Nice Surprises In A Cheap Ebay Bin

I had a 1909 19th Century Edition International album in my watch list for about a week and it remained unsold at $55 BIN. The seller only had 4 of the 12 pictures showing actual stamps. The rest were of the maps, cover and binder. I noticed the Valenzuela Columbian stamp in one of the pics and although it's not valuable, I don't see that stamp very often in lots I see and get. Twice before to be exact. It made me think there might be a couple other items I don't usually see so I offered $40. They countered with $50 delivered and I accepted. It arrived Friday and I couldn't be more pleased.

Here are the 4 auction pics that showed stamps:








Here's what I've pulled, soaked (used) and saved so far:

Good one, Mike. Looks nice and clean.

I think you got a very nice surprise Xmas present there. Good job.

Totally agree! Nice buy Mike.
Regards
DavidR

Thanks. One thing I've noticed is nothing had been removed from this album over the years. No hinge marks at all, just stamps.

No GB at all and pretty sparse on the rest of the main countries but I'm sure I'll find some missing pieces for my Big Blue (14,608 so far in it)

Very nice, especially for $50 delivered!

Mike,

You got all that for $50.00?

Jack

NICE! I think you scored, $50 shipped, excellent work!

Yup, and a bunch more. None of this was shown in the actual auction. Was just advertised as the album and "some stamps" with the 4 pics of the open album above

:)

Lucky man :)

The Canada are nice too.

Getting these old collections intact must be getting harder as time goes by. It always seems to be that someone gets there before you doesn't it?

Some nice material there. What a great surprise!

Bobby DLR

Actually, there are more and more of these "old time" collections becoming available as traditional collectors die and none of the heirs want to mess with it.

I'm the president of our local club, so I put my name and number out in newspaper articles so people who are interested in learning more about the club can. Unfortunately, it's usually an heir who wants to know where they can sell grandpa or grandma's stamp collection. Usually.

I had a lady call me up one day, a couple of years ago, and this is exactly what she left on the answering machine "I guess I'm just calling to see if anyone even wants stamps anymore. What I want is permission to just throw this old stuff in the dumpster. If I don't hear from you by Saturday, it's all going in the dumpster."

Now, I've heard of people throwing stuff in the trash, but the term "dumpster" got my attention. I made arrangement to go see her that Saturday.

When I got there, she had a box that was four feet long by a foot and a half high and two feet deep on the table. I offered to look at it and tell her what she had. She opened the box, pulled out a gallon size baggie absolutely filled with mint U.S. and asked me how she was supposed to use all that for postage. The box was absolutely filled. Then, she pointed to a banker's box filled with albums. Again, I offered to look it over with her. Her reply was "The only thing I'd like you to do is open the door and your car so I can put this junk in it."

I did and she did. I got home and was both amazed and sickened that this collection had just missed being put in the trash. There were complete albums for the Jubilee issues of 1936, an almost complete run of Fluegel FDCs and tons of stamps. Then I found the 1947 Scott National Album. It was loaded with both mint and used stamps, such as C13, C18, 19th century to the $1.00, etc.

It took the club almost a year to sort through all of the material and parcel it out to the members. I had tried to call the lady back but she didn't want to hear about it; she had gotten rid of the junk and that was all that it was to her.

I often wonder how many collections haven't been saved from the dumpster...

Yes, there are opportunities to pick up "old time" collections quite often...

Great acquisition!

Hey Mike, just started my BB early last year. I've bought 6 or 7 of them and I'm about where you are...just under 15,000. You don't find many of the feeder albums with any of the New Brunswick's either. None for me so far. Very nice!
Ray

Thanks!

Ray, it's been a fun project. So far I've pulled about 250 though the letter N that I need for my BB. A lot were upgrades but a bunch of them filled some holes and were higher denominations than the BB has spaces for.

Also overlooked a 2 cent Washington Guam overprint on my first run through of the album. That was a nice surprise to see one of those in here.

I'm thinking this album will push me over 15,000