What Did You Do Philatelically: Today Or Recently?

Spent a few weeks in hibernation and now back on the road.

Was in GPO Dublin yesterday to catch up on recent new issues. Also travelled out to suburbs to photograph two post offices. This means I now have taken pics of 130 post offices in County Dublin and only 8 left to photograph. The logistics of getting to one or two a bit tricky as I no longer drive.

Like NickIreland (and welcome/fáilte to Nick) I have an interest in SOARs and been making some progress. There are approx 934 post offices in the Republic of Ireland and I now have SOARs from 908 (so happy enough that only 26 left to find). As the weather might get better, I will resume travelling twice a week for more post office pics.

I've broken my vow to cut spending. Laid down about $600 this week on auction lots. Someone needs to take my marbles away...

Thanks for the welcome FitzjamesHorse. A quick technical question, what list of GROf codes are you using? Is it the NI Philatelic Society one? That one lists 1424 Ppost offices and then I think there have been another 40 or 50 new ones or those not included in that list. Then of course there are all the EPO codes etc. as well.

@NickIreland......as I recall the first list that I had was compiled by myself using info on An Post website. At that stage they actually published Grof numbers At some time after that I saw the NIPS list.
I saw a 2017 list also and it was a matter of updating. I did not get fully involved in collecting SOARs until I saw a list of 160 post offices which were due to be closed. (I think that was at end of 2017).
Occasionally new post offices do open and An Post does not publish the grof numbers
An Post "Store Locater" is a good source . About twice a year, I looked up Store Locator as a means of confirming if offices were still open. or if a new office was open.
With only 26 left, I keep an eye on internet as any proposed closure will have publicity.
Not entirely sure what EPO is....is that the series that begins 68...and turns up in kiloware? I really only concentrate on post offices.

Picked up a nice, vintage (unused) Jarrett Canada Album recently - complete up to 1978 (with Provinces). I really like this fully illustrated album. Am busy sorting and mounting the thousands of Canadian stamps that have come my way over the past five to ten years. I've never tackled Canada seriously before, and it is a lot of fun... I'm mounting with vintage FOLD-O-HINGES for the cheap stamps, and clear mounts for the mint and not so cheap used stamps.

I can easily extend the album beyond 1978, using AlbumEasy or Steiner and cream paper - but that is a bit beyond what I usually collect in worldwide. We'll see about that.

John

Have had the week off work so done a lot of stamp stuff this week. In addition to work for the online catalogue I help edit I was able to complete the page layout for the first part of my Canada collection. I use Vario pages for stamp storage, and these pages act as keys to know what stamp goes where (and lets me have that stamp album "feel" without having to worry about the mounting!) The page layouts go in page protectors which are then inserted between the vario pages.

First volume of Canada covers 1851 to 1935 - so to end of George V reign. I prefer as strict a chronological order for my stamp layout, so things like Official, Dues, Airs are all mixed in with the defins and commemoratives. I am also a huge variety fan, so I included varieties listed in Unitrade, Gibbons, Michel and from online and other sources. The result is 49 pages (24 1/2 Vario 2-sided pages) to cover this part of Canada.

Here are how my layouts look for the last part 1932-1935. Images are just for image reference, not actual stamps in my collection. Probably a few typos to correct here and there, that is the next task before printing.

FitzjamesHorse I think your collection of post office photos with a SOAR GROF code will be an important resource in the future. Yes, the closure of all those post office was very sad, quite a few village ones closed where I live, some quite busy ones, it made no sense. In terms of collecting SOARs I think we all have the same problem and that is a lack of information from An Post. They are clearly missing a huge trick here and could restimulate collecting, especially amongst the young, if they really focused on SOAR issues. They would also encourage younger people to start using the mail again. Apart from the standard GROF coded Post Office machines there are PSC machines ( Postal Service centres) which have largely gone now and were a combined portable stamp issuing machine and post box found in shopping malls and even at large events; Desktop machines and Easy Post machines used by private companies as an alternative to franking machines which has a series of random umbers (e.g. eMzNNeesLbd) plus a date starting with a letter and day number or EP0 which stands for easy post (e.g. EP01900) plus a date starting with the year (e.g. 22001). As far as I can tell these numbers range from EP01000 upwards although the range I have collected so far is 1384 to 2288. Some of these are as common as some post offices. But the problem is its all guesswork for most collectors, although I am sure that information exists somewhere. I know its not the same but if you post the list of outstanding codes I will look out for them and hang onto them if you need them in the future. Keep up the good work, Nick

Yes, part of the reason I do this is to keep the names of places "alive". It is also a wonderful opportunity to see a lot of the country. Every place has its own story, told in statues or whatever and getting to places that are off the main roads is a lot of fun. In early September we stayed in County Kerry and visited 45 post offices in five days plus one in Cork, two in Limerick and several in Clare and Galway on the way home.
In my profile, you will see a link to my Blog, much of it is about SOARs. When I last updated it, I had 28 SOARs still to find...now there are 26 (Cork 14, Tipperary 6, Carlow 1, Wicklow 1, and Wexford 4)

FitzjamesHorse Can I be nosey and aske which ones in Wicklow and Wexford you are missing as I live on the border of the two counties.

Nick...
Wicklow.........Aughrim
Wexford.........Ballyfad, Courtown Harbour, Boulavogue, Kilmore

John

I started a new approval service the other week, Continental Philatelics Inc. With my first selection, I got some sweet Switzerland stamps. Sadly, I LOST THEM! I have no idea where I put my dear Switzerland stamps. So Sad. I looked in my albums, stock boxes and storage rack. WHERE DID THEY GO and nowhere to be found. Fortunately, the other selections were added to my albums in their appropriate space.
Today, I got my second selection of approvals. I have to say, I am very impressed with their service. Im keen on pre-1950 Germany stamps and they sent me a bunch of them. I even got one that replaced one of my damaged stamps, so it was like they could read my mind. The approvals are packaged nicely and identified clearly. I think we are going to be good pals.

I did some philatelic reading yesterday. The latest Gibbons Stamp Monthly had several interesting articles in my areas of interest. Linn's continues to be a quick read.

FitzjamesHorse I was collecting trees from Aughrim this afternoon so dropped by the post office for you. Here is the photo of the outside, no photos allowed inside for security reasons. It is a single counter squashed in the corner of a small supermarket. I got them to cancel an envelope for you and will send that on to you when I have sufficient posts to the website to be able to access the group's email and contact you for an address. I also have a mint version if you prefer. Note they have one of the new printers which uses a smaller font, but at least gives a clear and full code. So I have it unless in the meantime you manage to access the post office yourself. Best Nick

I bought a 2020 set of scott catalogues (13 volumes including specialized) for 40$ total (was pickup so no shipping for such a heavy lot). Very happy with my find.

For me, very modest buy - just the USPS 2022 Waving Flag pane of 20 and coil of 100 plus 2 panes of the 4 cent blueberries and ordered on eBay a few strips of the blueberry coils with plate number.

I did stop by the New York International Coin Show which had Champion, the famed stamp store in NYC, showing their paper currency there. So, sometimes it is worth checking coin shows as you may encounter a few stamp dealers who also sell paper currency (as well as encased or stamps used as currency).