New Directions

It is summertime, here in the US Pacific Northwest. Historically, I never did much with my stamp collections during the summertime-- I expect this holds true of many collectors. That said, during my childhood years in Denmark, rainy days at the summerhouse usually meant bringing out the stamp collection to entertain myself.

Earlier this year, I wrote about having to sell my Denmark stamp collection out of necessity... a rather long process that is nearing the end. As fall and shorter days close in, I have had time to consider the question I have been asked a number of times: "Are you giving up stamp collecting?"

Not necessarily.

But I will be going in new directions.

For one, I just won't be spending much money on "serious" stamps, anymore, and the future of my stamp collecting endeavors will probably be limited to specializations of inexpensive stamps and collecting town cancels and postmarks on fairly low price stamps. What's more, any new acquisitions have to be funded completely by the sale of stamps I already have.

For seconds, life is now such that I work seven days; about 70-80 hours a week merely to keep our lights turned on. So I won't really have much time for stamp collecting, for the foreseeable future.

"Will you still be writing about stamps and collecting?"

I plan to, in a somewhat limited way. Recently, I had to let go of two of my stamp web sites-- the cost of hosting and domain services for something that couldn't pay for itself was no longer feasible. In a sense, it was a bit sad... one of the web sites had been "up" since 2001-- which could be considered "ancient" in terms of the age of the Internet. But if it doesn't help us live, we really don't have space for it.

"Are you still going to sell stamps online?"

Well, as long as I have anything worthwhile to offer, yes. Still selling off from my Denmark collection, and now I am going to move on the my collection of town cancels on classic Swedish issues. In general, if you'd like to see what I have available, look at the "Places Where I Sell Stamps!" box in the right hand column.

Otherwise, I will generally be moving more towards "nice stamps" in a lower price range. I still have thousands of duplicates from almost 50 years of collecting, and I will trade them online... perhaps moreso than before, as I simply can't afford to have "unneeded material" sitting in my closets.

"Are you sad/angry/disappointed about having to sell your collections?"

I have gotten a lot of enjoyment from assembling my collections. I am grateful that I followed my father's advice to "only buy the best quality stamps you can find" because he was right: top quality stamps offer a "store of value" you just don't get from "spacefillers" or low quality stamps. So whereas I am a little sad that I don't get to continue my collections into retirement, I am also grateful that my efforts now help us survive during difficult economic times. On top of which, there's also the opportunity offered in terms of starting new collections.

Even if I don't really have any time on my hands for it.

Till the next time-- thanks for reading!

Writing... for non-stamp collectors

Regular readers of these pages will know that I am not only passionate about philately... I am also passionate about "spreading the word" about stamp collection to people not currently involved with the hobby. I strongly believe that one of the ways we'll keep the stamp collecting hobby going for many years to come is to reach out to those who don't currently collect... simply relying on "former" collectors and parents passing collections to their children is not enough.

Part of what I do for a living is write-- although I haven't written much about stamps, aside from this blog. Recently, I've gotten more interested in the idea of writing "general" stamp articles in an attempt to reach the NON-philatelic press.

The first (hopefully of many!) article was recently finished and has now been posted to a web site I sometimes use to "test publish" new articles. It's a "sand box" of sorts, where I can post articles, invite people to go read them, then fine tune them and get feedback, while having them out there in "public view." If the response is positive-- after revisions have been done-- maybe the article will be "publication worthy."

As of this writing, a couple of editors I work with (on material that has NOTHING to do with stamps) have expressed some preliminary interest.

This first article in somewhat broad strokes covers how stamps came about, followed by a little bit of the history and evolution of stamp collecting, from the 1850's to the present day. It's fairly "light and fluffy," but there's only so much you can say in an "article length" piece. Of course, this is not written for the existing stamp collector, but for the casual reader marginally familiar with the idea that "people collect stamps," or possibly someone who collected stamps as a child and might feel inspired to pull out their old collection from the back of the closet.

Stamp Collecting: The Rise & Fall... and Rebirth of the World's Greatest Hobby

Naturally, any comments and feedback on the article are invited and welcomed. This is just ONE approach-- my hope is to write a whole group of "introductory" articles about different aspects of (introductory) philately-- and with a bit of luck get one or two published in non-philatelic magazines.

Stamps For Sale!

Because I have philatelic material for sale in so many different locations, and the material often changes, I have decided the easiest way to keep announcements all in one place is to simply have this post always sitting at the top of the blog.

Here, then, is a listing (with brief description) of the places I have stamps for sale (titles are links to the sites):

Delcampe Stamp Auctions:

Currently 200+ lots stamps from Sweden, almost all used, with better and some of the "tricky" mid-priced items. All are identified by the Swedish Facit stamp catalogue. Please note that the bidding here is in EURO.

StampWants Auctions:

Currently about 250 lots mid- and lower priced Swedish stamps, from classic to the 1960's, some mint, but mostly used. All listed by the Swedish Facit catalog as well as Scott, with varieties, town cancels, and more.

eStampAuctions UK:

About 120 lots older Denmark, mostly mid-priced material. Please note that the bidding here is in UK pound Sterling, and that stamps are listed by the Danish AFA stamp catalogue. However, the descriptions are clear enough that you can easily "convert" to your own catalog of choice.

In general, there are some good values to be had, with many stamps offered for as little as 20% of catalogue value.

Selling on Stamp Wants

I have recently signed up on the Stamp Wants web site, with the hope of having found an "eBay alternative" that allows me to sell lower priced items without getting skinned alive with fees.

It seems like a neat enough site, and looks like it was created by people who actually know both stamps, and the technology that's needed to drive an auction web site.

I have decided to try having one of their "Stores," and have gone back to the trade name I have used in the past, Scandinavian Stamps, Etc. So far, having a store there is free, but I feel pretty sure they will start charging for them, after some time. Perhaps once there is enough traffic to justify it.

So far, I have just listed a few stamps from Sweden, and plan to continue getting some of the medium and lower priced material over there. Here, have a look at the Scandinavian Stamps, Etc. store!

The Expert Issue

To expertize or not to expertize?

I seldom have too many doubts about expertizing items in my own collection. The issue of yes/no arises far more often when it comes to something I plan to sell... when is it worthwhile, when is it not?

Over the years, one of the things I have noticed is that getting an expert opinion from a recognized expert costs a lot more in the US than it does in Europe. I know several (well-known, I might add) European experts from whom I can get five color photo certificates for about $100. The same certificates in the US would cost twice that, or something more. This difference is important enough to me that the only certificates I buy from US authorities (typically the Philatelic Foundation or APS) are for US stamps... otherwise, it is simply not worth my while.

Besides, in many cases the US expertizing bodies lack the specialized knowledge needed to (as was recently the case) warrant the authenticity of a very rare Swedish postmark, for example.