How Do You Manage Your Dupes?

Seems that I am rapidly developing an ocean of dupes and what makes it worse there is increasingly little to no order in how they are being "managed".

At first for my Swiss, I filed things neatly in a stock book, by year, but then I bought a couple of collections, took out what I didn't and then pretty much, but not entirely, left the rest. Yes, some go put into the stock book, but many were left in this or that place. This or that album page as well.

So, I am curious since one day some one if going to have dispose of all this stuff, how people manage their dupes and how they manage to do this assuming the dupe population grows.

I use years idhaber,
My main collecting area is Australia, so I keep
an envelope for each year.
Other countries I keep in country specific in
hagners, and put back to auction..

Utter confusion and disorganisation is a
normal state of affairs with dupes.

I've finally gotten around to quantifying my surplus and track that on an excel spreadsheet as I do the rest of my collection.

I am keeping the low-value duplicate stamps themselves in #6 3/4 envelopes, some in glassines and others not, that are filed by catalog number for ease of location. Issues in which the quantity exceeds around 150 are spread among multiple envelopes.

My higher value duplicates are kept in a stockbook.

My inventory spreadsheets include a column that identifies location (e.g., album, envelope, stockbook#, mintsheetfile, etc.).

It was a labor intensive effort initially but in the long run it will save me alot of time.

Hi

I use #2 glassines to put the duplicate stamps in. My dealer friend gave me a few empty #2 glassine boxes and I store the glassines in those. I only collect 3 countries so it is pretty efficient. I have glassines for Used and Mint stamps.

Each glassine is marked with the Scott catalog number. If the stamp is part of a set I mark the set numbers and all stamps from the set are in that glassine. When I get a full set, I put a set in its own glassine. I have a few sets that have 2 or 3 glassines.

Miscellaneous stamps, mostly used US, I put in a box. I was giving these stamps away to the children's stamp club, which has been disbanded. So now I have the proverbial shoe box of used US stamps.

Jerry B

With proper medication.

On the serious side, mint stamps in stock books, used stamps in envelopes by country or multiple envelopes by types in multiple boxes. Canada takes 5 #10 envelope boxes while Hungary fits into 1 box. Most of the madness is in the U.S. used. I still have several boxes to soak and/or sort. Others have been sorted by Scott in about a dozen boxes and other boxes are just sorted by type/sets/era/etc. I'll get around to it all one day. I need clones.

I do it the easy way, by starting multiple collections in multiple albums.

i seriously think I am cataloging stamps for some unknown future dealer or collector...but I dont mind its a kind of therapy and I always find stamps that I thought I had in my albums but did not....so. stamps that catalog 40 or 50 cents and up I usually put in a 102 card or a #2 glassine...minimum value stamps go by country or region in #4 or # 7 glassines...

I like your way of thinking Modern who

I keep mine in #2 glassines by scott # I found boxes at the dollar store that they fit perfectly in. Of course I ony have a few countries sorted. The rest are patiently waiting in boxes for me to get to them

I don't.
They are just piling up all over the show.
My collection is not much better as I don't find the time and spend far too many hours playing on the computer. Can I blame you lot ??

My clothes now take up a small place in the wardrobe as the stamps, catalogues,magazines and leaflets expand seemingly without end.
But still I add to the mess whenever I can.
Soon, the clothes will have to go and I will be sitting at my desk like Terry Jones at his piano for the start of a Monty Python show !

Luckily, my wife is also very busy and appears oblivious to what is happening. That's a plus, if I can call it such.

Still, this week I managed to send a few hundred stamps to Stampgal,Oldtriguy and Dianne Earl so at least the load was lightened somewhat. Strange thing is, I just cannot see where I took the stamps from...everything appears to be the same

Still, I do not worry about such trivialities as dupes.
I will sort them out eventually.

I just hope I am still around when eventually arrives !

Duplicatebus1

I remember that show. Quite funny to watch as a young fellow.

I got some old shows of their's from the library on DVD and had a great time.

Dupes: I have plastic storage tubs. I put the dupes in there and they can fend for themselves. If they want to sort themselves out, I don't stop them.

It's fun to go looking through them after a while when I forget what is in there. It's like I just got them all over again.

At my age, I don't see any dupes.

Yep, my attention span is just that short.

I can't wait for Easter when I hide my own eggs.

Fortunately, you are still able to see the stamps, I take it.

Good question good topic, it seems to me the effort of cataloging or storing dups is as time consuming as working on a primary album.

the questions you have to ask yourself do I or will I need these extras? do I have others to trade with. will I be looking for variations later in life, do I trust my skills as they really are extras. ect..

I worry about all the above since right now I'm working thru my stock books and trying to trade off or liquidate my dups. I tried for 3 days to organize duplicates and found I spent more time fighting for a system then I actually spent putting them in my primary album. for me my albums come first, I consider a duplicate something to help another collector, so for now baring an expensive stamp (which I dont have) I'm trying hard not to have duplicates.

NOTE: I do place an occasional 1 or 2 dups of cool cancels and/or stamps in my primary albums, something I'm toying with and heard others doing.

hopefully someone will post an awesome idea and it will fit my way of collecting perfectly till then I'll limp along with my current solution.

That's how it starts. Abandon hope, all ye...

I confess that my approach is somewhat similar to LondonBus. I don't catalog or track any of my duplicates, I just pile them (into plastic ice cream boxes). If there's something better, then I might place it into a stock card - but it still goes into the box with all the cheapies. And as I've been doing like this for nearly 20 years, I have lots of boxes. LOL.

And yes, the boxes are where I digg up any stamps I exchange or sell. One by one...

My collection of Australian Postage Dues is sorted into collectible and non-collectible quality. The non-collectible go into a stock book with a fairly basic listing. I have two 64 page stock books with centre strips for the stamps of collectible quality to accommodate a comprehensive listing based on the Australian Commonwealth Specialists' Catalogue. I use a two page spread giving four columns for mint, never hinged; mint, hinged; postally cancelled and pen-cancelled. Once I have ten stamps of any type in the stockbook, I use a combination of 102 cards for the used stamps and hagners for the mint stamps and other multiples. I also have panes and sheets in a mint sheet file.

I keep the stockbooks neat and tidy by not overfilling the pages, not keeping any multiples in the stockbook (depending on size, these will be on Hagners or in the mint sheet file).

I have four hagners I use to place the overflow into before sorting into the 102 cards and I have an excel spreadsheet to track all the stamps of collectible quality I have.

It has taken two years from scratch to get my 22,000 Aussie postage dues into this order and I am now starting to research what I have for flaws, postmarks and anything else I think will go towards the story I want my collection to tell.