Thought I Would Say HI

Beer is still about 50 cents a bottle in my small town. However in Shanghai, you can easily spend about $10 as well for a drink.

I just picked up a Scott Album on ebay for ten bucks but it only goes to 1972. It is in perfect condition though so it is a start. Now to start looking for cheap used stamps.

I talked to the guy that makes the forgeries of old Canadian stamps on ebay and I think I will get some of them to fill in the expensive holes in my new Scott Mountie. Not totally kosher but the spirit of filling up every space becomes more realistic.

Hey Tom, you should look around ebay or even some dealer pages to see if you can find the supplement pages to take you to 1979. I am sure they are out there somewhere and can probably be found for a reasonable price.

My collection is progressing somewhat similar to yours. I collect Canada, and my current 'goal' is to get one of each major Scott/Unitrade number from start to present. I collect used stamps primarily, as long as they have a decent in-period cancel and preferably a CDS. I do have a number of mint stamps scattered through my album though and often grab them up when I can get a reasonable price or have had a hard time finding a used copy that meets my standards. I have only been collecting for about 3 years and I already have everything between the 1898 jubilees and somewhere in the 1990s. I am working on finishing off the modern issues to present and then I will focus on finishing off the 1898 jubilees and the first 4 issues.

Hi Tom:

I just recently moved my entire collection from the US to Japan. The collection filled three suitcases, and although it was a pain to move everything all at once, it was just one day of pain. Now I'm happy that the entire collection is here with me. :)

The way I did it was to redeem miles for a business class ticket. They allow you two bags up to 32kg/70lbs each. And extra bags, depending on the airline, cost roughly $200 each. That's actually a really, really good deal: $200 to ship 70lbs. internationally by air! Amazing...

Dunno what China charges for duty on postage stamps. In my case, Japan charges no customs duty on stamps but does have a 5% consumption tax on anything over $2K. But at the airport they just waived me through without asking any questions about value. :)

The problem is that I always assume my stay in China will be temporary. I have been here for seven years. Sigh. I can bring back anything to China since the guards at the airport check nobody and nothing but if I bring them over, I might one day have to bring them back. I usually bring back an extra bag in the summer filled with DVDs and books I bought over the year, as well as hockey jersey's and Rolex watches for presents. The benefits of living in China. :)

therealwesty, I have been thinking about this and I have a memory of me actually finding a copy years ago and already having it somewhere. Before I start buying more of them, I will have to look in my storage locker to make sure.

I probably should have started with used as well, since it would have been much cheaper, but I found that with the Davo Hingeless, the used stamps looked almost dirty inside it, a totally irrational thought but what can you do? I look at the few used stamps I have in it as a source of irritation. I am getting excited about my summer project of finishing up a used collection though. I always thought that used stamps look better with hinges while mint look better with hingeless. Again, just a biased opinion.

Hello Tom, as you can see I too am fairly new to this forum and rarely get into dialogue with anyone because I don't know enough about philately generally to engage in any rich and meaningful discussions. I mostly browse the Canadian site because I decided that it is too cumbersome and would be extremely naive of me to think I could amass a reasonable collection on other countries without bankrupting myself quickly. Interesting, almost as similar as your first page story revealed, I simply began collecting Canadian stamps almost immediately after I too received a birthday gift of Canada's Millennium Collection book (you know, the book that housed special Canadian stamps which included a good description and history of the historic event or person depicted by each of the stamps included) from a close school friend. I was just a pre-teen then in the Millennium year 2000, here in Canada. I was so impressed by the stamps that I was able to later find crude First Day Covers made out these stamps. It was then I began to collect FDC's. And just a few years ago I began to acquire and post (on the internet) private covers for not only these millennium stamps but a few other topical stamps I collected and sought out, for that purpose. So Tom, I eventually got into not only collecting Canadian moderns but occasionally began to rely on a specific FDC designer for commissioning specific cachet covers (only a handful at any given time) exclusive to my chosen Canadian stamp or theme I liked that I wanted a private cover for. Note, that Canada Post made no OFDC from the inaugural group of its Millennium Collection of stamps that I got thirteen years ago, and now I've been told by some dealers that the FDC's made from them at the time may be one of the rarest, full set of Canadian FDC produced in tact, and worthy to hold on to them since those particular stamps have a history and were made in limited edition sets at the time.

That sounds very cool. I would like to find a specialty project to investigate as well but nothing comes to mind. I have been buying anything from ebay with a postal cancel from my old home town in BC but that's about it. I only have a few since it is a pretty small town. I have never been to a stamp show so I don't know what the mounted collections look like that everyone talks about. I am only back in Canada for July and part of August and there never seem to be any shows during this period. I will have to do more research on an interesting specialty of my own.

Not sure if you mentioned it already, but I am curious. What small town are you from.
Plus, some members here may have some cancels from there.

Tom, what is the name of that little "home" town your speaking of? Maybe other readers, myself included, will keep an eye out for postal "cancels" to share/donate to your memories?

By the way, I collect Canadian moderns (as I have said earlier) and if you ever come across any used high value stamps on cover (particularly the $10 whale) with others in China let me know as I have no Canadian high value stamps on cover used for mail sent outside our country (Canada). Although, I am relatively new to this hobby, I hope in time I will have some to start me off in that direction.

I have been searching for postal material from a small town called Britannia Beach, about an hour from Vancouver, BC. Over the years I have picked up the occasional cancel on ebay, but nothing much.

Ok, I will keep that in mind "Britannia Beach", about an hour from Vancouver, BC.

You're going to hate this but my last purchase from an auction needed to be registered, so the envelope had the Moose, the Grizzly and the Whale, all nicely canceled. The secretary at my school collects stamps so I give all my used ones to her. I will try to remember to ask for the same combination the next time they mail me a registered letter.

SaveBigBlue, I have a present for you. I think you'll like it. I'll contact you via email if possible.

Hello Tom,

I enjoyed your post above as I started in 1972 with an uncle who convinced me to only focus on Newfoundland. (I know we've corresponded about that).
Over the years, I've completed the country used and mint (except for the 8-10 ultra costly ones)--but my path has been to keep going deeper vertically within Newfoundland. So RPOs. Then the many varieties. The proofs. My latest focus is to try and get every Newfoundland stamp (only about 370 possible...never changes) on a cover.

So maybe you could do the same with your canada and circle back and dive deep?

Or come to Newfoundland--its a great province with lots of pools to dive deep.

One other comment: I recently found that my inexpensive HP printer has an automatic scanner built in. Someone above posted that a scanner is better than a camera. So check that out...i simply right clicked in the control panel of printers, and there was a "Scan Now" menu. Presto magico--now I have scanned every page without spending any money. Plus I can post the images on this site (though the site doesnt allow large files ...why not?). I think an earlier post about putting it on the web for seeing and insurance and tax is a brilliant idea.