My First Cover And Envelope Sale

Albany, New York has a big show once a year in July - it's worth going to. There's also smaller monthly shows the 3rd Sunday of most months in the Albany area as well.

Do they advertise the big show in Linn's? I would be very interested in attending a big show. Takes the pressure off buying something when I'm not the only one there!

Swscfdc87 I've never been to a stamp show and am starting to look into attending one soon. Thank you for posting as I didn't want to feel like the only one who didn't know what was going on when it came to actual shows. I'm located about 20 minutes from you, outside of Rome, NY, funny how philately brings people together! I too wish our area had more of a stamp collecting community. Maybe we could team up and start a club of our own? I don't have enough posts to contact you as I'm still a new member, but once I do I'll give you a shout. Thanks again for the great and informative post :)

Linn's has a section for shows and auctions. Also, the major shows receive a full write up with all the dealers that will be attending.

Stamp Community Forum has an events calendar on the home page. Scroll down for listings.

CL_Arctos everyone here is so knowledgeable and willing to share and offer their experience. If you ever have questions I'm sure there is at least one person here who can answer it.

Redwoodrandy, I'll keep an eye out in Linn's. Also, I didn't know there was a calendar here. That's great news. I'll make sure to hit it up and mark the shows down in my calendar. Thank you!

Swscdc87 I was just Googling to see what (if any) stamp shows are in our area for the remainder of the year and see that there is one in Liverpool on November 11th. Perhaps we'll see each other there!

Here's s list of some shows as well - http://www.stampnewsnow.com/calendarevents.html

There's one in Syracuse on November 11th.

CL_Arctos - An online magazine called 'Stamp Insider' that is New York centric can be found at:

http://www.stampinsider.org/

If you flip about half-way thru past the articles, you will find full-page reports on the activities of a load of NY State stamp clubs, including their contact information. More than likely you'll find one or two near Rome (I'm in Hobart). Philatelic activity in the area is more active than you think ! :0)

Thank you docgfd! I didn't know there was a publication that was primarily for NY! This is great information and I hope I can make it to one of the stamp meetings in Utica! Thank you again!

If you have any interest in NY State covers, check out the Empire State Postal History Society as well:

http://www.esphs.us/

Ha! Thank you again! You are a wealth of knowledge and I appreciate all the information. I'll check it out!

There are a thousand ways to sort material and a dealer has to choose just one. Normally they choose the way that the majority of collectors collect which as was described by ssvenson is by country for most ordinary covers plus major collecting areas such as first flights or first day covers for special covers. Postcard dealers tend to sort most of their cards by a mix of categories such as by US State, by foreign country, by military related, by real photo cards, by holiday related cards, etc. I don't recall ever seeing any dealers sort their cards or postal stationery by used vs unused. When you sit down at a table and there is one of those extra long "shooebox" type boxes stuffed with covers or cards the thing to do is to first look for and grab a "place keeper" which will be a long, narrow piece of cardboard or such. Then you start in the section you want or at the front of the box if you are going to go through everything and carefully pull out about an inch think bunch of covers - being careful to not drop them all over the place. Insert the place marker thingy into the spot you grabbed the covers or cards from. Hold that bunch of covers up near your chest, with the top of the bunch angled an inch or two away from your chest and the bottoms resting up against your chest. Then carefully tilt the first one way from the bunch so that it rests on your chest. That allows you to see the next cover. Then do the same thing to that second cover and work your way through that small bunch until you have seen each of them. When you are done looking be careful to put them back in the box where the place marker is so that you will not have jumbled up the dealer's box. Sometimes, one of those storage boxes is only partially full and that allows you to keep the covers in that box and you can tilt forward each successive cover until you have seen them all. Before starting that, watch a few buyers do this so you can see how it is done. If you find something you want to buy, pull it out and put it on the table in front of you. When you are done looking through everything your heart desires to see, go back to your pile of stuff you are going to buy and add up the prices in your head. Ask the dealer "what is the best you can do on this lot?" and they will typically offer you a discount in the range of 5 percent to possibly as much as 15 percent. You then pay them that amount and go on your merry way to the next dealer whose material catches your eye. Something else to think about - as was mentioned you should take note of any dealers who have material you like or who are especially friendly. Get their business cards or ask them for their emails. Often shows will have some kind of a show "program" that includes the names and contact information for all of the dealers in addition to a little map of where they are all located in the show room. You can use that to mark up with your notes and recollections of the good dealers and the ones you may not want to patronize next time. Also, most shows have displays set up of stamps and covers and cards that are on large easels. These are exhibits that collectors have put together to show people interesting parts of their personal collections. These are not for sale, they are for sharing their passion and educating others. They are also competing for non-monetary awards as to who have the best exhibits created unde a common set of rules on philatelic exhibiting. Take the time to go through such displays to help teach yourself about these areas. And, many shows have set aside one or more rooms where knowledgeable experts give interesting talks and speeches on philatelic topics. These are listed in the show program and you should make some time to attend as many as are of interest to you. Smaller shows may not have many or any exhibits and they may or may not have many talks or presentations, but sometimes they do. Larger shows always are rich in these extras.

Kimo thank you for such a detailed reply. I will keep this all in mind for my next show. I'm sure the more I attend the more I will be comfortable perusing through dealers covers. I know I will do much better at bigger shows with more people. With all the holidays coming up I doubt I'll make another show this year.

I'm excited for the websites offered and the advice. I'm thinking of going to a Syracuse show February 2nd, so we'll see!