Buy Sort Mount Sell Cycle?

Hi - how many of you go through a similar cycle that I do:

1) Go on a buying spree looking to purchase collections to compliment your existing collection

2) Stop buying when you literally run out of room to keep all the new material and start a sorting and mounting phase. At this point I might only buy very specific items to fill in gaps from the prior buying spree

3) Sell off excess material to make room for new collections. This is where sites such as ebay have made many of us into amateur dealers

Right now I'm in the sorting and mounting phase as I have to make room. Of course I could also expand the space I utilize, but my family might object :-)

Paul

Hoarders always have room for just one more!

I think "hoarding" can be the bane of our existence as collectors and philatelists. My most extreme example is that, last year, I finally got around to mounting a small Montenegro collection that I bought in 1975! I'm also still working on a multi-album collection that I bought in the mid-1980s, which is now mostly done. Fortunately, I can sell stuff through the APS Stamp Store (they pay all the shipping, in exchange for the commission). I also can give away some better quality stuff to the local philatelic library and take a tax write-off.

It's hard for me to limit my buying. But I'm sticking with no more large collections and just spot stuff in my speciality countries.

I find that I'm hoarding the better material that might sell well in the APS store, so I tend to make lots and collections that I sell on ebay. I've thought about consigning and/or selling some of the items to a larger reseller so all I have to do is ship it once and someone else takes care of the selling and shipping.

pk

Your original post pretty much describes my experience. I've narrowed from buying worldwide collections to country collections to shorter time-periods within country collections. I have to say I don't find buying individual stamps very entertaining. But I do have a large sprawl of old albums, old stockbooks of duplicates, envelopes, glassines etc. I'n not in the position of following the example of the doyen of cigarette card collectors, Edward Wharton-Tigar, who eventually bought the house next to his his to store his million plus cards!

Geoff

Ah! The hoary hoarder hobby story!

I go through the buy, sort, mount, donate cycle ... typically sending off the accumulated excesses or unwanted to the APS "Stamp Teach" program. http://stamps.org/stamps-teach

If I have an accumulation of stamps with sufficient "net" value, I will mount them in a sales book and sent them off to the APS stamp circuits. http://stamps.org/Buy-and-Sell-by-Mail

I hadn't heard of the Stamp Teach program. Thank you for sharing this.

I just generally remain at Stage 1!

My husband is probably going to put his foot down one day, but until then .... I just expand the space. We moved house two years ago and one of my secret requirements (I got to pick the house without his input due to the speed of the move) was a larger study with tons of storage for my collection. I got it, so #2 just ain't gonna happen.

I do do #3 from time to time.

As I have aged, I need less "stuff" and have downsized considerably. However, my stamp collection is the one area of my life where "more is better."

I'm just now starting to sort mine. Need to find an online catalog to note what needs numbers they are.
Thank you Hieronymus for the big start to my and my sons collections.