Anyone Notice This Last Night On Ebay Before I Snagged It?

One of my saved ebay searches is newly listed albums with a BIN. It already had 2 watchers so I'm not sure how long it was up but it seemed like a no-brainer to me and I'm a gambler so the crappy pic didn't bother me.



bottom right is a $2 Columbian. Can't tell the condition but for $60 ($40 of it coming from my ebay Bucks), I wasn't waiting another minute for someone else to jump on it.

Inexperienced stamp seller and only used a total of 5 blurry pics with just 2 of them showing the US material. Seems the guy just sells yard sale stuff.

Hope to see it this week and I'll post some better pics when it arrives

YIKES...

Congrats ! Gotta love those ebay deals.

Good for you! Hope there's a LOT of gems in it for you.

OK, but if it's a mess, you still have to come back here and post a picture.

My Columbians only go to 50¢ so I'll be jealous

No worries Kirk, I'll post the good and the bad :) His pic makes my eyes hurt LOL

I'm just as interested in what's on the pages before and after this one. There were some blurry bank notes in this pic (I just cropped the Columbians) and some of the 1922 series (all appeared unused but hinged) in the other US pic.
That leaves 4-6 pages in between the Columbians and the 22 series and maybe 4-6 pages before the Columbians. I could also see a C-3 (used) and of course the 30c and 50c Columbians don't usually show up in beginner's books either

This is a Scott Junior International album too so maybe some of the other countries will have some nice stuff as well. It appears to go up to about 1927

Only coming from 1 state away and he did ship it today so if lucky, I could see it as soon as tomorrow or the next day.

I've said it before and probably say it again but I just can't understand people on ebay selling things without looking into what they actually have. Just cutting out the 12 Columbians and putting them up with a decent pic would have got the guy at least a couple hundred I would think.

This wasn't an auction either - he just put a random price of $59.98 + $4.98 shipping as a BIN. I almost didn't even bother clicking on it when I saw the price and then it took me a few minutes to even figure out that it was a $2 Columbian in the pic. It was the sky in between the 2 blobs that helped me figure it out

For the most part, ebay is a gaint yard sale where knowledge is power. If you can sort that part out from the overpriced and the dodgy sellers, it's a lot of fun. If you only concentrate on what's wrong with ebay you miss a lot of opportunities.

My album has arrived. I can't believe this was listed the way it was. Strange that at some point, you can tell it had been picked through as there are hinge marks where stamps had been but why didn't they take all the good stuff?

Here are the first 10 pages from the US section:












I'll post some of the other goodies in a bit

I'm jealous...

Nicely done. Check the 1 cent 1869. Based on the cancel, it is quite possibly one of the reissues.

That's unbelievable, Mike. Way to go! I would have been one of those people who saw that blurry photo and quickly moved on.

Paperhistory, thanks I'll do that. Everything up to about 1910 has now been removed from the album, soaked (or soaking) and drying. I'll check for the grille in the morning. That would be great as I picked up a 1c recently and to have a re-issue would be awesome.

So far I'mm seeing very few faulty stamps. The nicer stamps are fault free aside from some centering issues.

My theory now is the seller noticed a bunch of stamps had been removed at some point and just assumed all the good ones were gone. At least these went to a good home and weren't just bought to flip for a profit

There's a name and address written in the front of the album - Jack Davis, 8617 Germantown Ave, Chestnut Hill, Penn. I street viewed the address and it's a shop now. Was hoping to see an old house but it must have been torn down some time.

There are some nice revenues in here too. really wish I could go back in time and speak with the original collector.

Regardless, the seller knew nearly nothing about U.S. stamps to put it as a "buy it now" for so cheap.

I often want to go back in time and speak with the person that pulled the perfs apart too quickly.

Very cool and very lucky. Congrats to you. I'm looking forward to seeing more that you discover about this album.

-EDIT

This is a bit morbid, but this may be him:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/ph...id=172465277

-EDIT 2

Not quite a picture of a house, but here's 1963:



-EDIT 3

From here: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/sho...php?t=171036

"Hill House
Built: c. 1798, additions and alterations Client: Wigard Miller
Location: 8617 Germantown Avenue Architect: Unknown

This house sits on land owned by Wigard Miller and his heirs from 1750 to 1844. In 1950 Hill Hardware Co. bought the house. Apparently that name stuck."



-EDIT 3

Haven't found much about Jack yet, but here's some info about the original builder of the house. Born 1714, Died Oct. 4, 1795. He was a blacksmith and later a Sheriff. He held a large amount of land throughout his life.

"Wigard Miller was fifty-nine years old and been a widower for many years when his only son, Enoch died unmarried at the age of twenty-five. Miller married twenty-three-year-old Christina Hesser of Cresheim, a "spinster" and produced several more children, the last when he was seventy-one."

This is GREAT, Mike. I'm so happy for you. Nice find, nice story to share with your collecting friends.

Congrats,
Kirk

Could very well be. The album is copyright 1927 which would make him 11 years old at purchase. Most of the stamps from 1922 on are mint (hinged) so were readily available at the PO as he was a child.

Sad he just died a month ago. Perhaps a family member selling parts of his estate. The last name it came from though was Scates in Surry, ME

edit - looks like 2 different Jacks though as one was born in 1916 and the other in 1932

RIP Jack

Here's a few more goodies I found tucked in at the back of the album this morning.





and here's the back of the 1c - I'm not seeing any grille so that makes it one of the reissues? Any hints on how to tell which one? I see 3 different ones listed on the 1847USA site