hard to find

Modern GB mini sheets (as well as commemorative issues) are VERY hard to find. I get a few that I buy back from customers that have received parcels from me. As you can see that get genuine CDS postmarks from Pensford post office. I only ever have a few if any of these and they sell really fast. I will be listing some over the next few days.

BIOT

I'm currently loading some nioce modern unmounted mint material from this Sterling territory,

railway letter stamps

I've just acquired a small lot of railway letter stamps - this is probably the pick of the bunch! This is from the Cavan and Leitrim Railway which operated until 1959 and included the last steam tramway service in the UK. Always printed in small numbers this is a very rare unmounted mint block of 6. Other lines in this lot included the Southwold Railway, Castlederg and Victoria Bridge, Garstang and Knott End, Shropshire and Montgomeryshire and West Clare Railway.



half kilo kiloware lots

I'm trying to expand my kiloware stock and range, and I've just put Austria, Malta, Finland and Hong Kong half kilo lots on to the website.

1000 canada

Just listed is this excellent large Canada packet - 1000 different for just £30.

a real bargain

Just listed is this excellent packet of 150 different Queen Victoria stamps. Considering that the youngest of these is over 100 years old the price of £33 is just over 20p a stamp, a real bargain as much of this material, even 'common' stuff, is increasingly hard to find.

germany year sets

I've just taken delivery of some excellent Germany Year Sets. The stamps are all selected items - the mint are all fresh unmounted. These are priced VERY competitively, often around 20% of catalogue value. Almost all post war years are available, as are year sets for East Germany, Berlin, Austria, Liechtenstein and Russia. This is a cheap and easy way to further your collection.

unusual

 Just loaded is this unusual packet which contains 20 German Occupation of Belgium stamps. Our packet stock is growing steadily with a really impressive range of countries and themes. Buying the largest packet you can of a country or theme is a very good way to get started!

rare chance ...

... to buy a whole 'country' in one go! These are the issues for Saarland issued after World War Two, complete and mint and on the website today!

unusual packets

I've had a big delivery of packets arrive today. Included are some very unusual 'countries', including Marienwerder shown above. This is an easy and cheap way of getting hold of some very unusual material!

modern commems

Many modern commemorative issues are going to be in very short supply in the future! The reason is quite simple - the lag between postal authorities' perception of collector demand and the actual demand that is being increased daily by the Internet and the growth of collecting in developing countries, particularly India and China. Many modern commemoratives are printed in small quantities.

I've noticed a big pick up in orders for commemorative mint sets (mainly) recently and would always recommend picking them up when you can as restocking is often difficult if not impossible!

Solomon Islands

Just in is a lovely lot of unmounted mint Solomon Islands issues from 1996-2009. Many modern issues are very hard to find once the new issue period is over, so I'd always recommend grabbing them when they become available!

superb used

I've always had a preference for very fine used over mint, but that's just me! This is a lovely set just loaded to the website, which now has over 10,000 separate stamp/set listings. As always priced at just half catalogue ie £52.50.

Iceland

Today I've started listing Iceland on the website.

peru

I'm starting to fill in the gaps on the website, with lots of new countries getting their first stamps listed at last! It is very difficult trying to cover everything, not because I don't have it but because the physical task of listing does take a long time! mind you, once something is listed, at least at the basic level, it will always be on there.

If you do see something you need it's always a good idea to snap it up right away because items often sell within hours of going on line - and often I'll only have the one in stock!

I'm currently listing Peru.

Afghanistan packet

Just listed is our first Afghanistan packet. Afghanistan is of course a country very much in the news and the primitive early issues are always fascinating.

To order just click on the title link!

new range of packets

I've been busy putting on a whole range of non-Commonwealth packets over recent weeks. These are particularly good as they contain a far better range of stamps than most packets and are consequently very good value for money.

The best advice when starting a new collection is to buy the largest packet you can of the new country. Hopefully by the time the listings are finished we'll cover about 90% of all countries!

website filling!

We are not far short of 10,000 listings of individual stamps on the website now. Recently added are many Middle Eastern stamps, also GB fiscals and Scout Post stamps.

sweden

I've found a very nice supply of Swedish stamps, both mint and used, so the Sweden section of the website is beginning to fill out nicely!

getting cooler

This is what we should be doing to increase interest in stamps. The ethnicitee company (click on link above for website) produce a range of quality tee shirts using stamps as inspiration and covering serious social/economic issues of our times, particularly those affecting the developing world.

If stamp collecting was in decline a decade or so ago it certainly isn't now, and this is about 99% due to the Internet. Stamps are the ideal subject for webpages and e-commerce, light but valuable they always were the perfect mail order product, now people are realising both the information and artistry that each and every stamp contains. This really is an interest for the 21st century!

Falkland Islands blog launch

Another country blog is launched today with the Stamps of the Falkland Islands blog. As with all the blogs it is intended to eventually become a one-stop resource for collectors of this area. Bookmark today!

new blog

We have now started a blog specifically for the stamps of Greece. To view please click on this post title.

cyprus on paper

One of the hardest mixes to put together is Cyprus and this is the first half kilo lot I've managed to list!

launch of cayman islands blog

Launched today - the second of our country blogs. This is for the Cayman Islands.

losing the plot

First an apology. Sorry for using the Album Cover stamps to post your stamps.

Let me explain. A year or so ago a few stamps started appearing with an unsoakable gum. This was being introduced, together with slots, as a way of disrupting the mythical trade in reused GB stamps. Fact is this gum isn't unsoakable and in fact, for the postage trade, it's made no difference, in fact after using Stamplift or WD40 not only do the stamps come off safely but they even have the decency to stay sticky!

When the muck was used on Christmas stamps the PO explained that Xmas stamps are actually definitives, but that this new gum would NEVER be used on commemoratives.

So what have the morons done? Gone and used this muck on the Album Covers stamps! No way can these be described as definitives. So well done, PO. You've just created modern rarities because I can't see any way of safely getting these off paper, and no sensible collector is going to start collecting stamps on paper.

So for all those customers who have had these on their packages once again I apologise. My usual buy back offer won't apply because these stamps are simply unuseable. I won't be using any more, or indeed any more PO self adhesive issues, until this idiotic policy is reversed. You can still get the stamps of course, but from the mini sheets or prestige booklets, which will have a different SG number. Genuinely off paper used self adhesives are going to be far rarer than Penny Blacks!