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

Looks like A to Z has around 574 red boxes. I'm seeing 17 rows x 34 columns = 578.

How would A to Z's inventory compare to A & D's in terms of value and quality?

Must be a logistical nightmare to haul that around show to show. Would need a truck, I'd assume.

A&D used to drive a large commercial van. Don't know what A-Z drives.

Back in 2009 I got he chance to help be a "runner of red boxes" for A-Z stamps at the Minnesota Stamp Expo. That's me with the stamp shirt helping a customer with one of the binders. The A-Z stock wrapped around a corner. I remember them driving a large white van packed to the gills. I learned quite a bit in two days. My only regret is that I didn't work the 3rd day! It was very busy. Never a dull moment pulling red boxes for people.

Here's the Minnesota Stamp Expo in 2017 with both Stamp Art and A-Z

Nice photo's of the shows .Looks like there are a few dealers who maintain a huge inventory for customers to search thru .

Of course that was in 2017 (seems like a long time ago now), A-Z doesn't come to Minnesota anymore. Stamp Art still goes to the Expo. I know collectors that will spend three straight days looking through stock like this and wish they had more time to look!

Landoquakes----- "I know collectors that will spend three straight days looking " since you work these shows how do you tell the collector, he can not sit there all day .

I know the dealer spend two days driving on the road with two tons of red boxes ,so he paying hundreds of dollars for gas ,then a few hundred for 2 or 3 days for his staff to stay in a hotel and food , then hires one or two more people at the location to be box runners . Now he pays for a super size table at the show . So the dealers is out 2 or 3 thousand dollars to be there with maybe 6 or 8 chairs.


Then gets that 2 or 3 clowns who sit there all day to find a"missing stamp " or a "special cancel " and when they find it,it is a stamp marked $5.00 on the card but offers $3.00 for it .

Is there a law that says you can't shoot a customer in the APS or ASDA rulebook ,I am not clear about this .

Another gem from the A & D inventory ,never seen this set complete until I made this page .

"People who sit all day at a dealer" They seem to fall in a couple categories. They all seem to have a fun time at shows and I'm always learning something new. There's a very few "high rollers' who quietly go though the better items in the dealer sales sheet binders. Then, there's the folks who've been waiting for a year to see their favorite dealer and have stacks of notes with tiny tiny numbers covering the entire sheet/index card etc. They want many red boxes to look at and can keep one busy. I'm the odd one that doesn't have any list and randomly look through red boxes looking for something I like. I like the idea of having a swimming pool of stamps at a show for a nickel apiece that people can sit all day and dig through. At least it saves a dealer chair. By the way, floortrader, that Norway set has always been eye-caching!

LANDOQUAKES -----I spend many hours in my teen years at those nickel tables ,the first tables at a early age where called the two cents tables then later became the NICKLE TABLES .

Those pick and chose tables were very popular around Chicago and you found those at all levels of the hobby . From the bigger stamp shows, down to the stamp bourses , club meetings and even a few stamp dealers had them in their stamp stores . .It was very popular way to spend a afternoon .

Mike Jackson the guy who ran the Chicago Sunday Bourses required each stamp dealer who wanted a table at the event to contribute a lot to the Youth Table and these tables served a large group with their passion for stamps .

Did you ever have that one stamp that you could never find ,where the price wasn't the issue . It was that one stamp where years go by and it is never up for sale .

Here is one that I read two or three articles about in the philatelic newspapers and magizines but never had a chance to pick up . It is a essay and not a post office issue ,it is called the British Airmail Stamp . I must of first heard about it at a stamp club meeting at 17 years old . Then read a few articles but never got a copy .

Surprised when I seen this on ebay ,it was a must have so I went for it .

Still working everyday on expanding my collection ,give me about another ten years then will have a decent size collection .

Paul do you have an estimate of when you may reach 400K?

Shermae ---- First ,should say I never set a goal ,I just wanted to see how far I could go down the path of building a worldwide collection .



it will take 5 to 8 years to reach that number ,it can be reach sooner if I started to collect past 1980. But I have no interest when there are so many fun things to collect and find on earlier stamps .

Here is something you never seen .

Stamp collecting is not just about filling spaces in a album . Always had the idea of getting items that most collector never seen or items rarely seen by both collectors and dealers .

It is the fun of the hobby to search for and identify those items that make a collection different than others that make this hobby .Each collector can add something to their collection that gives them a attention getter to show off but to spend a life time to add thousands of them together in one place is unusual and makes for a wow factor to other collectors .

Here is a USED set of South Georgia that I never seen mounted in any collection that I viewed .

floortrader, I agree with your method of collecting. Also as inflation worsens, these choice sets might just hold up in value. Also, the thrill of the hunt is what you get when you hunt down hard to get stamps, a rewarding feeling.