Hi Jackie,
Wow, what a comprehensive review, thank you. Please note I tend to fill my ‘spares box’ by country, as I work on my collection I do it one country at a time so the box tends to have ‘layers’ of countries. I put the stamps in the box face up and try to not mix up the stamps in the box.
When I go to disposition these stamps, they tend to reflect how the stamps were placed in the ‘spares box’ (layers of countries). So it is possible that you’ll see concentrations of some countries and smaller representation of other countries.
I typically buy based upon my own 'fun factor'. In other words, if I pay $500 for a big accumulation, I do so figuring that it represents XX hours at XX dollar per hour of 'fun'. I never get ripped off as long as I have correctly estimated the amount of fun but a bonus is that any material that is left over I consider as 'free'.
So typically either give material away with monthly Stamp Smarter contests https://stampsmarter.org/features/contest_home.html
or I sell it and use the money to pay for the monthly hosting fees for the website. Thank you for your support, the $$ went towards the hosting fees and is being used to keep the site free for everyone.
Don
Don,
That has been my experience--layers of stamps in countries. I did pull from the bottom at times and mixed them up a bit since I wanted a representative for this review. I did notice that the stamps were all right side up, although with me rooting around at the bottom some of them are now upside down!
I took a couple of pictures as I sorted this next bunch and will post them in my next update. I have sorted countries A-C and have another 65 Ceylon stamps. There is duplication from the first bunch but not excessive. I picked Ceylon because it wasn't an overwhelming amount of stamps and I had some from a box lot myself I needed to sort.
Jackie
Sounds like an awesome box to me. I am always trying to buy something similar but more likely than not end up with something else.
Have fun Jackie! Thanks Don for offering good quality mixtures, and apologies for my initial scepticism.
I sorted out another 3000 or so into countries and am on my third bunch. I don't have a count for this one as I forgot to count several countries (it was late and I have been sick).
Rough stats:
Another 65 Ceylon stamps. Some minor duplication from first bunch--still usually only 2 or 3 per issue. 2012 SCV is $51.20. Highlights were 285 $2.25, 290 $10.00, 342 $1.00, 377 x2 @ $1.10 each, 469 $3.25, and 350 X2 @ $2.20 each. They are residing in volumes 1-4 of my Scott International Albums with an envelope of post 1960 waiting for me to purchase additional volumes.
Other highlights:
Nice Fiume including 53 mint $10, 166 $1.75, 165 $1.75, P4 $3.50, 100-102 $57.50 (most likely counterfeit, 34 $57.50 most likely counterfeit, 115 $5, 116 $21, 205 2.50, 207 $2.75, 63 $1.75.
Iceland 148 $1.60, 225
Memel 20 and 22
French Equatorial Africa 183 $.80
23 Ukraine stamps a mix of classic and modern, a smattering of Australian states in mixed condition including Queensland, South Australia, and New South Wales (1, in poor condition, it was a duplicate of one I had so I tossed it). More Mongolia with a few high values of CTOs so maybe a few sets in there. In the third bunch I've come across 2 more Iceland from the 144-148 set so maybe a complete set there which is a nice set cataloguing around $20. I have one in my Iceland collection and am adding these to my Scott Internationals.
After I sort all the stamps out I'll go back country by country and put what I need in my Scott Internationals. I'll sort out the CTOs (Mongolia, Central African Republic, Mauritania, Upper Volta, Tanzania, Eastern Europe etc) and see what complete sets I have. Until the box is fully sorted it's hard to say if there are any complete sets. If there are it will will be a big bonus.
I am probably going to sell what I don't need/duplicates as a box here or on Ebay (I'll offer it here first). I will remove all the Mongolia part sets and exchange for full CTO sets (I collect Mongolia and have a lot of duplicates--modern stuff I collect MNH but I have bought several lots with CTO sets). I'll also add Scandinavia to the box and replace what I take with comparable.
For $60 this has been a great lot.
Jackie
I received a box of stamps from 51Studebaker this week after commenting in another thread where he posted that he sold boxes of his duplicates for $60 shipped. I said I would post an update about the box. I should have taken pictures but I forgot. Next time??!!
The way I sort stamps is first to sort alphabetically. I do "a bunch" at a time--in this case my first "bunch" was 2875 stamps. Once I sorted them alphabetically I sorted by country. I then put them in glassines by country and started working on putting them in my albums. I chose a few countries to grab stamps from to get an idea of what's in the lot--I catalogued Ceylon and New South Wales, and I put stamps in my Internationals from those countries as well as Russia, Venezuela, Jamaica, Bermuda, Rhodesia and Nysaland, Memel, Mauritius, and Northern Rhodesia. I only have 153 countries to go from the first bunch!
Here is a breakdown of the first 2875 stamps:
163 countries represented
Top 5 Countries:
Mongolia 155
Portugal 140
Yugoslavia 121
Korea 110
Central African Republic 105
So far I have found the following stamps that catalog 1+. This is by no means all of them. I have only really looked at a few countries in depth. I use a 2011 Scott Catalogue.
Russia 1653 ($2.50), 500 ($1.25), 1188 ($1.50)
Venezuela 137 ($3)
Jamaica 63 ($2), 66 ($4), 67 ($2.50)
Japan C21 ($3)
Madagascar 64 ($1)
Mauritius 72 ($1.25), 152 ($4.25)
New South Wales 77 ($1.25), 78 ($1.25), 89 ($5)
Ceylon 172 ($3.50), 204 ($1), 286 ($2.75), 291 ($1.50), 326 ($1.40), 374 ($1.40), 379A ($4), 393 ($1), 397 ($1), 439 ($1.40), 441 ($1.40 X 2), 442 ($1.90 X 2), 451 ($1.90), 464 ($190), 469 ($3.25), 446 ($1.40), 477 ($1.10)
I catalogued all of the Ceylon stamps and the New South Wales stamps. There were 64 Ceylon stamps with a SCV of $53.75. 23 were minimum SCV. There were 8 New South Wales stamps--3 catalogued for 1+, 4 catalogued less than $1, and there was one non Scott listed stamp.
I have sorted another 3000 or so alphabetically and need to sort them out by country. Once I have that done I will catalogue the additional Ceylon and New South Wales and then work on a couple more countries.
I should note that there are very few damaged stamps (maybe 1% if that)and that it is excellent mix of modern and classic. Minor duplication--I found 2 or 3 stamps with 10 copies (New Zealand orange and green definitives)--other than that usually no more than 2 copies of the same stamp--for example of the 64 Ceylon stamps, 7 were duplicates--and only 2 were minimum SVC stamps.
A quick glance as I was sorting bunch #2 noted the following: Lots of classics from British Commonwealth. I noted Ukraine (mix of modern and classic) and Uzbekistan. I saw my first stamps from Iceland and Greenland. More Portugal and Central African Republic. Lots of Iran/Iraq/UAE/UAR/Egypt etc, which I have (had) very little of. A fair number of GB mostly from the 70's-90's. Also a nice group of Micronesia. And strong in the Middle East--where my collection is weak.
I have months of sorting, cataloguing, and putting stamps in my albums to go. So far, a big thumbs up!
Jackie
(pictures later).
re: Diving into 10,000+ stamps from 51Studebaker
Hi Jackie,
Wow, what a comprehensive review, thank you. Please note I tend to fill my ‘spares box’ by country, as I work on my collection I do it one country at a time so the box tends to have ‘layers’ of countries. I put the stamps in the box face up and try to not mix up the stamps in the box.
When I go to disposition these stamps, they tend to reflect how the stamps were placed in the ‘spares box’ (layers of countries). So it is possible that you’ll see concentrations of some countries and smaller representation of other countries.
I typically buy based upon my own 'fun factor'. In other words, if I pay $500 for a big accumulation, I do so figuring that it represents XX hours at XX dollar per hour of 'fun'. I never get ripped off as long as I have correctly estimated the amount of fun but a bonus is that any material that is left over I consider as 'free'.
So typically either give material away with monthly Stamp Smarter contests https://stampsmarter.org/features/contest_home.html
or I sell it and use the money to pay for the monthly hosting fees for the website. Thank you for your support, the $$ went towards the hosting fees and is being used to keep the site free for everyone.
Don
re: Diving into 10,000+ stamps from 51Studebaker
Don,
That has been my experience--layers of stamps in countries. I did pull from the bottom at times and mixed them up a bit since I wanted a representative for this review. I did notice that the stamps were all right side up, although with me rooting around at the bottom some of them are now upside down!
I took a couple of pictures as I sorted this next bunch and will post them in my next update. I have sorted countries A-C and have another 65 Ceylon stamps. There is duplication from the first bunch but not excessive. I picked Ceylon because it wasn't an overwhelming amount of stamps and I had some from a box lot myself I needed to sort.
Jackie
re: Diving into 10,000+ stamps from 51Studebaker
Sounds like an awesome box to me. I am always trying to buy something similar but more likely than not end up with something else.
Have fun Jackie! Thanks Don for offering good quality mixtures, and apologies for my initial scepticism.
re: Diving into 10,000+ stamps from 51Studebaker
I sorted out another 3000 or so into countries and am on my third bunch. I don't have a count for this one as I forgot to count several countries (it was late and I have been sick).
Rough stats:
Another 65 Ceylon stamps. Some minor duplication from first bunch--still usually only 2 or 3 per issue. 2012 SCV is $51.20. Highlights were 285 $2.25, 290 $10.00, 342 $1.00, 377 x2 @ $1.10 each, 469 $3.25, and 350 X2 @ $2.20 each. They are residing in volumes 1-4 of my Scott International Albums with an envelope of post 1960 waiting for me to purchase additional volumes.
Other highlights:
Nice Fiume including 53 mint $10, 166 $1.75, 165 $1.75, P4 $3.50, 100-102 $57.50 (most likely counterfeit, 34 $57.50 most likely counterfeit, 115 $5, 116 $21, 205 2.50, 207 $2.75, 63 $1.75.
Iceland 148 $1.60, 225
Memel 20 and 22
French Equatorial Africa 183 $.80
23 Ukraine stamps a mix of classic and modern, a smattering of Australian states in mixed condition including Queensland, South Australia, and New South Wales (1, in poor condition, it was a duplicate of one I had so I tossed it). More Mongolia with a few high values of CTOs so maybe a few sets in there. In the third bunch I've come across 2 more Iceland from the 144-148 set so maybe a complete set there which is a nice set cataloguing around $20. I have one in my Iceland collection and am adding these to my Scott Internationals.
After I sort all the stamps out I'll go back country by country and put what I need in my Scott Internationals. I'll sort out the CTOs (Mongolia, Central African Republic, Mauritania, Upper Volta, Tanzania, Eastern Europe etc) and see what complete sets I have. Until the box is fully sorted it's hard to say if there are any complete sets. If there are it will will be a big bonus.
I am probably going to sell what I don't need/duplicates as a box here or on Ebay (I'll offer it here first). I will remove all the Mongolia part sets and exchange for full CTO sets (I collect Mongolia and have a lot of duplicates--modern stuff I collect MNH but I have bought several lots with CTO sets). I'll also add Scandinavia to the box and replace what I take with comparable.
For $60 this has been a great lot.
Jackie