Amazing Old Time One Owner US Collection Sale Upcoming At Cherrystone

The point is that all it takes for 95% of this "staggering degree of completion" is having LOTS of money for a long time. And that if one has LOTS of money, and also a serious interest in philately, then don't be lazy, learn the hobby, and buy quality whenever possible. I guarantee that there are dozens of collectors on this site who would have created far better and more interesting collections if they had the money to spend that was spent here.

Also remember that when this collection was probably assembled was during the height of the hobby. There was no internet to look over multiple pieces and choose the best of the bunch. You bought what you could at shows and brick & mortar shops. We often take for granted how easy it is to source material these days but when this collection was assembled just how many opportunities did this collector have to source a 7R1E Franklin?

My interpretation is a little different than rev collector about the New Amsterdam collection being offere by Cherrystone. Sure, it did require a lot of money to put this collection together. But the shear number of rarities to me is amazing. I will grant that many of the stamps have some faults but any collection that has for example a Scott 55, 57, 59,80, and 10 cent z grill is going to grab my attention if not my bid. Putting money aside it does appear to represent a degree of dedication of long standing

I also note that his 70d was previously certified in the 1960's as a Scott 60. Scott Trepel on another forum or in Siegel catalogs does a small editorial regarding the expertizing and relative relative catalog values between Scott 60 of old and the current 70c. In my own view, particularly if the shade is pale violet, not dark violet, I have a very difficult time noticing the difference between a 60 of old and a 70c whereas the 70d I would describe as almost a hybrid between the 70b and 70c but not enough blue to make it the former and not enough violet to make it the latter. In all the shades of 70 and 78 to me are the most difficult distinctions in US philately.

I have 3 certified copies of 78c; two by PSE and one by both PSE and PF, and for none of those stamps would I have independently called this "blackish violet" in the way a Scott 45 appears where you can clearly see both the black and the violet

since we do not have the collector who assembled the collection to understand his motives or collecting philosophy and we also have no idea what he paid for these items—both irrelevant in my view to your interpretation of this collection—what we have here is a debate surrounding one simple question:

Are you, or are you not, a snob?

Back "in the old days" before the internet there were dozens more dealers, multiple brick and mortar stores in major cities, and a lot of philatelic newspapers and magazines. Plus the big national ASDA show with 120-150 dealers, and the internationals as well. Every collector knew who the big players were, and there was no difficulty in buying whatever one desired that they could afford.

I am, if anything, the opposite of a snob. I work a lot with young collectors, where snobbery doesn't last 10 minutes. But when a collector has serious money to put into a hobby and wastes a lot of it on really mediocre third rate stamps then he does not have a great collection no matter how many genuinely rare items he has mixed in.

My neighbor insists his wife is beautiful and his kids are smart.
Don

But if he already has a $2 Columbian that he got when he was say 30 years old, why is he going to rebuy a new one to upgrade? Then he has 2 stamps, and probably had to take a loss on it. It doesn't do anything for the collector seeking COMPLETION. Later in life, when he can buy rarities, inverts and grills isn't that a better use of his money for collecting (1:100s, 1:10, 1:2), vs upgrading a columbian 1:25000 stamp. You guys are hypocritical, and judgemental. This is the same level of rediculousness of folks who paid 25000 for a Zep set 40 years ago. People forget quick.

I'm also glad his collection is presented to market in complete form, I enjoyed going through every page, versus making balance lots and subtracting rarities. I even liked the balance lot image, that showed the original album pages. Would have been cool to see the album before deconstruction. After all, things like thins, remnants, and gum issues are all hidden on the presented page.

I'd also add a kudos to Cherrystone for presenting this and providing all information along with the most up to date certificates for transparency.

If the collector had fun assembling his collection and enjoyed it, it was great to him. In the absence of his own explanation of his motivations & priorities, it's all speculation. Not that that's ever stopped anyone :).

What is a great collection?

I think it is far more than pages of stamps that are all graded 100J.

This one had nearly every stamp... far more than I'll every have.

I had a great time looking at stamps I've never seen. He had a great time (I assume) assembling a collection that it would be difficult to recreate.

Fine. So it's a great collection for the easily amused.

Cherrystone Auction House has given me permission to use their images for my database. I have gone through all of their 2018 and 2019 auctions picking up images that I can use. I will go back further. Their images are not quite as large as I would like but some are very useful. Suncoast Stamps has given me permission to use their images as well.

We would like to see pictures to verify this!!

"Given the money, I would rather have 50% fewer stamps but all of better quality"
I would too, but they apparently felt otherwise.
It is possible they put it together thru Mystic and never educated themselves on quality.

Not Mystic. From the catalog:

Much, if not most of the material was acquired through Bill and John Solomon of Dumont Stamp Company, an old established and respected dealership. Their well-known shop was located just around the corner from our current offices. Many of the stamps were accompanied by certificates from the American Philatelic Society Board of Examiners and the Philatelic Foundation. Since condition and expertizing standards have changed since the 1940s-1960s, we have re-submitted all individual items for updated re-examination. Every single lot in the New Amsterdam Collection is accompanied by a brand new 2019 Philatelic Foundation Certificate (images of the new certificates are available on www.cherrystoneauctions.com). The New Amsterdam Collection is the largest single collection ever submitted at one time to the Foundation for certification.