A Few Months Into My Worldwide Collection

I am now a couple of months into collecting "the world". It's been a lot of fun. I have tried to take some of the advice given in a previous post asking for advice. I've bought several cheap penny a piece lots and found some interesting stamps with a bunch of cheap CTO stuff. I can see how it is of limited usefulness but I've gotten a lot better at identifying world stamps (I previously collected the US, Mongolia, and Scandinavia).

I bought some very cheap lots on Stamparoma. I joined the International Society of Worldwide Stamp Collectors and participate in their large circuit exchange. I ventured into the world of auctions and bought from Vance in Canada and UPA in the UK. I have been actively collecting early Mongolia by sets/singles (not a lot of Mongolia collections kicking around). I've bought a few more specialized country collections. I'm looking to purchase my first large WW album set some time before Christmas (either a 4 part Minkus Global or a "Big Blue" most likely). I will probably go with one of those and then specialized albums for Mongolia and Scandinavia (Minkus for Mongolia and either Scott Specialty or Stender for Scandinavia.

Probably most importantly, after sorting my stamps by country, I've actually been cataloguing them and putting them in order in stockbooks until I figure out my album situation. I've catalogued Mongolia, Armenia, Tannu Touva, Malta, Iceland, and Greenland so far and I have a Scott National Album for my US collection. I also have Finland Scott Specialty pages. I'm hoping to do a few more countries over the next 2 weeks (three day weekend this weekend!)

I'm finding that the more you buy, the cheaper it is. At least that is what I tell myself

paulsonja

Sounds like fun ,keep it going .

paulsonja:

What has been your experience with the WW stamp collectors club? I am a WW used stamp collector and have wondered if the club's circuits are worth the time and expense of joining.

Don

The large circuit exchange is only online. I haven't gotten involved with their other circuits.

Hi Don:

I'm also a member of the ISWSC, in fact I help manage one of the circuits there and participate in many of them, so I will try to help answer your questions. Like you I only collect used worldwide stamps, and I have found it to be worthwhile. Whether or not you will feel the same in some ways depends on how advanced your collection is, but there are different programs for different levels of collectors. The cost to join the ISWSC is $15/year with a discount if you pay for more years in advance.

The following exchanges all are for trading stamps, the only ongoing monetary expense is the cost of postage and envelopes. Some of these have a startup cost which I will explain:

Large Circuit Exchange - Exchange only large sized mint and used stamps with other members (no CTO). You can choose to be on a 100 stamp or 200 stamp circuit. Take what you want and pass it on. No US stamps are permitted. The sign up fee can either be paid in cash or in large stamps. The sign up fee is used to help populate the pool of stamps that are sent out to the participants, and pay for supplies such as glassines. This is the exchange I help with. If you are the last person on the circuit, you are asked to enclose enough mint US postage to cover the postage cost to mail out the next circuit.

Small Circuit Exchange - The same as the large circuit exchange, only with small stamps.

CTO Exchange - Same as the large circuit exchange but with CTO stamps only.

Premium Exchange - This exchange only accepts stamps worth 50 cents or more, and you have to provide the catalog numbers of all the stamps you send. The manager keeps track of this, and in return sends you 50 stamps worth more than 50 cents. You will never receive the same stamp twice, and you will never receive a stamp you submitted. This is the reason for keeping track of the catalog numbers. There is no startup cost.

Omni Exchange - For this exchange, you are issued empty sheets of stamps which you then mount and identify with a catalog number and a price. You submit your stamps to the exchange monitor, and once you meet a minimum threshold of value, he sends you back stamps submitted by other members. This is a dollar for dollar stamp exchange, and you are required to use catalogs issued in the last 5 years. If your stamps are damaged you should mark them down appropriately. You will have a postage account for this exchange, and when stamps are sent to you the cost of mailing them will be subtracted from the account. You may fund the postage account with cash or mint US stamps. There is a nominal cost for the empty sheets, but you are also welcome to make your own as long as they look the same as the ones the manager will issue to you. I actually do this because I find it easier than asking for more sheets all the time. You can express interests such as used only, and the manager tries to accommodate you. I use this exchange to get rid of my mint higher value stamps and exchange them for used ones. There is a $500 limit per shipment sent to you, because that is the maximum the shipments are insured for.

I hope my explanations make sense, and that this helps you make an informed decision. If it would be helpful, I can send a photo of the next stamp circuit I send out so you get an idea of the quality of stamps that are traded.

I too am an ISWSC member. I participate in a number of the club's circuits and have found them to be worthwhile, both in terms of getting stamps and moving along duplicates.

Thanks, stamperJD and dkabq8. Good information.

Don

The Society also has a newsletter that is very interesting and a mail bid sale. It's a great resource for WW collectors. I like the online circuit--I am very new to it and I'm figuring out what stamps are valued by collectors there. You go online, choose your stamps (you can choose 25 on the 1st, then it increases to 50 a few days later, then 100 after that and it closes around the 10th), and send it an equal number of stamps (or a few more). Your selected stamps are sent to you and the circuit opens the 1st of the next month with everyone's new stamps. No CTO, no small, no US. This month there was India, France, Spain, various Africa, Australia, Bermuda, Japan, Canada, Newfoundland, Israel, a bunch of New Zealand private post, and a bunch of other countries. It's heavy in recent issues but there are always classic stamps. There is (at least for me) a learning curve in what the circuit is interested in. The circuit manager aims for 90% exchange--I am not there for the month yet--and I'll adjust my offerings. I really like it and highly recommend it.