United Nations Collecting -- Lessons Learned

A few random thoughts...

* Never buy a single stamp. By that I mean that most UN issues are released as two related designs, a low and high value. If you accidentally get just ONE of the two, you'll probably have to buy both of them just to get the one you need.

* Scott Catalog will frustrate you with the Geneva and Vienna issues. They rarely show images for these, but force you to "flip back and forth" to the New York listings. Luckily, most UN stamps are fairly easy to identify the theme and/or year of the stamp.

* For the above reason, if I had to do it all over again, I would collect only the New York issues. Of course, I'm in the USA, so those would be simplest for me. If I were in Europe, I might consider collecting only Geneva or only Vienna, but even for those not in the USA, I still think NY would be the simplest.

Kirk

UN is a fake country, issuing stamps for the collectors market only. Do they really need so many diffrent stamp designs for their limeted mail usage? why don't they just use USA stamps! What percent of stamps printed are used, and what percent are sold to collectors!!1

Interesting. I don't know about calling the UN a 'fake country', there's no intent to suggest deceit on their part. As an international institution, whether you agree with their mandate or not, there is surely a need on their part for a a postal system. But again, like many countries they've found a revenue source and have exploited it.
I will admit that it is certainly much easier to find unused examples than used. And perhaps there is a glut of stamps on the market. I've found it very difficult to sell or trade my extra UNs that's for sure.
But I still think that, for the most part, they are a bunch of very attractive stamps, especially the early engraved issues (in my humble opinion) and are worthy of collecting. If nothing else it makes for an easy side collection to acquire and enjoy.

Hi Kirk

Since you use the Scott catalog it is pretty easy to create a A number (Scott Picture ID) reference. You could use either EXCEL or a WORD table such as:

Picture  Description  Value New York  Geneva  Vienna
A123     UN Building  50c   564       123     456

I did this for myself and it was pretty easy. I do not have EXCEL but I did it in a WORD table. I did not type the "A" number but wrote a very simple VBA program (MACRO) to insert the number in each table row. The same can be done in EXCEL. You would have to insert the Description (what is on the stamp or Scott description) and New York Numbers. If you have scans you could insert the image instead of a text description, or even have both.

Once that is done then it is just a matter of going to the Geneva and Vienna listings and enter the catalog numbers that match the New York "A" numbers.

If you have a stamp, search the table (CTRL F) for the description and there are the catalog numbers.

If you decide to do this and do not know how to create a MACRO contact me by e-mail and I can do it for you.

Jerry B

Good ideas, Jerry.

I don't like to write in my catalogs, but another thing I've done in the past is copy the NY pages and add pencil notations cross-referencing Geneva and Vienna.

Kirk

Good




Well thanks for that, Joe.

Next time I need someone to invalidate my hobby, I'll be sure and give you a call....

KirkS

IMHO calling the UN a "fake country" would be like calling the Vatican City a "fake Country" as well

Fake no, Country no, International Orgaization, yes!
Vatican City is a country however small, The Pope is the head of state as the Pope was for the Roman States.

The one thing with UN issues is overlooking the Montreal issues of 1967 for The World Expo.
These stamps were issued in Canadian dollars & only sold at the Expo, [Scott #170-4] were not sold for postage in New York.

Kirk,

Thanks for starting this thread.

A little Googling and I soon learned that the idea for the UN's stamp issuance was first floated by Argentina's PermRep, Jose Arce, in 1947. As you might expect, Arce was a stamp collector!

Another interesting tidbit found on a UNPA info paper was that 85% of the UN's stamp offerings are purchased by collectors.

Steve

Nice covers, Steve.

I collect the singles and souvenir sheets in mint condition. I won't argue that finding postally-used examples would be the bigger challenge. But I prefer mint - same as my USA collection.

Kirk

Politics aside, I think a UN support group may be in the works, I admit I am a sucker for em as well. I would join.

I knew it!

With this idea in mind, I started a small side collection of envelope cut squares showing the various (non-FDC) machine cancels used by the UN (New York). I never got very far with it, but here are some of them I have stored away:

Perhaps my language was a little over the top. If anyone was upset, I apologize. And certainly anyone can collect what ever they wish. But I never understood why Grenada and Togo (to give two examples) get so little respect, whereas the UN gets so much in the philatelic community. In terms of percent of issues versus actual use etc, the UN is one of the worst offenders of wallpaper printing.

This has nothing to do with my politics (which are rather anti UN)

I also collected UN for awhile in the sixties and seventies mainly
for their designs which were exceptional for their times.

Also they were challenging for the designer since they weren't supposed to portray
anything nationalistic or offend any country, culture, race, ideology
religion etc etc.


Most of the stamps had high quality printing by various security printers such
Courvoisier, Harrison, De la Rue, Austrian State Printer and many more.


The designer for the ECAFE isssue below wasHubert Woyty-Wimmer, an Austrian who was born
in what is now Romania, engraved stamps for Austria after WWII,
then in 1950 began designing & engraving for De la Rue in London
and in 1960 made this design for the UN, printed by the Japanese
State Printer in Tokyo.


Scott 79-80

This item was sent to all UN Philatelic subscribers.
Nice little gesture.
Didn't cost them anything and the printer Courvoisier got a little
advertisement.