Collecting Israel Mint Tabs

Greetings!

My interest in Israel began when watching the nightly news as a child and following what was happening during the second Yom Kippor War. I can remember hoping and praying for Israel's survival. I stopped stamp collecting when I entered high school but started again for a couple years when I discovered a great local stamp club when I moved to Dearborn Michigan. There I met a wonder older woman who was an ex-pat from Israel and she got me collecting mint tabs from Israel. She also provided a service to that stamp club providing new issues from Israel. We would have nice discussions about the subject matter of the new releases. I also loved the release sheets that came with the new release that would tell about the subject matter. Does anyone know when Israel starting doing these? I would love to be able to purchase those too for other stamps I own. I stopped stamp collecting for a while when I moved away from that stamp club. Now that I am collecting again I would like to continue to develop my Israel mint tab collection.

Is there a nice hingeless album that is made for collecting mint tabs for Israel?

Also is there a good catalogue to use for Israel? Or do folks who collect Israel use the Scott catalogue?

Right now my mint tabs are still on dealer cards. I plan to get a couple lighthouse binders with slip covers and vario pages to start.

Any good online dealers for mint tabs?

Thank you!

David

Nice story David.
To cover some of your questions/queries, let's start with albums about which I know very little.
Hingeless albums are available, I beleive, from a number of sources including Lighthouse. I have heard some members here talk favourably about White Ace albums. I have never used them. I know the hingeless are hugely expensive.
The 'homemade' albums in Israel are of poor quality and most dealers here stock imported supplies. [I couldn't even give you a name of an Israel album, it's been so long since I looked into it !].

The release/information sheets you speak of started in the fifties with simple one page plain paper types. I think they were mostly discarded as waste paper !
I have a complete run from 1973 until about the year 2000. If you are interested, let me know which ones/how many etc and we can talk about it.
I also have Mint stamps with Tabs from 1986-2005, just about complete but with some ommissions. I also have some from the 70's but not too many now. Older ones, I have only the odd set here and there.
I also have some M/S's, Tabbed Sheetlets and some booklets. Also a few other special items.

If you need anything, let me know.
Catalogues: Bale is excellent and not too pricey if you only want Israel.
I have a simple Carmel [local] catalogue which suits my needs.
I also refer to Scott and Gibbons. Scott is better.
Check out prices on ebay. Postage costs are high.

What years are you collecting/interested in ??
There used to be a Club in Eilat [tax free] that offered a new issue service to overseas clients. I am not sure if they are still running. Might be worth checking out. Dealers will charge double or more.
You could subscribe if you want new issues. They now issue Album pages and Mounts FREE to all subscribers. They are illustrated and quite attractive. If you want a scan of some, just holler.

Anything else ? Just holler again !

Londonbus1

Thank you for replying Michael!

I'm interested in a complete mint tab set from #1 to present. Including sheets. I realize that for some stamps I will have to go with used or non tabbed depending on cost but perhaps someday right? That is why I purchased the mint non-tabbed set #1-7 from you! I ordered some vario pages to start housing my stamps that are not on dealer cards. Im trying to start an inventory of what I currently have. I also need to determine the new issues I have and what SC numbers they are. I have two years from the late '90s I think.

David

Darkoath, have you tried Delcampe? I checked and they have 1100 mint tabbed stamps listed. Overall they seem to be more reasonable than E-bay, and generally the quality of their pictures is better!
Also, Scott makes a Israel tabs album!

Peter

Let me know when you have completed your inventory. I will email you anyway to give you an idea of what I have and what you can save !

Yes, Many of the earlies have a price tag. It pays to shop around and be patient.

Londonbus1

Can I ask... is the Bale catalogue in English?

David

Yes it is.

Wow! What a story. Similar to my own. I started collecting Israel stamps when I was a kid as my Dad was collecting UK. It was deliberate - that I should collect a set that was not his and then we'd be chat for hours about size, shape, history, series, etc. I can remember when I was ill and off school that I would sneak into my Dad's office where he kept the albums and sit at his desk and big leather chair leafing through. It was the perfect cathartic and much better medicine for the soul and the mind.

I stopped when I about 15 (high school) and then picked it up again about three years ago. I'm glad as I've managed to reconnect with my Dad in the way we used to. We've always had a good relationship and now - as an adult and a parent myself - it's much stronger. My kids are kind-of interested. I've never left them out and whenever they want to see them, look through or otherwise I always say 'Yes!'.

I too am also interested in filling in the gaps. I have an unbroken set of FDCs from 1948-2007 and a tabbed set from 1948-1998 with about 18-20 missing. I agree with the point that 'it pays to be patient and shop around' for the early ones. I settled on 1998 as it was the 50th anniversary of Israel's statehood and seemed a good place to bookend the set so that I could concentrate on them deepening the collection rather than widening. In this way I've started to find block sets, tabbed blocks, errors and some small runs. Sometimes it's hard to say 'no'.

I would also love to talk/chat Israel stamps and also look into closing the gaps if anyone can help. Please PM or post on here anytime.

Many thanks -

Gideon

WElcome Gideon.

If you wish to start or continue a thread about Israel stamps, I will be happy to join in.

Londonbus1

Cheers, LondonBus1.
I need to build my plus points/posts up then I'll be eligible to contribute. This is only #3!

Peter I checked out Delcampe... They do have a nice selection!

Welcome Gideon! You have a nice collection! I am working on my mint tabs also. I would love to do a first day cover collection too! I think Israel has beautiful first day covers!

I also am going to submit an application to join the Society of Israel Philatelists. Do you belong to this organization Michael or Gideon? I purchased four or five of their books already.

I've also just received two of the large lighthouse three ring binders with slip cases. Now once I get some vario pages I can start figuring out my want list for mint tabs!

One thing I think I would really like to do is pick a favorite stamp and collect as many first day covers of that stamp postmarked from different cities in Israel. Has anyone done this yet? How many issuing cities does Israel usually have with a first day cover?

I also look forward to having more threads about the stamps of Israel here!

David

Nice idea. All you have to do is decide which is your favourite stamp ! Keep us up to date when you have a short list and we can compare !
I am not sure how many First Day postmarks there are. I can look into it. There is the official FDC postmark as with every FDC like in most countries.

email on the way to you.

Londonbus1

Resurrecting this thread with a general comment. I have re-activated my Israel collecting recently. Can someone explain why the Israel stamp market is so dead- for want of a better term? I have old stamp magazines from he early 60's, price lists in those for dealers selling Israel in many cases show higher prices then than now! The price for an untabbed 7-9 for example has held steady over the years and with today's debased dollar those stamps may be actually cheaper today than 50 years ago! Would there be political reasons? Israel has lost a lot of supporters in some European countries and maybe fewer are collecting than before?

"Essays and Proofs of the 1948 Do'ar Ivri Issue of Israel"

Presentation (guest lecture) by Dr Robert Pildes, Evanston IL USA

1700 refreshments

1830 presentation

Wednesday 18 February 2015

The Collector's Club
22 East 35th Street
New York City
1.212.683.0559

http://www.collectorsclub.org/

If you cannot attend, wait a bit, and you will be able to watch the video at:

http://www.collectorsclub.org/Videos.shtml

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey