Thought I Would Say HI

Long time lurker. Thought I would introduce myself here, even though I did so in the general topic areas. I only look at this forum topic anyway.

I first started collecting in 1979 (I was 12), when I was visiting my aunt who worked at the Woodward's Department store on Hastings Street in Vancouver. My uncle and dad bought me a used #15 5 cent beaver for $6.00, which I thought was fascinating (I still have it). It was so old! I then got my first stamp album, the Scott one with the Mountie on the cover. I remember looking at it and wondering if it ever would be possible to fill in every position in the album.
Jump to 2003, when I decided to get back into it, with the goal of filling an album. I purchased the Davo hingeless set since I discovered I was crap at sticking on hingeless myself. My goal was mint VF copies of everything. I don't care about hinges or original gum because I can't see the gum so who cares? I first purchased year sets and every year get the new issues from Canada Post. At first it was easy filling the holes in the albums but now it is getting trickier, as well as more expensive. I am down to thirty more stamps needed and I will have every Canadian stamp. Of course, I will have to add a few used ones as well as proofs in there but I am slowly on my way.
I have never once talked to another stamp collector, so I have no idea if this is common or not. Reading other forums, it seems that collectors usually try to find obscure variations or imperforate or plate blocks, etc. I just like the idea of having a nice clean set of stamps, with no holes in the albums. I won't even buy a stamp with selvage on it since it won't look good on the album.
The sad thing is that I live in China but my albums are all at my sister's place in Canada, in a box. I only get to see them when I go back to visit in the summer. Once I finish my Canadian collection, I will start on the provinces. Then I might start specializing, even though I like the idea of complete countries. Maybe I will work on obscure obsolete countries that I can easily complete.
What does everyone else collect? I have always assumed that all stamp collectors have done what I am doing now and have moved on to specialization. Am I naive in thinking that? Again, I have never once talked in person (or really on a forum) to another collector. Kind of sad, actually.
Oh, I am thinking of finding a copy of that 1979 Scott stamp album and filling it with used stamps. Fulfill the childhood dream. I have discovered that finding that album is tricky. If I see them on ebay, the shipping to Canada is insane or they won't even ship there. I will start looking again for one soon. I have enough used stamps to fill in lots of it.

Anyway, just thought it was time to introduce myself. I probably won't have much to offer since most of the post here are somewhat specialized but I do find them interesting to read.

Hello Tom !

Welcome to the forum. Great story you have, thank you for sharing it. In my opinion, different people have different collecting habits although I am certain that many share your vision-method. Some collect covers, revenu stamps, plate blocks, postmarks, cancels or cinderellas. Others have a strong preferences for mint or used. Some just specialise on certain themes...,.so many different ways to collect. For myself, although I have others stamps, I specialize in Canadian and province stamps issued prior to 1940. I enjoy the different varieties, color variations, errors and oddities, re-entries, paper types and perforation......I have many copies of the same stamp scott number with variations on each....since completion is not possible as something different always shows up, my collection will never be complete.
With only 30 holes in your mint VF collecting, you must have some awesome stamps. I look forward in seeing some of them and exchanging knowledge and information with you.

Welcome !

Oops, just realized I fibbed slightly. If I count used, I need 30 more. If I count mint, I need 61 in total, including Back of Book (F2 and F3). Just checked the database. It can be frustrating having them in Canada when I am so far away. I can only enjoy them through a database and the occasional auction purchase which I have shipped here (I don't pay any taxes that way). I have been spending way too much on auctions recently, finally picking up the MR2D inland revenue variation at auction. That one has eluded me for a long time. That completes my Admirals. If I can get F2 and F3, that will do it for all of the BOB stamps. All I have left to complete are the Victoria Leafs and Numerals, Jubilee 15cents up, and then of course the Large and Small Queens and all the scary stuff at the front of my album. I basically worked backwards so I am down to the last four pages. My latest biggest purchase was the complete Edward VII 89-95. With those, I settled for F-VF since it was pretty expensive. I am seriously thinking about filling the last thirty with used versions and proofs, and then slowly start replacing them.

I am also thinking that I will try to find the old Scott album I mentioned above and bring it back to China this fall so I can work on it here. I will pick up a pile of used stamps and hinges and regress back to 1979. Should be fun. Now, if I could just find the album. I checked ebay and they have one, but only to 1972. I want one to 1979.

Hi Tom. Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your collection. It sounds incredibly well done and managed and it's too bad it is mostly out of your direct touch. I hope you are reunited more often over the years.

I think many people would love to do what you have done, but for many reasons have not. I can only speak for myself in that during 50 years of collecting I have been way too over the map. Worldwide, US, covers, topics ... and never with enough time or money to do anything particularly well.

But in recent years, I have worked hard to stay more focused and direct, trying to obtain items that make sense to me and trying to use willpower to ignore those that don't (but, it's really tough when there's what - 170 years of stamps worldwide and I never met a stamp I didn't like!)

Also, so many collectors have soooo many different focus' of interest - from countries to topics to specific issues to cancellations to postal history to back of the back to flyspecking to seemingly countless variations of a single issue.

I'm happy you joined the forum; hopefully it will be of use to you and perhaps you can help others.

Tom, you could post all your album pages in a private display on a site like Photobucket or Flicker or even Tinypic. Then they're only a click away, plus you can temporarily crop and send individual images to specialists or auction-sellers, etc.

That's also a good proof of value and ownership for insurance, and it establishes an acquisition date for tax purposes.

That's my plan this summer. I am going to take good quality pictures of everything. I think I am also going to work on my used collection, like I mentioned above. I have rough photos now but they are not very good quality. I will do them properly this summer.

Just curious.......what is the next stamp on your purchase list ?

Not too sure. My three main auction sites I visit are Weeda, Vance and Eastern. Got my eye on a mint #15, which would be cool since my first stamp was a used #15. It will probably go for too much though. There also are some small queens coming up as well, which would be nice.

I have been thinking about the project I mentioned above though. I am going to look out for the Scott Mountie album and try to pick up a large batch of used below 1980 as well as check to see what I have used in storage in Canada and get started.

I went to the stamp mall here in Shanghai which is very cool but since I only know about 30 words in Chinese, I don't really have a hope. It is a large, two story mall filled with stamp and coin stalls. Mostly coins but quite a lot of stamps. Unfortunately, they know way more about Chinese stamps than I do so I don't really have a hope of picking up any bargains. Stamp collecting is huge over here, with prices to match.

Hello TomSwift, welcome!

Must be a great collection you have. It would be nice to see some of it sometime, when you have access to it.


Do you have any personalized stamps at all?

Do they sell any Canada in that mall?

No Canada that I could see. It was primarily piles of sheets of modern Chinese as well as some of the horribly expensive late 60's Cultural Revolution stamps under glass. A few years ago I bought some stamps to bring home for my aunt's nephew. I dug through their cheap pile and the only foreign stamps in there were from Cuba, the USSR and North Korea, which I guess makes sense.

What do you mean by personalized? You mean the new ones from Canada where you can put any picture you want on it? I was planning to do one with the Chinese flag, which would be somewhat surreal.

Since people put their purchases on here, I thought I would put on my acquisitions I accumulated since last August.

The photo quality is not the best. I am thinking of getting a nice macro lens soon.













The last two are interesting. They are used North Korean imperforate. I don't collect North Korean but I couldn't resist since there is not even a price in the Scott Catalogue on them, just a line. Thought it would be neat to have something not often seen.

Nice stuff! May I suggest a nice scanner in place of a macro lens unless your a photographer but a scan is more detailed and lots easier to use than a hand held camera in my opinion. From the sounds of it you have amassed a very nice Canadian collection. Could you have it shipped to China perhaps? (I forget if that's where you said you live or not?)

The problem is weight. I am only allowed 23 kg per bag and the new regulations only allow me one checked piece of luggage. The second bag is $70. Once I put in clothing and western food to bring back, I don't have much room for stamp albums. My collection is now five albums with slipcovers. It is surprisingly heavy and bulky. That's why I am thinking of bringing back just one album and a pile of used stamps.

As well, I doubt I will be here forever. Then again, I have been here for seven years so who knows? I am a school teacher over here and the job is vastly better than what I would ever get in Canada. Couldn't afford all these beauties if I lived in Canada.

Oh I know how deceivingly heavy those albums can get because that's what I have too. Lighthouse binders with slipcases and vario pages = a lot of weight!

It is always enjoyable trying to sweet-talk the Air Canada clerk into letting me check in an overweight bag without paying extra. Its hard when you pack for ten months.

Mr. Swift, I can sympathize with your plight. I'm from the US but I also work abroad. I've got stamp albums scattered across 3 continents. My original "Frankencollection", is a Harris Statesman WW contained in 2 old style Citation album binders, a Minkus Germany Vol. 3 (DDR,Colonies), and a Minkus Netherlands. In Turkey, (where my wife is from) I've got a Minkus Turkey and Minkus Volume 2. West Germany. Here In Oman, I've got 5 of those 2 post binders Worldwide, a binder each for Germany/W.Germany, DDR, Russia, Bulgaria, and Turkey.
I've been here in the Gulf 5 years. I don't know what I'm going to do when it's time to pack up my toys and go home. Still, it keeps me sane and doesn't put a strain on my budget like the "nightlife" does. $10/pint anyone (and that's happy hour prices)