Cleaning out the old stamp closet, and found a box full of philatelic materials.  I've listed some of the books/booklets that I did not want for sale in the store, but here's eight that I have decided to keep.  Starting with the photo above, here's some descriptions of the booklets.

1.  Everything for the stamp collector  published by H.E. Harris in 1954.  Wonderful black and white photos, of the 'world's largest stamp firm'.  A nice one page photo lineup of famous stamp collectors (I did not realize Lily Pons was a collector).  Pages and pages then of their packets, albums and other stamp collecting needs.  A complete specialty album for Germany and colonies through 1951 cost $14.50.  One pound of their Golden Galleon mission mixture cost $2.50.  The booklet ends with a listing of US stamps for sale individually.

2.  The stamp collectors annual catalog including the stamp finder published by H.E. Harris in 1948.  An earlier and larger version of the Harris catalog.  Lots of listings of packets, including 10cent packets. The Golden Galleon one pound mission mix was just $2.00.  A handy 'stamp press' sells for $2.50.  It was construted of aluminum and was 3 in by 4 inches in size.  The stamp finder is a separate printed booklet stapled into the catalog and is the usual reference of hard to identify stamps and overprints.  Finally in the back of the catalog are stamp collector supplies complete with packs of hinges for 15 cents and an interesting L-Z hinge dispenser, made specifically to use with the Ideal hinges.  Also interesting is a weird tool called a Tel-I-Tong which had a complete set of metal perf gauges attached to a set of stamp tongs which also included, somewhere, a magnifying glass.  All for two bucks.  This booklet was a well consulted catalog, complete with many check marks beside items, either ordered or to be ordered.

3. Kenmore Finder's guide to rare and valuable postage stamps published by Kenmore stamp company  1985 and 1991.  I have two copies of this, one in black and white and one with more color.  It's a small booklet doing exactly what the title says, discussing various rarities in world wide stamps.  An example is Germany's 19th century 5-pfennig violet stamps.  An early version is printed pfennige and is worth much more than the later version printed pfennig5.  The booklet has about nine pages of this type of information.

4.  A Description of United States postage stamps Junior edition published by the Post Office Department Washington 1940.  It is opened with a letter from the oval office signed by Franklin Roosevelt, commending young stamp collectors.  The booklet then has a black and white photo of each US commemorative stamp with a brief description of the stamps theme. 

The second batch are really small booklets, probably published to be used as give aways. 

1.  The Stamp Finder published by H.E. Harris 1969.  It's a small stamp identifier booklet.  It starts with an alphbetical listing of foriegn words and their English interpretation, then has several pages of black and white photos of stamps from around the world.  Next is a stamp collectors dictionary.  The last pages are explanations on how to identify different varieties of early US stamps.  Price for the booklet is listed as a quarter.

2.  The Stamp Finder and How to collect stamps, published by the Philatelic Institute in 1953.  The first section of this booklet is a good basic introduction to the skills needed to work with a stamp collection, how to soak, hinge, watermark and other identification needs. The second section is again the alphabetical listing of countries and the English interpretation, as well as the black and white photos of stamps from around the world.  The interesting part of this booklet is that the back page has an address label (to a 'Miss' so a young collector) and franking from Boston Mass, but no date.

3.  How to collect postage stamps Stories from postage stamps How to start a stamp club and Where and How to hunt for rare old stamps published by H.E. Harris 1950.  The first 16 pages of this booklet is full of stamp stories, titled with 'The Fiery Throne' or 'Mail, Guns and Ponies'.  The last part of the booklet is a good introduction to the skills needed for a stamp collection.  Their biggest hint for finding rare old stamps is 'wherever mail has been saved or accumulated for many years, such as letters of your grandparents hidden away and long forgotten.'  Still true today!

4.  Same as #3 only in a tiny 2 by 4 inch version.  Published by H. E. Harris in 1951.  It starts with the basic stamp collecting skills, and also includes the article on finding rare stamps.  However the stamp stories are shortened into one paragraph listings with a black and white photo of the stamp.

I've not had time to work with my stamp collection for two months now, summer is just too busy to let me find the time to sit and do anything philatelicly related.  But it's been nice to feel in touch with the hobby during that time, through StampWants, with the forums, auctions and even some shopping in the stores.  I still stop by this site almost daily, and I like having that daily dose of 'stamp stuff'.

So one auction caught my eye, and I bid on it and won, which got me to the sellers store to add to my order, to combine shipping.  And the one thing the seller had that was on my vast 'want list' were strips of mint PNC's.

I have had an interest in Plate Number Coils (PNC's) for as many years as I have been seriously collecting stamps.  I joined the PNC collector club and get their newsletter, which is interesting to read.  I find that those collectors are taking their collections to extremes that I don't plan to follow, but it's nice to read details about those specific stamps.

One nice thing from the newsletter is the comprehensive list that was put together by a collector.  Printed out in the newsletter instantly made it a perfect want list for those of us trying to get one of each of the numbers.  I have tried to keep that up to date, as my want list, by circling the ones I have.  It was from this list that I was able to shop and know that I did not have that specific stamp with that specific coil number. 

That was necessary because my PNC collection is very haphazardly put together, and does not reside all in one place.  That's partly because I never really set up a plan for how I want to collect this philatelic breed.

Possible options are:  1.  The format most collectors take which is a mint strip of five with the numbered stamp in the middle.  Some collectors shorten that to a mint strip of three in the same format.  2.  A single mint of the stamp with the number.  3.  A used copy of the stamp with the number  4.  A used strip of three with the numbered stamp in the middle (hard to find)  5.  A used strip of five with the numbered stamp in the middle (harder to find).  6.  Used, still on an envelope.

My current collection has some of all of the above.  That's because I just buy what I find or save as mint from new issues that I happen to buy from the post office.  And the various formats are in various places throughout my collection.  The mint strips are often in with all of the mint US I have, sheets, plate blocks, FDC, etc.  The used copies are in a stock book, sorted a bit by Scott Number, and with pockets for each of the different numbers.  Some of the used stamps are not even soaked off the paper, I just put them in there so they are at least someplace I can find them.

I have been musing about the collection this week, in anticipation of my recent purchases arriving.  It's always a 'better' collection when the stamps are in some specific order (so then you can know what's missing, because there's a hole where a stamp should be) and in the same format.  Nice used single PNC stamps, soaked and mounted or hinged into nicely printed stamp album pages, just makes the collection perfect.  If that's true, then why do I have the strips of five and three?  OK so the strips need their own order, but do I use stock sheets, or again nicely printed album pages with mounts?

Or do I be really artistic and make my own album pages, with the strips mounted and the singles on the same page.  That would allow me to put them together in the 'categories' like all of the flag coils in a section.  Definately an interesting album to look at, but harder to know what is missing, and harder because of needing to design the album pages.

One interesting point about this specific collecting interest, it may become a 'dead country'.  In stamp collecting, when a country is no longer issuing stamps, it is considered a dead country, and that implies it is now possible to have an actual completed collection of all the stamps from that country (given an unlimited budget I imagine).  If the post office really does stop using plate numbers on their coils, since they supposedly are no longer needed for quality control, then it will be possible to actually get a complete collection.  I almost wish the PO would decide to do that, I think I'd actually work harder on the collection if that happened.

I still have not made the final decision on this collection.  So for now, it rests just as it is, and I still seek out whatever I can, from my junk mail, or post office or occasionally, stamp stores.

Yesterday I had a large envelope to mail.  Lately this has been the hardest item for me to predetermine how much postage will be required.  When I have an item to mail that is not just your standard bill payment, I get online at the USPS website and have it calculate the amount of postage needed.  This works great for boxes, for all classes of shipping.  But those 8 by 10 envelopes have become a real problem to determine if the post office will consider it a large envelope, or a package.  I have to calculate the postage for both, and generally put close to the lower amount in stamps on the envelope, and then take it to the post office and have them decide.  Sometimes I think the clerks have a hard time too. And sometimes I guess wrong.  One time I had a smaller envelope, but still larger than any of your average card envelopes.  The website seemed to say it would be around a dollar to mail.  I put a 94 cent stamp on it and took it to the counter, only to have the clerk run it through a slit on a cardboard template, weigh it and tell me it would go for the standard 42 cent postage, so I was just fine with what I had put on there.   Oh well, at least the collector got a nice stamp....if they got the envelope.  It hasn't been returned to me yet for insufficient postage, when someone along the way decides it really was a large envelope and needed more postage.

Yesterdays envelope was very stiff because it contained several of those stiff sheets with the pockets for storing stamps.  It also was not uniform in thickness because there were several smaller items in it as well.  I knew that these two things would make the envelope be considered a package, and therefore the higher price.  But you can't get too sure, because sometimes the clerks just ignore those things and use the large envelope price. 

I did get a very helpful clerk this time.  She flexed the envelope slightly to see that it was very stiff and said, this has to go at the package rate.  I said that was fine, and pointed to the four 41 cents disney stamps I had put on the envelope.  I told her that I knew this was not enough postage and that she could print a meter for the remaining cost. 

Oh, she said, where did you get those stamps?

OK that's a funny statement coming from a postal clerk.  However she went on to give an explanation.  She said she had recently had someone come in and ask if there were any disney stamps, and she said they hadn't had any for awhile now.  She was wondering how I had bought stamps she hadn't had in her drawer for awhile.  I explained that I buy several sheets of stamps and use them to mail items to stamps collectors. 

Oh she said, that's interesting.  I buy the sheet of stamps and stick it away to keep it, but I don't use them.

So the postal service strikes again, another collector, this time in their own ranks, that buys the product and doesn't use it.

I do the same thing, so this is not finger pointing.  It's just my daily chuckle at the expense of the post office.

And the last laugh is that I think the original customer asking for the disney stamps probably did not mean last years 41 cent stamps.  I suspect the customer was looking for the new ones to be released in Aug.  And I seriously wonder if the postal clerk will realize, that the new ones are different from those that I just used yesterday.  If she really is an 'almost stamp collector' then probably she does know they are different. If not, sadly we've lost another member of the hobby.

On a previous post I wrote about putting stamps on packages that I am mailing.  Well, I have to add a post script to that blog entry.  The PS has to say, unless of course I run into a surly postal worker.

Here's what happened to me two days after posting that blog entry.  I had a very heavy package to mail, it weighed 18 pounds.  It was books, and so qualified for the media mail rate.  I took the package to the counter, and explained it was books and so would like media mail.  The postal worker weighed it, and confirmed the weight. I then said  'I would like to use a priority stamp on that please.'

OK so maybe it was my fault, for calling it a priority stamp instead of a high value stamp.  Because the postal worker shook his head and said, can't do that, this is media mail.  I tried briefly to explain I knew I was mailing it media mail rate, I just wanted to use a high value stamp, but the answer continued to be, nope, can't do that, this is media mail rate.

OK....so I asked, do you have any dollar stamps in your drawer?

Nope.

OK....

I stopped the futile effort at this point and allowed him to put a meter on the package. 

I will admit that I was at one of the smaller community branches of the post office, and I rarely have any problem getting what I want at the large main branch.  Although today, it was a bit touch and go because I had two packages to mail, one a for real priority package and another that was international and I knew would be higher cost to mail.  I asked when I first walked to the counter, to purchase two priority stamps and the clerk started to get them out of her drawer.  I made the mistake of continuing the conversation by saying, I am going to use them on these packages (trying to give her a heads up that they wouldn't need a meter for the full shipping cost).  And she said, Oh you're going to mail those today?' and closed her drawer and said, 'we'll just put meters on them.'

NOOOOOOO

I smiled and said, 'No please, these packages are going to stamp collectors, and I would really like to put stamps on them.' 

She complied, and I succeeded in getting two packages mailed with stamps on them.  It feels like a victory.

Remember when in the past when you were in the check out line of a grocery store they would ask you, 'do you want paper or plastic?'  Ever notice that the option has gone away, and you get plastic no matter what you want?  I feel the post office has gone the same way.  I wish they would ask you when you want to mail a package, 'do you want meter or stamps on that?'  but of course they don't.  Sometimes even when you try and insist.

I named my store here on Stamp Wants Will Work for Stamps, as a tongue in cheek play on the people holding signs that say, 'will work for food'.  I haven't seen too many of those around our area over the last year, but for awhile, they were on every interstate freeway ramp it seemed.  At the time I named the store, I was working full time, and my joke was that I was just working to support my stamp buying habit.

I found out a new meaning to the store name last week, as I truly did work, full time, all week and even some of the weekend for the stamp store.  It still amazes me, for several reasons.  One I have never in my life had the enjoyment of having a whole week, just to work with stamps.  And two, I am amazed that I had the 'stuff' to work with, for a whole week!

During this period of time off from a day job, I have decided to tackle several larger jobs here at home.  You know that jobs I mean, those things that just never had a high enough priority to give the amount of time you knew they would demand.  Going through the last of the inventory from my Dad's stamp business was just one of those jobs.  And that is what I did, for almost eight hours a day, over six days, last week, 

It was great fun.  But I couldn't have done it without Stamp Wants.  Even though I have many different things that I collect, I didn't want it all.  It was quite satisfying to be able to place what I wanted in my collection, and then take a group of what I didn't want, scan and post on the store.  It's now nicely consolidated into an 'inventory'.  I like that sense of organization, and I like the fact that the one corner of my house that had stored the many boxes has been cleared.

But I will state it again, it was work.  Every morning I would get up and look at that temporary sorting table in the dining room and see that no, it was not yet cleared.  Every day I set up my to do list, and usually didn't get through it, so that once again the next morning, I would not yet be done with the project.  It took an amazing amount of time.  There's no way of course I will ever be paid for that time, except at this point in my life, satisfaction is a far better paycheck, than money.

I will admit, I miss going to that 'job' this week.  It's nice to have a job, that is so much fun.

I have been going through a mixture of postal envelopes and FDC's this week, and as usual, it's taking me a long time, because I spend so much time enjoying each item.  I do not collect first day or event covers, outside of the occasional local ones produced.  Those have been fun.  Our state fair use to have the post office booth, with a cancel for the state fair.  They don't do that any more.  Our local stamp club does cachet and cancels for the yearly bourse.  The post office did one for the Lewis and Clark re enactment of their journey down the Ohio River.  These covers portray the life around me, and so I think I find I am drawn to event covers more than first day covers.

So I really enjoyed finding one cover in the lot, from the Schenectady New York.  It was an event cover for the 50th anniversary of the city.  The cover was created by the Dorp Stamp Club for Women and the ink stamped cachet was signed by the designer Inez E Clute.

Interesting of course is the fact that the cachet is signed by the designer, but more interesting to me was the stamp club itself.  Was it really just for women?  Based on the 1948 date I would think it's highly likely.  

It's going to be hard to write all my thoughts here about that without getting into some sterotypical assumptions.  That's because I am writing from a 2008 perspective.  But making some assumptions, this club is still out of what I consider the ordinary gathering of women in the 1940's.  Tea and luncheons for sure, quilting bees, knitting circles, church gatherings, these are the type of women gatherings I think about.  Not a stamp club.

There are times when I could see that women would enjoy sharing the hobby without the 'gentlemen of crusty opinions' that can be found in this hobby.  But on the whole, I am glad that the philatelic arena has become a combined gender pursuit.

I was telling hubby all about the cover, and he replied, 'and you are going to sell something you find so interesting?'  Yes, it's true.  I have reached the point in my collecting, and maybe even in life in general, that I'd rather enjoy the novelty of something, but not necessarily own it.  Unless of course it is local.  Then someday, some lucky collector will be going through a box lot and wonder just why someone bought an event cover from a state fair.

I've had the pleasure of a few sales here on SW lately, which means packing things for mailing through the post office.  Like all collectors/sellers I have the usual pack of gum damaged but still nice old mint stamps to use as postage.  It seems to be the general consensus among those of us that mail packages to stamp collectors that the more stamps plastered on the package, the better.

Once again, I find myself going against the norm.  I am tired of trying to soak stamps I already have in my collection, from cardboard box, or manila envelope.  And so I've decided that maybe other collectors are tired of it too.

Give me one nice high value, rarely used US postage stamp, the ones they print specifically for priority mail rates.  I know I can't eliminate the possible cardboard or manilla envelope, but at least I can soak the one stamp cautiously.  And for getting a nice high value stamp to put in my collection, or to resell, I will take that care while soaking.

I am fully aware that this won't work for the purchase of a few stamps.  In that case, I will put it in an envelope of appropiate size, and use newly release current rate stamps.  Another item that doesn't get enough use in the mailstream.

Yes, having to purchase high value stamps to use is a bit of inconvenience to the seller.  You have to lay out the money for them ahead of time.  Except that complaint falls apart because if the item is over 13 ounces, you have to go to the post office counter anyway.  Just buy the stamp then.  It will irritate the postal clerk, but hey, life needs some fun in it.

So buyers, beware.  If you buy anything from me that is above the 13 ounces (and therefore I have to go to the post office counter, you will be buying yourself a hopefully nicely cancelled, used high value stamp to add to your collection.  There's no way to mail anything that weight or higher for under $4.50, just add the .30 and buy a seldom used stamp.

Every once in awhile something really tickles my funny bone in my stamp collecting.

This weekend I spent some time going through US stationary cut squares.  Included in the small collection I was gleaning through, were some reply card cut squares.

I don't think that's a great way to save these.  A cut square shows nothing of the function of these reply cards.  A reply card is printed in two parts, which allows the mailer to send a card that includes an easy way to reply back to them.  A cut square from one of these looks like any postcard cut square, with the exception that the designs for the stamped area are only used in the reply card format.  What tickled my funny bone were the actual designs chosen.

The message part of the card is a standard engraved portrait of George Washington.  What so different, and to me funny, is that the reply part is an engraved portrait of Martha Washington.  Not some other president, but in the designers of that day's opinion, the distinct 'pairing' that belonged to George.

I doubt the reply part had anything to do with it, just a natural sense of what belongs together.  Scott catalog was nice enough to give each a different design number, so once I figured that out, I was able to place these cut squares in the proper place in my album.

George and Martha, love and marriage, death and taxes, yin and yang.  It's all properly paired.

I listened in to the live stamp auction on SW last night and I must say it was almost as much fun as being there.  I sat in my comfy chair with my laptop, and saw each lot in wonderful detail on the screen, and heard the bids fly and  the hammer going down at the end of each auction.  I heard the auctioneer kid the back rows for all their yawns.  And I heard the occasional, 'hey, you got one' when a SW bidder would win.

This type of auction is totally out of my price range for stamp collecting.  But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy the stamps.  Or for that matter, enjoying that even paying several hundreds of dollars for the lot, some collector or dealer was getting a great deal at 1/4 to 1/2 of the Scotts catalog price.  I marvelled at the value of these stamps, and at the fact they were going for such good deals.

I have never been to a live stamp auction (unless you could a very very loose version that a stamp club runs once a month).  I am curious how the buyers know what the lots look like.  Have they put them out in a line on a table, like they do with glassware at farm auctions?  Do they flash a picture of the lot on a screen behind the auctioneer?  Are the buyers given a catalog to follow? I've gotten some of those lovely catalogs at home, so I think this may be the case.

And do buyers make impulse bids at these auctions, like I do when something at a farm auction is 'just a buck, just a dollar'?  I noticed now and then my hand would stray to the mouse, although I really had no intention of making any bids.  I ended up sitting on my hand while watching, just like I stick my hands in my pockets at farm auctions, to prevent an 'accidental' bid .

All in all it was great fun.  It would have been fantastic fun if SW could figure out a way to do the same thing for us collectors that are willing to go up to $20 on a lot, or even better a dollar.  What a bargain, just a buck.  Ah yes, live penny auctions.  What a concept.

I've been working through a collection of postal stationary cut squares, that had been cataloged by someone at one point.  Since I am putting these into a Scott's specialize album, I had been rechecking the catalog numbers.  And what I am running into is that it seems hard to be sure of the paper colors in some cases.

So I'm recording my scale here and hope I have this right.  It's the best I could come up with after searching the internet, Scott's catalog and here on SW.

No color listing, paper is white.

Buff or cream, second most common, off white, when compared to white.

Orange, deep obvious orange color

Canary or lemon  light obvious lemon yellow color

Amber, lighter and orange, darker than canary.

Fawn, very dark buff almost brown.

Oriental buff:  ???

Blue, light blue color

Manila  referred to in the listing, but doesn't refer to color.  It is a rough woven paper, woven in manila from hemp. 

While reading through some back issues of Linns this morning, a picture in the question forum caught my eye.  It was a photo of a cut square from early US postal stationary, and showed the front, properly printed and the back, with a strong printing of the image reversed.  I am pretty sure I have seen an example of this, in a big box of cut squares I inherited from by Dad.  I figured it was a printing freak but had never looked into it any further.

The response to the letter informed me that the reversed imaging on stamps are freaks called setoffs.  It will occur when freshly printed sheets of stationary are stacked on top of each other before the ink dries.  I think that explains why it was seen more in early printings of stamps.  Printing was a much more manual process, and fast drying inks had not been developed yet. 

Although not the type of flaw that creates a high value stamp, it is still one of the fun things to find when sorting.  I pull the stamp out, and say 'Hmm, look at that!' and stick it in my regular collection.  Then years later, when going through the collection for something else, I can come across it again, and enjoy the novelty of it once more.

I learned a new philatelic term today, gum breaker ridges.  These actually can be seen on the front if you hold it up to the light, but they are most evident on the reverse gum side.  They look like the stamp has been 'pressed' by a grid and the lines form even squares over the entire stamp.

When I first encountered this, I set the stamp aside as flawed. But I had multiple copies of the same stamp that had the same ridges, and I soon came to the conclusion that this was a result of the printing and not a flaw on the stamp.  But I am not knowledgeable about the printing processes of the US stamps (or foriegn either for that matter).  So I went to the forum here on SW and asked.

And got some very good responses.  I learned the correct term was gum breaker ridges.  I learned they occurred mostly on US stamps from the 1970's and that they were from one particular type of press, the rotary press, and that most likely it was only the Cottrell press.  And I learned that the process was intentional as a way to keep whole sheets from curling.

Evidently they gave up on the process because I do not see that in the modern stamps.  It could be because so many of the modern stamps are no longer water activated, but self adhesive.  With the thicker back of the self stick stamps, curling would not be a problem. 

It's always nice to learn something new in this hobby, particularly when it answers the question, why is that stamp like that?

I have found that I have two sets of 'perfect' when it comes to stamps.  One set is used if I am keeping the stamp myself, and the other is if I am selling the stamp.  And the acceptable limits of flaws is much higher for stamps I keep for myself.  If I am listing the stamp to sell, I want it as close to post office fresh as I can get if it is mint, and as clean as I can get if it is used.  I will tolerate more flaws in my collection, than in my sales inventory.

Of course that's a good sales practice. What I am writing about here is the fact that I was surprised that I was willing to put less than perfect in my collection.  If I am willing to do that, wouldn't other collectors be willing to do that?  So I did list a few with flaws at very reduced prices (and penny auctions) just to find out.  I even typed the words in one or two of the listings, 'good only as a place holder'.

Do collectors really pay for place holders?  Oh I am sure they do in the very early issues of countries, that cost so much when in perfect condition.  No, those are not the ones I am talking about.  If you have a collection, and have not had a stamp for a certain issue, that is inexpensive, but the only copy you really have found has bad perfs, do you put it in the album, just to cover that space?  I do.  I know it decreases the value of the collection, if many of the stamps are this way, but I think that most collectors do it now and then.  I will often put an arrow mark with pencil on the album page, pointing to the flaw.  This alerts me if I do happen on another copy of the issue, in better shape, to replace the stamp. 

But that's only if I happen along another stamp.  And with the millions of world wide stamps out there, the odds of that happening are slim.  I find I have rarely replaced one of those stamps.  So in truth, I am using poor copies, and not place holders.  And I only replace it if I happen to find the stamp in a mixture, I do not go out and 'buy' a better copy.  I wonder if other collectors actually look to buy a better stamp or not.

This will not be an issue for collectors that focus on smaller and more specific areas of collecting.  Then you can actively search for the best copy of the stamp you need, and pay the price.  I have never really collected stamps this way.  My technique is to buy world wide lots, either sorted or not, sometimes by country, sometimes world wide mission mixes on paper.  Then, whatever I find, if I need it, I put it in my album.  It's all about the hunt for me in this hobby.  But sometimes the only stamp I come across is in less than perfect condition.  I keep it anyway, if it is the only copy.

However, if I am going to sell the stamp, I still scutinize it hard.  I found one US mint stamp, where every copy  had wavy gum.  This may be normal for that issue, I really do not know, but I didn't sell it.  I put it in my 'use for postage for another collector' pile.  That will at least keep it in the hobby, now used.  Since I have been working through a lot of US mint lately, that pile is growing.  It puts a whole new meaning to the term: forever stamps.

Two new goals for me on Stamps Wants.  #1, get back to entering the daily give away.  I entered every day last year, along with the invert Jenny contest.  It was the invert that got me to enter every day.  When that was awarded, I stopped visiting everyday.  I like the fact they have increased the number of contests, that should increase my odds, right?  At least my logic is:  Same number of members, entering a larger range of contests, means less entries per contest, which means increased odds of my winning.  OK, so it's fuzzy logic, but it makes me feel sure I will get that lovely prize when I click on the entry.  Please don't bother to disillusion me with reality.

Second goal, spiffy up the store and get the inventory beefed up.  So first things first.  I pulled up my current inventory, and found I was able to import a lovely complete listing to my computer.  I printed that out, and double checked my box of 'real time' inventory here at home.  Checked out very nicely and I was able to determine that when I had listed items at auction, many months ago, and they didn't sell, I had forgotten to place them in the store inventory.  I was lucky that the scans were still on my hard drive, so relisting them to the store inventory was a breeze.

Next, I took a look at the actual store page.  I _still_ love my store name, Will Work for Stamps.  It just says it all about me and my stamp collecting habits.

It does seem hard to find the actual store if you know the name. I suppose there is a search function that helps, but I just decided to browse the store listings, pretending I was a potential customer.  I knew mine would be far down the list, but heaven help me, it took to the ninth page to find it.  Still, it was fun to look at the stamp store names and try and muse about what was behind the name's creation.

I understand why my store is so far down the list, I use the general store fee instead of any of the premium rates, because I will have to have stamps listed here for many years.  So that puts the store behind all the premium ones.  And then those of us with the back of the list stores, are sorted by the amount of inventory carried.  As I increase my listings, I should rise up the list.  I have visions of grandier, reaching oh say, page six!

I decided I needed at add a bit more to the text box at the top of the store page.  Nothing catchy yet, but I may have a bit more fun with that later.

I looked at the possibility of setting up my own search labels for the store items, but it feels redundant to do that.  There's a search box at the top of the store page, and it will just search the store.  I tried out a few odd ball searches, like 'zip' and it works fine.  So until I think of a reason to specifically set something in a category, I don't think I will bother with the store category feature.

So there's a stack of harco sheets sitting here, waiting their turn on the scanner.  Time to boost that inventory some more.

I love writing.  I love stamps.  So now I will be writing about stamps.

I had once thought about blogging about stamps, in a general 'blogger' blog.  I even googled to see how many other collectors were doing that.  Not many for sure.  And I found it surprising that I really wasn't interested in reading those blogs.  They went into philatelic details that I wasn't interested in.  It was like getting a stamp newspaper or magazine and finding that I was skipping half the articles.  So judging from my reaction to a stamp blog, I decided not to start one. 

It's probably a good thing too, because I would not have posted entries often over the last three years.  My time and interest in stamps ebbs and flows.  I have to be in a stamp mood to work on this hobby.  I have to have a large amount of time, and space, when I truly get my teeth into a stamp project.  Both of those were not readily available to me over the last three years.

But it finally came, that time because I am on sabatical from working for awhile (haven't truly called it retirement yet).  It became time to clean out the stamp closet.  That should be the name for this blog, Cleaning the Stamp Closet.  Always an interesting experience.

So I began yesterday, as I mean to go on.  The closet is cleared out and there are piles of boxes, albums, ziplock bags and such all over the guest room bed.  Let the sorting begin.