bought a dozen covers from him, sight unseen, since his descriptions seemed good and honest. When I got them, a wouldn't have purchased at least 25% of them if I had seen them first. No, I won't be buying there again. It's way too easy to buy from eBay or other sites that provide a photograph of each piece.

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rrraphy

Retired Consultant APS#186030
05 Jun 2018
04:59:31pm

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re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

Interesting article in the June 2018 issue of American Philatelist on Watermark Detection. Lots of informative information.

Also (not connected to this topic, but of interest), an article on "Our earliest Cancellations", featuring Cancels and Postal Markings of the first US stamp issue.

rrr...

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karlfry

05 Jun 2018
07:52:07pm

re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

Use to make pages with my trusty typewriter and "my best" penmanship! Sr. Shelia would have been prouAngeld!

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ikeyPikey

05 Jun 2018
09:38:26pm

re: Technology and Stamp Collecting

"As far as the use of technology to keep track of my collection, I do not so do any more than I used a pencil and paper in 60s or a typewriter in the 70s - just too much work! Since I am an hoarder anyway, having duplication doesn't bother me."



Way too much work.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey
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