Thursday, February 4, 2016

37oz U.S. Kiloware From eBay

I just picked up a kiloware lot on eBay for 37 oz on paper U.S. stamps.  Below are a couple of the sellers photos.  I'll post new photos and updates once the lot arrives and I sort the haul.



Update 2/5/16:
Soooooo many stamps.  I soaked off about 30 stamps from the 20 cent state bird series.  My plan is to start separating this weekend. At this rate this project may take years!

Update 2/8/16:
I had a busy weekend but managed to soak about 30 stamps a night.  The package doesn't look like I even touched it.  The current fault rate is about 25%.  Those go right into the trash.  I should have some time this week to go through some more of this beast.

Update 2/11/16:
I soaked a few more batches of stamps.  The fault rate has been higher at about 40%.  Lots of transportation coils in this bunch.  I've noticed the older stamps (up to early 1970s) really hold up better than newer stamps late 70s -90s.  The newer stamps have more creases and get tossed.  These make up the majority of the faults I'm seeing.  My glassine envelopes should finally arrive today. The USPS has been running 6 days behind due to all the winter weather.

Here are a couple more photos from the lot:



Update 2/15/16:
I processed 3 more batches this past weekend and was able to get through 1 of the 2 padded mailers that were included inside the box.  The fault rate was about 50% for this lot.  I didn't have much luck with the 29c dinosaurs & sea creatures series.  They soaked off ok, but the thin paper roller up and wrinkled very quickly.

Update 2/16/16:
I received my Showgard Desert Magic II Stamp Drying Book that I ordered on ebay.  This item is very nice and allows me to dry many more stamps at once.  I've also experimented with adding a couple of drops of bleach & hydrogen peroxide to my soak water.  I use a very large food container so the solution is extremely diluted.   A few stamps had an odor to them and this solution removed the odor.  After the initial soak, the removed stamp gets placed into another container with fresh water for a rinse. 

Update 3/1/16:
I'm about 70% done with soaking the stamps and disposing of damaged ones.  I should be finished within the next couple of weeks and have new photos.  I'm not sure who long it will take to sort all of these, but for $20 shipped I can say I got my money out of it.  Once I get through these, I should have a pretty nice collection of used stamps and may be able to recoup my initial cost buy selling the duplicates. 


Welcome to my Site

 I have several other sites for my various interests.  Please feel free to check them out.  I'm a causal stamp collector and only have been collecting for about 2 years.  I can go long stretches without looking at my collection and picking up new items.  My main collecting interest is coins and can be found on another of my sites.  Up until a few years ago, I was an avid baseball card collector for over 20 years.  The parallel, game used and autographed cards did me in. I don't have a lot of free time or money to spend on my hobbies, but they do provide interesting reading material when I can find a couple of minutes.

I plan on showing off parts of my collection on this site and sharing my thoughts on the hobby.