75 Bucks o' Fun! Kingston Stamp Show

The Eastern Ontario Stamp & Coin Festival was held today at Crossroads United Church at 690 Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard. I hadn't attended the October stamp show in a few years, last one being at Christ Church Anglican, Cataraqui. Before that, the usual location was held at Edith Rankin Memorial United Church in Collins Bay. This event proved that the numismatists and the philatelists could...collaborate...to coin a phrase!

I had three goals in attending the show:

• Buy another Harris 'Traveler' album (above - five bucks!)
• Do some damage at the Kingston Stamp Club consignment table (below)
• Grab some inexpensive grab bags (also below)

All three missions - Accomplished!

I didn't take any photos at the show, so allow me to paint a mental picture for you. Imagine a church hall, with tables and boxes everywhere. And people standing around talking or looking intently through the contents of the boxes. That's pretty much it!

The Traveler album was in great condition, front cover slightly swaybacked, but that's how they seem to age. My three Travelers, including my childhood one, don't get the chance because they're full of pages. As this fourth one will soon be! Some stamps inside, with reuseable stamp hinges.

The consignment table did not disappoint. Somes examples below, both from the consignment table and from Don and Roy's tables. Though $10 was my big grab bag/consignment purchase, most were $2-3.

Once I got home with my two reuseable grocery bags of goodies, they were emptied into a photo-box for summertime sorting! Duplicates will go to Oxfam. Some necessities, from Don and an Ottawa-area dealer, who had mounts at reduced price - $5 each. Cheaper than Amazon, though I provided the free shipping! The Discovery stamp album is from 1959 and had some interesting stamps that I removed. Others were glued in - or licked - and will require oaking. The large brown stockbook was quickly converted into envelope-size stock cards for stamp exchanges by mail.

All for $75, including free admission. 

TradeOnlyStamps Salvo!

In this Saturday's biweekly TradeOnlyStamps (TOS) email newsletter #855 (screenshot - top photo), I found five possible trades I'd like to make. I thought it would be neat to keep track of all five, what I sent, what I received (in photo form), just to give an idea of the efficacy of these trades. I've blogged about TOS before and it works just about as well, and maybe better as the other stamp exchange schemes I blogged before. I titled this post a salvo because when we used to play the game 'Battleship' years ago, one variation of game-play was to call five shots in a row and see where they fell, before the next player took a turn. I sent each packet upon receipt of a confirmatory email message from each trader.

The five traders were:

• Charles Reid from New Westminster, BC. Charles wanted 50 1980's US in exchange for the same number of Canada or worldwide. I got out my US catalogue to make sure the doubles I was sending Charles were indeed released in that decade! Sent: May 29, 2023. Received: June 12, 2023. Charles sent a nice selection of worldwide including sports, Philippines and Papua New Guinea iin half of a manila stock page. I immediately took up Charles' offer to continue exchanging!

Cristian Dinca from Bucharest, Romania. Cristian had a wide variety of wants, including Central and South America, the Middle East, Eurasia and Jamaica. I was able to put together a nice selection of all of these. Fortunately, Cristian expected up to 30% definitives. What is a stamp collection with no definitives? It's not realistic nor representative of a country's philatelic prodigiousness. Sent: May 29. 2023. Received: TBA (Checked with Cristian in mid-September: sent but not received.) Cristian kindly offered to send a replacement pack, and here are his photos of his first attempt:

and second attempt:

• Avi Krauz from Israel. Proposing 100 small Canada for 100 small Israel, I knew I had lots of Canadian definitives from all eras, and gathering that many was no problem - accomplished from 1970's to 1990's. Didn't even dip into the earlier Queen Elizabeth or KGVI! Sent: May 29, 2023. Received: June 19, 2023. Avi placed a nice selection of stamps on the envelope, including one showing Adam, Eve, the snake and that famous fruit they shared! 

• Jean-Francois Wodarka from Canada. Proposal was 100-200 worldwide for same, depending on catalogue value. I selected 100 worldwide large. Sent: June 2, 2023. Received: June 16, 2023. J-F's exchange contained 100 stamps sorted by country, sets or pairs, and damaged (*) with a nice Carmichael P-value stamp on the envelope.

• A.S. Banga from Australia. Interested in a variety of topicals ranging from butterflies to basketball and COVID to dinosaurs, I was sure I could find 100 to send. In exchange, naval ships and aircraft and maybe more were proposed. Sent: June 6, 2023. Received: July 13, 2023. This trade was a bit disappointing. A.S. returned 50 of my stamps, saying they were from countries he had a direct connection to, like Russia and Bulgaria. He sent 50 Japan, suggesting further trades and requesting 2000-2023 Canada and Western Europe. Not what he originally advertised and I will not be taking him up on his offer, since he didn't return what he said he would.

Bonus trade! A few days before this salvo, I received an offer from Carmen Scicluna of Malta to trade 100 worldwide for 100 Malta. Carmen's envelope was sent May 24 and arrived June 7. What an awesome collection of statuary and other Malta issues, including a masked COVID theme!

*I have encountered this before when collectors return stamps they deem damaged. Upon inspecting those that J-F designated, I found no rips or tears, just some minor discolouration perhaps due to cancellation, and a few missing perfs. As an aside, this type of return is disappointing. Another collector must have sent me these stamps, and I must have accepted them. I do not inspect each stamp with a magnifying glass, and I guess my acceptance of slight imperfection is more yielding than some collectors. I do wish that these 'damaged' stamps would find their way somewhere other than back to me. Returning them does not come across as very gentlemanly. End of rant!

Flipping Through Germany

Join me for a flip-through of my newly-created album as we visit German states, German definitives, West Berlin, my original GDR/East Germany, East Germany commemoratives and definitives, then West Germany and unified Germany commemoratives. There were 960 in my collection before adding 1,615 accumulated over the last several years, for a new approximate total of 2,575! Alles ist gut!

Here's the sideways, close-up version

Here's the farther away, vertical version

This flip-through probably should have been matched to some Wagner!

What's Wrong with Stamp Shows?

And, what's wrong with organized philately? Much like organized religion, organized philately has challenges when it seeks to interest and educate its practitioners. Having just watched Graham Beck's Exploring Stamps Youtube video 'Visiting a Stamp Show' the reasons behind these challenges really struck me. As the video progressed, I took some screen captures to illustrate this post. Ask yourself, Why would I want to participate, and if I did, what activity would I enjoy the most?

For me, the top photo spoke volumes. Youth tables, like the one pictured, are hosted to introduce youngsters (but not adults?) to stamp collecting. Come and grab some free stamps! (Adults will have to buy them, in contrast at the nearby bourse!)

That top photo just looks like fun to me! At McIntyre's stamp shop on Brock Street, there were always a stamp bin and a coin bin to root through. The proprietor told me, "We put all kinds of stamps in there, there are even some valuable ones" and he was right. I found several U.S. special delivery stamps that caught my eye. Even as an adult, while on a break from a short visit to Hotel Dieu Hospital to provide intraoperative pathology services, I would wander over at lunchtime before heading back to Kingston General Hospital. Just to explore that bin and fill an envelope for pennies per stamp.

Then we have to graduate to the adult practices on the bourse (above and below). Sitting down in front of rows and rows of albums or stacks and stacks of stock boxes. Perhaps with one's own binder, stock book and want list. And money. Why is there no in-between? Where is the social media-like interplay and conversation between collectors? These activities do not look like fun to me. Hence the grey hair and lack of youth or young adult representation, except for the videographer, that is!

Perhaps even worse, the display of frames (below) with videographer Graham being the only viewer. Getting to a one-frame display seems to be the trend, and no wonder. Who but the most hardcore philatelist, or judge, would go through frame after frame?  Now, books are even being published on how to get your frame 'right'. I'm all for research, and clearly those who do research like to share the results of their hard work. Where is the quick bite, the fun assembly of attractive stamps, the non-standard display?

The purpose of this Working Stamps blog is to try to describe what I enjoy about philately, but always my child-like hope to keep stamp collecting fun, despite the 'Working' title of this blog!

Web Log of Stampers on Youtube

There's a whole online community of stampers on Youtube. Watching Youtube channels are not a good alternative to working on my collection. After a long day, at 10 p.m., I'm not going to work on my collection lying in bed, but I might watch a stamp video! 

In my quest to find an engaging stamper on Youtube, there are some characteristics I'm looking for in a channel:

• regularly-posted
• lots of videos to choose from
• host is entertaining, not stuffy
• show stamps I'm interested in

Some Youtubers to explore further:

Silk on the Web - definitely has fun (infectious laugh)

American Philatelic Society Stamp Chat

Exploring Stamps - closed his channel after 7 years and 50 videos. The scope, quality of videos, financial and time resources required made the channel no longer sustainable as of March, 2024.

John Collects Stamps

Kyle's Stamps - fun!

North Toronto Stamp Club

Stamp Sleuth & More - shows the Traveler stamp album! - (top photo)

The Digital Philatelist - blog roll worth checking out 

Stampcat - from Canada!

specific good videos to watch:

Grandpa's Stamp Album Cover to Cover

Gee...The Crusade Continues

 

The Long and Noble Crusade continues as I album-ize stamps long organized but not yet hinged. Smaller countries like Andorra, Burkina Faso, Chile, Djibouti, Ethiopia and even French ocean colonies made it to pages. Then we got to G: Gabon, Ghana, and what to do about Germany?

Well, the 8x11 self-printed pages are up to about a half-inch deep, so Germany is getting its own binder. There was no way it was going to find a home within my three Traveler albums. I'm looking for a fourth. With 28 degree temperatures for a couple of days here, the sunroom is where the crusade is happening. It's stamping room only as each album page fills with as many same-shape stamps as I can fit, ones I've already organized five-deep in stock sheets along with assembled hinges and pages ready to go. It's quite an assembly line! Right now its commemoratives, then I'll circle back through definitives, Deutsche Bundepost Berlin and finally East Germany/DDR.

Then, my Germany collection will be unified!

My Favourite Stamp

I added this Hong Kong stamp to my collection at McIntyre's years ago. I considered it my favourite at the time, and I still do today. 

Imagine my surprise when I was watching a mail call video on the Stampcat Youtube channel and a collector named Trevor sent two of these Hong Kong stamps to Youtuber Lisa. He called them "...Powerfully symbolic of the start of the post-war era."

$1 stamp (above) and 30 cent (below).

Some history: 

The Head Postmaster of Hong Kong, Edward Wynne-Jones, sketched the design while in a Japanese intermet camp in Hong Kong.

After his release at the end of the war in 1945, Wynne-Jones brought this artwork back to Britain with him, and sent it to the Colonial Office for consideration. A design for the crown colonies’ planned Victory omnibus issue, showing the Houses of Parliament, had already been agreed with the Colonial Office.

However, because of the exceptional background to Wynne-Jones’ design, special permission was given by King George VI for it to be used in Hong Kong instead of the universal one. Two values, recess-printed by De La Rue, were issued on August 29, 1946: a 30c intended for domestic letters and a $1 for airmail use. The Phoenix Rising From Flames stamp was issued August 29, 1946.

The design used a variety of symbols to convey a powerful message. The central portrait, naturally, was of King George VI, with a crown above his head, reasserting the power of the British Empire. Below this was the mythical phoenix bird, which died in flames and was reborn from the ashes, symbolising the colony’s recovery from disaster. A ribbon below the bird bore the word ‘Resurgo’ (Latin for ‘arise’), and the dates ‘1941’ and ‘1945’ recalling the period of the Japanese occupation. The name of the colony appeared in English at the top, while Lions of England held shields that gave the name in Chinese characters.

On each side of the stamps are vertical tablets bearing Chinese inscriptions. There are varying literal interpretations of these phrases, but the general sense is clear: on the left it says ‘China and Britain perpetually at peace’, and on the right ‘The phoenix revives: great good fortune’.