Sorting Stamps Of One Country

Hello everybody,

I am trying to sort my Dutch stamps.
I'm doing it so that I can quickly see and make series.
But now I have one hardware store dividing tray/organiser, such as one for screws.
But then comes my problem, after 20-ish different stamps, it is full.

I have also tried to put them into envelopes, but then I am tired of searching just for that one envelope to put that stamp in...
So that takes too much time, too.

Do you guys have a solution to sort my stamps from one country.
Maybe already mentioned, but I couldn't find it.

Thank you very much, from a dark and rainy Holland.
Greetings!


*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

Veel groeten van een donker en nog niet regenachtig Georgia USA'
Have you thought of using those small stamp-envelopes ?

Peter

A half dozen empty egg cartons will provide 72 sorting bins ... and adding extra cartons is an easy way to increase the number of bins. The bin may fill quickly, but it is easy to transfer the overflow to an envelope.

I sometimes use an old, worn-out stock book for sorting material of a single country. It's very easy to move things around and transfer stamps to glassine envelopes as needed.

When the lot is all sorted, I transfer it all to one of my primary stock books, then mount the stamps.

Speaking of glassine envelopes, I use the size that will fit into sports card album pages which go into a standard loose-leaf binder. It's so much easier to find the glassine envelope I need when they're in a binder instead of a box.

Hello.
I have this wooden box for sorting, since 1985.
I do it in three phases, first for decades and then for years.
Then the catalog from year to year and the classifier.
Regards.

Simple.
I do a Kilogram in about 2 hrs.

You are a novice, so you have to start in "Sort Type 1"
This will take longer than me, but your first step.

1. Buy a packet of envelopes, date them by year.
2. Snaffle one of Mum's or Wife's old table cloths, sheets etc.
(I used to use a large foldable cardboard pasted together square)
3. With a marker pen draw 3" squares with year dates top of each square, (like graph paper)

That's it!
Spread some stamps out in front of you
Sit by the computer, go to ebay, type in "Netherlands 1926" in "stamps"
Pick out the recognisable and place those stamps in the square.

Or find a online Netherlands stamp catalogue with images in years.

repeat ad nauseum
When tired place the stamps from the sheet, into respective envelopes, your done.
Fold up the sheet for next time, place envelopes in a suitable box.

What will transpire, is that you will begin to recognise stamps by their vignette, and it just gets easier and easier.

Good Luck.

Greetings Ricky!

I would do this in a very low tech way.

I use a large smooth table and start by picking out common designs and putting these in separate piles, one pile per design (or per set if I recognise the different designs).

For the Netherlands, a common design could be all the stamps with the small 1924 carrier pigeon deign, or the 1953 Queen Juliana silhouette design.

At this stage I keep the piles in approximate date order.

I then sort the rest by shape, so that for the Netherlands I'm effectively separating the vertical commemoratives by period.

I then sort each common design or set pile by face value and each of the different sized commemorative stamp piles by date.

I would then compare each set or stamp in turn with my collection and either add new stamps, replace exiting copies, or keep the remainder in order to put with my duplicates.

I haven't done this for a year or two since I have stopped buying stamps (at least for the time being) but I used to find this very relaxing.

For a worldwide mixture I would do much the same but start by creating separate piles for each country and keeping the piles in my own country order until I had them all sorted.

I would then sort each country separately.

However you do it, I guess the main thing is for this to be a fun activity rather than a chore.

Sorting the High Tech Way
For the advanced Hobbyist

1. Scan every stamp (best example of each) of your country
Maximum? around 1,500 stamps in most major countries
Employing SCF member "Postmaster GS" free "Stampfix"
Free but please make a small donation.
You can do 40 stamps at 1 pass on the platen.

Minimal Image naming regime : Cat# number, year date, value tablet. (Values require a preceding zero, 5c to 05c) etc

2. Using "XYPlorer" search function, searching is just 1 CLICK. Done.
You can find any stamp with just 1 click.
(Errors and ommisions accepted)

Australia Every 1983 stamp...1 click


Australia Every 28c stamp made......1 click

If sorting a large amount of stamps that are well-mixed among different dates, I find it best to do sorting in stages. I'll start by sorting by denomination, given that commemorative stamps within a certain year are likely to have the same denomination, this will naturally group them into similar date ranges. I will make exception for definitive series with many different denominations within the series, of course. Once you have them sorted into more manageable piles, sorting them further by year or series is much easier.

I have an even easier method. I don't sort. I just group stamps -- very roughly -- by era based on their designs. Early Dutch stamps have a certain look, so they go in one pile. Later early 20th century stamps look a little different, more colorful maybe, so into a second pile. Often I make mistakes, but that's easily remedied. These "piles" go either into glassine envelopes or into a stock book, or more often, I just leave them in a pile and stamp putting them into my album.

Naturally stamps I a recognizable series which look similar, I group together. I suppose you could also put all air mails in one pile, all semi-postals in a pile, and so on, but I don't. I just use eras, oldest, less old, and so on.

If you look through your stamp catalogue for awhile slowly you start to see what the "look" of early stamps was, and you begin to recognize about when stamps were issued. "This looks like about the 1930s" is my approach. Again, I'm not always right but fairly quickly you can begin to recognize eras by color, design, and the elements used on the stamps. You can quickly identify different eras for the Netherlands. Before the modern flood of stamps, you might have "about" three or four different eras beginning with 19th century stamps through maybe the earliest 20th century as your first group.

My goal is not to "organize" or "sort" stamps, but to mount them in my albums. So I make the sorting business brief and efficient. All duplicates go into glassine envelopes and put away -- to sell or give away later. That's my whole system -- sorting by era or style in order to mount them sooner rather than later.

Hi guys,

Sorry for my late relpy.
My computer crashed yesterdag, and I was too busy today, restoring all the files.

I like the idea of envelopes, but than with glassine envelopes .
So writing one year on a sticky tab/bookmark and stick that to an glassine envelope.
That way can the glassine envelopes be reused.
Because I don't have the money to keep buying glassine envelopes...

So where in the Netherlands or ebay do you recommend me (100-ish) to buy some glassine envelopes?
And what is a recommended size?
I heard the size of a baseball card.
But what size is a baseball card???

Kind regards from a possible stormy country, Holland!

Be aware glassine is just calendered paper, and will tone over time.
Instead of attaching a sticky, you can place a archival paper sleeve inside the glassine with the year.

This is probably a reasonable size - you should be able to find similar on Dutch ebay. Baseball cards are an American problem!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/50-No-Li...AOSw~ntde5-b

Stormy definitely coming - on Sunday in England!

yes they are an American problem. ;) but just in case... useless trivia sometimes comes in handy.

Thank you all for the info.
Now I know where I need to look at!

Warm Regards from a windy Holland,
Ricky