What Did You Do Philatelically: Today Or Recently?

NicholasC wrote:


Here is the latest status of the available Steiner pages for Trucial States:
(Last number being # of pages)

TRUCIAL STATES All 1
TRUCIAL STATES (Scott & NonScott) Ajman (-> 1971) 241
TRUCIAL STATES (Scott & NonScott) Dubai (All) 118
TRUCIAL STATES (Scott & NonScott) Fujeira (1964-72) 259
TRUCIAL STATES (Scott & NonScott) Khorfakkan (All) 48
TRUCIAL STATES (Scott & NonScott) Manama ( -> 1970) 96
TRUCIAL STATES (Scott & NonScott) Manama (1971-72) 103
TRUCIAL STATES (Scott & NonScott) Ras Al Khaima( -> 1972) 152
TRUCIAL STATES (Scott & NonScott) Sharjah ( -> 1967) 77
TRUCIAL STATES (Scott & NonScott) Sharjah (1968-69) 78
TRUCIAL STATES (Scott & NonScott) Sharjah (1970-71) 80
TRUCIAL STATES (Scott & NonScott) Sharjah (1972) 105
TRUCIAL STATES (Scott & NonScott) Sharjah (Deluxe Sheets) 60 4
TRUCIAL STATES (Scott & NonScott) Sharjah (Miniature Sheets) 42
TRUCIAL STATES (Scott & NonScott) Umm Al Qiwain (1964-72) 134

The Ajman pages were added earlier this year.

John

Thanks for the info, John!

Counted parts VII and VIII and currently sit at 86129 unique. Getting beyond 100,000 will be close. I had pulled quite a bit of mid-1971-mid-1973 a while ago and have many hundreds more from late 1973 through 1976 in glassines that need to be counted, plus I still have not counted the 10 large South America from 1840-mid-1971 and most of my U.S. collection which goes through at least year 2000. I'm sure I'm forgetting some others.

It looks like Bill has been busy.

I haven't dug into the available 1500+ Trucial States pages (yet), but it looks like extensive coverage... Converting to singles coverage only would be a daunting task for anyone, but the bones are there, it seems.

John

Bought a couple partial vintage Scott's Catalog sets from the 20s to the 50s at my local library book sale for $.50 total...they look nice on the wife's vintage book bookshelf and are still pretty usable

Finally emptied my briefcase of the WESTPEX 2022 purchases. After nearly three months, there were a few, "oh wows" that's right, I got that. But better than that there were no, "hey, idiot, what were you thinking" mumbling as I unpacked. Could also see why some dealers used my real name in conversation, at least until the card cleared, cash handed over or check written. It was a fun day, both unpacking and remember the day at the show. Also prompted some joy thinking about friends I would call about great finds but sadness as I can not longer share my findings with them.

Continued working on removing stamps from the existing album I purchased that have some troublesome mounts. I'm transferring them to a new stockbook until I can figure out what I'm gonna do for a more "permanent" album. A little tedious but also fun at the same time.

Ended up getting more stamps and philatelic items than planned.

I was happy to get my USPS order of the Redhead Duck Commemorative Card which is being sold now at the USPS site (got to Collectors) -- https://store.usps.com/store/result...stid=790665. A great product and along with the Card you get a Certificate of Appreciation.

Two items I had not planned but thought ONE may attain a very modest premium over time and the person commemorated seemed interesting - a pane of 20 2 ounce Katherine Graham stamps. Interesting in that it is part of a series that started in 2000. This is the 17th one. For those wanting to learn a little more this Wikipedia entry offers a good summary --- note the last Distinguished Americans stamp issued was in 2017, seems to be issued irregularly making it a little hard to accumulate unless you purchase the current amount issued on the secondary market.
The other I got just because of the design - the Nancy Regan stamp in which is uses a portion of a portrait painted and she looks ghostly! I learned from a patron at the post office that Mrs. Regan admitted and shared her struggle dealing with anorexia and bulemia - that may explain her ghostly portrait.

Finally, my intuition was telling me to stop at a particular post office to get the 1 cent Tiffany and Navaho necklace 2 cent stamp panes. I just like these stamps very much but felt a little guilty getting them as I have plenty of low denomination stamps --- enough to make a miniature piece of art if I so chose to do. But I got a nice surprise, the panes were a different plate number position and printer from the ones I had in my album. Glad I got two panes of each so that I have extra to use --- plan on using it for bills, postcards, postcrossing. Hey if anyone wants to exchange postcards, message me! I enjoy it.

I finished mounting my Ajman "Dunes" and have been working slowly through Fujeira. It's amazing how small a 37mm mount looks after consistently using larger mounts for the Fujeira stamps. I'm quite happy to finally be using up my 61, 59, 55, 52, 50, 48, and 44mm mounts. Had some left over from years ago. Unfortunately, I have to order more of them because there are so many stamps to mount.

I understand the aesthetics, but these really don't deserve more than a cheap hinge or two!

A day or so ago I finished the non (2012) Scott listed "Dunes" that I have except for a handful of mini sheets. All total it was 754 stamps across 108 pages, which I know isn't very many compared to what exists.

After that, I mounted the (2012) Scott listed Ajman, Dubai, Fujeira, and Umm Al Qiwain, another 177 stamps and 32 pages.

And just today I mounted another 363 stamps on 40 pages across Thailand, Saar, Ryukyu Islands, and Cambodia.

Nice work, NicholasC.

I worked some more on the new album that will house the existing album I mentioned above. It's a little tedious but I think it will come out nicely.
I am also trying to get into the world of watermark detection. I'm still new in my philatelic journey so I'd love to try out some of the different methods. I have some Clarity fluid on the way and I was looking at reviews of the Stanley Gibbons Detectamark, which looked very promising.

One can actually appreciate some of the art shown on the stamps from the Trucial State area since the stamps are oversized. One can actually see a little detail

@GeoffHa, I know that not all stamps deserve mounts, but I decided when I started this project to use clear mounts for everything, no matter the value. I don't care about the cost. Using hinges is more difficult (for me) and more likely to result in stamps sticking to the page and being crooked and eventually falling off the page (as was the case with their original homes). When I am all done with mounting, I'm quite sure I will have spent at least 10x more on glassines, stock books, mounts, paper, ink, and binders than I will have spent on the actual stamps. I feel I am very lucky to have what I have with spending so little. The enjoyment of the process and having the stamps cleanly mounted is worth far more than the money spent.

Thanks @WheatCent!

@angore, absolutely! There are definitely some decent sets. When I am done with mounting, I will get to go back and enjoy them on the pages instead of in glassines or stock books.