Pushing 330,000 All Different Worldwide Stamps In One Collection .

"Imaging has been finalized" because the employee who got lumbered with the job quit after discovering the meaning of the word "ennui".

In reference to the DFK collections auction:




I was a large lot junky and for the longest time I bid based upon the printed/online auction descriptions/images. I purchased from Siegel, DFK, Cherrystone, Harmer, Schuyler Rumsey, Rasdale, Sandafayre etc. Prices continued to rise with competition and my displeasure with "creative" lot description writing also increased. I tired of "unpicked" material that Ray Charles could see was very much picked. Flowery descriptions that failed to mention the stamps being seriously stuck down. With few exceptions it became apparent that all of this stuff was highly recycled and in bulk lots for a reason. Far too late I promised myself that if I couldn't view something in person before bidding and it was over my "if I lose the money I don't care much" I would take a pass. That limited me severely because it meant that travel distance to the auction houses would be the chief constraint. I started viewing these lots in person and you know what? 95% of lots I would surely have on my bid list before were now off the list.

I wonder if AI/SI can be used to detect what IS NOT said on auction listings.

ROGDCAM-----The world changed right in front of you . It was the same world that I lived in .

I would go to a stamp auction and buy boxes of stamps and albums for a take home price of less than 2 cents per stamp .That was my guideline . Fill up the back of a large Chev. Blazer {that was back in the days when you could put a kitchen table in the rear } Get 8 or 10 large boxes for $300.00 . Even drove to Gregg Manning stamp auctions in New Jersey . Rule was the heavy boxes went into the truck and lighter lots shipped .
Life was good ,no kids at home so extra bedroom was stamps , then the closet was packed after a while started to build a wall of cardboard boxes down the side of the garage . Drove the wife nuts . Sort stamps after work each day ,wife was banking her whole check ,so life was good .
Then the world changed --Ebay started

No more cheap boxes of auction lots and everybody started to double the price for junk boxes , then triple the price at auction .
But me had the "Berlin Wall ' of stamps
Then continue to put everything into manila stocksheets or stamp albums .Boxes and Boxes all filled with binders of sorted stamps .
Got around to selling on ebay and was selling mixture boxes for 4X what I was selling them for in LINN'S STAMP NEWS . the previous years . Did well on sales but couldn;t replace what I was selling the auction prices just got crazy high to buy more .

Things have been changing for a long time. Small article from 29 Feb 1960.

GT350 ----- The price of the stamp fell in 66 years . They paid $145.00 per stamp and today it sells for $700.00 ,so they paid 1 1/2 weeks salary for the stamp 8 days of work and today at $700.00 you would pay 3 days of pay on average worker salary to buy that stamp .

3 days today, they paid 8 days ---wow. Please tell me stamps are a good investment .

Floortrader,

If anything the article is void of useful details such as condion. Perhaps there was a quantity of MNH and potentially multiples / part sheets?

Anyone have a catalog close to 60 to see what the cat was at that time? I don't any longer.

Gibbons 1963 Simplified 80 GBP and 40 GBP (224 USD and 112 USD @ 2.80)
Gibbons 1967 Simplified 200 GBP and 45 GBP (480 USD and 108 USD @ 2.40 post-devaluation of the pound)

Average GB annual salary for 1960, according to the UK ONS, was £680.

Don't know what the price of an SG Simplified in 1963 was, but I paid a quid for mine.

The best way to explain it ------
In 1960 the average person had to work 7 or 8 days to afford that stamp . Paid $145.00
In 2026 the average person had to work 3 days to afford that stamp . Purchase price last week $700.00

For me it was the Switzerland May 9 1945 Peace set ,purchased from Kelleher $220.00 around 2004 .
Kelleher had it for sale opening bid $60.00 last month. Catalog value took a nose dive

For me back in the 1990 before ebay ,I could buy W.W. stamps for less than 2 cents each .
I am now watching W.W. stamps mounted in albums playing with prices around 10 cents each . I think I have a zillion of them in stock books

Antiques Roadshow is celebrating 30 years of episodes this year and are going back to 1996 and comparing the estimates to 2026 for all of the different things they appraised. Lots of big decreases, quite a few remain the same, which means lost to inflation and a few increases for truly special items (usually artwork and jewelry). Investing in collectibles loses to stocks every time.

The British Antiques Roadshow will be celebrating 50 years of episodes next year. That's 50 years of tedious personal stories, experts contractually forced to give valuations, and close-ups of dogs and children in the summer sun.

We also have Bargain Hunt, in which teams of punters buy stuff at retail from antique centres and fairs, and then sell the stuff wholesale at auction. Fees are not taken into account in the final tally.

Don't forget Flog It!, where people sell family-related items for peanuts. I can't even half-watch Antiques Roadshow because of the awful Fiona Bruce.

You and me both

And David Dickinson, who was orange-coloured before it became fashionable.

You chaps overlooked Antique Roadtrip, where 'experts' supposedly drive hard bargains from antique dealers (not possible - give it a try) and still manage to lose money!!

Yes, those "What's it marked at - £70. Call it £10" are rarely available in the real world.

We also overlooked Drew Pritchard. I'm very sorry for mentioning him.

When the Bargain Hunt crew used to turn up at the local auction house, the place would get crowded with gongoozlers. I'd end up in a crowd of dealers by the toilets. The film crew consisted of four interns aged about 16 and a middle-aged cameraman, plus Tim Wonnacott, who would later get sacked for bullying.