Registration Labels

I have always had a fascination for the pages at the back of a stamp collection.  Those come after all the mass-produced pages where you fill in all the well-known things the catalogs say you should be able to find.  And back here you find the miscellany, the things the couldn't be found in catalogs, or odd little bits that the collector felt were worth saving along with whatever country they follow.

One thing that comes up pretty regularly are registration labels.  Here is a batch from Australia that I just sold, a lot that had been sitting on various sites for about 15 years now.  These are all from the state of South Australia.  There is no indication of what year they were printed, but the very low numbers suggest early issues.

Like postmarks, I suppose it would make more sense to collect these on complete covers, where you could see the full context of how and when they were used, but I have soaked hundreds of pounds of stamps over the years, I know that they get into mixtures by various means.  Once separated out and left on their own, much of their story is lost.  But again, complete covers take up so much more space.  It's a question we all have to ponder, whether to collect items together or separately, whether we're looking for curiosities, different items or full historical documents.

These also go to show that as you accumulate items over years or decades, you can end up with quantities of things you don't normally see.  One or two of these is just "something extra", but if you have managed to tuck away 10 or 20 stockpages full, they have a certain weight of their own.  Maybe you will have accumulated a historical sequence, different printings from different time periods, and can begin to piece together the actual context of them all.  An even larger selection might begin to be a reference collection or the start of a journey of research.

Beyond the catalogs, there is so much more to see.  And it is usually found in the "back of the book" on blank pages, raising questions for curious minds.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Germany Definitives: Historic Sites 1987-2004

Image
The Historic Sites Series is a long-running set of definitives from Germany, starting in 1987 and running through 2004.  Although the designs are mostly buildings, some statues are included.  The first series (Scott catalog #1515A-1540A) has 27 stamps from 5pf to 400pf values, all regular sheet stamps.  These are mostly of minimal values, but only the 280pf lists for over $2.  Keep an eye on the issues which include "Berlin" in the name.  Next there are 7 self-adhesives in the 1990s which are all $2 or more, and 23 more sheet stamps (#1838-1860) where the ones from 300pf to 720pf (the highest value in the whole series) are in the $2 to $6 range.  Nine of these are denominated in both pfennigs and euros.  This is followed by the last set of 18 from 2002-04 (#2199-2216) denominated in euros only, with die-cut self-adhesive coil and booklet stamps.  Here, the values over 1-euro are worth about $1.50 per euro. It's not a colorful series, using a lot o...
Read more

Quick Intro - a Stamp Life

Image
My Dad got me interested in stamps when I was 6, so this year marks officially 50 years in the hobby for me.  My very first job was helping a stamp dealer in Port Jefferson Station (NY) price stamps for his shop -- I got paid about $15 in catalog value per hour, my pick.  Perfect.     I would get to see things like this India States issue... I started a mail order mixture company when I was a senior in high school (1984) and it moved with me over the years from CT to NY to California.  I got on eBay in 1996 and their computer algorithm booted me off as I was gearing up for a 20th anniversary promotion (long story).  I'm sure I have gone through 1000 pounds of mixtures over the years, made 20,000 lots for sale, got my eBay ranking up to almost 10,000 so I had at least that many sales ... as well as cataloging hundreds of collections for Lee Clark Stamps over 20 years.  So, I have seen a few million stamps. I still have a significant stash tucked away fo...
Read more

Approaching Mixtures

Image
I always enjoyed buying worldwide mixtures on or off paper and sorting them out.  My first sort of a big mixture is usually by first letter of the country name, but sometimes I simply sort by continent first.  Since I am fascinated with postmarks, I often keep a pile of those on the side.  When sorting A to Z, having 26 piles would take up too much space, but there are some first letters that are hardly used at all, so piles like D-E, J-K, N-O, P-Q, U-Z just happen naturally.  This will still fit in two lids of bankers boxes, four rows of three piles in each lid.  I have always had cats, so it's easy to stack the lids and put them in the closet if I don't finish the sort in the first sitting. There is a general economics of getting a general world mix at maybe $180 per 10 pounds and ending up with some smaller amounts of much less common mixes.  Country-specific mixes always cost more on the source price lists, so maybe an ounce of Japan might sell for $6, ...
Read more