Life After Bellmore- Looking For An Approval Dealer

The demise of Bellmore philatelics has let me wondering if anyone out there still offers the same sort of approval service. I was getting pages from collections to pick from at a % of catalog, perfect for my pre 1940 worldwide collection.

I have noted some dealers advertising in the American Philatelist and wonder about some of them. Jerry Bourque in SC has advertised for some time and there is a regular ad from Robert Ducharme in Quebec, That one may be doubtful due to possible issues with postage and customs.

I am not seeking a lot of immaculate NH material, which seems to be what many offer. If anyone has any suggestions, they'd be welcome.

Downtown Stamp Company http://www.downtownstamp.com/

Thanks, it looks like Downtown services want lists and I can contact them for more details. I guess what I was seeking may be something that no longer is feasible. More like getting a wide variety of stamps on pages to sort through.

I think Bellmore might have been the last of the old pick from album pages approval type places, due to cost of shipping large bulky parcels these days. More fun than surfing the net to find the stamps I want to add to my collection, but I think its likely the reality for collectors (myself included) who loved to indulge in a lazy afternoon going through a pile of old pages and picking just what we wanted.

Best of luck, let me know how they do for you. Iv'e had excellent results with them. There are a few others who have advertised in Linn's for ages so I imagine they must be decent. I've not tried any of the others, though.

I had a dealer who wanted to give approvals a try. I received approvals from him for several months, then he said that he was going to stop offering approvals due to "lack of interest"

What about joining APS (if you are not already a member) and partaking in their circuits service? Similar to getting approvals from a dealer, right?

I like the APS circuits. First, they don't come so often as to be intrusive. I've got 3 or 4 areas for which I receive circuits and I probably get something every couple of months. It is a lot more material to review than standard approvals, and I've found some nice additions for my collection. It is a bit more expensive in terms of mailing to send to the next collector, but I think it is worth it.

Probably two years ago, maybe less, I tried approvals again. I won't name the dealer, but I don't know. The selections were mostly "meh" and my big issue was there was tons of duplication. Sometimes there were multiples of the same set in the same selection. The last lot I received had the same set times three, and that set I had returned in at least two previous selections. Either they had no mechanism to see what I'd returned or they were awfully determined to sell me that set. The multiples were pretty common, so I cancelled.

I tried the APS circuits a few years back. I was getting mailings on their Russia circuit. I almost never got anything of interest, all a lot of short sets, cto stuff. I know there is a place for everything out there but I cancelled after three rounds. It seemed apparent no matter ow high up the list I got there wasn't going to be much of interest for me.

I was getting US approvals last year from a long time advertiser in Linn's classifieds. I should say, I tried to get approvals. I understand the idea of starting out with lower priced stuff when you have a new customer and gradually building trust. This guy sent me $20 worth of material the first three times then when I questioned it he upped to about $25. His prices were off the charts- common 3 cent plate blocks for nearly a dollar each. I'd given him my APS # and that I am a life member but he just refused to budge on this stuff and I finally ended our relationship.

There are also approval dealers who just will not respond to requests, even with a polite 'no'. One guy ran ads for years in the AP magazine but never replied to several requests. Just for fun I finally complained about him, he then told them he had never heard from me, so I wrote again, no reply then either. I think he just decided there was something about me he didn't like, maybe my name, I'll never know.

Stamps1962, your experiences and this discussion make me wonder how critical is the role of direct dealer purchases for today's collectors?

While I have yet to engage any sources for approvals, some of the buying experiences mentioned by you and others points out that there are some troubling issues with a good number of the stamp dealers out there.

If dealers ignore a client's collecting level and interests, it's just a big waste of time. In the cases discussed here it seems I may be disappointed by the APS Circuit program which I have intended to try out. After going to the last ASDA Dealer Show in NYC I have received numerous stamp lists which are certainly informative since I have built my US collection of mostly classics via ebay auctions.

But honestly, as much as I would like to support stamp dealers -- most of whom are very small owner run businesses -- dealer pricing makes it very difficult to do so.

Recently I purchased 20 single stamp lots of higher value used US stamps from numerous ebay dealers. In each case I compared my ebay purchase price with a dealer list price for the same Scott US cat # and condition. Here are a few examples from my comparison:

US #36 SCV $350 Dealer List: $89 My ebay cost: $12
US #122 SCV $2100 Dealer List: $1000 My ebay cost: $400
US #292 SCV $700 Dealer List: $525 My ebay cost: $230

My conclusion: With apologies to dedicated dealers, my budget can't afford buying from dealers. Except in rare cases I'm sticking with online auctions and making best offers.

If you bought a #36 for $12, it must have been a dog.

Although I wish I had useful suggestions for approval dealers, I do want to put in a good word for the APS Circuits. Like everything, there are a number of variables that will impact your experience. Some of these are the nature of the selections. I collect 1840-1940; most circuits aren't restricted to that date range, but I found there were enough stamps in say "general" France to make it worthwhile. More troublesome, is that some countries don't have that many members contributing books and these members may have a very inflated opinion of the value of their stamps. Or worse, are lousy sellers. For example, those sellers who can't be bothered to put their stamps in catalog number order. And, sometimes there will just be a particular mailing that doesn't have anything of interest, but the next one could be full of interesting material. So my recommendation is if you give APS circuits a try, don't judge based on a single mailing or even two. I know it is irritating to have to pay the mailing/insurance expenses when you don't find anything of use, but I would say overall 80% of the circuits I received were well worth the trouble.