Hello From Japan

Just wanted to introduce myself. I just inherited a very large collection from my grandfather, and am a bit overwhelmed with everything at the moment. I will need to have the collection shipped to me from the US and have tried to hold off on handling anything just yet.

If anyone has some useful advice about safe materials for handling, storing and shipping, the items I have inherited date back to the late 1800s and there are many items that need to be carefully moved into books.

If anyone has any good book suggestions they would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you, I look forward to sharing some of the history contained in my grandfather's collection with you all.

Welcome engelj07! (I see your profile says Columbus, NE - I'm in GI!)

Forgive me if I seem nosy, but are you going to be in Japan permanently, or will you be coming back to the States? If you'll be coming back, would it be possible to have someone else in your family hold on to the collection for you?

The choice to have the collection shipped here comes from 4 factors:

1: I will be living overseas indefinitely

2: Potential family drama

3: The collection needs months of preservation work that can't wait a decade or more. There are stacks of first day covers, and heaps of unmounted stamps that need to be protected or at the least moved into
envelopes to protect against the elements. My Grandfather appears to have had a lot more stamps than time to work on his collection. As a Nebraskan I am sure you can understand my concern over humidity! :)

4: My Grandfather always got a lot of guff for his chosen hobbies from his direct family members, and I want to honor his memory by taking good care of what he collected, and gaining some insight into his life by learning the history of what he collected. He was in the Navy during WWII and then worked for the Post Office for over 30 years and this had a huge impact on what he collected. He stopped collecting the same year I was born so when the Will was read it was the first I had really heard about his stamp collection.

Thank you for your kind reply. :)

Ah, yes. Without the cooperation of family members, it seems that you have little choice. I'm sure some of the members here will have helpful information about shipping, etc.

You may want to post about that in the general forum. Many members use the "Last 100 Active" feature, which does not include the Introduction area. Otherwise it may be a few days before responses start coming in. ;)