Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
HOW TO ACQUIRE DUPLICATES
1. Go to an approval book. Find a French stamp you need – good condition, fairly heavy cancel, but overall OK. Price is right, so take it. Three pages later, find same stamp in pristine MNH condition for 10 cents more. One for the duplicate box.
2. Find Gabon stamp you think you need. Check want list – yep, it’s on the list. Get it. Place in album. A month later see same stamp but don’t remember earlier purchase. Again check want list – yep, it’s on the list. Get it. Check off on want list. Start to place in album and see that you forgot the ‘check off on want list’ step a month ago. One more for the duplicate box.
3. Find the 10P Spanish stamp you need in an approval book. Imagine that, a 10P all alone. You’ve needed that 10P a long time. Go to bottom of page, click on item 10 and then confirm. Receive stamps a week later. All are OK except no 10P, but there is a stamp you already have. Seller must have messed up. Go back to book. Find you did get item 10 – you had clicked on the face value, not the item number. Worse than that, the 10P you wanted had been bought by someone else. One more duplicate.
4. A new Italian approval book comes out. You’re flipping back forth – approval book to your want list to your album, picking up several items. Come across a nice semipostal. You would remember if you had that one and you’re in a hurry, so you buy it without checking. Next week, the stamps arrive. You find out your memory is not too good - you did have it. But you win a consolation prize – the new one is a better specimen than the one you have. Still, one more for the duplicate box.
5. Find three nice Portuguese commemoratives in the auction from one of the big Portuguese sets. Place bids and win all three. Check off on want list and place in album. When placing third one, note that it’s identical to a stamp beside its slot. Dig deeper. Realize that some time earlier you’d misread 50C as 60C and put the 50C in the 60C slot and crossed off the 60C on the want list. Yet another duplicate.
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Jings! Crivvens! Help Ma BoaB!
I thought I was the only one!!!
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You forgot #6:
Return to #1 and begin again!
Been there, done that for over half a century!
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Never was a statement more true!
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A want list is the most important tool for the collector. People should probably not collect any more countries than they have want lists for and most importantly update them immediately after purchasing stamps. If you don't you will surely keep having the same problems. But the good news is that you will keep getting duplicates which you seem to want? I Can't understand, but why do you want duplicates any way? Most of us are trying to get rid of them. Perhaps I was to figure out that your post was just a joke?
(Note: It takes thousands of hours to make up a useable world wide want list. If you don't have time to make up the lists you should probably not collect the world to seriously.
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11:38:34pm
Or, you could ignore want lists all together and
simply open the binder for that particular nation,
to the right page and see if the little bugger
is there or not. The trick to that is;
A.) Be sure to put a small pencil dot in the open space
so three days later you will not run afoul
of the aforementioned memory lapses,
and
B.) Mount new stamps as soon as possible so that the space
is full the next time you see that stamp offered somewhere.
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Hi Everyone;
Sometimes when trying to identify US stamps that were issued unwatermarked and with double lined USPS letters, only a tiny bit of a letter will appear. That makes identification difficult.
My solution is, to buy a MNH block of four (assuming medium priced stamps), and watermark them. After I identify, I add small light pencil mark on selvage to identify. Then separate other three stamps and place them in glassine with slip of paper to identify them, and list for sale.
I've also found that older Brazil and Argentina are very hard to identify, so again I seek out blocks of 4 or 6 to make watermarks easier to identify. Then sell the remainder, as I only collect singles.
I also buy lots of off paper world-wide stamps in quantities of 200 - 5,000. I then cherry pick them for my albums and sort the rest for listing, or for fancy cancels, small town cancels, or other interesting items.
Still just sortin'....
TuskenRaider
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Charlie said,
"Or, you could ignore want lists all together and
simply open the binder for that particular nation,
to the right page and see if the little bugger
is there or not"
That works fine if you are shopping at home, but not so at a stamp show....unless you are carrying your album(s) with you - which for me would be WAY to difficult.
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08:19:26am
"...That works fine if you are shopping at home, but not so at a stamp show.... ..."
That is a good point that for me is not that big of a problem as I am pretty much confined to home. Fortunately, I have one of the greatest memory of all times. I just do not feel like using it all the time.
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I would have to add one more:
6) FINALLY find that elusive stamp you're looking for and it's part of a mislabeled set. You pick up the set for less than the going price of the one stamp you were interested in, but all the other stamps are duplicates.
Lars
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"Charlie said,
Quote:
"Or, you could ignore want lists all together and
simply open the binder for that particular nation,
to the right page and see if the little bugger
is there or not"
That works fine if you are shopping at home"
I disagree. Even if you are shopping at home, you have to keep track of orders placed, outstanding, cancelled, and refunded in this scenario. Only if you are making infrequent and VERY modest purchases would that be wise.
Lars
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"I disagree. Even if you are shopping at home, you have to keep track of orders placed, outstanding, cancelled, and refunded in this scenario. "
Even with my NJ postmark collection, I have purchased duplicate covers because I lost track of things I recently purchased that were still to be received.
Thus, the first column on my spread sheet is blank. I use that to track anticipated covers, marking that line as "Coming". Then I can check my eBay purchases against that column so I don't duplicate anything. And it helps me know if a vendor has not delivered.
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09:15:42am
A piece of cake, Lars, if you limit purchases mostly to the fine program created by the resident wizard here and one or two other excellent sites.
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"A piece of cake, Lars, if you limit purchases mostly to the fine program created by the resident wizard here and one or two other excellent sites."
I wind up with duplicates on the auctions here! Seller will repeat the same stamps a few pages later, when you've got that list of 50 stamps and your head is spinning, it's easy to buy dupes.
I also wind up with stamps I didn't need. Either I hit the wrong button, or the seller sent me the wrong stamp. At a nickel to a dime a stamp, I'm not going to go complaining to the seller.
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"That works fine if you are shopping at home, but not so at a stamp show....unless you are carrying your album(s) with you - which for me would be WAY to difficult."
My WW collection is 1840-1965 in ten Scott International binders. For stamp shows now I just grab one and focus on that at the show. I never get more than a couple hours anyway, so it works.
For the out of town adventures, I'll take pictures of each page and then take my tablet with me. Almost like having the album there.
And even with that, I've still picked up duplicates...
-Steve
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I am a world collector thru 1968, with specialty in colonial Africa. Duplicates are a necessary hazard of effectively buying international collections. Country collections fill in many spaces at the best available prices. I know because they are becoming more difficult to find as I advance my collection. Lately it has been purchases at 20-35% of catalog. My method of control is marking Scott catalogs, based in the Classic and backed by full set, stamp by stamp (also a Yvert & Tellier, and COB for Africa). This allows me to focus on the specific areas for the catalog I bring to a show. Creative markings for each stamp allow me to ID damaged, off-center or straight edges.
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"For the out of town adventures, I'll take pictures of each page and then take my tablet with me. Almost like having the album there."
For my model car collection, in collecting older and long out of production cars, we buy old built models and restore them. Like with stamps, we purchase at a faster rate than we can work.
I have an album of these on my on-line photo account. 2-3 quick shots of each car tells me what I have and the condition. So when I'm at a show and there's a nice 1965 Barracuda model (which hasn't been issued since 1965), I can quickly reference my album to see if I have one and if I do, if it's in better condition than the one I'm contemplating buying. Note that these can be $50-200 purchases, so we try not to buy duplicates!
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I buy duplicate stamps all the time but not by mistake. As I have want lists for the world and have my collection scanned and online. I can see what I have or need wherever I am. I almost always buy lots of stamps that have some stamps I need and several stamps I have but have decent enough value so that I can sell them and pay for the stamps I needed in the lot. For instance, within the last hour I won a lot of around 20 stamps from New Zealand circa 1906-1915. It had 3 rather difficult stamps I needed that cataloged for around $80. The rest of the stamps in the lot that I didn't need cataloged for around $160. The lot sold for $25.00. After selling the duplicates for 30% of cat, I will have paid for the whole lot, including the three I needed and make another $25.00 for future purchases. I don't even count stamps that catalog for less than $3.00 as they are not worth the time to sell.
This is the main way that I grow my collection. If this is the reason you are ending up with duplicates, then I'd say you are on the right path.
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11:43:34pm
One way to avoid duplicates is to officially declare that they are not duplicates.
Thus; An apparent duplicate stamp featuring, say Winston Spencer Churchill, can be placed in a topical collection relating to WSC and his wife, of his achievements during WW II, even WW I - Galipoli, or stamps that relate to Turkey in the Turkish pages of the album, or semi-amatuer painters, even brick layers, Prime Ministers, the leaders of the world during WW II especiaqlly the lesser known, the Boer War, prison camps, or prisoners who escaped, camps. There are many other categories.
Obviously a book could be filled with US or Canada stamps alongside a related Churchill stamp.
Another option when somehow a pile of duplicates is suddenly in hand such as a bag of Francisco Franco heads, shades and minor varieties. The limits are your own self-imposed limits.
How about Machins ? Besides the 1,000 or so easily discernaple Variations of color, value and visible varieties, there are a world of SOTNs, pairs from mini panes, clear circle date stamp Machins, say the red 4d, or of a particular city, or places mantioned in the essential Sherlock Holms series. Small hand drawn street maps of Baker and its environs, or Picadilly Circus.
Once they are affixed to a new topical page they are no longer duplicate.
El problema está resuelto.
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06:40:20pm
Duplicates are part of the hobby. It seems like they just grow and grow. Of course they are good for trading, and if you get enough, you can put lots up for auction or put out an approval book. How do you accumulate duplicates? Here are some tried and true examples of ways that are guaranteed to add to your duplicate stock. The guarantee is from personal experience.
HOW TO ACQUIRE DUPLICATES
1. Go to an approval book. Find a French stamp you need – good condition, fairly heavy cancel, but overall OK. Price is right, so take it. Three pages later, find same stamp in pristine MNH condition for 10 cents more. One for the duplicate box.
2. Find Gabon stamp you think you need. Check want list – yep, it’s on the list. Get it. Place in album. A month later see same stamp but don’t remember earlier purchase. Again check want list – yep, it’s on the list. Get it. Check off on want list. Start to place in album and see that you forgot the ‘check off on want list’ step a month ago. One more for the duplicate box.
3. Find the 10P Spanish stamp you need in an approval book. Imagine that, a 10P all alone. You’ve needed that 10P a long time. Go to bottom of page, click on item 10 and then confirm. Receive stamps a week later. All are OK except no 10P, but there is a stamp you already have. Seller must have messed up. Go back to book. Find you did get item 10 – you had clicked on the face value, not the item number. Worse than that, the 10P you wanted had been bought by someone else. One more duplicate.
4. A new Italian approval book comes out. You’re flipping back forth – approval book to your want list to your album, picking up several items. Come across a nice semipostal. You would remember if you had that one and you’re in a hurry, so you buy it without checking. Next week, the stamps arrive. You find out your memory is not too good - you did have it. But you win a consolation prize – the new one is a better specimen than the one you have. Still, one more for the duplicate box.
5. Find three nice Portuguese commemoratives in the auction from one of the big Portuguese sets. Place bids and win all three. Check off on want list and place in album. When placing third one, note that it’s identical to a stamp beside its slot. Dig deeper. Realize that some time earlier you’d misread 50C as 60C and put the 50C in the 60C slot and crossed off the 60C on the want list. Yet another duplicate.
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re: How do you acquire duplicates?
You forgot #6:
Return to #1 and begin again!
Been there, done that for over half a century!
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re: How do you acquire duplicates?
Never was a statement more true!
Login to Like
this post
re: How do you acquire duplicates?
A want list is the most important tool for the collector. People should probably not collect any more countries than they have want lists for and most importantly update them immediately after purchasing stamps. If you don't you will surely keep having the same problems. But the good news is that you will keep getting duplicates which you seem to want? I Can't understand, but why do you want duplicates any way? Most of us are trying to get rid of them. Perhaps I was to figure out that your post was just a joke?
(Note: It takes thousands of hours to make up a useable world wide want list. If you don't have time to make up the lists you should probably not collect the world to seriously.
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
03 Feb 2018
11:38:34pm
re: How do you acquire duplicates?
Or, you could ignore want lists all together and
simply open the binder for that particular nation,
to the right page and see if the little bugger
is there or not. The trick to that is;
A.) Be sure to put a small pencil dot in the open space
so three days later you will not run afoul
of the aforementioned memory lapses,
and
B.) Mount new stamps as soon as possible so that the space
is full the next time you see that stamp offered somewhere.
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like this post.
Login to Like.
re: How do you acquire duplicates?
Hi Everyone;
Sometimes when trying to identify US stamps that were issued unwatermarked and with double lined USPS letters, only a tiny bit of a letter will appear. That makes identification difficult.
My solution is, to buy a MNH block of four (assuming medium priced stamps), and watermark them. After I identify, I add small light pencil mark on selvage to identify. Then separate other three stamps and place them in glassine with slip of paper to identify them, and list for sale.
I've also found that older Brazil and Argentina are very hard to identify, so again I seek out blocks of 4 or 6 to make watermarks easier to identify. Then sell the remainder, as I only collect singles.
I also buy lots of off paper world-wide stamps in quantities of 200 - 5,000. I then cherry pick them for my albums and sort the rest for listing, or for fancy cancels, small town cancels, or other interesting items.
Still just sortin'....
TuskenRaider
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re: How do you acquire duplicates?
Charlie said,
"Or, you could ignore want lists all together and
simply open the binder for that particular nation,
to the right page and see if the little bugger
is there or not"
That works fine if you are shopping at home, but not so at a stamp show....unless you are carrying your album(s) with you - which for me would be WAY to difficult.
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
15 Feb 2018
08:19:26am
re: How do you acquire duplicates?
"...That works fine if you are shopping at home, but not so at a stamp show.... ..."
That is a good point that for me is not that big of a problem as I am pretty much confined to home. Fortunately, I have one of the greatest memory of all times. I just do not feel like using it all the time.
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re: How do you acquire duplicates?
I would have to add one more:
6) FINALLY find that elusive stamp you're looking for and it's part of a mislabeled set. You pick up the set for less than the going price of the one stamp you were interested in, but all the other stamps are duplicates.
Lars
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re: How do you acquire duplicates?
"Charlie said,
Quote:
"Or, you could ignore want lists all together and
simply open the binder for that particular nation,
to the right page and see if the little bugger
is there or not"
That works fine if you are shopping at home"
I disagree. Even if you are shopping at home, you have to keep track of orders placed, outstanding, cancelled, and refunded in this scenario. Only if you are making infrequent and VERY modest purchases would that be wise.
Lars
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this post
Approvals
re: How do you acquire duplicates?
"I disagree. Even if you are shopping at home, you have to keep track of orders placed, outstanding, cancelled, and refunded in this scenario. "
Even with my NJ postmark collection, I have purchased duplicate covers because I lost track of things I recently purchased that were still to be received.
Thus, the first column on my spread sheet is blank. I use that to track anticipated covers, marking that line as "Coming". Then I can check my eBay purchases against that column so I don't duplicate anything. And it helps me know if a vendor has not delivered.
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
16 Feb 2018
09:15:42am
re: How do you acquire duplicates?
A piece of cake, Lars, if you limit purchases mostly to the fine program created by the resident wizard here and one or two other excellent sites.
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Approvals
re: How do you acquire duplicates?
"A piece of cake, Lars, if you limit purchases mostly to the fine program created by the resident wizard here and one or two other excellent sites."
I wind up with duplicates on the auctions here! Seller will repeat the same stamps a few pages later, when you've got that list of 50 stamps and your head is spinning, it's easy to buy dupes.
I also wind up with stamps I didn't need. Either I hit the wrong button, or the seller sent me the wrong stamp. At a nickel to a dime a stamp, I'm not going to go complaining to the seller.
Login to Like
this post
re: How do you acquire duplicates?
"That works fine if you are shopping at home, but not so at a stamp show....unless you are carrying your album(s) with you - which for me would be WAY to difficult."
My WW collection is 1840-1965 in ten Scott International binders. For stamp shows now I just grab one and focus on that at the show. I never get more than a couple hours anyway, so it works.
For the out of town adventures, I'll take pictures of each page and then take my tablet with me. Almost like having the album there.
And even with that, I've still picked up duplicates...
-Steve
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re: How do you acquire duplicates?
I am a world collector thru 1968, with specialty in colonial Africa. Duplicates are a necessary hazard of effectively buying international collections. Country collections fill in many spaces at the best available prices. I know because they are becoming more difficult to find as I advance my collection. Lately it has been purchases at 20-35% of catalog. My method of control is marking Scott catalogs, based in the Classic and backed by full set, stamp by stamp (also a Yvert & Tellier, and COB for Africa). This allows me to focus on the specific areas for the catalog I bring to a show. Creative markings for each stamp allow me to ID damaged, off-center or straight edges.
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Approvals
re: How do you acquire duplicates?
"For the out of town adventures, I'll take pictures of each page and then take my tablet with me. Almost like having the album there."
For my model car collection, in collecting older and long out of production cars, we buy old built models and restore them. Like with stamps, we purchase at a faster rate than we can work.
I have an album of these on my on-line photo account. 2-3 quick shots of each car tells me what I have and the condition. So when I'm at a show and there's a nice 1965 Barracuda model (which hasn't been issued since 1965), I can quickly reference my album to see if I have one and if I do, if it's in better condition than the one I'm contemplating buying. Note that these can be $50-200 purchases, so we try not to buy duplicates!
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re: How do you acquire duplicates?
I buy duplicate stamps all the time but not by mistake. As I have want lists for the world and have my collection scanned and online. I can see what I have or need wherever I am. I almost always buy lots of stamps that have some stamps I need and several stamps I have but have decent enough value so that I can sell them and pay for the stamps I needed in the lot. For instance, within the last hour I won a lot of around 20 stamps from New Zealand circa 1906-1915. It had 3 rather difficult stamps I needed that cataloged for around $80. The rest of the stamps in the lot that I didn't need cataloged for around $160. The lot sold for $25.00. After selling the duplicates for 30% of cat, I will have paid for the whole lot, including the three I needed and make another $25.00 for future purchases. I don't even count stamps that catalog for less than $3.00 as they are not worth the time to sell.
This is the main way that I grow my collection. If this is the reason you are ending up with duplicates, then I'd say you are on the right path.
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
19 Feb 2018
11:43:34pm
re: How do you acquire duplicates?
One way to avoid duplicates is to officially declare that they are not duplicates.
Thus; An apparent duplicate stamp featuring, say Winston Spencer Churchill, can be placed in a topical collection relating to WSC and his wife, of his achievements during WW II, even WW I - Galipoli, or stamps that relate to Turkey in the Turkish pages of the album, or semi-amatuer painters, even brick layers, Prime Ministers, the leaders of the world during WW II especiaqlly the lesser known, the Boer War, prison camps, or prisoners who escaped, camps. There are many other categories.
Obviously a book could be filled with US or Canada stamps alongside a related Churchill stamp.
Another option when somehow a pile of duplicates is suddenly in hand such as a bag of Francisco Franco heads, shades and minor varieties. The limits are your own self-imposed limits.
How about Machins ? Besides the 1,000 or so easily discernaple Variations of color, value and visible varieties, there are a world of SOTNs, pairs from mini panes, clear circle date stamp Machins, say the red 4d, or of a particular city, or places mantioned in the essential Sherlock Holms series. Small hand drawn street maps of Baker and its environs, or Picadilly Circus.
Once they are affixed to a new topical page they are no longer duplicate.
El problema está resuelto.
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