Collection Bought In Items Other Than A Stamp Album

Hi Everyone

Out of curiosity, I have wondered how many of us got to buy a collection that was housed in something other than a stamp album or plain binder.

I once bought an accumulation to soak in and empty beer box. The type we call 2-4s here in Canada. Another collection I bought was housed in 2 Samsonite suitcases and a brief case. Once we both agreed to a price, I told the man that I bought it from that he could pick up the suitcases, to which he replied, 'oh just keep them, I don't need them any more'. I guess I could call this a collection already packed to go <G>.

Hope this message is allowable as it doesn't really fit into any specific category. More a fun thing really.

Happy collecting

Chimo

Bujutsu

I am sure others here could agree ,when you buy those large bulk lots at stamp auction firms . You end up with all types of containers from wooden cigar boxes , plastic shoe boxes ,jewerly boxes , unused envelopes both large and small , starting to see those large plastic/rubber tubs showing up now .

At the local stamp club auctions, I often get to buy "collections" of mixed stamps on paper or off paper housed in old cigar boxes or cookie tins. Sometimes the cigar boxes are more interesting than the stamps themselves. Also saw a "collection" once stored in an old 35mm movie film reel tin.

I recently purchased a "collection" in boxes that included Diamond matchboxes and cookie tins (and yes, some old cigar boxes) with loose stamps! It was like a Forest Gump "box o' chocolates" accumulation, in which some had common bundleware, and random loose stamps, and others had pricy US Washington/Franklin coil strips and other early US. There was no real organization, but plenty of interesting stamps!

Another collection awhile ago had about 150 old English OXO tins and Ex-Lax tins with loose stamps in each... True, that sometimes the "containers" can be more interesting than the stamps!

Got this at a small auction about 2013. No one wanted it, so I paid about $7.50 for it. (really)

The person had been a world wide traveling salesman. The contents were undisturbed as you can see, it looked like trash.

There were many nice world airmails covers as you dug through it, also many not so nice.

Towards the bottom was an envelope of Chinese stamps like shown. All from 1967/68 era, MNH post office fresh. One series I remember was PRC 982-990 (2010 Scotts $515). Had a scan of them, now can't find it.

Mao was hot at the time, and they total cataloged about $2400.
Sold them on ebay for $1200 (Which was a nightmare for another story).

Good times ,
pat

A fishing lure box - they combined two hobbies into one, eh?

Oddly enough I just got the fishing lure box as well in a large box lot recently. The stamps ended up in the garbage though due to smell and moisture. The same collection also featured pill bottles. Unfortunately there was pill residue in a lot of them and some of the pills weren't things I felt like ingesting in any quantity by accident through touch/air so those also went. Thankfully it was all common bazillion-issue stuff.

I've seen stamps jammed into those desktop hardware organizers with the dozens of plastic pull out trays, in suitcases, every type of cigar and cigarette container imaginable, and then the dreaded photo albums. A more amusing one was tens of thousands of loose stuff (a mix of on and off paper) literally shoved loosely in dresser and filing cabinet drawers. What a disaster hah.

Once I bought a bunch of stamps housed in all kinds of multicolor Art Deco-ish cigarette tins that would hold 10-20 cigarettes. There was a spot of something on one and I went to wash it off. Well, I discovered the ink was perfectly water-soluble.

I bought this homemade pair of cabinets in a Kelleher auction last summer, and I really wanted the cabinets. It would hold up to 20+ red boxes, and the description mentioned that it had some stamps.

I was the only bidder and paid way too much ($400) for the cabinets, but didn't realize that it was packed to the gills with over $10,000 CV in mostly world classics, with some US.

I've sold way more than the asking price on Hip, since then, and it ended up being a really nice purchase for me. Now I keep cheaper stuff in it, and if I ever have a table at a show again, I'd put it out front as a dime-quarter type of display.

Ray

Bought a box lot from Sandafayre once that came with an old women's purse full of stamps in various small old pocket stockbooks. (The purse went in the trash. Not my style)

Items with stamps inside:

Former candy boxes, zip lock bags of many sizes, shoe boxes, Amazon Prime boxes, Chewy boxes, all manner of cigar boxes, paper and wood, so called bankers boxes, single draw card files (wood, metal or heavy pressboard), suitcase, brief case, wooden cheese box, wooden pickled herring box, contractor heavy mil plastic garbage bags (after tiring of finding the expensive "hair" varieties in the 2-cent red mix, I sold the same garbage bags at several auctions), envelope boxes and from a profession jeweler large padded jewelry boxes.

Items with stamps outside:

Orchid box, egg boxes of wood or metal, queen bee boxes, laundry boxes cardboard covered in cloth as well as hard sided, eyeglass boxes wood or paper, boxes of tea plus probably some other boxes not coming to mind. Part boxes only, baby chick and baby alligator (wooden) just to mention boxes not listed as full.





Well don't leave us hanging, what style of purse do you prefer ?

I gather that Rodg likes to bring along a little southern European bling when whittling with the guys at the store. Pretty much Versace all the way.

Yes, well you never know when British troops may arrive. You really do need some Italian style though.

Hi everyone and thanks a lot for your input on this topic. If only I could buy a collection that was housed in a fancy sports car. Wow that would be great if the car was thrown in - lol

At least we can all dream.

Chimo

Bujutsu

It isn't the Brits Rodg has to worry about. I will point out it was us Canucks who won in 1812. We might seem friendly but we throw a nasty snowball.

Anyhow, I had thought of another situation, albeit it was only a single stamp, but it was set in a resin mold much like you might see an insect or even a coin. Thankfully it wasn't a rare inverted Jenny or I'd have been etching away at it for awhile.