Collection From Elderly Friend Of My Wife - She Used Hinges.

A nice little Midwestern show with ten to twelve dealers is a perfect first outing. You will be shocked. I guarantee at least one dealer, and probably several of them, will have a row of tired, old albums with a few hundred to a couple thousand stamps, each going for $10 to $40. You may find an International, or three, probably for a little more money.

Bring cash, set a comfortable budget number, and stick to it. Most of the stuff will still be there next time.

I use stamp lift to take stuck stamps out of albums. Brush it on front and back, peel off when you can. It works fine. Gum will obviously be a wreck, no way around that.

I have my staff remove any hinges and if they do a poor job they don't get to go to Ibiza on the boat.

Darn, sold my boat about 10 years ago. But it was only a 16' fishing boat anyway.




That's what I ended up doing, only on the back of the page and it only messed up the top part where it was stuck next to the hinge (because too much moisture was used on the hinge, perhaps)
So the top of the gum is messed up, but over 3/4 of it is like new. Still - definitely far from mint, but better than used with messy postmarks.




Iowa is a bit weird in that way. Clubs come and go, they try to get started, then fizzle out like a wet firecracker. I note the Des Moines group hasn't done a thing with their FB page in 6 years, will see if there's any response from the contact person, if they are even still around. The info is quite old.
I used to go to antique engine and tractor shows every couple of weeks - clubs and shows were everywhere. They've pretty much all died out (with the people)
Cedar Rapids is a couple of hours away (each way) but might be worth checking that out.