Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Note: "snowy 12's" informative and interesting discussion on "New issues from Australia Post" prompted me to platitudinize.
An Australian combinatorial stamp issue could cost over $750.00? Hey, stem those crocodile tears and put away your handkerchiefs because stamp collectors are already reaching for their chequebooks.
I find it wearisome reading the hypocritical comments of Stamporama members decrying the marketing practices of many national postal systems. A good number of these are running annual operating deficits and we all know why. There is big money - big money - to be made flogging postage stamps. Stamp collectors will spend money - big money - collecting postage stamps.
(Insert irritating factoid here: Canada's most profitable stamp is its largest in denomination and physical size. Canada Post's ten-dollar "whale" stamp, introduced in 2011, is a perennial steady seller, and it's got legs. So, who's buying these over-priced monstrosities that barely fit on a billboard? Ms Jane Q. Public?
Mr Bottom-line Businessman? Not a chance.)
My reptilian mind tells me that expensive postage-stamp packages, innumerable postage-stamp issues and overflowing promotional gimmickry plague us because the market is there. The market is there because the demand is there.
My personal contribution to the demand for postage stamps? The covers of four of my stamp albums are held together with duct tape. Why? Good question for which I have a bad answer. Every time I've gone shopping with the intention of purchasing replacement albums, I've come home with postage stamps. Now, I no longer go shopping for replacement albums, I just shop for postage stamps.
When I look in a mirror, mine is not the only face I see.
John Derry
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08:31:18pm
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a nice little fire can cure one of the illness.
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ah, one of those where the cure is worse than the disease
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07:54:12pm
" ... Platitudinize, John, Platitudinize, really ? ...."
Je l'aime, mon ami !
J'ai juste eu à ajouter au dictionnaire mon correcteur orthographique.
The virtual infinite flexibility of the English language is often astounding. It is a shame that the overwhelming majority of its speakers choose to limit some 80% of their speech and written communication to less than one hundred simple constructions in their daily discussions and over all, seldom venture beyond the basic five hundred most popular words and their immediate derivatives.
Ignoring overly technical specialized jargon there are potentially 500,000 words at our disposal, more than. if memory serves me correctly, French, German and Spanish together. We can doubles that number if we do consider the specialty jargon of Medicine, Science and other demanding fields.
Moving back to the subject at hand, I usually stifle my infatuation with postally used stamps except to friends, but every once in a while I am disturbed with a query or a complaint from someone who has been feeding the Philatelic Goose so that RM, USPS or CPO can gather up the golden eggs and I struggle to hold back a rant.
Why do postal agencies produce so many contrived souvenirs and make it so hard for the small collector to afford the hobby ?
That is very simple.
Because they can.
The day that the overwhelming percentage of collectors decide to collect Postally Used, RM, USPS, CPO and any other postal administration will re-evaluate their procedures and policies.
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Not wanting to trivialize the English language, I would like to point out that the world's largest dictionary is the "Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal" (the Dictionary of the Dutch Language). It spans 43 volumes (49,255 pages) and you need 3 metres of bookshelf to store the complete version. It took 134 years to finish it, and since they reached the end of the letter "Z", another 3 volumes with "new" (meaning 20th century) words were added.
Here endeth the lesson
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jansimon: Are there many stamp collectors in Der Nederlands? Ted.
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02:20:56pm
I am sure Jansimon will agree that in The Netherlands there are many collectors.
It was some time ago but I spent several months in Rotterdam and by just sitting in a restaurant looking over a few stamps I had purchased in public view, met several friendly fellow collectors.
I'd guess that the Dutch are more likely, per capita, to be knowledgeable collectors than in the USA.
On the train to Amsterdam (It may have been on the return trip) two other passengers saw me glancing though a few stamps and opened an interesting conversation. With one, I carried on a casual stamp trade that lasted well over fifteen years until the collector finally closed his albums.
Charlie
Lecanto, Florida
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Wonderful story!
You are right, there are many collectors in the Netherlands but the average age is quite high. For instance, at stamp club meetings I am often the youngest one at 43!
Jan-Simon
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for folks as young as you, Jan-Simon, we insist on proof of age before admittance.
oh, and congratulations both on your new king and the reign of Beatrix, which from what I can tell, was inspired.
David
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Jan-Simon:
Yes, congratulations on your new monarch, but commiserations as Queen Mother Beatrix joins the increasing ranks of Netherlands' unemployed. She and the royal family grace a lot of my favourite postage stamps. Although I'm a republican in a supposedly monarchial-democratic nation, I admired Beatrix, her mother and our own Queen Elizabeth, for performing their duties with regality, unswerving dedication and graciousness; all while under the harsh environment of life in a goldfish bowl and an overly-inquisitive mob of commoners.
My wife and I will be "doing Holland" in the latter part of August, Jan-Simon. Please look for me, the guy dragging a beaver tail, as I'll have a Canada SCN 1 in my stamp wallet for you. (Okay, it's a knock-off, but my heart's in the right place.)
John Derry
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10:00:58am
And along with a new King comes a long and possibly exciting new series of stamps for postally used definitive collectors.
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The past is a foreign country, they do things different there.
23 Apr 2013
04:29:43pm
Chers pauvres membres du club Stamporama:
Note: "snowy 12's" informative and interesting discussion on "New issues from Australia Post" prompted me to platitudinize.
An Australian combinatorial stamp issue could cost over $750.00? Hey, stem those crocodile tears and put away your handkerchiefs because stamp collectors are already reaching for their chequebooks.
I find it wearisome reading the hypocritical comments of Stamporama members decrying the marketing practices of many national postal systems. A good number of these are running annual operating deficits and we all know why. There is big money - big money - to be made flogging postage stamps. Stamp collectors will spend money - big money - collecting postage stamps.
(Insert irritating factoid here: Canada's most profitable stamp is its largest in denomination and physical size. Canada Post's ten-dollar "whale" stamp, introduced in 2011, is a perennial steady seller, and it's got legs. So, who's buying these over-priced monstrosities that barely fit on a billboard? Ms Jane Q. Public?
Mr Bottom-line Businessman? Not a chance.)
My reptilian mind tells me that expensive postage-stamp packages, innumerable postage-stamp issues and overflowing promotional gimmickry plague us because the market is there. The market is there because the demand is there.
My personal contribution to the demand for postage stamps? The covers of four of my stamp albums are held together with duct tape. Why? Good question for which I have a bad answer. Every time I've gone shopping with the intention of purchasing replacement albums, I've come home with postage stamps. Now, I no longer go shopping for replacement albums, I just shop for postage stamps.
When I look in a mirror, mine is not the only face I see.
John Derry
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
23 Apr 2013
08:31:18pm
re: THOSE HANDS IN DEEP POCKETS - REALLY DEEP POCKETS - BELONG TO STAMP COLLECTORS
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Auctions
re: THOSE HANDS IN DEEP POCKETS - REALLY DEEP POCKETS - BELONG TO STAMP COLLECTORS
a nice little fire can cure one of the illness.
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Auctions
re: THOSE HANDS IN DEEP POCKETS - REALLY DEEP POCKETS - BELONG TO STAMP COLLECTORS
ah, one of those where the cure is worse than the disease
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
24 Apr 2013
07:54:12pm
re: THOSE HANDS IN DEEP POCKETS - REALLY DEEP POCKETS - BELONG TO STAMP COLLECTORS
" ... Platitudinize, John, Platitudinize, really ? ...."
Je l'aime, mon ami !
J'ai juste eu à ajouter au dictionnaire mon correcteur orthographique.
The virtual infinite flexibility of the English language is often astounding. It is a shame that the overwhelming majority of its speakers choose to limit some 80% of their speech and written communication to less than one hundred simple constructions in their daily discussions and over all, seldom venture beyond the basic five hundred most popular words and their immediate derivatives.
Ignoring overly technical specialized jargon there are potentially 500,000 words at our disposal, more than. if memory serves me correctly, French, German and Spanish together. We can doubles that number if we do consider the specialty jargon of Medicine, Science and other demanding fields.
Moving back to the subject at hand, I usually stifle my infatuation with postally used stamps except to friends, but every once in a while I am disturbed with a query or a complaint from someone who has been feeding the Philatelic Goose so that RM, USPS or CPO can gather up the golden eggs and I struggle to hold back a rant.
Why do postal agencies produce so many contrived souvenirs and make it so hard for the small collector to afford the hobby ?
That is very simple.
Because they can.
The day that the overwhelming percentage of collectors decide to collect Postally Used, RM, USPS, CPO and any other postal administration will re-evaluate their procedures and policies.
Login to Like
this post
Auctions - Approvals
re: THOSE HANDS IN DEEP POCKETS - REALLY DEEP POCKETS - BELONG TO STAMP COLLECTORS
Not wanting to trivialize the English language, I would like to point out that the world's largest dictionary is the "Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal" (the Dictionary of the Dutch Language). It spans 43 volumes (49,255 pages) and you need 3 metres of bookshelf to store the complete version. It took 134 years to finish it, and since they reached the end of the letter "Z", another 3 volumes with "new" (meaning 20th century) words were added.
Here endeth the lesson
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11:28:15pm
re: THOSE HANDS IN DEEP POCKETS - REALLY DEEP POCKETS - BELONG TO STAMP COLLECTORS
jansimon: Are there many stamp collectors in Der Nederlands? Ted.
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
27 Apr 2013
02:20:56pm
re: THOSE HANDS IN DEEP POCKETS - REALLY DEEP POCKETS - BELONG TO STAMP COLLECTORS
I am sure Jansimon will agree that in The Netherlands there are many collectors.
It was some time ago but I spent several months in Rotterdam and by just sitting in a restaurant looking over a few stamps I had purchased in public view, met several friendly fellow collectors.
I'd guess that the Dutch are more likely, per capita, to be knowledgeable collectors than in the USA.
On the train to Amsterdam (It may have been on the return trip) two other passengers saw me glancing though a few stamps and opened an interesting conversation. With one, I carried on a casual stamp trade that lasted well over fifteen years until the collector finally closed his albums.
Charlie
Lecanto, Florida
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this post
Auctions - Approvals
re: THOSE HANDS IN DEEP POCKETS - REALLY DEEP POCKETS - BELONG TO STAMP COLLECTORS
Wonderful story!
You are right, there are many collectors in the Netherlands but the average age is quite high. For instance, at stamp club meetings I am often the youngest one at 43!
Jan-Simon
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this post
Auctions
re: THOSE HANDS IN DEEP POCKETS - REALLY DEEP POCKETS - BELONG TO STAMP COLLECTORS
for folks as young as you, Jan-Simon, we insist on proof of age before admittance.
oh, and congratulations both on your new king and the reign of Beatrix, which from what I can tell, was inspired.
David
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this post
The past is a foreign country, they do things different there.
30 Apr 2013
01:34:28pm
re: THOSE HANDS IN DEEP POCKETS - REALLY DEEP POCKETS - BELONG TO STAMP COLLECTORS
Jan-Simon:
Yes, congratulations on your new monarch, but commiserations as Queen Mother Beatrix joins the increasing ranks of Netherlands' unemployed. She and the royal family grace a lot of my favourite postage stamps. Although I'm a republican in a supposedly monarchial-democratic nation, I admired Beatrix, her mother and our own Queen Elizabeth, for performing their duties with regality, unswerving dedication and graciousness; all while under the harsh environment of life in a goldfish bowl and an overly-inquisitive mob of commoners.
My wife and I will be "doing Holland" in the latter part of August, Jan-Simon. Please look for me, the guy dragging a beaver tail, as I'll have a Canada SCN 1 in my stamp wallet for you. (Okay, it's a knock-off, but my heart's in the right place.)
John Derry
3 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
02 May 2013
10:00:58am
re: THOSE HANDS IN DEEP POCKETS - REALLY DEEP POCKETS - BELONG TO STAMP COLLECTORS
And along with a new King comes a long and possibly exciting new series of stamps for postally used definitive collectors.
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