Pushing 330,000 All Different Worldwide Stamps In One Collection .

75,000 and climbing slowly. I have several collections (several sets of albums) and only count my original group that I started in 1956. I started collecting pre 1940 in a seporate set of albums and they don't count towards the grand total---yes, there are dupes.

k7prz, congrats on the count! Side projects are always fun as well. What's your method of counting? Some count the hinges they use!

Got to watch a large part of the Dutch Country Stamp Auctions this week .

Was surprised by the strong prices in the country collections section and the end of auction large worldwide lots ,they were getting a lot of strong bids showing interest with buyers ,did anyone else watch or were active bidders ?

Any links to one of the good ones? I did look through the catalog and certainly some interesting items. I would always go after the remains of Dutch County lots at my local stamp store after a collector was done going through it. Still typically had some good items.

Landoquakes---- There was a few good lots {good lots is define as something a advance worldwide collector could use } in this auction .Was surprised at some of the prices realised ,prices going above estimates or hitting estimates .

To sum it up -Good material stayed strong and maybe increased a little ,while common material is depressed or slid a little . Less buyers but those who collect are not holding back ,guess interest checks are still coming into peoples checkbooks 4 1/2% rate on C.D's is looking good . .

I notice weakness in the auction market. There was a thread on tariffs that got shut down, but I wonder if non-US bidders are bowing out. I have bowed out myself on most international auctions.

STAMP DRAGON ---The only weakness in the market is the stuff I am trying to sell and the only record high levels interest and prices realised are for items I am trying to buy .

Just purchased the first New Guinea set and had to pay 50% over opening bid for it . Story of my life ,I want it but so does everybody else .But sometimes I luck out {rarely } a Thailand Royal set which hasn't been on the market for years and got that at opening bid . A set missing in most W.W. collections .

floortrader there are a few items like that. Once I remember bidding on a sheet for Spain or Portugal and it went below hipstamp's price but way above the auction estimate. With 2 bidders really going at it. What did you think of ABC auctions if you saw it.

Stamp Dragon ---Never did business with ABC, nor watched their auctions . Think I got my hands full with the five firms I watch .

Here's a collection that I didn't know about... Terry L. Myers accumulated 350K different stamps by 2008. Here is a short article that appeared in the Circuit when he was stepped down from being the Executive Director International Society of Worldwide Stamp Collectors (ISWSC) Sadly he passed away due to COVID in 2020. https://www.winscottfuneral.com/obi...ies/dr-myers

Landoquakes -- Sounds like a person and a stamp collection I would like to know more about .So many questions ,more than a family member could answer ,maybe the stamp collection buyer or the auction house handling it after his death . .

I wonder... I might reach out to a few folks and see what I can find out.

LANDOQUAKES ----You have to wonder ,how many worldwide collections are out there that has those kind of numbers . My guess maybe 25 or 30 total ,having experience at some of the largest stamp auctions in the 1980's to 2000 's ,there always was one at most three people who purchase large country lots at each auction who were not dealers and they did the same year after year . They would buy two or three lots at the auctions and return again to buy two or three different countries at a later auction . They weren't known by the dealers or interact with them .

They came in for a day or two to view lots by didn't stay around to drink or talk shop with others but they came on a regular basis every couple months or each year to bid and buy .

Then in later years as on-line bidding started many disappeared from the auction floor .But came in to view for a day or two . This was for country lots that went into many of thousands dollars .

"there always was one at most three people who purchase large country lots at each auction who were not dealers and they did the same year after year" To this point in any large auction, how many people are dealers and how many are real non-dealer collectors or gasp investors? I am starting to notice the cycle of a stamp collection. Dealer buys large lot, breaks up, rinse and repeat. Esp. with these very large lots where the regular collector cannot afford to pay so much up front.

I think it was Herman Herst Jr. that said that the vast majority of stamps are in collector's collections. True that some dealers buy from auctions, but I suspect that the majority get their items either before the items get to the auction, or they find ways to purchase collections outright. A dealer has to resell what they buy and why compete with collectors for the same items? There are/were ebay sellers who would actively bid in the auctions I've been to, but typically they seemed to prefer individual stamps, not box lots and collections, Might be a time is money kind of thing? I find the stories behind large collections fascinating. Especially the ever growing storage problem!