Who Buys & What Does One Do With So Many Duplicates?

1

I bought many duplicates in my life.
I had in the past for example 4300 german radiotelescope stamps (500pfennig)
That was 1% of the total issue. It was a key value and is always wanted by collectors to make sets complete.It was an unsold lot in an auction. I was the only bidder. It was a bargain and the cat. value rose 100% in a few years.
I used them to upgrade lots that I sold last 10 years.
Did I make a profit? I don't know. Did I sell lots quicker yes!
I bought the 7, 50 Beatrix stamp of the Netherlands.. 7500 duplicates on paper and on cover. All beautiful and different circular dated handstamps.
High values in bulk, I love it!

I guess I'll pop in my two cents as well...

I occasionally buy these lots to make small packets for trade overseas. Some areas aren't very well covered by the more common US stamps and I find the money I pay for such boxlots is far worth it in trade for stamps I can't manage to get. I find there's a rise in want from Iraq and Iran lately. I've had an upswing in people from Saudia Arabia wanting US stamps the last few weeks as well.

For a while I was using all my duplicates to create packets to sell on ebay. I found the amount of labor could be better used to expand my existing collection. Now my duplicates are building up and taking up more space than my albums!

These are great to look at and I am tempted to buy but really what would I do with them, so far I have not bid.

I've got about 13,000 German stamps in bundles of 50-100 that I'll probably sell in a similar lot at some point. I soaked them off myself from kiloware that I bought over the last year or two. I always soak 100% of the kiloware I buy as quickly as possible, regardless of how many duplicates. That many stamps in bundles barely fills an 8x8x8 inch box half full, whereas that would probably be around 6-8 pounds on paper, which would probably fill most of a boot box. I'm assuming most of these types of lots are assembled by collectors (not dealers) in a similar fashion. Not necessarily by soaking, but by buying bulk lots and then sorting them out at some point into bundles, etc.

I purchase old mint stamps at my local stamp store, at face vlaue , sometime less for a reason,; when I send an advertising letter to a potential customer, they are more chance they open the letter to see what inside this envelope with old stamps than use those metered stamps.

Sue, I find this subject and discussion totally fascinating.

Who indeed has the means and where with all to find 100 or more of a single variety of stamp,
match them, ID them and package them? I enjoy finding ONE decent copy of each issue. And since buying numerous old US albums I have accumulated duplicates to be traded or sold. But boxes or bundles?

Dan

If you soak enough kiloware, it comes with the territory. Sometimes large kiloware lots contain really good variety, and then there are times when a few issues (or even just one) predominate. There was one 2 lb lot of German kiloware that I bought (a good 3000 stamps on paper) where 4 different stamps probably counted for at least two-thirds of the total. I ended up with over 700 copies of the self-adhesive Hornum Lighthouse and 3-500 each of the other issues. This is bound to happen anytime you buy a pound or more of kiloware that's all from the same country. Do this a few times and you'll end up with bundles of stamps like this. Either that or a closet full of unsoaked kiloware.

I have bought many Harris packets over the years so it is easy to get that many duplicates I give many away to new collectors and a few friends. I will be starting to sell on ebay soon.

Yes, I've been giving away and selling mine as well. There are some recent German stamps that I've put in so many packets (and will continue to put in packets) that future collectors will be cursing the sight of them, thanks in part to me. And these are stamps that Scott values at 80 cents to $2 - look for those to come down over the years. I buy a lot of packets myself and I always get a chuckle when I get some of the same ones back. There are some that I will probably never, ever run out of unless I donate them or throw them in the trash.

This was something I've wondered for a while now. I saw a lot of Penny Lavenders on ebay and was thinking, "Gee, I wouldn't mind a few of those but what on earth would I do with 100?" This answers my question!

Lately I have been asked to look at a few collections, every one thinks they are worth a lot of money but are usually not. Just looked at US MNH that are stuck together full sheets, Told the person to soak apart and use as postage, he just gave them to me so now I have large amounts of the same stamp. So it is easy to get a large quantity of the same stamp.

quman,
Try putting the sheets in a freezer for a while to see if they pop apart somewhat.

Puzzler I tried that but didn't have much success. Some came apart a little but not a complete sheet. Tried a few minutes to an hour same result, hated to soak them and lose the gum.