What Did You Do Philatelically: Today Or Recently?

Those are great looking labels. As yirmeyahu asked, please post the link to the thread which explained this process.

Walkman- wow those look sharp. I have a lot of unused and previously-used Vario pages however since Blaamand starting posting about the Grande system I've been tempted to explore them. One thing I've learned about Vario pages is that once you've used them, the pockets start to lose some of their transparency I assume due to subtle scratches and dents in the film.

I have spent the last week while on vacation migrating my Mayala/Malaysia/Singapore to new pages. I had the chance to see how my prior hinging worked and tried new techniques on the new pages. I was pleasantly surprised (others may have other expectations) I got a 80% "pop off" (clean removal) rate with the Supersafe brand hinges...moisture is key. I had more issues with removal from page than the stamp.

Spent the day identifying a lot of US grills. My eyes are killing me! 79 done so far. Also sorting 70 and 78 Washington colors and large banknotes. I am tired but it was a blast.

rogdcam,

I love how casually you throw out there you've sorted and ID'd 79 grilled stamps. I love it! (Not to mention color ID for 70 and 78's...)

Took a few quick shots. Most of the grills are put away in 102's now. I will try and dig them out later. I have a bunch of 70's and 78's that I will scan and post because I could use some help with the colors. The red boxes are six months worth of culling from collections. Mostly WW. Stamps must be sound and have a minimum CV of $5. There are also four cartons of stockbooks loaded with souvenir sheets and 3 more cartons of covers. I decided to work on US for a while and have about 500 approval cards of classics and W/F's to go through. This all has to be mounted at some point. The 102's are not even organized. I believe that I need a twelve step program.

Wow.....

That's one heck of an accumulation you have there! You're as bad as I am, rogdcam.

My collection is U.S. only, but it fills one room and is rapidly filling the second. To make matters worse, I just bought another massive collection of eight volumes (Scott hingeless) which lacks about 300 stamps to be complete. The lady had let a dealer sell off the bulk of the 19th century, but a couple of nice items were missed, including a nicely centered, fault-free 262. I'll be working with that collection, and the other 14 I have to break down, for a couple of years at the rate I'm going.

Nice to know I'm not the only one who does this to myself.

You have a twelve step program which speeds things up?

Glad that someone else understands my mania. The red boxes are just from the last six months or so. I have dozens of large Pelican cases in storage loaded with binders, albums, red boxes and every other method of wrangling stamps there is. It will take a moving van to take it away when I have taken my last breath. I am always preaching to others about making sure their heirs know what there is and how to dispose of it but truthfully it is so out of hand I don't believe that I could ever make a proper accounting. The contents of the main albums of my proper collections will be sold at auction. The other material in the cases and cartons will be much harder to deal with. I am contemplating making arrangements through my attorney with a reputable auction house or houses to sell it all in advance of my trip to tweezer heaven.

Yeah, I know what you mean about getting a bead on what you have.

I was showing some of my stamps at the club here when I first joined, and one of the members who I knew asked one night whether I had everything insured. I told him "Sure, it's covered by my homeowner's policy..." He suggested politely I check into it, so I did, and found I basically had no insurance. No problem. I'd just get some, right?

So I called around and ended up going to Collectibles Insurance. The sweet young lady on the phone when I called was as helpful as she could be. Once I had explained what I had in pretty excruciating detail, she asked the all important question, "How much insurance do you need?" I told her I didn't have a clue, so she politely asked me to call her back when I did.

I started a spread sheet that day, entering stamps and all the other material in the collection. It was actually a load of fun, especially at first, as I had to stop and really look at ALL the stamps as I entered them and scanned them. I had told the young lady that I'd probably need about $20,000 insurance, figuring that might even be a wee bit high...

Eight years later, I'm still entering stamps into the database and scanning them. Surprisingly, I'm still having a lot of fun doing it. And, oh yeah, that $20,000 figure I pulled out of my keister wasn't even close.

The benefits of this are multiple. First you have to really look at each item and determine whether it is something that really fits with your collecting goals or not, and then enter it, putting it somewhere it belongs (not back into the chaotic mess I have going on). Second, you have a scanned image of everything, so you can sit at the computer and pull up everything when you need to see whether you have it already. Third advantage is I now have a very thorough inventory (at least for what is in the database), again, complete with images. Finally, if I should kick the bucket tonight, my daughter knows where to go to find this inventory. I've also listed several dealers/auctions houses she can contact, as well as club members who will sit in on any negotiations with her.

With all that in place, I just keep on collecting and having fun putting it all in some semblance of order. Now, if I can only get around to creating the album pages and start mounting some of this collection....but, hey, that's for another day, right?

Happy New Year to all!

Rogdcam--nice accumulation there! I'll be chasing down some of those issues in a year or so...

Anyway...I ordered a new toner cartridge for the laser printer, having just emptied one out printing Steiner pages. Working country-by-country in alphabetical order, I made it to Bangladesh before the toner ran out.

Ursa - Having been in Bangladesh they key is making if OUT of Bangladesh!

rogdcam, I know your remark about the 12-step program was made in jest, but I have actually investigated a few that have helped me manage my tendency towards compulsivity when it comes to philately:

DA (Debtors Anonymous) - not that I have gone into debt from my spending on the hobby, but there is a lot for me to learn about how I can compulsively overspend on stamps and supplies and ways to prevent my philatelic budget from eating into, say my funds set aside to pay the water bill!

CLA (Clutterers Anonymous) - my collection has a tendency to grow and spread and take up more and more of my living space each year. CLA tells me how to manage clutter in my life - and not just physical clutter, but emotional and spiritual as well.

WA (Workaholics Anonymous) - I have often turned my hobbies into all-consuming work sessions that last for hours ... some may find this to be fun, but for me, there's a point past which, it is no longer fun and becomes a somewhat stressful work activity. I use WA to help me manage my time and my mindset better and to focus more on having fun with the time I do spend on my hobby.

I'm certainly not trying to recruit anyone here, but I wanted to chime in about how my enjoyment of philately has actually increased through my participation in and study of various 12-step groups ... :)

I was able to finally put away a small accumulation of German area stamps that has been on my desk for a few months. Felt good to actually make some progress.

Also in the same vain, it being a new year and all, I made out a list of goals that I want to accomplish as it relates to my collection. I think it will help me stay focused on smaller tasks as at time, the volume of material can become overwhelming.

Yirmeyahu - Just saw your request, the original thread that inspired my labels was https://goscf.com/t/5811

Great enthusiasm here lately - I love it!