Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
I only collect about a dozen countries, but from that short list I believe classic USA and the early Japanese with their many forgeries are trickiest, also some of the early Norway post horns have many varieties, most not listed in Scott. The rest of the world is beyond my ken.
Let’s hear your opinions and experiences.
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07:57:03am
When my wife and I started collecting in the early 70's the country we had to work at the most was the early US, with perfs, hard to detect watermarks and color shades. I just did a whole bunch of Ecuador material over the last week or so and, even though it is probably lack of patience as I get older, I found keeping all the overprints sorted out a challenge. But I would say the winner, by a large margin, is the classic US material!
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Mexico. Pretty much every series produced until 1900 is complicated by watermarks, perfs, paper types, plate types and district overprints if one wants to pay attention to those. After 1900 there are the civil war overprints, the Cardenas inauguration set, the Archaeology and architecture set, and the Exportas, any of which one could specialize in. I find all the challenges very rewarding.
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In my possibly limited experience I've found the Australian states the hardest to work with. Getting the watermarks etc correct was very time consuming.
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After more than 66 years collecting United States Revenue Series stamps.
Alot of these series are not listed in catalogs, or the catalogs are way out of print!
Plus all the varieties and how to correctly identify the, there are many stamps that appear to have multiple transfer but are not.
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I would say the Brazilian definitives from the 1920s and 30s, the so-called série vovó is an enormous challenge. There are many different watermarks that are hard to see, let alone distinguish from one another.
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How about Malaysia and States?
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I would put Panama in the top 25. Part of the problem is that there is so little philatelic literature regarding this country.
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03:40:58pm
I just thought of another area - early Ukrainian regional overprints. I have a couple hundred to sort through and I keep putting it off until the mood is right - if it every will be. Has anyone successfully sorted these out? One of these days I will try.
And if anyone is thinking about forgeries making collecting difficult you have to consider the early Poland issues. Actually they are so difficult to tell that most people just accept them as a fact of life and just ignore them and just won't pay much. Early Russian "revolutionary" stamps would fall into the same boat!! Also the early Cuba Principe (?) overprints. Only a genuine expert can tell the difference. I actually wonder with some of this material if even the "experts" aren't just making educated guesses. When the overprints are very inconsistent in the first place I would imagine making more than a guess would be very difficult!! Would any experts out there care to comment on this?
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Well, Theresa, the cheeky response would be whatever country or area am currently attempting to tame.
While respondents have identified several of the classic toughies, must concur with jansimon: Brasil. Especially serie vovo.
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Interesting responses. Brazil was a surprise - I haven’t collected those since I broke up my worldwide collection in the early 1980s. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
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Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and the US Washington-Franklin era - I have way too much trouble with the watermarks on these, plus Scott does not list in a way to make simpler.
Josh
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Japan especially the Prefectures. Simply because I do not speak, read or write Japanese!!
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The country — any country! — that calls you (Siren song!) to complete a collection of its stamps. The most difficult, in my experience:
• Eire and its early overprints (sold my collection before completion).
• Canada and its earliest definitives as well as its Admiral issue (sold my collection before completion).
• The U.S. and its definitives of the 1920s and 1930s (still have the collection, not sure what to do with it).
Bob
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I am surprised no one has mentioned Germany - from the individual states to the post war issues and reunification, there is a wealth of complication there!
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02:25:13pm
"Eire and its early overprints (sold my collection before completion)."
I forgot how difficult that is. I have all the early overprints of the smaller stamps but am still missing 12 of the overprints of the seahorse stamps. It was difficult to find and check much of this material. My cutoff is 1955 and I have all the coils, which also was not easy, and everything except those 12 stamps. Shore(sic) would be nice to finish, but those stamps are going to be very hard to get at reasonable prices from trustworthy sellers!
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You’re so right, Joe. Differentiating the blue-black and black Irish overprints can be tricky. Angling under a light helps to see the bluish tones. But the overlay that Joe Foley designed is an absolute MUST HAVE for identifying those issues. You can buy one from the Eire Philatelic Association.
As to authenticity, anything you buy from Roy Hamilton-Bowen will be as described. Www.Hibernian-news.eu or Rodgau philatelie- auctions. You can also sometimes find them in Eire Philatelic Association auctions
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03:14:47pm
I just picked up a very nice early US cover from a SoR dealer with a green postmark - the stamp, not the seller!! 
The green was easy to tell but dark blues and other such dark colours can be a real pain. GOK how many rare overprints or postmarks I have in a rare dark colour that I just can't see!
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Harvey said, "…those stamps are going to be very hard to get at reasonable prices from trustworthy sellers!"
I've been collecting stamps for most of my life, but didn't get "serious" about it until the early 1980s. In all that time, I haven't encountered more than two sellers who I learned could not be trusted.
One offered a complete, used set of U.S. Columbian Centenary stamps on eBay. I bought it, and when it arrived I was surprised to see that they were used all right, with reasonably well applied, identical CDS cancellations, but still had full gum. Obviously, they had been favour cancelled, something the seller failed to mention. That must have been before good, large images were available on eBay. I can't imagine I would have ordered them if I had seen a large, hi-res image of them. In any event, I complained, and I was told that the seller had not been dishonest, that the stamps were cancelled, and that was that.
The other seller wasn't so much dishonest, but at least very disorganized. I suppose that I created the problem, sort of. I found some postcards and a cover that he was offering on HipStamp. I bought them and paid for them. I made the mistake of asking if he any other, similar covers and postcards. He did, although they weren't currently on HipStamp, so he sent me images. I selected two of them and immediately sent payment. And waited. And waited. And sent emails. And waited. And called him. He apologized. I waited. And called him. He apologized again. Finally, I got the covers I'd ordered, but not the postcards. I called him. He said he wasn't sure what I'd ordered, and despite the fact that I sent him images of the postcards I was waiting for he said he didn't recall the order, but would send me a refund for the missing postcards.
Now here's what rankles. He still sells regularly on both HipStamp and eBay. And his prices are simply outrageous for common material and less-common/rare material. If one dealer is selling an older FDC for $20, he'll charge $80 for a nearly identical cover. And the rub is that many of his covers are among the best I see for the topics/themes that interest me, but I just can't afford them. If he charged reasonable prices, I would be probably forgive him, never step outside the regular supply chain, and become a regular customer. As it is, he'll never get another dime from me. I've mentioned this to another well-known dealer, who confirmed that the guy is a money-grubbing shyster.
But I have to say that these two dealers were bad apples in a very large box of apples. I've had nothing but positive experiences with every other seller I've ever worked with, including Stamporama sellers. Keep it up, guys and gals!
Bob
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Which country, in your opinion, is the most complex to collect? I don’t mean expensive, I mean tricky to correctly identify different varieties.
I only collect about a dozen countries, but from that short list I believe classic USA and the early Japanese with their many forgeries are trickiest, also some of the early Norway post horns have many varieties, most not listed in Scott. The rest of the world is beyond my ken.
Let’s hear your opinions and experiences.
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Back when I had a bunch! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
09 May 2023
07:57:03am
re: Which Country is the most complicated to collect?
When my wife and I started collecting in the early 70's the country we had to work at the most was the early US, with perfs, hard to detect watermarks and color shades. I just did a whole bunch of Ecuador material over the last week or so and, even though it is probably lack of patience as I get older, I found keeping all the overprints sorted out a challenge. But I would say the winner, by a large margin, is the classic US material!
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re: Which Country is the most complicated to collect?
Mexico. Pretty much every series produced until 1900 is complicated by watermarks, perfs, paper types, plate types and district overprints if one wants to pay attention to those. After 1900 there are the civil war overprints, the Cardenas inauguration set, the Archaeology and architecture set, and the Exportas, any of which one could specialize in. I find all the challenges very rewarding.
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re: Which Country is the most complicated to collect?
In my possibly limited experience I've found the Australian states the hardest to work with. Getting the watermarks etc correct was very time consuming.
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09:05:04am
re: Which Country is the most complicated to collect?
After more than 66 years collecting United States Revenue Series stamps.
Alot of these series are not listed in catalogs, or the catalogs are way out of print!
Plus all the varieties and how to correctly identify the, there are many stamps that appear to have multiple transfer but are not.
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re: Which Country is the most complicated to collect?
I would say the Brazilian definitives from the 1920s and 30s, the so-called série vovó is an enormous challenge. There are many different watermarks that are hard to see, let alone distinguish from one another.
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re: Which Country is the most complicated to collect?
How about Malaysia and States?
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re: Which Country is the most complicated to collect?
I would put Panama in the top 25. Part of the problem is that there is so little philatelic literature regarding this country.
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Back when I had a bunch! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
09 May 2023
03:40:58pm
re: Which Country is the most complicated to collect?
I just thought of another area - early Ukrainian regional overprints. I have a couple hundred to sort through and I keep putting it off until the mood is right - if it every will be. Has anyone successfully sorted these out? One of these days I will try.
And if anyone is thinking about forgeries making collecting difficult you have to consider the early Poland issues. Actually they are so difficult to tell that most people just accept them as a fact of life and just ignore them and just won't pay much. Early Russian "revolutionary" stamps would fall into the same boat!! Also the early Cuba Principe (?) overprints. Only a genuine expert can tell the difference. I actually wonder with some of this material if even the "experts" aren't just making educated guesses. When the overprints are very inconsistent in the first place I would imagine making more than a guess would be very difficult!! Would any experts out there care to comment on this?
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04:10:32pm
re: Which Country is the most complicated to collect?
Well, Theresa, the cheeky response would be whatever country or area am currently attempting to tame.
While respondents have identified several of the classic toughies, must concur with jansimon: Brasil. Especially serie vovo.
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re: Which Country is the most complicated to collect?
Interesting responses. Brazil was a surprise - I haven’t collected those since I broke up my worldwide collection in the early 1980s. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
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re: Which Country is the most complicated to collect?
Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and the US Washington-Franklin era - I have way too much trouble with the watermarks on these, plus Scott does not list in a way to make simpler.
Josh
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11:15:45am
re: Which Country is the most complicated to collect?
Japan especially the Prefectures. Simply because I do not speak, read or write Japanese!!
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re: Which Country is the most complicated to collect?
The country — any country! — that calls you (Siren song!) to complete a collection of its stamps. The most difficult, in my experience:
• Eire and its early overprints (sold my collection before completion).
• Canada and its earliest definitives as well as its Admiral issue (sold my collection before completion).
• The U.S. and its definitives of the 1920s and 1930s (still have the collection, not sure what to do with it).
Bob
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01:39:06pm
re: Which Country is the most complicated to collect?
I am surprised no one has mentioned Germany - from the individual states to the post war issues and reunification, there is a wealth of complication there!
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Back when I had a bunch! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
13 May 2023
02:25:13pm
re: Which Country is the most complicated to collect?
"Eire and its early overprints (sold my collection before completion)."
I forgot how difficult that is. I have all the early overprints of the smaller stamps but am still missing 12 of the overprints of the seahorse stamps. It was difficult to find and check much of this material. My cutoff is 1955 and I have all the coils, which also was not easy, and everything except those 12 stamps. Shore(sic) would be nice to finish, but those stamps are going to be very hard to get at reasonable prices from trustworthy sellers!
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: Which Country is the most complicated to collect?
You’re so right, Joe. Differentiating the blue-black and black Irish overprints can be tricky. Angling under a light helps to see the bluish tones. But the overlay that Joe Foley designed is an absolute MUST HAVE for identifying those issues. You can buy one from the Eire Philatelic Association.
As to authenticity, anything you buy from Roy Hamilton-Bowen will be as described. Www.Hibernian-news.eu or Rodgau philatelie- auctions. You can also sometimes find them in Eire Philatelic Association auctions
Login to Like
this post
Back when I had a bunch! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
13 May 2023
03:14:47pm
re: Which Country is the most complicated to collect?
I just picked up a very nice early US cover from a SoR dealer with a green postmark - the stamp, not the seller!! The green was easy to tell but dark blues and other such dark colours can be a real pain. GOK how many rare overprints or postmarks I have in a rare dark colour that I just can't see!
Login to Like
this post
re: Which Country is the most complicated to collect?
Harvey said, "…those stamps are going to be very hard to get at reasonable prices from trustworthy sellers!"
I've been collecting stamps for most of my life, but didn't get "serious" about it until the early 1980s. In all that time, I haven't encountered more than two sellers who I learned could not be trusted.
One offered a complete, used set of U.S. Columbian Centenary stamps on eBay. I bought it, and when it arrived I was surprised to see that they were used all right, with reasonably well applied, identical CDS cancellations, but still had full gum. Obviously, they had been favour cancelled, something the seller failed to mention. That must have been before good, large images were available on eBay. I can't imagine I would have ordered them if I had seen a large, hi-res image of them. In any event, I complained, and I was told that the seller had not been dishonest, that the stamps were cancelled, and that was that.
The other seller wasn't so much dishonest, but at least very disorganized. I suppose that I created the problem, sort of. I found some postcards and a cover that he was offering on HipStamp. I bought them and paid for them. I made the mistake of asking if he any other, similar covers and postcards. He did, although they weren't currently on HipStamp, so he sent me images. I selected two of them and immediately sent payment. And waited. And waited. And sent emails. And waited. And called him. He apologized. I waited. And called him. He apologized again. Finally, I got the covers I'd ordered, but not the postcards. I called him. He said he wasn't sure what I'd ordered, and despite the fact that I sent him images of the postcards I was waiting for he said he didn't recall the order, but would send me a refund for the missing postcards.
Now here's what rankles. He still sells regularly on both HipStamp and eBay. And his prices are simply outrageous for common material and less-common/rare material. If one dealer is selling an older FDC for $20, he'll charge $80 for a nearly identical cover. And the rub is that many of his covers are among the best I see for the topics/themes that interest me, but I just can't afford them. If he charged reasonable prices, I would be probably forgive him, never step outside the regular supply chain, and become a regular customer. As it is, he'll never get another dime from me. I've mentioned this to another well-known dealer, who confirmed that the guy is a money-grubbing shyster.
But I have to say that these two dealers were bad apples in a very large box of apples. I've had nothing but positive experiences with every other seller I've ever worked with, including Stamporama sellers. Keep it up, guys and gals!
Bob
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