10/14/2024
I’m barely treading water, as the HipStamp business is
very close to a full-time job, so I haven’t posted and thought I should catch
up.
Countries I’ve completed since my last post:
1st Quarter of 2024: Ile Rouad, Nevis, Siberia
2nd Quarter of 2024: Aden, Brit. Honduras, Italy Offices in
Tripoli, Upper Silesia
3rd Quarter of 2024: Alaouites, Cayman Islands, Central Lithuania,
Mauritania, Memel, Nauru, Southern Nigeria and Two Sicilies
Stamp Shows:
I’ve exhibited at two shows this year—our annual show in
Nashville and I thought I’d try a smaller show in Roanoke, VA.
I don’t know if shows will be a worthwhile venture for
me, other than the Nashville show. I
paid a lot less for tables in Roanoke, and I was able to sell enough to cover
my table fees and one night in a hotel, but didn’t cover the 2nd
night or my gas to travel there. But I
met a lot of nice people and was able to talk stamps all day that day!
Purchases:
This year, I’ve bought some country collections, a few
that were very good, even great. A great
purchase from an auction is one where I can gain some stamps for my BB,
hopefully some higher-ticket items, and make enough from selling the remainders
to pay for the entire lot.
U.S. Revenue Collection- I
bought at the Knoxville annual show during their auction. There were some great 1st and 2nd
series revenues that I didn’t already have, and I sold most of the rest. Made more than twice what I paid for the
collection.
A large box lot
which was advertised to have a dealer’s stock of over 6000 102 cards and 900
glassines filled with world stamps. The
surprise was that the lot actually contained 14 red boxes of 102 cards and a
couple of red boxes of stamps in glassines, which is more than double what I
was expecting. I’ve separated into
continents and then roughly into countries, but I haven’t posted half of them yet
and have sold enough already to pay for the lot. So far, I’ve only found 40 for my BB, so I’m
hoping for close to 100 total. There
have been some great stamps in this lot—the dealer specialized in city and town
cancels and SOTN cancels, and there were some great town cancels in the Africa
box.
I purchased a regional collection from the Baltic
states, and these stamps have sold almost as soon as I have posted
them. I was able to fill 107 spaces in
BB, and have sold enough of Central Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and
Memel to more than pay for the entire lot twice over.
Last and very good was a country collection from San
Marino, which I bought for 3 of the sets that were complete on the pages, the
General Post Office set (over $500 CV), the Railway set (over $100 CV), and the
Garibaldi set ($500 CV). The set also
included C1-C6 (over $200 CV), and I spent less than $300 for the
collection. I also listed over $1000 CV
on HipStamp with the remainders.
Growth and Status of my BB
The last count that I posted from my BB was 29,430 of
34,988 or my BB was 84.11% filled.
The current count as of today is 30,890 of 34,988 and my
BB is now 88.3% filled.
This is a gain for my BB of 1,460 stamps since last November,
and my BB is over 4% more complete. My
next goals are to hit 31,000 stamps, with an outside chance to complete this
still in 2024, and 31,489 which will make my BB 90% complete!
