Colin the grateful yet again.

The most recent thing that is killing off stamp collecting here in the UK is that if you go into a post office for a stamp for a letter they give you a computer generated PVI. Perfectly reasonable from the clerk’s point of view, as when he comes to agree his books at the end of the day he does not have to count up thousands of different value stamps, what he has sold is there on the computer with immediate access.

Of course, computer games and allied more interesting things for children have for many years reduced the numbers of young people collecting stamps, but now they seldom see one on a letter.

Stamp Chat

I was much more active on eBay then and Dave did a great job in enabling forgeries and fakes on eBay to be discussed while eBay refused to allow it on this board. I have not heard of or from Dave for years, but he did a magnificent job and was roundly condemned by one prominent philatelist to whom recent reference has been made on this board in connection with some election or another, and by a few sellers of fakes who tried in vain to defend their underhand activities. He must still be around somewhere as he still hosts the pictures up on my page. Many people who still regularly post here were great in their support of keeping the hobby as clean as possible in this Internet age.

Colin the grateful.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g221/jim_lawler/euscw.gif member

I wonder if the “Me” and “EUSC” links still work after all these years?!

I wonder what that long post at 23.05.46 hopes to achieve?

Oh, and Happy May Day hols to our UK readers.

Nobody doesn't want another flurry in the hobby of stamp collecting .The only issue is how to get it started. Some idea will come along and excite people to collect maybe it will take a fast food resturant with its empty dining rooms at night or a breakfest cereal making free surprises in each box purchased.Or it could be something like the A.P.S. putting their money and credit card system in place to offer youngster or retireies a place to buy and sell the cheaper material.But you can be sure someone will fiqure out how to tie in education and history into the stamp hobby and make a profit .

Wish you luck on resolveing the shipping problem .The advice about the dispute center is the correct one ,even if no settlement is arrived at ,just walk away and they will keep a record of it ,if it happens to another buyer .Your claim will still be there .

One set has values from 10S to IR mint and has an overprint that says "MERDEKA DJOKJAKARTA 6 DJULI 1949"

would appreciate a catalogue value for this set...thank you!

You have made a splendid case for why you should buy from reputable dealers and on StampStore, and should advise people to avoid buying on eBay or at other flea markets unless you/they are prepared for disappointment, as we have always recommended.

But I do agree with your percentages ,I perfer to purchase my stuff once a year in the fall at auction and then spent the winter working on it ,really don't have the time to search E-BAY for the few nice lots that would be my kind of material ....paul

Phil

So people enjoy the hinging and mounting their stamps in books or homemade pages .Others like stockbooks like you.As for me I pefer black 102 cards .The cards give me a greater flexiblity in sorting and adding new material .It also is set up to be easy to find stamps quickly and if ever sold the cards are more actractive to a buyer who can inventory them quickly ....paul

Its hard to sell better larger lots on E-BAY because of the huge amount of crap being sold and its just too much of a gamble.I perfer to visit the auction firm and spent a few days viewing the larger lots and take time to determined a value and what i plan to spent to what is up for bid.The few like Dr. BOB on e-bay sells good material and backs up his lots with a refund ,but the material is good quality ,if you watch his e-bay auctions his prices come close if not higher than regular auction houses .

The better stuff can be found on e-bay but not in the larger lots ,over the years i purchase many hard to find items {not the i.d. I use here}on e-bay .But your right about the better stuff being at a few regular auction houses ....paul

Also, I must say that I still struggle to see how banning non-US bidders would solve that particular problem, unless we are heading towards the altogether more controversial assertion that non-US buyers are inherently more dishonest!! Plus, I'm not aware of the nature of material that dcderoo sells, but I would imagine that should impact the decision as well. If it is mainly US material, fair enough. If it is British Commonwealth or European, it's fair to say that most demand would be outside the US.

Regards, Vinod

I then decided for the time being I would continue to keep my auctions open to non-US bidders.

I now have an item mailed to Singapore that's gone "astray".
It's a $90 item.
Pending the outcome, this may be the straw that broke the camel's back.

K.E   I'm a silly little man - whoopee!!

Also it should be pointed out as you stated that the huge inventories and bulk collection have become a rarer find since everyone more or less can sell off any excess and not fill up the back closet ,so the vast collections are becoming a rareity to those buyers ....paul

This society election is going to have a major change or were going to see some people leaveing .Im surprised by some of the posters who don't realise the importance of the management directions.

My guess is that the open access crowd wins or we see a split.....this doesn't mean people are leaving the society it just means another major organization starts up ....paul

Welcome all you new posters ,maybe you have a interest in stamps ,please tell us what you collect?.......paul

Its the one with the naked kid with his pecker in hand and whizzing on everything .That one says it all ......

http://cgi.ebay.com/USA-Hawaii-CHINA-1923-Kilauea-VOLCANO-FIRE-card-US6018_W0QQitemZ190108095178QQihZ009QQcategoryZ689QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Here is a wonderful parcel label from the German Commissioner for the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. nomad was gracious enough to give me the opportunity to buy this from my "cousin" from the UK.

Here is an interesting cover from 1893 advocating the "single tax." As a tax attorney, I could not pass this one up. Have not yet researched what the "single tax" was all about, but I'll post further on the subject when I find out.

Another tax-related item is here . This is a certificate of mailing, franked with a 1c Franklin, postmarked Feb. 14, 1936. And who is the recipient of this "valentine"? Why, none other than the Collector of Internal Revenue. (Prior to a change in the law in 1954, each IRS district had a chief of the district whose compensation was based on the amount of money collected.) Certificates of mailing for 1st class letters did not become available until July 1, 1929.

Here is an item of interest to expo mavens. It is an advertising cover sent from Covington KY to Germany in 1907, franked with a 2c Jamestown Expo stamp. The cover was not sealed, so it was sent as printed matter. The reverse proclaims that the company whose advertising is on the cover won both the Grand Prize and Gold Medal on Iron Fence and Lawn Furniture at the Louisiana Purchase Expo in St. Louis.

Finally, here is one of the interesting reply cards I acquired. It is a German SW Africa message reply card, sent from Swakopmund on Nov. 17, 1898 to the US, and forwarded from Indiana to Illinois. The reply half was mailed back to Swakopmund. Full messages are on both parts of the card. Message reply cards from the German colonies used (especially non-philatelic usages) both ways are very difficult to find. Used non-philatelically to and returned from outside of the German Empire, they are great rarities.