What Did You Do Philatelically: Today Or Recently?

Moved some Russia stamps from my Voyager album to my Statesman album. Didn't do much today.

Finally got around to sorting and mounting GB Machin's that I had sitting around in stockbooks and glassines. Was able to come up with 84 different up until 1991, about 1/2 mint and 1/2 used. (definition of different is basic value and color, not going down the rabbit hole any further than that). Printed the pages out of the album easy GB album, with a little reconfiguring. Also mounted a few mixed value strips and reader's digest strips (which I also had matching covers).

Found 2 Netherlands Colonies stamps I needed on Delcampe. You have to really be creative when searching on Delcampe as Scott is not the standard, nor is any other catalog for that matter. While some Dutch dealers use NVPH numbers, some don't so you also have to search the year of issue. Even then, it's easy to miss gems hidden in the listings. To be thorough, you sometimes have to search by country names in a native language. For example, unique hits occur when searching for "Liban" instead Lebanon. And in the case of Netherlands Antilles, it doesn't hurt to try both Nederland Antillen and Curacao.

After finding the 2 stamps, I took a shot and sent the rest of my Netherlands area want list to the seller. But I was skeptical- sellers normally list all their items, right? As it turns out, he was able to fill 9 of my 11 missing stamps. Deal done; I'm ecstatic.

Success through endeavor

I was cross checking my regional Machins and pictorial issues and this involved using the new edition of the Deegam Handbook (HB5).

The basic structure did not change (many cross linked PDF files) but the organization is a little different There is more focus on indexes. Also, some pages had been split into separate PDFs. As you navigate around, you will end up with a lot of open PDF files. The handbook is not a simple quick identifier. It still does not seem to work when stored on an online site (like OneDrive) and try to navigate on a phone or tablet running Android.

The images have been significantly improved.

It can be a challenge certainly, as sellers can use any/several of Scott,SG, Michel, Yvert, or country specific catalogues, although Michel and Yvert are most common. I find the best way is to filter by the right category first, and then search within that. Delcampe is quite detailed on their categories (especially for European countries/colonies) and they even have moderators that will correct mis-categorized listings.

Wow, it's been like 10 days since I last posted. Mounting is going slowly these days due to other activities. I grabbed another full set of Steiner pages the other day. I mounted what I had for classic Obock, Oltre Giuba, Oman, Orange River Colony, Ponta Delgada, Pitcairn Islands, Pakistan (1947 to 1955), Palestine, and Papua. Still need to mount Philippines, Poland, El Salvador, Iran, and San Marino. After that, I'll be taking another pass through the M and N countries still in the old International albums to see what needs to come out.

Put away the last of my Austria collection that I recently (about 3 months ago, lol) purchased. Then started organizing and getting ready to mount my Dahomey stamps.

So many Countries and so little time.

Spent a couple/few hours a day for the past 3 days presorting stamps on paper (hinged/stuck) followed by binge sessions soaking/sweating 1880-1930s stamps off. I'd estimate that I have about 800+ done and I am about half way through. I'll do the rest tonight and over the next couple days.

I found an envelope at some point I had filled with a hundred or so used US modern stamps. I sorted those and added about 35 to my collection as edge varieties!

Today I gave my first full length presentation to a Philatelic society. About 1hour 40 minutes. A visual dictionary of stamp terms and phrases. I think it went well, no one fell asleep or walked out. After the initial nerves I enjoyed myself.
Last week I went to a Stamp auction run by a small time auction in Scarborough England. I looked at 44 lots, bid on 18 lots and got 11 lots. For about $15 US I got 1 new Stanley Gibbons large Senator binder, another as good as new, 1 similar binder in equally good condition and 2 Springback binders meant for now obselete sizes of paper. THe 3 big items all came with new pages. The stamps were GB Seahorses in different shades of ink and some Victorian era stamps.

Amtrak had a fare sale and yesterday I took the Empire Builder for a day trip between Pasco, WA and Portland, OR. The bulk of the day was spent at the Uptown Stamp Show brick and mortar shop and I came home with some nice material.

Arranged for shipping from two different auction houses. I now have three packages on the way. Delivery times don't seem to be all that much better yet.

Spent lunch pondering whether German se-tenants (Zusammendrucke) or French gutter-pairs (millésimes) are next on the list of worlds to conquer, lol.

Spent 2 hours designing album pages for India Pre independence stamps.