Complaints, Curiosities, And Confessions

COMPLAINTS: Most of the stamps I need to complete my current collection are so expensive that I can't afford them.
CURIOSITIES: Looking with some curiosity at countries I haven't started collecting because of (1) above.
CONFESSIONS: Starting new countries without really thinking it through.

Complaints:

I would like to complain about the worsening situation within the UK, Canada, Australia, Israel, USA [and the odd other] for cancelling stamps. I have only received 3 cancelled items of mail this year from the above countries.

Curiosities:

I am curious as to why the postal services of Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland [and the odd other] can cancel their mail beautifully 90% of the time and why the Postal services in 1 [above] cannot even though they know about it.

Confessions:

I re-use all the stamps from 1 [above] by giving to friends and family, glue-sticking to mail myself or by selling. No, I do not feel bad about it.

Londonbus1

Comments on various.......... complaint about Harry Potter stamps. I'm currently using a booklet of Potter stamps.

Forgeries, fakes: actually I like them and have a number of Fournier forgeries identified in my collections, particularly Portuguese India. "How many of my classic German & Italian states are authentic? " Check out the Serrane Guide, published by APS. There may be similar resources in Europe.

"I bought too many mint sheets from the Post Office in the '80s and '90s." My problem is what my late father purchased in the '50s, '60s, '70s. He died in December, 1992 and I am still using those old 3 & 4 cent commems on letters. I think I'm about half way through them, in 22+ years. I bought some rolls of 42 and 44 cent flag stamps, to use the commems with, before the Postal Service eliminated those from their mail order catalog. So, other than a couple of sports blogs, I still pay by check and regular letter; and can't use commems on smaller reply envelopes.

1. Not having enough people or reasons to use my supply of stamps.

2. Do people actually lick unused stamps from the 1950s to the 1990s when using them?

3. I still haven't found an area to focus on collecting

3. I love having a variety of Forever stamps and try to keep $50 worth on hand.

Complaint: auction houses in the US that price items for sale, not just in Scott, but also in catalog prices from other countries. I've seen Unitrade (Canada), Gibbons (British), Michel (German), Sassone (Italy), to name a few. These catalogs may reflect possible value in those countries, but for the US, I think they inflate value. I'm buying in the USA, not in the home countries of those catalogs. The only reason I can see for using the prices other than Scott is to try and jack up the bidding, to make people think items are more valuable than they actually are.

Londonbus1

You could add Austria to that group also since I have never
received any mail from that country where all stamps were not cancelled.
I wish though they wouldn't use that roller canceller though.

The opposite is Canadian mail which apparently is never
cancelled when it arrives in Austria.

Why is that?

The collection is getting bigger all the time. I am now looking for a house to house it all.

No collector can have enough catalogs. I have over 200 of them, in many languages, and still find more new stamps to add to my collections.

One of the most underappreciated areas of collecting modern American stamps are the marginal inscriptions other than the plate numbers.

COMPLAINT: Scott Catalog (a): Why didn't they catalog by design type and leave the differences in perforation, watermark, etc. as sub-classifications? It would make it easier for a beginner. As their experience grows, then look for the minor differences. (b) Why doesn't Scott provide a summary table for long, complicated series like Michel does? The dreaded "see also" is all we get!

CURIOSITIES: (a) Why do some collectors have such a negative reaction to CTO's when they are a part of a country's postal history but don't have the same reaction to a FDC with no address and a cachet? (b) Why do some collectors obsess so much over the "value" of their collections? Do they really enjoy the hobby?

CONFESSIONS: (a) I have thousands of hours of stamping to do with the stamps I have but buy more stamps by the hundreds because I feel I need them. (b) The countries I thought I had a handle on don't look that way when I take them from my albums and convert them to Steiner pages. (More work and fun to do!)