In this previous post, I gratefully accepted the gift of a nearly-forgotten stamp collection. In this post, I'll detail how I processed the collection once it came into my possession. First of all, the album itself - oversized pages with spaces for a lot of older stamps. It's even more unlikely I'll find many of these stamps in 2023 than when they were printed in 1959. Many of the countries no longer exist, though I really liked the map and information provided for each country. Unique! So, I decided to recycle some of the album pages as envelopes for stamps. I reverse-engineered a glassine envelope I had handy, traced its outline onto some cardboard, and traced around it on the album pages in various orientations, folding then finishing them with two 7 cm strips of Scotch tape.
Plucked from the two albums, here is the plethora of stamps I need:
Another envelope contained this amazing collection of Canada pre-cancels and perfins:
Any common stamps I didn't need went into this on-the-go baggie that I will send to Oxfam's stamp program:
I made another pass through the albums. I'd missed a small pile of stamps that blended in to the pages (top right) and I noticed the country seals had been hinged. I was able to remove them and will add them to my own album pages as needed:
Even the reusable stamp hinges did not go to waste. I will indeed reuse them!
Stamp collections are like model railway layouts. Even though they bear the fingerprints of one enthusiast, when the time comes, they can still be re-homed and enjoyed by others!
You have been busy. Interesting idea with the envelopes!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Eric. Just yesterday I went through the plethora of plucked stamps and found many, many that I needed, from a variety of countries! And I've already mailed out of two of the album page envelopes to other collectors in the U.S. and Tunisia!
ReplyDeleteEric