Scott #292, the $1 value Western Cattle in Storm issue of the Trans Mississippi commemoratives, was my absolute favorite stamp as a child and I never thought in a million years that I’d ever own one. After I retired and returned to collecting two years ago, the first stamp that I bought was a mint copy of #292, thus making a childhood dream come true.
For me the stamps I thought I'd never possess were the Netherlands #1-3, the first set from 1852. Now i have them in fine copies with good margins. Couldn't imagine that when I first saw these in the collection of a friend of my grandfather when I was a child.
I remember when the German "large Kaiser yachts" were like an impossible dream for me. But all of a sudden they broke loose on the market. Like one dealer said..."sooner or later it all comes around."
This is why we love this hobby so much.
For me, the dream stamp was the 1933 £1 Centenary from the Falkland Islands. I never thought I would ever see oe, let alone own one. Fate decided that I would finally get one in a Falklands collection I bought. Anything else in this hobby from this point forward is a bonus
For me, they are still just that - a dream;
--US #1
--US #2
--GB #1
I know - all it takes is money....(and the willingness to part with it! )
For me, the holy grail of collecting as a young teenager was a USA Kansas 8 cent overprint Scott #666. One of the partners in Scarborough Drugs, a pharmacy in downtown Dothan, AL, which had a hobby area as part of the store had a somewhat damaged copy on display among his wares that I lusted over as a young collector at age 14 and I have always had a particular attraction to that issue. I remember it as having a catalog value of $24 at the time and being offered at $8 which was far out of reach for me when I first saw it with annual income of around $40 at the time from grandparent gifts and a 50 cent a week allowance. I still remember the day I noted that it had disappeared from his display.
I recently acquired a third mint copy for my collections from an eBay auction by a local stamp store which triggered this memory when I saw it offered.
Randy
I had a US#1 for a while. Nice enough copy with beautiful light green cancel. kept it for a couple of years, after which i sold it for almost exactly what I paid for it, including the add'l certificate I added.
David
I never thought I would own a Penny Black but strange things happen. A couple of years ago I won a Penny Black on HipStamps monthly giveaway.
"I know - all it takes is money..."
"...Scott #292, the $1 value Western Cattle in Storm issue of the Trans Mississippi commemoratives, was my absolute favorite stamp..."
I don't know if he is still on ebay..but someone had thousands of lower value stamps listed for 99 cents each plus postage of course. And people were buying...if one needs a certain stamp the scott catalog has no relevance.
After 60 years of collecting stamps, I finally obtained a modest US #1 this year.
If for nothing else, it motivated me to start organizing and searching for less expensive 19th century US classics that as a kid I thought I'd never be able to have.
"... Scott #292, the $1 value Western Cattle in Storm issue of the Trans Mississippi commemoratives, was my absolute favorite stamp as a child ..."
Ikey pikey. That is very, very awesome. Do you belong to the famed NYC stamp club?
That's crazy. Thats THE club that John Luff belonged to.
"... Do you belong ... Thats THE club that John Luff belonged to ..."
At the Festival of Stamps (London 2010) there was an Exhibition of the Philatelist King, George V at the Guildhall in London. One focal point was a demonstration by Enschede of an Itaglio Printing Press where they reproduced the Great Britain £1 PUC issue of 1929 in Blue, blocks of 4.
We were allowed to hold them while they were still wet but we had to hand them back afterwards. The process was slow so not many were printed. They were not for sale. As cameras were not allowed in the Exhibition there were no photos/pictures either.(One visitor was actually ejected while I was there for smuggling in his mobile phone and seen taking pictures by security!) The most rare stamps from the Royal Collection were on display including the Tyrian Plum on cover and much more besides. It was a day to remember, forever.
Eight months later an announcement was made by the British Postal Museum & Archive that 50 Presentation Packs of the 'Guildhall Printing' of the £1 PUC Reproduction would go on sale by lottery and the Philatelic public had a 3-hour window to phone and leave their details. It should be noted here that Royal Mail had arranged for Enschede to reproduce the £1 PUC stamp in the original colours as a show souvenir in their thousands hence the aforementioned title 'Guildhall printing'.
As hard as I tried, phoning the UK from abroad for 3 hours and hearing the 'engaged' tone was soul-destroying. I emailed the BPMA, as many others did, and for reasons I will never understand, I got lucky. A week later I got news via an email that I had been 'chosen' to receive one of the Packs with the 'Blue Block'. I never did take a selfie of my jaw on the lounge floor !!
It's not an item that everyone wants but for a Cinderella Collector of British Philatelic Exhibition material, it is the Holy Grail. As far as I know, only one of those 50 packs has been re-offered and went for over £500.
When I left the exhibition at the Guildhall on that May Day in 2010 I never thought I would see one of those Blocks again. So this is truly a "Philatelic item I thought I would never possess".
The biggest thrill for me was buying my first US Scott 300b booklet pane in the early days of eBay. I’ve collected the Ben Franklin one cent stamp of 1902 since I was 14. See my avatar. As a teen this was the one item glaringly missing from my collection and I had never seen one in person.
EBay was new and I hadn’t bought stamps in years but there it was! I sniped it manually and there were two other bidders in those last seconds! I was thrilled and that was the spark that got me back to my Franklin collection!
I went to ChicagoPex last November and was purchasing some stamps from a dealer in the smaller ballroom bourse. He mentioned that that room's dealers were sponsoring a drawing and I should put my name in the box. Never gave it another thought and was shocked a couple weeks later when I had an email informing me that I had won a Penny Black! (It is an R C and already on SOR penny black page). Made a fun trip to Chicago even better.
It took me so long to finish the page of Canadian Victoria Jubilee stamps that I thought I would never get there. The last one I was missing was the $3.00 and it took a long time to find at a price I could afford. Also thanks to Greg I found a whole bunch of early US stuff I thought I'd never find. For example, finishing the page for the 1869 series from #112 to 122. Thanks Greg! I also only need a few stamps to finish my Minkus album BOB for Poland - not expensive, but very hard to find. Sooner or later....
Edit: I'd love to find US #1 and #2 and copies of Russia #1 and Poland #1 that are "for real", not the fakes that are everywhere! Also, for you guys looking or one, Greg has a really nice Penny Black for auction!
For years I thought that US C18, the Baby Zepp, would ever remain the highlight of my collection. Then, I turned out to be the only bidder on this beauty, and picked it up for the very low opening bid. I fear, though, he is fated to live out his years without his 2 siblings.
A probably stupid question: How much would it cost to get a set of those Zeps?
A friend of mine sold a mint never hinged set for $1400.....i have seen used sets for half of that. If i collected United States i would want a set. There is no shortage of them around...but most U.S. collections lack them.
My purchase came to $930 for a VF+ Zeppelin C13-C15 set with light hinge marks on the backs via Hipstamp so reasonable cost offerings exist from time to time. That price was about $250 less than I normally see them offered which is partially why I finally succumbed to the purchase.
The C13 that youpiao purchased is a VERY nicely centered and fresh looking copy!
I know this is not totally on topic, but there are a few stamps I would really like to add to my US collection and eventually it will happen. I have the middle zeppelin stamp and wold eventually like the other two and I would also like to add nice copies of US #1 and 2! I'm sure it will happen eventually, but I won't be satisfied until then. I do have some wonderful US stuff including the complete set of #112 to 122, thanks to SOR, but no US collection is a "good collection" unless the Zeppelins and #1 and #2 are there! My opinion...
I guess we all would like certain stamps, me I'd like to add the higher value GB early stamps and the 1929 one pound black. Can I afford them, yes there is sufficient in the savings but I will not buy them as I cannot justify the expense to have them to just sit in an album which will, upon my death, realise a pittance and nothing like it's true worth.
Meanwhile I'll get pleasure from sorting my common stuff and finding a few odd varieties here and there. Today I printed off pages for Poland 1961-1970, so will now go through the confetti to see how many spaces I can fill.
Ps, sun is shining and temperature has got up to plus 5 and snow is melting (but more in forecast)roll on spring.
You're right, we all would like to have certain things. A fair price is also good and I picked up a really nice Penny Black a couple years ago with a really nice red
Maltese cross postmark. I don't collect GB but I thought a good Penny Black was crucial to any collection. I also (supposedly) have a US #544, but I should re-measure someday when I'm ready to be disappointed! Sometimes it's better not to know for sure and just hope!!
When I decided to look into a set of zeps I realized that in the same price range if mint or used singles, I could buy flown covers if bought right. It may have taken me 2 years if searching , picking nice covers and low bids to acquire the set of three covers. All told I believe I spent $800.
This one is for sheepshanks....not the real thing but very well done in my opinion.
Issued by Royal Mail in 2010 as an official reproduction, have only seen them in presentation packs....apart from this block of four I have.
( Royal Mail did the same in 2000 for the penny black....a block of four....I have that one somewhere....if anyone might be interested to see it I will attempt to dig it out! )
Best wishes,
Brian.
Chris,
Do you use the Scott National album with black mounts? That's what I use for my "main" US collection. I would love to see a couple scans from your album i.e. Trans-Mississippi, Columbians etc.
That 544 is definitely a great addition.
At this point I would likely give three answers:
1. What I DID acquire that I didn't expect that I ever would: US C13-15 Zeppelins
2. What I still HOPE to acquire some day: US 356 10c Washington coil
3. What I realize will NEVER happen: US 314A - it's the only stamp that leaves a hole in my collection. I could use Schermack coils as reasonable approximations of 316-318, but there is no other option for the 4c 2nd Bureau imperforate (which was itself a Schermack coil). Based on my collecting philosophy, nothing else comes close to leaving such a hole. If I won the lottery, it would be the ONLY stamp with a CV over $5K that I would buy. Since I only buy one lottery ticket per year (for my wife for Christmas), that's pretty much not happening.
Well, I wish you a Merry Xmas anyway.
I am going to approach this from another angle...
For over the past ten years, I have worked for a stamp dealer and an auction house. In my line of work, you don't collect normal things. I don't collect Canada because I look at it all day. I therefore collect USA (I once lived there), Costa Rica, Netherlands Indies/Indonesia, West Berlin, and a handful of topicals and special projects.
I have personally held in my hands:
- a mint Canada 1, 2 and 3, all at the same time!
- a block of four of the Canada St. Lawrence Seaway Invert (hammered that at $56,000 Cdn)
- a mint OG USA 1 and 2
... the list goes on. So what makes my eyes lighten-up? These which I have handled or own:
- a perfin or precancel on a USA C1-C6. I love that set. I have a bunch in my US Airmail collection.
- a USA 10c Moon Landing FDC signed by the three Apollo 11 crew members (The signatures were added years later. Still impressive. (handled)
- a 1979 FDC signed by Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau (contemporaneous). He rarely signed things for people. (Handled)
As the song says "The streams of the mountains please me more than the sea"
David
Chris,
Awesome! Love em. Theres a 292 on stamps2go right now for $299 that looks very, very nice. It's almost VF centering with a light out-of-the-way cancel. I'll be honest, I came close to pulling the trigger on it today but I just cant justify it right now. 292 and 244 are two of my favorite stamps.
I too use the Scott National album with black mounts. I thinks it's the most "classic" way to do a US stamp collection. Believe it or not, I dont have a scanner. I'll pick one up this weekend and I'll show these exact pages from my album. Thanks for sharing!
Very nice Colombians! I have been chasing these myself. Mine are mint up to $1 value, I have a used $2 and need the higher values. I’ve considered proofs since they are the same engraving, but can be had for less than the stamps.
@Anglophile,
As promised, I got up this morning and bought a scanner from Best Buy. Because of all the precautions, the only way to do it is to purchase online and then queue up in front of the store to pick up your merchandise. Since I was there, I really wanted to go in and see if I could find a good deal on an "open box" sound bar for our TV. We had a nice one sometime ago. They're pretty nice but I guess that's another story.
Yeah, I love my Scott Nationals but I have toyed with the idea of going with the White Ace pages like Larsdog. That's a neat way to go too. I bought this album probably 25 years ago and have gotten sidetracked with other interests and responsibilities off and on. I've got a fairly decent U.S. type set of coins.
I love looking at these Columbians. I think I have put together a fairly balanced, matching set so far. What a national treasure these stamps are!
I really want to get dead serious (not Corona serious) about finishing some of these sets up! Maybe that's a belated New Years resolution. I never thought I would own any of the high value Columbians (and I still don't).
My main collecting theory is that each set should match i.e. mint, used, straight edges etc. Would welcome your thoughts on this
I know for a fact that I have a couple of those lower value Trans-Mississippi stamps in my desk somewhere. I haven't worked with this album in a while.
I would love some of my collecting bretheren to challenge me to get serious about filling up parts of this album!
-Ernie
https://stamporama.com/discboard/disc_main.php?action=20&id=24977#176770
I responded to the above with my collection of Columbians and other shown issues... I didn't want to monopolize this thread with all my pages, so I started a new thread at the link above!
Kansas City Roulettes recently received. Only blemish is someone wrote a price on the form. Fortunately not what I paid. The price was right so will put up with the small blemish.
Mel,
Pretty cool. Please forgive my lack of knowledge but what is the attestation that goes with them? I have never seen anything like that.
I could probably quote the linked article from the American Stamp Dealers, but it is much easier just to guide you to that article. They explain it much better than I could.
https://www.americanstampdealer.com/SubMenu/Kansas_City_Roulettes.aspx?id=223
By the way, both my blocks have the authentication on the back.
Great item. I knew what Rouletters are but I never read the full back story. Enjoy Mel. Neat piece of U.S. philatelic history.
Well, it came today. I knew too much time surfing hobby sites would take a toll. I pulled the trigger on one of the most iconic stamps in all of philately. From the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, U.S. Scott #292 Western Cattle in the Storm.
This stamp, along with Scott #1 and the inverted Jenny, is probably on most stamp dealer's marketing material.
My criteria for this stamp were fairly simple: I wanted the steer in the foreground to be free of cancelation and I wanted the stamp to be at least "ok centered". "Ok centered" is a philatelic term that I created. It's hard to articulate but you know it when you see it. (It's probably F-VF).
There are two small shallow thins on the back; I can live with that. I am psyched to mount this in my album!
I would really appreciate it if someone gave me an accurate, up-to-date Scott Cat. value.
Your turn Anglophile!
Very cool Ernie! As you said, an iconic stamp!
Thanks Tom. I appreciate the comment. It felt GOOD opening up that packaging!
Hey man, hope you and your family are doing well. Crossing fingers we can all move on safely from the health situation soon.
Absolutely Ernie! We are fine and staying at home. We walk around our block every day which takes about 20 minutes just to get out! I did sort out and make the pages for my USA commemoratives from 1893 to 1929. The rest of my US albums are complete through 1977.
I am also building a model truck to keep busy and feeling positive. I had an online order of glue and putty show up today so I can keep on doing this until we get back to normal. Like all the stamp events, we postponed my big model car show until September. Stay safe!
My walk around the block is a good hike. We walk up this hill! I post a photo from our walk on Facebook every day for our friends and family I call “The Normalcy Photo of the Day” which gets a lot of response.
Ernie,
I can't say what a 2020 US Specialized would list it at, as I can't afford to purchase THE LATEST Scott as it is released, BUT -
I CAN tell you that my 2018 US Specialized lists your #292 at a whopping $700 used!
Great looking copy!!
Randy, thank you! Greatly appreciated.
Chris, Haha. awesome brother. Cant wait to see them. You and I were thinking the same thing.
Biting the big bullet..............
@uboatnut...
US Scott #131 - Almost perfect centering 30 cent Eagle. This is a borrowed pic but my perfs are in better shape. It set me back quite a few Washingtons but well worth it. The prize of my Eagle image collection.
I never thought I would get so deep into Machins.
Wow what a thread! In response to "I would love some of my collecting bretheren to challenge me to get serious about filling up parts of this album!" would this be acceptable on this page-webmaster please remove if not appropriate.
I am a longtime U.S.Specialist collector and have posted dups on Stamps2Go under the Seller ID DANI20. For our group in SOR, I am open to swaps of stuff rather than requiring $ only. If that avenue is of any interest, get back to me and we'll explore together to see if we can work anything out.
Best,
Dan C.
"Wow what a thread! In response to "I would love some of my collecting bretheren to challenge me to get serious about filling up parts of this album!" would this be acceptable on this page-webmaster please remove if not appropriate."
Chris,
Great looking stamps! One more to go. That really is a great looking set.
Something I never expected:
Great Britain Scott #96 MNH
Ernie,
Nothing in your post was incorrect or inappropriate. I wondered if my proposal however, might be. I thought, perhaps wrongly, that a number of the items mentioned as wanted and missing could be made available. Since money appeared to be the deterrent, and since I'm not focused on that but on finding stuff we might be able to swap for, that for our members it might be worthwhile to make the offer. I am more than willing to have the offer removed if offensive or inappropriate.
With apologies in advance if I have been unclear and/or transgressed,
Best,
Dan C.
Dan,
Gotcha! Thanks friend.
And another special item from Great Britain, the Mulready letter sheet issue:
Cuba, 1951 Capablanca Chess Master commemorative set of his 1921 world championship win. (the illustration is not the set I own.) Several years ago I visited Philadelphia and stopped at a brick&mortar Stamp Store. Was very happy to see so many pre-1962 sets, and the Capablanca 1951 set was beautifully crafted. I purchased it and I am very proud to own a piece of philatelic history.
I continue to make slow but steady progress on some of the toughest pages i have been tackling for years. Here is my Cilicia pg 1 (a few years back, and today). But I have failed to locate the illusive Scott # 9A. While expensive (in the $100 range) I have NEVER seen it on sale anywhere. Often I see the more common #13 (10p) mis-identified as 9A, but why have I never seen the 9A (5p) stamp ever? Occasionally the #12 is also misidentified.
Anyone has a clue?
rrr...
Interesting question rrr!
The stamps is SG 14 / Scott #9A / Mi A7 so has clearly been added at some point to the Scott and Michel listings after the other items in the set.
Michel gives numbers issued for almost all of the other Cilicia stamps but not this stamp.
I suspect only a few sheets were overprinted.
Prices don't correlate all that well with numbers issued but here are some examples:
Your target stamp is Mi A7 (1998 prices mint and used in marks: 230, 90)
Mi 15 (prices: 30, 30) - 5,132 issued
Mi 43 (prices: 50, 25) - 5,000 issued
Mi 78 (prices: 400, 210) - 4,000 issued
Mi 79 (prices: 3500, 700) - 300 issued
Most of the other items with high prices also have inserted catalogue numbers and no quoted numbers issued.
Some counterexamples with low numbers issued and relatively low prices:
Mi 17 (prices: 10, 5) - 1,700 issued
Mi 18 (prices: 3.50, 3) - 2,000 issued
Mi 37 (prices: 5, 4) - 2,000 issued
Thanks Nigel I was wondering about it some more. There is an other missing stamp in my collection with the same elusive 5pa green color but with a lower case Cilicia and TEO on it : Scott # #76A.
Again fairly expensive, and again one I have never seen on Auction or anywhere. Wonder if both may have been op by mistake on the 5pa sheets (which looks identical to the 10pa except for the denomination). The Turkish 5pa and 10pa stamps are quite common. Or could it have originated from counterfeits attempts? (plenty of them around)
Thanks for the data on number issued. I had no idea they were so rare.
rrr....
For many years, I was just missing one stamp from my Netherlands collection, the 10 guilder value from the fur collar issue of 1898. It is one of those stamps that is expensive, but not particularly rare (like the US zepplin issue). I was reasonably content to leave this hole in my collection, but a couple of years ago one was available at a local auction so I finally pulled the trigger.
Now I only have minor varieties to go.
Jan
It would be wonderful to finish a country, but in most cases that is not possible (talking Scott's catalog, which I use and prefer). For my major countries (US, Canada, Russia and Poland) it is not possible. I collect a few other countries to 1955 (Cuba, Philippines, Canal Zone, North Borneo(just started), Mozambique Company, Nyassa, etc. The last few mainly because of the beauty of the stamps. A friend of mine from many years ago claimed he had a complete Czechoslovakia collection. How many countries that have been issuing for about 100 years have the possibility of being able to collect the entire country? We have to use Scott's without counting all the a's, b's, etc. For example Canada contains #32 at about $200 000, and a few others in a smaller range, but still well above my level. As you know many US stamps are very high, I recently got a #1 for just over $200USD butt some are well above that. What countries could have an affordable complete collection?
Well, the Netherlands is possible to complete (as far as the major numbers go).
It only took me just a bit over half a century to do.
Jan
DDR
I just checked out the Netherlands and if you stuck to main numbers ignoring the varieties it is possible. Not easy, but possible and the last one you got lists at $625 in my 2010 Scott's and $675 in 2015, expensive, but doable! I assume that it is #86 and congratulations in doing something that most of us will never be able to do - finish a major country!!
Well guess this week I got lucky,well not exactly as it turned out.
Won a lot on Ebay for US$280, a reasonable MLH 1929 GB £1 puc. Got the invoice and made payment, then get email from seller saying he will not send to Box number, not that it is stated in his terms. So email back saying that Canada post do not deliver to homes where I live. He then says please give me address to send to, so I email back with my daughters address in UK.
I then get an email to say money has been refunded. Ebay then ask me to agree to cancel sale, I say no, seller reneged on sale as nothing in his terms.
Seller then messages me to complain they have hit him with a $27 fee. I message back to say if he still wishes to sell to me I will refund his fee as well. All these messages on same day.
So I hear no more, as yet, but guess I just lost out on a really nice stamp, here is the stamp.
.
Sheepshanks:-
I assume the seller was from the UK.
It is Royal Mail Policy that they will not accept mail to a Box No if the sender asks for "Tracked and Signed" commonly called "Registered Mail"
To quote Sir Micheal Caine " Not many people know that".
Hi Ian, no the seller was in Helsinki, Finland. I just feel cheated.
Are you sure you have to use your box number as your address. I assume all Canada has the same rules, I live in Nova Scotia and even though I have a super mail box I have always used my house number and street as my address. The mail sorter has all the addresses written on the part of the box he sees when he opens the whole area. I have gone through several sorters and no one has ever told me to use a box number - and yes I do have one.
Harvey, my nearest town, Neepawa, population around 4-5000 is about 8 miles away. Nobody in town, Mayor, council, businesses gets mail delivered. We all have to have a post box within the post office. Which personally makes it safer than having a delivery person possibly nicking or throwing items away. I have to provide identification if I have to sign for anything.
My physical address is SW5-15-16W, R/M Rosedale. Last year the RM gave us a road number outside the house but this is for emergency service use.
UPS/DHL etc do not deliver to rural homes and have drop off points in town.
What irritates most is that having said that if I cannot provide an address he will have to refund sale, his words are as follows:- Thanks. you pay so fast. I waiting your address. Im sorry i not send value item any boxes. Tomorrow i must to return your money back if i not get real address. thanks.
I replied within an hour but he had already refunded the money.
His terms still do not state that he will not send to Postal boxes.
I have the same predicament here in Brighton.
Why is it they say it is not safe? It is a mail box in a post office. I'd rather have a mail box in the post office than a mailbox on the road where anyone can take whatever is in it!
At the CANEX (military store ) they won't ship to me as the address is not in Canada Post's registry of valid addresses. OK, then ship it to the store & I'll pick it up. But my physical address is not valid, so they won't ship to the store! The bank won't send rewards to a mail box in a post office, even though they use Canada Post to mail the $&*! rewards!
I've complained to no avail.
" I assume all Canada has the same rules"
It is the same here in the US. Insurance, car registration, +driving licenses are done at state level.
"It appears to me that ultimately each province will go back to being it's own country"
Just won this at auction, bit heavy on the postmark but I thought reasonable for £134, hopefully it will not go missing in the mail.
It is sort of relevant, my wife and I were invited to one of her co-workers homes for a dinner together.
I brought the bottle of wine, and met this woman's husband.
Somehow my wife had told his wife that I collected stamps.
So to tell the truth this was around 1975, and I had not looked at any stamps for years, but I still had my used collection in a Senior Statesman album on the shelf in our apartment.
This young man was in the business of selling hardware from China to hardware stores, and he was a HAM radio operator.
He started his question sort of like this.
"I hear you are a stamp collector, would you care to see my collection?"
I thought woohoo big woop, but the steaks were on the grill, and I thought what they heck, go and see what he has got.
We went into the room he called his HAM SHACK, it was filled with all kinds of receivers, I looked around for a bookshelf that might hold his collection, but no, he moves a picture, and there is a wall safe, He dials in the combo, and pulls out this small 5 X 7 like a photo album.
Opens the album up and BOOM a C3a is on the first page, then a Penny Black on the next page.
My mind was a blur. I was truly speechless.
He had others, but my mind could not focus on anything except those first 2 stamps he showed me.
Like Anglophile, I too have longed to complete my 1893 Columbian Expo series that I began as a youth. Fast forward many decades, and I finally filled in the last missing stamp - #242. The lesser values are MNH; the higher values are all unused, and either previously hinged, ungummed, or have DOG. The #243 is also certified but needs a new label. The Scott page is just too tightly spaced for my liking; think I'll split it into two home-made pages instead. That's a common problem with the Scott National Album pages.
Beautiful Columbians! Mine are. Complete up to $2. I still need the three higher values. I once bid on a used $5 value that was lightly cancelled, not even on the main portrait. It sold for more than some mint ones I’ve seen!
There is a page in my Switzerland album with the 1945 War Victims and 100th anniversary of the Basel stamp sheetlets b143 and b144. Well wonder of wonders one of our own sellers here on Stamporama made them very affordable to me. My hobby continues to amaze me even after 71 years.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Scott #292, the $1 value Western Cattle in Storm issue of the Trans Mississippi commemoratives, was my absolute favorite stamp as a child and I never thought in a million years that I’d ever own one. After I retired and returned to collecting two years ago, the first stamp that I bought was a mint copy of #292, thus making a childhood dream come true.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
For me the stamps I thought I'd never possess were the Netherlands #1-3, the first set from 1852. Now i have them in fine copies with good margins. Couldn't imagine that when I first saw these in the collection of a friend of my grandfather when I was a child.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
I remember when the German "large Kaiser yachts" were like an impossible dream for me. But all of a sudden they broke loose on the market. Like one dealer said..."sooner or later it all comes around."
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
This is why we love this hobby so much.
For me, the dream stamp was the 1933 £1 Centenary from the Falkland Islands. I never thought I would ever see oe, let alone own one. Fate decided that I would finally get one in a Falklands collection I bought. Anything else in this hobby from this point forward is a bonus
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
For me, they are still just that - a dream;
--US #1
--US #2
--GB #1
I know - all it takes is money....(and the willingness to part with it! )
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
For me, the holy grail of collecting as a young teenager was a USA Kansas 8 cent overprint Scott #666. One of the partners in Scarborough Drugs, a pharmacy in downtown Dothan, AL, which had a hobby area as part of the store had a somewhat damaged copy on display among his wares that I lusted over as a young collector at age 14 and I have always had a particular attraction to that issue. I remember it as having a catalog value of $24 at the time and being offered at $8 which was far out of reach for me when I first saw it with annual income of around $40 at the time from grandparent gifts and a 50 cent a week allowance. I still remember the day I noted that it had disappeared from his display.
I recently acquired a third mint copy for my collections from an eBay auction by a local stamp store which triggered this memory when I saw it offered.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Randy
I had a US#1 for a while. Nice enough copy with beautiful light green cancel. kept it for a couple of years, after which i sold it for almost exactly what I paid for it, including the add'l certificate I added.
David
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
I never thought I would own a Penny Black but strange things happen. A couple of years ago I won a Penny Black on HipStamps monthly giveaway.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
"I know - all it takes is money..."
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
"...Scott #292, the $1 value Western Cattle in Storm issue of the Trans Mississippi commemoratives, was my absolute favorite stamp..."
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
I don't know if he is still on ebay..but someone had thousands of lower value stamps listed for 99 cents each plus postage of course. And people were buying...if one needs a certain stamp the scott catalog has no relevance.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
After 60 years of collecting stamps, I finally obtained a modest US #1 this year.
If for nothing else, it motivated me to start organizing and searching for less expensive 19th century US classics that as a kid I thought I'd never be able to have.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
"... Scott #292, the $1 value Western Cattle in Storm issue of the Trans Mississippi commemoratives, was my absolute favorite stamp as a child ..."
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Ikey pikey. That is very, very awesome. Do you belong to the famed NYC stamp club?
That's crazy. Thats THE club that John Luff belonged to.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
"... Do you belong ... Thats THE club that John Luff belonged to ..."
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
At the Festival of Stamps (London 2010) there was an Exhibition of the Philatelist King, George V at the Guildhall in London. One focal point was a demonstration by Enschede of an Itaglio Printing Press where they reproduced the Great Britain £1 PUC issue of 1929 in Blue, blocks of 4.
We were allowed to hold them while they were still wet but we had to hand them back afterwards. The process was slow so not many were printed. They were not for sale. As cameras were not allowed in the Exhibition there were no photos/pictures either.(One visitor was actually ejected while I was there for smuggling in his mobile phone and seen taking pictures by security!) The most rare stamps from the Royal Collection were on display including the Tyrian Plum on cover and much more besides. It was a day to remember, forever.
Eight months later an announcement was made by the British Postal Museum & Archive that 50 Presentation Packs of the 'Guildhall Printing' of the £1 PUC Reproduction would go on sale by lottery and the Philatelic public had a 3-hour window to phone and leave their details. It should be noted here that Royal Mail had arranged for Enschede to reproduce the £1 PUC stamp in the original colours as a show souvenir in their thousands hence the aforementioned title 'Guildhall printing'.
As hard as I tried, phoning the UK from abroad for 3 hours and hearing the 'engaged' tone was soul-destroying. I emailed the BPMA, as many others did, and for reasons I will never understand, I got lucky. A week later I got news via an email that I had been 'chosen' to receive one of the Packs with the 'Blue Block'. I never did take a selfie of my jaw on the lounge floor !!
It's not an item that everyone wants but for a Cinderella Collector of British Philatelic Exhibition material, it is the Holy Grail. As far as I know, only one of those 50 packs has been re-offered and went for over £500.
When I left the exhibition at the Guildhall on that May Day in 2010 I never thought I would see one of those Blocks again. So this is truly a "Philatelic item I thought I would never possess".
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The biggest thrill for me was buying my first US Scott 300b booklet pane in the early days of eBay. I’ve collected the Ben Franklin one cent stamp of 1902 since I was 14. See my avatar. As a teen this was the one item glaringly missing from my collection and I had never seen one in person.
EBay was new and I hadn’t bought stamps in years but there it was! I sniped it manually and there were two other bidders in those last seconds! I was thrilled and that was the spark that got me back to my Franklin collection!
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
I went to ChicagoPex last November and was purchasing some stamps from a dealer in the smaller ballroom bourse. He mentioned that that room's dealers were sponsoring a drawing and I should put my name in the box. Never gave it another thought and was shocked a couple weeks later when I had an email informing me that I had won a Penny Black! (It is an R C and already on SOR penny black page). Made a fun trip to Chicago even better.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
It took me so long to finish the page of Canadian Victoria Jubilee stamps that I thought I would never get there. The last one I was missing was the $3.00 and it took a long time to find at a price I could afford. Also thanks to Greg I found a whole bunch of early US stuff I thought I'd never find. For example, finishing the page for the 1869 series from #112 to 122. Thanks Greg! I also only need a few stamps to finish my Minkus album BOB for Poland - not expensive, but very hard to find. Sooner or later....
Edit: I'd love to find US #1 and #2 and copies of Russia #1 and Poland #1 that are "for real", not the fakes that are everywhere! Also, for you guys looking or one, Greg has a really nice Penny Black for auction!
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
For years I thought that US C18, the Baby Zepp, would ever remain the highlight of my collection. Then, I turned out to be the only bidder on this beauty, and picked it up for the very low opening bid. I fear, though, he is fated to live out his years without his 2 siblings.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
A probably stupid question: How much would it cost to get a set of those Zeps?
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
A friend of mine sold a mint never hinged set for $1400.....i have seen used sets for half of that. If i collected United States i would want a set. There is no shortage of them around...but most U.S. collections lack them.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
My purchase came to $930 for a VF+ Zeppelin C13-C15 set with light hinge marks on the backs via Hipstamp so reasonable cost offerings exist from time to time. That price was about $250 less than I normally see them offered which is partially why I finally succumbed to the purchase.
The C13 that youpiao purchased is a VERY nicely centered and fresh looking copy!
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
I know this is not totally on topic, but there are a few stamps I would really like to add to my US collection and eventually it will happen. I have the middle zeppelin stamp and wold eventually like the other two and I would also like to add nice copies of US #1 and 2! I'm sure it will happen eventually, but I won't be satisfied until then. I do have some wonderful US stuff including the complete set of #112 to 122, thanks to SOR, but no US collection is a "good collection" unless the Zeppelins and #1 and #2 are there! My opinion...
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
I guess we all would like certain stamps, me I'd like to add the higher value GB early stamps and the 1929 one pound black. Can I afford them, yes there is sufficient in the savings but I will not buy them as I cannot justify the expense to have them to just sit in an album which will, upon my death, realise a pittance and nothing like it's true worth.
Meanwhile I'll get pleasure from sorting my common stuff and finding a few odd varieties here and there. Today I printed off pages for Poland 1961-1970, so will now go through the confetti to see how many spaces I can fill.
Ps, sun is shining and temperature has got up to plus 5 and snow is melting (but more in forecast)roll on spring.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
You're right, we all would like to have certain things. A fair price is also good and I picked up a really nice Penny Black a couple years ago with a really nice red
Maltese cross postmark. I don't collect GB but I thought a good Penny Black was crucial to any collection. I also (supposedly) have a US #544, but I should re-measure someday when I'm ready to be disappointed! Sometimes it's better not to know for sure and just hope!!
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When I decided to look into a set of zeps I realized that in the same price range if mint or used singles, I could buy flown covers if bought right. It may have taken me 2 years if searching , picking nice covers and low bids to acquire the set of three covers. All told I believe I spent $800.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
This one is for sheepshanks....not the real thing but very well done in my opinion.
Issued by Royal Mail in 2010 as an official reproduction, have only seen them in presentation packs....apart from this block of four I have.
( Royal Mail did the same in 2000 for the penny black....a block of four....I have that one somewhere....if anyone might be interested to see it I will attempt to dig it out! )
Best wishes,
Brian.
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Chris,
Do you use the Scott National album with black mounts? That's what I use for my "main" US collection. I would love to see a couple scans from your album i.e. Trans-Mississippi, Columbians etc.
That 544 is definitely a great addition.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
At this point I would likely give three answers:
1. What I DID acquire that I didn't expect that I ever would: US C13-15 Zeppelins
2. What I still HOPE to acquire some day: US 356 10c Washington coil
3. What I realize will NEVER happen: US 314A - it's the only stamp that leaves a hole in my collection. I could use Schermack coils as reasonable approximations of 316-318, but there is no other option for the 4c 2nd Bureau imperforate (which was itself a Schermack coil). Based on my collecting philosophy, nothing else comes close to leaving such a hole. If I won the lottery, it would be the ONLY stamp with a CV over $5K that I would buy. Since I only buy one lottery ticket per year (for my wife for Christmas), that's pretty much not happening.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Well, I wish you a Merry Xmas anyway.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
I am going to approach this from another angle...
For over the past ten years, I have worked for a stamp dealer and an auction house. In my line of work, you don't collect normal things. I don't collect Canada because I look at it all day. I therefore collect USA (I once lived there), Costa Rica, Netherlands Indies/Indonesia, West Berlin, and a handful of topicals and special projects.
I have personally held in my hands:
- a mint Canada 1, 2 and 3, all at the same time!
- a block of four of the Canada St. Lawrence Seaway Invert (hammered that at $56,000 Cdn)
- a mint OG USA 1 and 2
... the list goes on. So what makes my eyes lighten-up? These which I have handled or own:
- a perfin or precancel on a USA C1-C6. I love that set. I have a bunch in my US Airmail collection.
- a USA 10c Moon Landing FDC signed by the three Apollo 11 crew members (The signatures were added years later. Still impressive. (handled)
- a 1979 FDC signed by Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau (contemporaneous). He rarely signed things for people. (Handled)
As the song says "The streams of the mountains please me more than the sea"
David
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Chris,
Awesome! Love em. Theres a 292 on stamps2go right now for $299 that looks very, very nice. It's almost VF centering with a light out-of-the-way cancel. I'll be honest, I came close to pulling the trigger on it today but I just cant justify it right now. 292 and 244 are two of my favorite stamps.
I too use the Scott National album with black mounts. I thinks it's the most "classic" way to do a US stamp collection. Believe it or not, I dont have a scanner. I'll pick one up this weekend and I'll show these exact pages from my album. Thanks for sharing!
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Very nice Colombians! I have been chasing these myself. Mine are mint up to $1 value, I have a used $2 and need the higher values. I’ve considered proofs since they are the same engraving, but can be had for less than the stamps.
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@Anglophile,
As promised, I got up this morning and bought a scanner from Best Buy. Because of all the precautions, the only way to do it is to purchase online and then queue up in front of the store to pick up your merchandise. Since I was there, I really wanted to go in and see if I could find a good deal on an "open box" sound bar for our TV. We had a nice one sometime ago. They're pretty nice but I guess that's another story.
Yeah, I love my Scott Nationals but I have toyed with the idea of going with the White Ace pages like Larsdog. That's a neat way to go too. I bought this album probably 25 years ago and have gotten sidetracked with other interests and responsibilities off and on. I've got a fairly decent U.S. type set of coins.
I love looking at these Columbians. I think I have put together a fairly balanced, matching set so far. What a national treasure these stamps are!
I really want to get dead serious (not Corona serious) about finishing some of these sets up! Maybe that's a belated New Years resolution. I never thought I would own any of the high value Columbians (and I still don't).
My main collecting theory is that each set should match i.e. mint, used, straight edges etc. Would welcome your thoughts on this
I know for a fact that I have a couple of those lower value Trans-Mississippi stamps in my desk somewhere. I haven't worked with this album in a while.
I would love some of my collecting bretheren to challenge me to get serious about filling up parts of this album!
-Ernie
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
https://stamporama.com/discboard/disc_main.php?action=20&id=24977#176770
I responded to the above with my collection of Columbians and other shown issues... I didn't want to monopolize this thread with all my pages, so I started a new thread at the link above!
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Kansas City Roulettes recently received. Only blemish is someone wrote a price on the form. Fortunately not what I paid. The price was right so will put up with the small blemish.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Mel,
Pretty cool. Please forgive my lack of knowledge but what is the attestation that goes with them? I have never seen anything like that.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
I could probably quote the linked article from the American Stamp Dealers, but it is much easier just to guide you to that article. They explain it much better than I could.
https://www.americanstampdealer.com/SubMenu/Kansas_City_Roulettes.aspx?id=223
By the way, both my blocks have the authentication on the back.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Great item. I knew what Rouletters are but I never read the full back story. Enjoy Mel. Neat piece of U.S. philatelic history.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Well, it came today. I knew too much time surfing hobby sites would take a toll. I pulled the trigger on one of the most iconic stamps in all of philately. From the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, U.S. Scott #292 Western Cattle in the Storm.
This stamp, along with Scott #1 and the inverted Jenny, is probably on most stamp dealer's marketing material.
My criteria for this stamp were fairly simple: I wanted the steer in the foreground to be free of cancelation and I wanted the stamp to be at least "ok centered". "Ok centered" is a philatelic term that I created. It's hard to articulate but you know it when you see it. (It's probably F-VF).
There are two small shallow thins on the back; I can live with that. I am psyched to mount this in my album!
I would really appreciate it if someone gave me an accurate, up-to-date Scott Cat. value.
Your turn Anglophile!
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Very cool Ernie! As you said, an iconic stamp!
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Thanks Tom. I appreciate the comment. It felt GOOD opening up that packaging!
Hey man, hope you and your family are doing well. Crossing fingers we can all move on safely from the health situation soon.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Absolutely Ernie! We are fine and staying at home. We walk around our block every day which takes about 20 minutes just to get out! I did sort out and make the pages for my USA commemoratives from 1893 to 1929. The rest of my US albums are complete through 1977.
I am also building a model truck to keep busy and feeling positive. I had an online order of glue and putty show up today so I can keep on doing this until we get back to normal. Like all the stamp events, we postponed my big model car show until September. Stay safe!
My walk around the block is a good hike. We walk up this hill! I post a photo from our walk on Facebook every day for our friends and family I call “The Normalcy Photo of the Day” which gets a lot of response.
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Ernie,
I can't say what a 2020 US Specialized would list it at, as I can't afford to purchase THE LATEST Scott as it is released, BUT -
I CAN tell you that my 2018 US Specialized lists your #292 at a whopping $700 used!
Great looking copy!!
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Randy, thank you! Greatly appreciated.
Chris, Haha. awesome brother. Cant wait to see them. You and I were thinking the same thing.
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Biting the big bullet..............
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
@uboatnut...
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
US Scott #131 - Almost perfect centering 30 cent Eagle. This is a borrowed pic but my perfs are in better shape. It set me back quite a few Washingtons but well worth it. The prize of my Eagle image collection.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
I never thought I would get so deep into Machins.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Wow what a thread! In response to "I would love some of my collecting bretheren to challenge me to get serious about filling up parts of this album!" would this be acceptable on this page-webmaster please remove if not appropriate.
I am a longtime U.S.Specialist collector and have posted dups on Stamps2Go under the Seller ID DANI20. For our group in SOR, I am open to swaps of stuff rather than requiring $ only. If that avenue is of any interest, get back to me and we'll explore together to see if we can work anything out.
Best,
Dan C.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
"Wow what a thread! In response to "I would love some of my collecting bretheren to challenge me to get serious about filling up parts of this album!" would this be acceptable on this page-webmaster please remove if not appropriate."
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Chris,
Great looking stamps! One more to go. That really is a great looking set.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Something I never expected:
Great Britain Scott #96 MNH
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Ernie,
Nothing in your post was incorrect or inappropriate. I wondered if my proposal however, might be. I thought, perhaps wrongly, that a number of the items mentioned as wanted and missing could be made available. Since money appeared to be the deterrent, and since I'm not focused on that but on finding stuff we might be able to swap for, that for our members it might be worthwhile to make the offer. I am more than willing to have the offer removed if offensive or inappropriate.
With apologies in advance if I have been unclear and/or transgressed,
Best,
Dan C.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Dan,
Gotcha! Thanks friend.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
And another special item from Great Britain, the Mulready letter sheet issue:
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Cuba, 1951 Capablanca Chess Master commemorative set of his 1921 world championship win. (the illustration is not the set I own.) Several years ago I visited Philadelphia and stopped at a brick&mortar Stamp Store. Was very happy to see so many pre-1962 sets, and the Capablanca 1951 set was beautifully crafted. I purchased it and I am very proud to own a piece of philatelic history.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
I continue to make slow but steady progress on some of the toughest pages i have been tackling for years. Here is my Cilicia pg 1 (a few years back, and today). But I have failed to locate the illusive Scott # 9A. While expensive (in the $100 range) I have NEVER seen it on sale anywhere. Often I see the more common #13 (10p) mis-identified as 9A, but why have I never seen the 9A (5p) stamp ever? Occasionally the #12 is also misidentified.
Anyone has a clue?
rrr...
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Interesting question rrr!
The stamps is SG 14 / Scott #9A / Mi A7 so has clearly been added at some point to the Scott and Michel listings after the other items in the set.
Michel gives numbers issued for almost all of the other Cilicia stamps but not this stamp.
I suspect only a few sheets were overprinted.
Prices don't correlate all that well with numbers issued but here are some examples:
Your target stamp is Mi A7 (1998 prices mint and used in marks: 230, 90)
Mi 15 (prices: 30, 30) - 5,132 issued
Mi 43 (prices: 50, 25) - 5,000 issued
Mi 78 (prices: 400, 210) - 4,000 issued
Mi 79 (prices: 3500, 700) - 300 issued
Most of the other items with high prices also have inserted catalogue numbers and no quoted numbers issued.
Some counterexamples with low numbers issued and relatively low prices:
Mi 17 (prices: 10, 5) - 1,700 issued
Mi 18 (prices: 3.50, 3) - 2,000 issued
Mi 37 (prices: 5, 4) - 2,000 issued
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Thanks Nigel I was wondering about it some more. There is an other missing stamp in my collection with the same elusive 5pa green color but with a lower case Cilicia and TEO on it : Scott # #76A.
Again fairly expensive, and again one I have never seen on Auction or anywhere. Wonder if both may have been op by mistake on the 5pa sheets (which looks identical to the 10pa except for the denomination). The Turkish 5pa and 10pa stamps are quite common. Or could it have originated from counterfeits attempts? (plenty of them around)
Thanks for the data on number issued. I had no idea they were so rare.
rrr....
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
For many years, I was just missing one stamp from my Netherlands collection, the 10 guilder value from the fur collar issue of 1898. It is one of those stamps that is expensive, but not particularly rare (like the US zepplin issue). I was reasonably content to leave this hole in my collection, but a couple of years ago one was available at a local auction so I finally pulled the trigger.
Now I only have minor varieties to go.
Jan
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
It would be wonderful to finish a country, but in most cases that is not possible (talking Scott's catalog, which I use and prefer). For my major countries (US, Canada, Russia and Poland) it is not possible. I collect a few other countries to 1955 (Cuba, Philippines, Canal Zone, North Borneo(just started), Mozambique Company, Nyassa, etc. The last few mainly because of the beauty of the stamps. A friend of mine from many years ago claimed he had a complete Czechoslovakia collection. How many countries that have been issuing for about 100 years have the possibility of being able to collect the entire country? We have to use Scott's without counting all the a's, b's, etc. For example Canada contains #32 at about $200 000, and a few others in a smaller range, but still well above my level. As you know many US stamps are very high, I recently got a #1 for just over $200USD butt some are well above that. What countries could have an affordable complete collection?
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Well, the Netherlands is possible to complete (as far as the major numbers go).
It only took me just a bit over half a century to do.
Jan
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DDR
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
I just checked out the Netherlands and if you stuck to main numbers ignoring the varieties it is possible. Not easy, but possible and the last one you got lists at $625 in my 2010 Scott's and $675 in 2015, expensive, but doable! I assume that it is #86 and congratulations in doing something that most of us will never be able to do - finish a major country!!
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Well guess this week I got lucky,well not exactly as it turned out.
Won a lot on Ebay for US$280, a reasonable MLH 1929 GB £1 puc. Got the invoice and made payment, then get email from seller saying he will not send to Box number, not that it is stated in his terms. So email back saying that Canada post do not deliver to homes where I live. He then says please give me address to send to, so I email back with my daughters address in UK.
I then get an email to say money has been refunded. Ebay then ask me to agree to cancel sale, I say no, seller reneged on sale as nothing in his terms.
Seller then messages me to complain they have hit him with a $27 fee. I message back to say if he still wishes to sell to me I will refund his fee as well. All these messages on same day.
So I hear no more, as yet, but guess I just lost out on a really nice stamp, here is the stamp.
.
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Sheepshanks:-
I assume the seller was from the UK.
It is Royal Mail Policy that they will not accept mail to a Box No if the sender asks for "Tracked and Signed" commonly called "Registered Mail"
To quote Sir Micheal Caine " Not many people know that".
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Hi Ian, no the seller was in Helsinki, Finland. I just feel cheated.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Are you sure you have to use your box number as your address. I assume all Canada has the same rules, I live in Nova Scotia and even though I have a super mail box I have always used my house number and street as my address. The mail sorter has all the addresses written on the part of the box he sees when he opens the whole area. I have gone through several sorters and no one has ever told me to use a box number - and yes I do have one.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Harvey, my nearest town, Neepawa, population around 4-5000 is about 8 miles away. Nobody in town, Mayor, council, businesses gets mail delivered. We all have to have a post box within the post office. Which personally makes it safer than having a delivery person possibly nicking or throwing items away. I have to provide identification if I have to sign for anything.
My physical address is SW5-15-16W, R/M Rosedale. Last year the RM gave us a road number outside the house but this is for emergency service use.
UPS/DHL etc do not deliver to rural homes and have drop off points in town.
What irritates most is that having said that if I cannot provide an address he will have to refund sale, his words are as follows:- Thanks. you pay so fast. I waiting your address. Im sorry i not send value item any boxes. Tomorrow i must to return your money back if i not get real address. thanks.
I replied within an hour but he had already refunded the money.
His terms still do not state that he will not send to Postal boxes.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
I have the same predicament here in Brighton.
Why is it they say it is not safe? It is a mail box in a post office. I'd rather have a mail box in the post office than a mailbox on the road where anyone can take whatever is in it!
At the CANEX (military store ) they won't ship to me as the address is not in Canada Post's registry of valid addresses. OK, then ship it to the store & I'll pick it up. But my physical address is not valid, so they won't ship to the store! The bank won't send rewards to a mail box in a post office, even though they use Canada Post to mail the $&*! rewards!
I've complained to no avail.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
" I assume all Canada has the same rules"
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
It is the same here in the US. Insurance, car registration, +driving licenses are done at state level.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
"It appears to me that ultimately each province will go back to being it's own country"
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Just won this at auction, bit heavy on the postmark but I thought reasonable for £134, hopefully it will not go missing in the mail.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
It is sort of relevant, my wife and I were invited to one of her co-workers homes for a dinner together.
I brought the bottle of wine, and met this woman's husband.
Somehow my wife had told his wife that I collected stamps.
So to tell the truth this was around 1975, and I had not looked at any stamps for years, but I still had my used collection in a Senior Statesman album on the shelf in our apartment.
This young man was in the business of selling hardware from China to hardware stores, and he was a HAM radio operator.
He started his question sort of like this.
"I hear you are a stamp collector, would you care to see my collection?"
I thought woohoo big woop, but the steaks were on the grill, and I thought what they heck, go and see what he has got.
We went into the room he called his HAM SHACK, it was filled with all kinds of receivers, I looked around for a bookshelf that might hold his collection, but no, he moves a picture, and there is a wall safe, He dials in the combo, and pulls out this small 5 X 7 like a photo album.
Opens the album up and BOOM a C3a is on the first page, then a Penny Black on the next page.
My mind was a blur. I was truly speechless.
He had others, but my mind could not focus on anything except those first 2 stamps he showed me.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Like Anglophile, I too have longed to complete my 1893 Columbian Expo series that I began as a youth. Fast forward many decades, and I finally filled in the last missing stamp - #242. The lesser values are MNH; the higher values are all unused, and either previously hinged, ungummed, or have DOG. The #243 is also certified but needs a new label. The Scott page is just too tightly spaced for my liking; think I'll split it into two home-made pages instead. That's a common problem with the Scott National Album pages.
re: Philatelic items i thought i would never posess !
Beautiful Columbians! Mine are. Complete up to $2. I still need the three higher values. I once bid on a used $5 value that was lightly cancelled, not even on the main portrait. It sold for more than some mint ones I’ve seen!