Absent Minded Collector

I have been organizing my collection while off from work and found this old auction lot of British Antarctic Territory from around 15 years ago that I had put in a closet and forgot about! Completely forgot that I had them! Too nice a lot to have forgotten! Just wondering if you have also tucked away any stamps that you forgot you had?

Nice lot. I have the first set used, minus the second pound value.

As for putting stuff away, I did have the small, classic, Montenegro collection that I bought in 1975 and finally got around to getting it into my Big Blue Internationals in 2013. So, about 38 years between purchase and mounting. The dealer/auction house was F.E. Eaton & Associates in Vancouver, B.C. Don't think they're in business any longer.

Now you've got me wondering where I've put that 1c British Guiana stamp. I'm sure I had it somewhere...

What makes it worse is when you re-buy it.

Oh dear, yes! I have many stamps that I put away until I could get the album out and mount them. Now, where did I put them?

Don

We've all done that. I hate it when I buy stamps that I've already purchased and forgot about. Happens more than I care to admit!

Jack

I've spent the bulk of the day reorganizing my US postal savings/war savings material and integrating acquisitions in preparation for separately updating my exhibit. Found a couple of things I didn't remember I had and am thrilled to find!

It happens to me all the time. I'll buy a collection, put it aside until I can get the time to break it down and forget it's there. Well, not so much that it's there, but I can't remember every stamp in it.

Along comes an APS sales circuit, I'll check it against my database (which doesn't yet have the collections I haven't broken down) and I'll snag items from the circuit.

Later, I'll be breaking down the collection and scratching my head as to why I didn't do this sooner as I find stamps I've purchased elsewhere, not knowing I already had them...

Oh, well.

Like SDTOM --- Been there - Done that!

I have a few duplicates because I forgot to maintain my inventory file.

Hmm it seems I'm not alone

Hate to ask, but is it an age thing? I have a large and valuable duplicates pile ready for selling. Just yesterday I found an Iceland stamp, duplicated, CV £650 (SG39). Another one added to the "to sell" list...

I sold my main collection over 10 years ago. When I did so, I thought that I had sent off all of the albums that I had. A few years ago, I was cleaning out a drawer, and lo and behold, there was a cover book completely stuffed full of US Scott #11's and #26's on cover. All cheap covers, but now that I no longer needed to sell, it was great to still have these. I've thoroughly enjoyed going back through them, and have found some new details in some that I had not previously noted.

I wonder how many albums remain hidden from their owners around the world. A collector friend once mentioned to me that he had put a few covers behind a water heater in a house that he sold, and forgot about them. I believe those items are still AWOL.

With over fifty years of adult stamp collecting and a room full of boxes full of stamps and covers, besides albums and reference books, I am always finding things I set aside for a moment and suddenly discover tucked somewhere.
The delight in finding a stamp,a cover, or a glassine with some neat stamps long forgotten is all a part of the hobby.
I once found a note (short letter.) from a good friend, since departed, that had been accompanied by some Norwegian stamps she sent me, and that was quite interesting as some memories bubbled up.
Stamp collectors, and probably most collectors, are first off, hoarders and often gravitate to collecting one thing or another accidentally.

Done it many times. I've also bought misidentified material more than once because I just looked at the cat# in the listing. I keep my German area want list in a Google spreadsheet so I can cross reference it while shopping, but all I have is the Scott# and prices for both mint and used. I don't have any further info such as description, color, denomination, etc, and there are too many different stamps on my want list to remember all this about each stamp. Anyway, say I see a seller selling, say, Danzig 35. I look at my want list and see that I need Danzig 35 and then I bid or buy accordingly. Then when I go to put it in my album, I notice it's the wrong stamp, it's not actually Danzig 35, the seller misidentified it. Had I actually looked in the catalog or in my album, I would have seen that it was the wrong stamp, but since I just looked at the number, I bought the wrong one.

Hi I sort have the problem, I took over a family collection start some time in the 1890's.

Because I had a career in the military, boxes and boxes of unknown stuff was in storage, then later I started a family adopted 4 kids.

Now in retirement, have relocated the boxes where I live now. Slowly going thru all the stuff accumulated, some of which is a real puzzle.

One of the family members started a First Day Cover business, have two boxes full of unsold First Day Covers.

Stampmaster