My Worldwide Collection: An Ongoing Journey

Here is what I have left from Colombia, that I will eventually mount. Most of these seem to be charity labels of some sort, and a lone SPECIMEN. Not really enough here to make pages for yet.

If anyone has any information on any of these, it would be appreciated.

First time seeing this blog and it's one of the best I've seen on SCM. Very interesting and enjoyable.

shermae - Thank you very much! I try to make regular updates on what's going on with this project. But of course, sometimes life get's in the way. All comments, suggestions and questions are welcomed.

So, while trying to decide which new country I want to tackle, I decided to start a project I've been wanting to get to for a while. I will be starting a remount, onto new Steiner pages, of a New Zealand collection.

A while back, maybe a year and a half, I bought some country collections on an online auction (not ebay) that specialized in estate sales and auctions, so not a stamp auction. But they had a fairly large collection, on Steiner pages, they were busting up and selling country by country, or some were 2-3 countries at a time.

If I remember right, I had about 30 lots I was watching, most were not receiving any bids....I was hopeful!

As the close of the auction started getting close, bids started coming in. Popular countries, like, US, UK and Germany, started going up and I started dropping out. But many of the ones I was still watching were staying low enough for me to still have a chance.

All in all I wound up winning 7 lots, and I spent a total of $58, not including shipping.

When I finally received the box and took a picture of the pile of pages, this is what it looked like. About 10" tall.


Countries included New Zealand, Tonga, Trinidad, Trinidad & Tobago, Tobago, St Vincent, Mauritius, Germany & Seychelles. Might be others but this was the bulk.

Here are some representative pictures I took at the that time (sorry for bad quality).












The New Zealand collection stretches to the 1980's, with many unused and used stamps throughout.

The reason I have decided to do a remount are as follows:

1 - The pages, even though they are the same Steiner pages I am using, seem to be printed too small (possibly printer settings?), as can be seen in the picture below. In fact each stamp box is about 2mm smaller, in both directions. It may not seem like much, but it makes it much harder to size the mounts properly.

2 - The paper is a greyish cover stock, and I would like to keep with the 32 lb white I am using, to maintain consistency. And I have no idea if it is even acid free. Also, my paper will allow me to fit more pages in the same binder.

3 - All the stamps are hinged onto the pages, even the unused ones. I like to use mounts on unused stamps, even though these will have hinge marks, or remnants now.

This will be an ongoing project and not done at all at once. It will probably be necessary to confirm watermarks on the early issues as I go.

New page (left) vs. old page (right).

This continues to be a most interesting journey - I look forward to each new instalment. I'm very glad you're taking the time to share it with us. If you pick the wrong settings when you're printing out the Steiner pages and print on "shrink to fit" or some such wording they will print as the pages you acquired, only slightly smaller but it's just enough.

A stack of pages like that with so many nice looking stamps at such a good price is my idea of a lot of fun! Well done. In my first ever venture into the world of auctions outside ebay I won three largish boxes of old auction lots, and even though they had been remaindered I'm still trawling through them five years later, and pulling out stuff to add to my collection. My intention is to put some of my duplicates into the unfilled spaces and shift the pages on again to fund future purchases. Clearing some much needed space at home and simultaneously gaining me some domestic brownie points. Also much needed.

crispin - I'd say you're probably right. It was a bit disappointing to figure this out after I got them. I was really hoping to keep, and use, the pages and save some time, money and paper.

I really LOVE remaindered lots, and messy, unorganized collections too. These are where I tend to find surprises because someone else was not willing to put in the time or effort to sort them out and identify things. I've got time and I'm in no hurry.

I haven't discussed here yet my intentions for my duplicates, but I will in the near future. Up until recently I had no idea what to really do with them. I really do need to address the issue though, because I, like you, need some "brownie points" with the wife.

New Zealand remount project:

Here are the first few pages, that I actually have some stamps on. The pages for the imperf Chalon heads are bare, and will probably reamain that way for a while. I would really like to get at least a few of the less expensive ones, even if I have to settle for 2nd, or 3rd quality.






I don't have enough of any of these early stamps to warrant making any specialzed "focus" pages, yet, but you never know when that might change.

I've been busy familiarizing myself with New Zealand watermarks. Many of the stamps mounted in this collection I bought were in the wrong spaces it turns out.
So this is what I've been up to for the last few days, sorting NZ pictorials of 1935, researching watermarks and checking perforations. Oh yeah, did I mention.....going through a lot of watermark fluid?

The Steiner page, for the 1935 pictorial set, does not include much beyond the basic set. In fact the only other item included is the DIE II stamp for the 1d. I really wanted to include more without getting too specialized.

Checking the SG catalog, there are many more varieties listed, including perforations and watermarks (inverted, reversed, etc...). I do not have any of the watermark varieties so there was no point in including them right now. Perforations however, I did have some. So I went ahead and included spaces for all the perforation varieties listed in SG.

Here are the pages I created, which expands the set from 16 spaces to 22 spaces, increasing it by 6. I also therefore increased the number of empty spaces. But that's OK.



I would also like to point out this 2 1/2d stamp, which I think is a really beautiful design.

spain_1850,

Why don't you add catalog numbers to your custom pages?

As an aside, It sure would be interesting to see inmages of customized Steiner pages. I do my own as well but did not do anything for New Zealand.

angore - I prefer no catalog numbers, mostly because I use many different catalogs with many different numbering systems. The Steiner pages are based on Scott catalog and my custom Steiner-like pages are usually based on something other than Scott, and some are based on information I find here and there and not a catalog at all. Also, catalog numbers, over time, can change, but dates and descriptions usually do not. One of my main goals with this project is to try and keep a consistent look to everything, in other words Steiner-like. It's all just personal preference.

Don't get me wrong, I do rely heavily on Scott catalog numbers for cataloging and keeping track, just not on the album pages themselves.

New Zealand remounting project cont'd:

Managed a few more pages in this project. The second pictorial set from 1936, with multiple NZ & Star wmk, which occupied part of a single Steiner page, I had to expand to 3 pages to accommodate all the perforation varieties. I even managed to identify a good selection of them, including a 2p strip of 3, perf 14 x 15.




My first complete page for this country! YAY!

Again some great work spain

I have enjoyed following your journey. It has also given me the boost I needed to get some work done on my colections.

Dianne

Dianne - Thank you very much!
It makes me happy to see my effort inspire someone in some small way.

And speaking of getting some work done, I've managed a few more pages in the New Zealand remount project:

New Zealand remounting cont'd:

A few more pages. This is actually all the pages I currently have printed for this project. I will have to decide if I want to continue with this project right now, or start a new country.

Looks awesome as usual Spain!
I sent you a PM a a couple of days ago about some Columbia and UK if your so inclined.

-Willie