» Stamp Exchange – archives for year 2011

Stamp Exchange – archives for year 2011

This is the archive page for my stamp exchange. The below page lists all the exchanges in year 2011. My deepest thanks to all who took part.

Summary of exchanges

ID	Date received	Sender	Exchanged stamps	Total number of stamps
#1	2011/02/14	Trevor, Australia	79	160
#2	2011/02/17	Richard, Canada	62	132
#3	2011/02/17	Fred, UK	23	80
#4	2011/02/21	Andra, Romania	35 + 1m/s	55 + 1m/s
#5	2011/02/22	Shinjini,India	9	20
#6	2011/02/22	Steven,USA	48	100
#7	2011/02/22	Steven,USA	51	100
#8	2011/02/22	Seth,UK	79	627
#9	2011/02/24	Steven,USA	84	121
#10	2011/02/24	Steven,USA	78	100
#11	2011/03/04	Seth,UK	83	414
#12	2011/03/04	David,Australia	84	198
#13	2011/03/04	Jeannette,Netherlands	149	350
#14	2011/03/04	Jefferson,USA	14	70
#15	2011/03/04	Andrew,Singapore	44	90
#16	2011/03/09	Patrick, USA	45	67
#17	2011/03/09	Steven, USA	55	100
#18	2011/03/09	Steven, USA	58	100
#19	2011/03/09	John, USA	78	140
#20	2011/03/09	John, USA	81	100
#21	2011/03/09	Slavko, Canada	92	159
#22	2011/03/18	Vitaliy, UK	7	15
#23	2011/03/18	Andra, Romania	55	100
#24	2011/03/18	Mike, USA	115	180
#25	2011/03/18	Thijs, Netherlands	36	100
#26	2011/03/21	Andrei-Cristian, Romania	124	287
#27	2011/03/29	Richard, USA	61	298
#28	2011/03/29	Vitaliy, UK	14	35
#29	2011/03/29	Jeannette, Netherlands	102	200
#30	2011/03/29	Danijel, Croatia	52	200
#31	2011/03/29	Adi, Croatia	48	73
#32	2011/03/29	Slavko, Canada	69	120
#33	2011/03/30	Seth, UK	157	729
#34	2011/03/31	Jefferson, USA	32	100
#35	2011/03/31	Thijs, Netherlands	93	150
#36	2011/04/12	Fred, UK	31	67
#37	2011/04/12	Vitaliy, UK	10	50
#38	2011/04/12	Moshe, Israel	44	75
#39	2011/04/12	Pescaru, Romania	17	30
#40	2011/04/12	Andrei-Cristian, Romania	193	304
#41	2011/04/13	Danijel, Croatia	30	117
#42	2011/04/13	Patrick, USA	41	51
#43	2011/04/13	Rafael, Brazil	49	130
#44	2011/04/13	Slavko, Canada	49	120
#45	2011/04/15	Jeannette, Netherlands	51	200
#46	2011/04/21	Zigurds, Latvia	50	81
#47	2011/04/27	Markus, Austria	97	145
#48	2011/04/28	Slavko, Canada	34	120
#49	2011/04/29	Andra, Romania	22	100
#50	2011/04/29	Guy, Canada	49	60
#51	2011/04/29	Vitaliy, UK	28	50
#52	2011/05/09	Melissa, Australia	79	216
#53	2011/05/09	Phil, Australia	51	107
#54	2011/05/09	Trevor, Australia	53	160
#55	2011/05/09	Andrei-Cristian, Romania	204	418
#56	2011/05/09	Slavko, Canada	72	130
#57	2011/05/09	Fred, UK	35	65
#58	2011/05/10	Jeannette, Netherlands	88	170
#59	2011/05/10	Slavko, Canada	45	100
#60	2011/05/10	Rick, USA	83	439
#61	2011/05/13	Danijel, Croatia	45	111
#62	2011/05/17	Sarunas, Lithuania	85	100
#63	2011/05/19	Markus, Austria	61	140
#64	2011/05/19	Slavko, Canada	46	100
#65	2011/05/19	Seth, UK	53	224
#66	2011/05/19	Rick, USA	94	414
#67	2011/05/23	Pierre-Damien, France	467	962
#68	2011/05/23	Anthony, USA	25	59
#69	2011/05/26	Slavko, Canada	34	100
#70	2011/05/26	Slavko, Canada	37	82
#71	2011/05/26	Rick, USA	118	294
#72	2011/05/26	Rick, USA	65	330
#73	2011/05/27	Zakariya, Iraq	21	65
#74	2011/08/28	Pierre-Damien, France	633	3175
#75	2011/08/29	David, USA	65	150
#76	2011/08/29	Keith, USA	39	92
#77	2011/09/06	Keith, Venezuala	77	271
#78	2011/09/13	Fred, UK	78	141
#79	2011/09/13	Danijel, Croatia	48	140
#80	2011/09/16	Nora, Hungary	42	51
#81	2011/09/16	Ravindran, USA	38	80
#82	2011/09/16	Steven, USA	59	100
#83	2011/09/19	Anthony, USA	27	63
#84	2011/09/19	Slavko, Canada	18	83
#85	2011/09/19	Sanjay, India	20	50
#86	2011/09/19	Steven, USA	76	100
#87	2011/09/20	Steven, USA	71	100
#88	2011/09/29	Jeannette, Netherlands	55	160
#89	2011/09/29	Steven, USA	70	100
#90	2011/09/29	Melissa, Australia	111	204
#91	2011/09/29	Holger, Germany	206	400
#92	2011/10/4	Ion, Romania	43	176
#93	2011/10/4	Slavko, Canada	27	77
#94	2011/10/4	Andrei-Cristian, Romania	146	200
#95	2011/10/7	Markus, Austria	157	410
#96	2011/10/7	Steve C, UK	29	50
#97	2011/10/7	Seth, UK	87	502
#98	2011/10/17	Gayland, USA	176	217
#99	2011/10/17	Helmut, Canada	21	50
#100	2011/10/17	William, USA	141	215
#101	2011/10/18	William, Japan	363	500
#102	2011/10/19	Maryann, USA	63	200
#103	2011/10/19	Guy, canada	38	60
#104	2011/10/20	Andra, Romania	36	90
#105	2011/10/24	Domenico, Italy	43	80
#106	2011/10/25	Slavko, Canada	17	100
#107	2011/10/25	Joaquim, Brazil	265	303
#108	2011/11/4	Mary, Australia	32	70
#109	2011/11/4	Melissa, Australia	75	113
#110	2011/11/4	Ion, Romania	204	390
#111	2011/11/7	MaryAnn, USA	153	221
#112	2011/11/11	Romeo, Canada	288	420
#113	2011/11/11	William, Japan	311	500
#114	2011/11/14	Igor, Russia	199	370
#115	2011/11/14	Gregory, USA	12	30
#116	2011/11/14	John, UK	63	100
#117	2011/11/15	Guy, Canada	33	60
#118	2011/11/25	Rafael,Brazil	69	136
#119	2011/11/25	Cathleen, Canada	131	208
#120	2012/1/9	Zakariya, Iraq	28	75
#121	2012/1/9	Gregory, USA	0	15

Join the discussion for “Stamp Exchange – archives for year 2011”

Steven wrote (on February 12, 2011) :

Welcome Back!!!!!! I’m backlogged here with about 600 stamps for you, been checking the blog every day since the 1st of February, so stamps will go out next week. Hope you had a good holiday.
Keijo wrote (on February 13, 2011) :

@Steven… That’s great news
mike wrote (on February 13, 2011) :

welcome back!
i have enjoyed your blog for some time (and even commented from time to time) but have never sent you any stamps for exchange … hope to change that soon.
Richard Barnes wrote (on February 13, 2011) :

Keijo,

I sent you a lot for exchange in Dec. Did you recieve it? If you no longer are interested in the CTOs of the Sand Dunes I will be out of circuilation right now. I am working on my Sand Dunes right now and will be for a while. I picked up an apple crate of Sand dunes.

Richard Barnes
Keijo wrote (on February 14, 2011) :

Hi Richard,

It’s sitting on my table unopened with a pile of other letters I’ve received during my absence. I will try to deal with it in next couple of days…

Like said on the exchange page I’m still highly interested of Sand Dunes (and CTO’s in general) , and of course used stamps…

As a general advice to all, I have just a single humble request: do NOT send me lots of M/S in one go…. I usually have got only very few M/S for exchange, and I can’t exchange them in large numbers. For example Richards sending in November 2010 was “highly problematic” in this sense. It contained 32 CTO-used miniature sheets (all of which I would have liked), but as I had no similar items for exchange, I simply had to return them “as is”.
shinjini wrote (on February 14, 2011) :

hi
I was waiting for this day for a long time.I have my pack on its way to you.
Andra wrote (on February 14, 2011) :

Hi Keijo!

I’m sure glad to see you’re back! I have a small stamps package I will send you tomorrow and don’t worry, I’ve only included one m/s

You’re lucky with the swaps Richards sends you because I haven’t been able to find anyone who I can exchange m/s with. And it’s not quite pleasant to send a m/s but not to receive one in return.

Take care!
Carol Ligda-Wong wrote (on February 14, 2011) :

What is M/S? Suggestion: Please add a glossary to your topical index. It would help readers like Fred and me.
Keijo wrote (on February 15, 2011) :

@Shinjani…

@Andra… You too get a smiley

@Carol… M/S and S/S are commonly used acronyms for miniature/souvenir sheets.

As for other things… The first exchange for this season is now on it’s way back to Australia. My compliments to Trevor.
Seth wrote (on February 15, 2011) :

Hi Keijo,
As with the others above, I’ve been looking forward to the exchange too. I’m going to send you a bundle in a few days to keep you busy!!!

Just a couple of thoughts I had about your amazing blog: have you ever thought about putting dates next peoples’ comments? I think it might be quite useful to be able to see how different threads develop.

The other thing: do you need to take down the old exchanges from previous years? Personally I think they are quite interesting and could be a useful source of reference to avoid sending you the same material more than once. Maybe they make the website heavy. I wouldn’t know.

Just a couple of thoughts from an avid user!

Best wishes, Seth.
Keijo wrote (on February 16, 2011) :

@Seth… I’m happy to hear I’ve got more stamps coming my way

Re, dates on comments… This has been suggested a couple of times by readers, and it is a double edged sword on couple of aspects… I just coded something that enables dates on this page and some other “popular pages”, but the rest of the pages continue “as is”. Hows that?

Re the old exchanges… They are still online, but the page content has moved to exchange archive. This was done in order to keep the exchange page more lightweight.

best wishes, Keijo
Seth wrote (on February 16, 2011) :

I think the dates looks great. That is very impressive. Thanks for referring me to the ‘exchange archive’. I missed that. I obviously haven’t read the new exchange rules!
Keijo wrote (on February 16, 2011) :

@Seth… The rules are pretty much the same as last year. Only some minor tweaks here & there… But it’s sure a good practise to re-read the rules occasionally.
Carol Ligda-Wong wrote (on February 16, 2011) :

Thanks, for defining M/S and S/S, Keijo. And thanks for ignoring my other comment. Sometimes I forget that I’m rarely a mother or a boss. It’s your blog, and you have your own priorities.
Keijo wrote (on February 17, 2011) :

@Richard… Your exchange lot is now on it’s way back to Canada. Just two requests that I hope everyone (You included) to follow for future exchanges:

1) please, use the printable PDF-form I provide.
It makes these exchanges much more easier for me maintain.

2) Keep the exchange contents within “common stamps”

Though I loved seeing such a pile of classic Greece Hermes stamps in Richards sending, I recommend keeping this exchange only for “common stamps”.

Like said on the terms of exchange, I will not check catalog values of stamps going in/out. This time I made an exception, as Richard had gone through the effort of adding matching catalog numbers & catalog values. But oh boy…It took me 2 evenings to check/confirm the id’s, their recent catalog values (some of which had changed), and dig my duplicates boxes upside down in search of something of equal catalog value to match the three Hermes stamps I took (and they were only worth 10-20€ piece)…

So please, let’s keep this exchange as simple as possible without catalog value staring. In future I will not make exceptions to this rule.

Additionally, there’s a legal side to think of… If Your sending would have been caught at customs, I would have faced quite heavy custom fees (just because there were catalog values/prices included).

best,
-keijo-
Keijo wrote (on February 17, 2011) :

And before I forgot, this years “first” real exchange arrived (and is sent back to UK) in todays mail. My compliments to Fred….I hope you’ll like the “fancy” postage I placed on the cover.

I just hope it travels better than your cover. The 58p Penicillin stamps was torn to two pieces
David Lo wrote (on February 18, 2011) :

Hi Keijo
Spotted your website via stampboards. Love the idea and the concept of it, sending you a batch soon. Will get it ready by the end of the next week.

Looking to send you around 200 stamps soon.

Thanks once again

David
Keijo wrote (on February 18, 2011) :

@David… Sounds great
David Lo wrote (on February 18, 2011) :

Hi Keijo

Got a selection of 200 stamps for Australia (Modern and Predecmial), Indonesia, Taiwan and India. Hope you will like it.

Also I’ve put an extra AUD$0.80 to complete the set of Australia’s first charity stamps.

Hope you like it and looking forward to hearing from you again.

David.
FRED MUGURUZA wrote (on February 18, 2011) :

Very, very sorry for that Keijo…I thought this cover will arrive OK, but this things happen quite often and nothing we can do about it…shame!…anyway, I’ll play my sax very loud for awhile to make life enjoyable again!…yeeesss man!!!
FRED MUGURUZA wrote (on February 21, 2011) :

I’ve got your cover Keijo…nice stamps on cover but…we are victims yet…they came with a couple of heavy postmarks… postal staff have tough hands isn’t?…pity!
the rest is very nice and useful!…thanks for it and we’ll keep on the road…L O L & CHEERS!!!
Keijo wrote (on February 21, 2011) :

@Fred…

Other issues… A letter from Andra (Romania) arrived today. Very useful stuff (as usual). A response cover will be placed on mail this afternoon.
Keijo wrote (on February 22, 2011) :

Some more covers brought by today’s mail… A small letter from Shinjini (#5) and two covers from Steven (#6 & #7); the responses to these will be mailed tomorrow morning.

Additionally, a small parcel from Seth (UK) with 600+ stamps arrived in todays mail. It will take a day or two before I’ve digged my way through this, LOL.

Update… Seth’s parcel is now listed as #8 in above list. It took me about 1½ hours to go through everything, and scan what I took/sent. I’m getting too good with this, LOL… Anyway, return cover will be sent on Feb 23rd mail to this too.
Keijo wrote (on February 24, 2011) :

Two more sendings (#9 & #10) from Steven. My compliments once again… Return covers for these will be mailed tomorrow morning.
Rick Young wrote (on February 25, 2011) :

Hi, Keijo.

I am planning to send you some stamps for the exchange, and have what may be a dumb question. I would like to send you something you can use. I know you collect worldwide — are you interested in common used U.S. stamps? I also have lots of Europe, in particular, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania.

Sorry for troubling you with this. I know this may be close to a violation of your “no want list” rule!
Keijo wrote (on February 26, 2011) :

Hi Rick,

As a general advice I’d say that simply rely on your luck, and sent out what you have. For example with US stamps, I’m still approx. 2,000 face different stamps short (meaning my completion is about 50% complete)… If you want to “boost” the exchange, then I’d advice You to take a look into My Stamp Collection page. It provides all sorts of statistics from the country collections I have (especially the completion percentage is highly useful guideline).
Andra wrote (on February 26, 2011) :

Hi Keijo!

I received your stamps a couple of days ago, thank you!
I’ll give it another try and send you 100 stamps (no m/s this time ) during the next week.

Take care!
Keijo wrote (on February 26, 2011) :

@Andra… That’s superb. Hope you found plenty of useful stuff
Ken wrote (on February 27, 2011) :

Keijo

Not to throw a monkey wrench into all the wonderful work you do here, but have you considered instead of returning stamps that you don’t keep for your collection, to the person that sent them too you, but passing them along to another person that has recently sent you stamps. That way the person would recieve fewer of their own stamps back and might get more holes filled in their collection. I do understand you try to return like kind and quality but maybe you need another check box on your exchange sheet that says “throw it all in the hat … shake it … and I’ll take whatever I get”. Just a thought. Keep up the good work. Ken
Keijo wrote (on February 27, 2011) :

Hi Ken,

Actually I’ve considered this, but there are three issues why I’m not moving into such practice.

The first one is scanning of the exchanged stamps…It’s the most time consuming phase of my public exchange. If I started exchanging and scanning everything, it would simply take way too much time… Of course there’s the question, should I scan the exchanges on the first place? Based on the (public and private) feedback I’ve received, I know a lot of people involved to exchange do look the scans.

The second one is condition/quality of stamps I receive for exchange…It varies hugely. Despite the current terms of exchange state pretty clearly “no damaged stamps”, approx. 10-20% of stamps I consider picking contain obvious faults of some kind, and I sent them back as is. With worst lots I’ve received about 80-90% of all stamps have been junk bin material not worth their postage… Usually I just check the stamps I’m interested, and the rest go back “as is” without any kind of quality inspection….If I started checking every stamp, it would once again take too much time… Of course, I could ask/demand people to put more focus on the quality/condition of the stamps they sent for exchange – but I fear it would be a dead end.

And third… There’s always the possibility someone would try the game system by sending large amounts (say 5-20,000 stamps) of some common country (like US or Germany). It would pretty quickly kill the “worldwide” part of the exchange… Right now I take a certain “pride” from the fact that no matter what I take/receive, I usually manage to sent back a healthy mixture containing stamp from plethora of nations.

I’m not totally shooting this idea down, but I fear it would require too much commitment from everyone …
FRED MUGURUZA wrote (on February 27, 2011) :

If you do that Keijo, what a gargantuan task!…seriously, it will be the end of this blog…you’re not an octopus-man…no way, enough is enough!
Cheers & Lol!
Seth wrote (on February 27, 2011) :

Hi Keijo,
I’m glad my parcel got to you fine and that you were happy to go through such a big pile! I figured there would be a lot of stuff in there that you already had. Still it looks like you got some nice ones out of there and by sending quite a lot we ended up with a decent amount to swap. The material you sent back was excellent. I went through it last night and thoroughly enjoyed myself picking out the goodies. I am particularly pleased with the two from Montenegro.

Many thanks again for operating this great exchange. Keep it as it is!

PS. Another batch already on its way
Keijo wrote (on February 27, 2011) :

@Seth… Happy to hear You managed to find some goodies too
Richard Barnes wrote (on February 27, 2011) :

Keijo,

Thank you for the very goot trade. I did not intend to complicate the exchznge when I sent the card identifying the Hernes Heads. I find them time consuming to identify and thought that it would save you time.

Richard
Rick Young wrote (on March 2, 2011) :

Keijo, your suggestion about looking at your inventory makes a lot of sense. Don’t know why I even asked! Look out for some items from Bulgaria, among others. Thanks!
Keijo wrote (on March 2, 2011) :

@Rick… Sounds good to me
Keijo wrote (on March 4, 2011) :

Covers from Seth (#11) and Andrew (#12) arrived in todays mail. Responses will be mailed later this evening… My compliments to both.
Keijo wrote (on March 5, 2011) :

Three more covers from yesterday’s mail… #13 from Jeannette (NL), #14 from Jefferson(US) and #15 from Andrew (SG). My compliments to all… Response covers will be mailed on Monday (7th March) morning.

PS. @Jeannette… Absolutely superb choice of stamps for the cover. I loved it!!!
Jeannette wrote (on March 5, 2011) :

You’re welcome!
Andrew wrote (on March 7, 2011) :

Great that you have received my stamps and found half to be good for you. Will be sending more in the coming weeks!
Mai wrote (on March 8, 2011) :

Hi Keijo,

I’m planning on sending some stamps to you, but first I’d like to say, or rather ask: It seems like you must have really advanced collections of some countries, so are there countries that I should avoid sending to you because you have very advanced collections of them? I’m a fairly beginner collector of almost everywhere, so I think it’s unlikely that I would send stamps that you don’t have from those countries, and I wouldn’t want to waste your time!

Regards,
Keijo wrote (on March 9, 2011) :

Hi Mai,

I’ll give you the same advice as I gave Rick few weeks back:

“As a general advice I’d say that simply rely on your luck, and sent out what you have. For example with US stamps, I’m still approx. 2,000 face different stamps short (meaning my completion is about 50% complete)… If you want to “boost” the exchange, then I’d advice You to take a look into My Stamp Collection page. It provides all sorts of statistics from the country collections I have (especially the completion percentage is highly useful guideline).”

best wishes,
-keijo-
Keijo wrote (on March 9, 2011) :

A large pile of covers in today’s mail… #16 from Patrick(US), #17 & #18 from Steven (US). Additionally there are two covers from John (US), but I’ll deal with those later today.

Response covers to Patrick & Steven will be mailed out today.
Keijo wrote (on March 9, 2011) :

And covers (#19 & #20) from John have now been added to exchange list.

While away, one more additional exchange letter (#21) from Slavko had appeared to my mailbox

Responses to all will be mailed later today.
Rick Young wrote (on March 9, 2011) :

Keijo:
I have looked through your inventory report and will be sending you some things soon. It was interesting ans surprising to me how extensive was your collection from the U.S.! I don’t know if your U.S. collection is concentrated on older or newer items, or if you care to give me any sort of hints about what U.S. items you are more likely to be able to use. (If you want to repeat your mantra that is cool!)
Sam wrote (on March 9, 2011) :

Hi Keijo

I really liked your website .. all in order .. and the rules of exchange are great ..
i have a question .. can i post here a link for image of stamps i would like to exchange .. and you can tell if u r interested in them before posting them to you and wait ?

Regards
Keijo wrote (on March 9, 2011) :

@Rick… I’m going to repeat my mantra and say “try your luck”. The only areas of US stamps where I need pretty much anything are postage dues & officials; for regular stamps I have a bit of this and that (including plenty of common stamps but also some not so common issues). The early years are slightly scarcer, but from 1930s onwards I have pretty evenly 40-80% completion for each year.

@Sam… It’s possible, but I would not recommend it. First, the situation might change while the stamps are in the mail. Secondly, images don’t give the complete picture (quality wise)… So I’d simply prefer people mailing me the stamps. Even with worst scenario, we both end up having (hopefully) some nicely canceled stamps on top of exchange covers…

Which reminds me – people, remember to place special focus to postage when mailing out your covers for exchange!!! If possible, prefer miniature sheets, booklet panes, high values etc. for postage instead of common stamps/definitives. It doesn’t add a penny to your postage costs, but it will make the receiver (=me) a lot happier. LOL.
FRED MUGURUZA wrote (on March 9, 2011) :

Hey, hey, hey Keijo…”Which reminds me”… I’ve got you!!! it’s not easy to deal with the post office staff here in London when you have a long cue of people waiting for service and you’re browsing the material over the counter…nah! take what you see or leave …that’s what they say to you when asking for nice stamps for the cover you are sending to a friend abroad…nah Keijo, life is difficult… otherwise I’ll be over the moon…maybe in Finland things are different…anyway I’ll do my best! L O L!!!
Rafael wrote (on March 9, 2011) :

Hello my friend. How are you? A question about your last comment: when you receive a cover with MS, do you try to sent the response cover algo with a MS?

I´m preparing a pack (the first for this year)for you. I hope next week I´ll be posting it.

Regards

Rafael
Rick Young wrote (on March 10, 2011) :

Keijo, fair enough. And your reply is actually helpful, as I was wondering whether you could use postage due, air mail, etc. from the US.
Keijo wrote (on March 10, 2011) :

@Fred… I acknowledge the situation, as things are equal/worse in Finland. That is why I placed the words “if possible” to my request.

@Rafael… It’s always up to postage costs & finding something that suits them.

For example covers to Steven & Joel yesterday were pretty heavy and their postage was 3.10€/cover. So I was able to use something special for both of them (Joel receives a complete “best of Finnish design booklet pane”, Steven gets a strip-of-three 1€ high-value defins). The stamps on top of the covers are likely to be of higher value than the stamps inside, LOL… Slavko’s cover was slightly lighter with postage cost of 1.50€, and he’s receiving a block-of-four “sailing ships” from booklet….Jefferson cover few days back was “regular 20g” intl cover, and it went out with a regular 1st class commemorative stamp (from booklet)… So it’s always up to postage costs & what I have for postage.

But no, I still don’t count the stamps on the cover “as part of the trade” (as some have suggested/hoped)…Personally I try to approach the entire postage thing with the golden rule – treat others as one would like others to treat oneself.
Andrei wrote (on March 12, 2011) :

Hi Keijo. I have sent you today an envelope with romanian stamps. I hope that you will find something useful for your collection.
Slavko wrote (on March 12, 2011) :

Hi Keijo,
Glad you receive the stamps and took more then a half. I tryed to include lots of definitive stamps since I read somewhere on your website that you are focusing on definitive stamps this year. I will prepare another package over the weekend.
Have a nice day
Slavko
Keijo wrote (on March 12, 2011) :

@Andrei… Thanks for the info. I’m pretty sure I can find several useful items, as my Romanian collection is still heavily under construction.

@Slavko… This was definitely a good trade. Definitives are truly something I’m trying to focus this year, and I found several new ones from this
Rick Young wrote (on March 13, 2011) :

Keijo, you recommend not sending anything that is “truly valuable”? Can you give me a rough idea of a dollar/Euro value you have in mind by this? Also, you often use the word “cover”, as in “I recommend sending exchange covers containing at least 30 or more stamps; what do you mean by the term “cover”?
Keijo wrote (on March 13, 2011) :

@Rick… The point of “don’t send anything truly valuable” instruction is to guide exchangers to include items they are comfortable giving away for any stamp. As I don’t check catalog values of items going in/out for this exchange at all, it would be waste of everyone’s time/efforts if senders started placing “I want something of similar catalog value” expectations… This is a simple stamp for stamp exchange; no catalog value staring involved.

There’s also a legal side with this. Officially, any sending coming outside the EU area with value of over 45€ (incl. postage) should be declared & paid customs.

Re, the use of term cover… Envelope, cover, letter… Any kind of “device” that you use to mail out the stamps to me. Most US people would seem to use a B6/C4-envelope, but IMHO it’s a pretty poor choice due to it’s length (it bends very easily). Personally I prefer C6 or C5 sized envelopes.
Rick Young wrote (on March 13, 2011) :

Makes sense . . . thanks. Almost ready to send out!
Danijel Lenart wrote (on March 14, 2011) :

Hi Keijo,

I looked at your website and I have a few questions:

- If I send 50 different Croatian stamps to you, whether I get 50 different Finnish stamps from you?
- Do people who are on your web exchanged between himself and only with you?

Best regards,

Danijel
Keijo wrote (on March 14, 2011) :

Hi Danijel,

If I send 50 different Croatian stamps to you, whether I get 50 different Finnish stamps from you?

Pretty unlikely as I take the exchange stamps randomly out of the box containing mixed worldwide stamps… And secondly, I think the terms of exchange are pretty clear on this one. No wish lists! They would paralyze this exchange concept completely.

Do people who are on your web exchanged between himself and only with you?

I’m not sure if I understand the question correctly, but if you are asking if I’m the only person viewing the received stamps, then the answer is positively yes.
Rick Young wrote (on March 14, 2011) :

Hi, Keijo. Just dropped a cover with US, Yugoslavia and France in the mail today. Got any idea how long mail takes to get to you from the US? Thanks!
Keijo wrote (on March 15, 2011) :

@Rick… Usually it varies between a week and a two. Holiday seasons (Christmas, easter etc) add another week or two to mixture.
Danijel Lenart wrote (on March 15, 2011) :

Hi Keijo,

If I send you 200 different WW stamps, do you exchange all 200 for the other stamps, or you take only what you are missing, and the rest going back?
Keijo wrote (on March 15, 2011) :

I’ll take only what I’m missing, and send the rest back “as is”.

As a general statistic (based on approx. 200 exchanges I’ve done this & last year), I can say that on average I pick approx. 45% of stamps. The worst exchanges have seen exchange rate as low as 5%, the best ones have been up to 90-100%… The exchanges with very low ratio are usually not because I don’t have the stamps , but because of poor quality of items (such as below):

I think no collector wishes to receive items like this for exchange.
Seth wrote (on March 15, 2011) :

Hi Keijo,
I sent you another big batch of oldies yesterday. The lady in the post office got confused when I asked her for ‘commemorative stamps’. After searching a bit in her book she found some “special ones”. It also took her about 5 minutes to do the required arithmetic, so you have a good random selection! Stamps are clearly moving toward extinction over here.

My exchange contains quite a lot of ‘common’ European stuff that you will return, but it is at least worth passing under your nose once. Hopefully there should also be a few goodies in there including a couple of duplicates I included from Epirus and the 1920 Schleswig Plebiscite. Hopefully the quality is okay. I weed out the worst stuff but tolerate the odd defect.

Seth.
Danijel Lenart wrote (on March 15, 2011) :

Keijo,

Why not do service to collectors who have sent the correct stamps and exchanged the correct stamps between multiple senders, but if you trade without wantlists.
I’m ask because you will be soon a saturated collector and other collectors will soon be hard to find stamps that you not have.
In the end, for you will be too expensive to send 150 grams of letters to other continents for just 10-20 stamps and other collectors will not want to risk 200-300 stamps that you took a few.
Keijo wrote (on March 15, 2011) :

@Seth… I wish I would have been the fly on the wall at your post office

@Danijel… Something similar has been suggested before, and it’s a no-go situation simply because I don’t have enough time/resources to expand the current scheme. And in the end, this is my exchange – if somebody wants to join a chain exchange, there are several stamp exchange chain alternatives available.

Re, becoming isolated / saturated collector… I think this will be very unlikely I’m still missing over 500,000 stamps (and about 90% of these are of minimum catalog value). Even with my 10,000 stamps/year pace, the project is guaranteed to take the next 50 years (or rest of my life). .
Rick Young wrote (on March 16, 2011) :

Regarding Seth’s experience, I ran into the same issue with our post office. It took the clerk a while to find ANY stamps. I hope what he put on there is okay.
Sagar. wrote (on March 19, 2011) :

Hi,
I would love to exchange stamps with you. I recently purchased some stamps from a dealer, but I got slightly disappointed with them, because altough they look spectacular, they seem to be “too glossy and clean” for used stamps. They all have franking marks on them and all the marks are perfectly in the top right corner! I am looking for real used stamps that have travelled the world with some rough feel about them. Does that make sense? Could you please contact me and I will send you maybe a scanned copy or a list of what I have.
Hope to hear from you!
Sagar.
Keijo wrote (on March 19, 2011) :

Hi Sagar,

very likely You have received CTO/Cancelled-To-Order stamps. These are very common for some countries. Here’s a short entry I’ve written about them: “Demystifying CTO-used stamps“.
Keijo wrote (on March 19, 2011) :

Several exchange letters arrived in yesterday’s mail. My compliments to Vitaliy, Andra, Mike and Thijs.

@Vitaliy… Please, include only used stamps to mixture coming my way. Nearly half of the stamps were mint; and I’ll always return them “as is”.

@Andra… Superb lot

@Mike…I must say that I was quite blown away with the contents. Though the stamps had a very musty “odor” (and plenty of rust/toning/mold damages), I managed to find plenty of very interesting stuff (that has likely notably higher catalog value than my sending).

@Thijs… Interesting cover. I was surprised to see stamps of Italy and Netherlands on same cover!
FRED MUGURUZA wrote (on March 19, 2011) :

I was thinking…je,je,je, what a naughty boy I am…with all this exchange…it’s possible that someone gets sick?…I mean, viruses coming attached to the stamps (flu, stomach upset, etc) from all the world…you never know…are you handling stamps with your bare hands or you wear gloves?…I didn’t see anything like that on the pictures of your stamp room…Eh Keijo?…L O L!
Keijo wrote (on March 19, 2011) :

@Fred… In theory anythings possible. But I’d say that it’s more likely to catch something by going out into public places and move around… But this is one more good reason to use tweezers only with stamps
Andra wrote (on March 20, 2011) :

Yeeee, they reached you. I’m glad you were able to keep a bit more than a half!
I’ll be sending more and more when I’ll have the time to and my next packages will probably contain sets only. This is what I have available right now…

“Exchange” you soon!
Andra
Keijo wrote (on March 21, 2011) :

A cover (#26) from Andrei-Cristian (Romania) kicks of this week. It contained a very nice selection of CTO & real used Romanian stamps that will now add my collection A response cover has been placed on todays mail.
Danijel Lenart wrote (on March 22, 2011) :

Hi Keijo,

I have prepared 200 stamps for the exchange but I do not have your address. Where can I find your address?

Danijel
Keijo wrote (on March 22, 2011) :

Hi Danijel,
the mailing address is included to exchange instructions /infosheet (printable PDF-form).
Andrei wrote (on March 22, 2011) :

I’m glad that you have kept so many of my stamps. I will send you a new envelope next week.
Keijo wrote (on March 23, 2011) :

@Andrei…
Andrei wrote (on March 24, 2011) :

I have received your envelope. Thanks!
Keijo wrote (on March 26, 2011) :

@Andrei… that was one quick delivery
Oliver Black wrote (on March 28, 2011) :

I’m curious as to the general feeling on the following question:
Would you keep a damaged or excessively cancelled stamp for your collection (pending its, hopefully, future replacement with a better example), or would you prefer just having an open spot in your collection?

Oliver
Keijo wrote (on March 28, 2011) :

@Oliver…

Personally I have no objections taking excessively/heavily canceled stamps as long as they are otherwise sound & solid copies. But damaged stamps… As a general rule I try to avoid excluding them to my collection.
Carol Ligda-Wong wrote (on March 28, 2011) :

There is no such thing as an undesirable stamp. Damaged? Heavily cancelled? Look at some of the rarest and most valuable stamps in the world. Many are pretty pathetic sights to behold. The common ones? They they are desirable, too, if you have a tot sitting on your lap or crawling on the floor.
Keijo wrote (on March 28, 2011) :

The common ones? They they are desirable, too, if you have a tot sitting on your lap or crawling on the floor.

That’s so true
Rick Young wrote (on March 28, 2011) :

Guys it may be true but I have no clue what you mean!

“The common ones? They they are desirable, too, if you have a tot sitting on your lap or crawling on the floor.”
Keijo wrote (on March 29, 2011) :

Guys it may be true but I have no clue what you mean!

@Rick… Small children “love” pretty much any their parents do, and it includes stamps. As a father of four I can confirm that any day

Personally I’ve “passed on the stamp bug” by giving my kids pretty unlimited access to “common & faulty department” (=recycling bin full of damaged stamps, see real life image below). They can use them for anything they like (such as making stamp art, or learning the basic skills of stamp collecting). It’s pretty much the perfect use for these damaged (and worthless) stamps
Keijo wrote (on March 29, 2011) :

A GIGANTIC pile of stamps & exchange covers in todays mail. My compliments to Richard, Vitaliy, Jeannette, Danijel, Adi & Slavko… Responses to all will be mailed in about hours time.
Keijo wrote (on March 30, 2011) :

Today’s mail brought up another “massive” accumulation from Seth (#33). Interesting “all sorts” bundle of joy as usual.

Unfortunately the cover looked like it was hit by bulldozer. Even the Dumblodore stamp (that was so nicely on middle of cover) was not enough to protect it from evil powers of postal automation – it was totally shredded to pieces Luckily most of the contents were unharmed.

Response cover will be mailed early tomorrow morning.
Seth wrote (on March 30, 2011) :

Oh, I’m glad it arrived; it seemed to take an unusually long time to get there. Sorry to hear the envelope is in such poor condition (perhaps the two factors are linked). I will try sending a hard backed cover next time.

One small question I have been wondering: on the pictures of stamps taken and returned above, there often seem to be a lot less than have been exchanged. Are the pictures intended only as a flavour of the exchange or a total record? Perhaps I have missed something…

Many thanks,

Seth.
Keijo wrote (on March 31, 2011) :

@Seth,

Very likely the thickness of the cover was too much for postal automation (especially as all the stamps were packed on one end of the envelope). Sadly mail from UK usually suffers most if compared to mail from other countries; don’t know why.

And indeed. The pictures do show only the first page scan (fitting only about 50 stamps). This limit is due to code/plugin I use to manage the exchanges.
Keijo wrote (on March 31, 2011) :

One cover for today… Jefferson from US sent a mixture of worldwide (#34). About a third will add to my collection Response cover will be mailed out today.

Update… oops… let’s make it two covers. Thijs (from Netherlands) also sent an exchange cover (#35). It had slipped inside other mail (magazines). I managed to pick some very nice Norwegian stamps A response to this will also get mailed out in this afternoon.
Rick Young wrote (on March 31, 2011) :

All, I wanted to mention something that confused me a little the other day. I sent a cover to Keijo, and he replied thusly (March 29):

“A GIGANTIC pile of stamps & exchange covers in todays mail. My compliments to Richard, Vitaliy, Jeannette, Danijel, Adi & Slavko… Responses to all will be mailed in about hours time.”

I thought this meant he was going to send me an EMAIL response in an hour’s time. I had no idea he could possibly process what I sent and return a COVER to me in that short of time! Keijo, you could not have had it very long before responding. Wow!

Rick
Keijo wrote (on March 31, 2011) :

@Rick… That’s major concept of this exchange. Simple, fun & fast
On average, I think I can quite easily go through approx. 1,500-2,000 stamps per hour (simply because I rely on my memory what I have/don’t have). Placing stamps on stock pages & scanning them takes (notably) longer though.
Rick Young wrote (on March 31, 2011) :

As I said, … “Wow!”
Danijel Lenart wrote (on April 1, 2011) :

Hi Keijo,

Today I received your cover – thank you!

Regards,

Danijel
Rick Young wrote (on April 5, 2011) :

Keijo, I received your cover today in the mail. I can’t wait to open it up to see what you sent me. Thanks!
Jefferson wrote (on April 5, 2011) :

Hello Keijo,

Just want to inform that I just received your cover today. Very nice Moomin stamps.
Thank you very much.

Best regards,
Jefferson
Slavko wrote (on April 7, 2011) :

Hi Keijo,
I got your cover today. Thank you very much for the nice stamps. I don’t think I could have found a better exchange partner.
Keijo wrote (on April 7, 2011) :

@Slavko… Your kind words make me very happy
FRED MUGURUZA wrote (on April 8, 2011) :

Alas!…I came again to the Ben-Gurion, to realise the stamp, doesn’t have the word ‘Israel’… which appears on every single stamp of that country…(at least in all I’ve got) the rest of the things seems similar to the israeli stamps, including the symbol of the currency (?) so…I hope you can give me an idea of what it is…blyme!!!
Keijo wrote (on April 8, 2011) :

@Fred… It starts to sound like some sorts of charity seal / stamp. These don’t (and usually are not allowed) bear countryname.
Rick Young wrote (on April 8, 2011) :

Keijo, what exactly is a “charity stamp”? I think I have one from the US.
FRED MUGURUZA wrote (on April 8, 2011) :

Uuuuhh?…charity with the face of politicians?…well, whatever…you never know, the cover I’d send to you will be in your mailbox soon…and then you could think something… salute!
Keijo wrote (on April 9, 2011) :

@Rick… It’s basically a label, but with price printed on top of each “stamp”. No postal value whatsoever; just a “pretty” cinderella… These should not be mixed with semi-postals (such as the Finnish Red Cross and Anti-Tuberculosis stamps; or US Breast cancer stamp)
Rick Young wrote (on April 9, 2011) :

I was just wondering: why a country would issue a “charity stamp”?
Keijo wrote (on April 10, 2011) :

@Rick… It’s likely not by country, but by some (private) organization. I’m still waiting for Freds’ letter to arrive, so I could see a photocopy.
Keijo wrote (on April 12, 2011) :

Another gigantic pile of covers in today’s mail; and with some very nice stamps on top of covers too

My compliments to Fred, Vitaliy, Moshe, Pescaru and Andrei-Cristian. Response covers to all of You will leave out this evening.
Keijo wrote (on April 13, 2011) :

And the flow of mail continues… Today’s mail brough covers (#41-44) from Danijel, Patrick, Rafael and Slavko. My compliments to all; responses will be mailed tomorrow morning.
zenofex wrote (on April 13, 2011) :

Hello.

I sent you small amount of stamps today, Keijo. Wanted to see how swapping goes. I hope you will receive them ok, and will find something you don’t have.

Zeno
Keijo wrote (on April 14, 2011) :

@Zeno… Sounds great.
FRED MUGURUZA wrote (on April 14, 2011) :

Just to let you know, the cover arrived this morning (super high speed?)and very happy with the stamps stick on top and the rest…I’m preparing another lot to follow soon.
Keijo wrote (on April 15, 2011) :

@Fred… That’s amazing! Only 2 days… That’s about as fast as domestic letters.
Keijo wrote (on April 15, 2011) :

And one more cover (#45) for today… My compliments to Jeannette; response will be placed on mail this evening.
Andrei wrote (on April 15, 2011) :

another quick delivery… 3 days from Finland to Romania is not bad at all. thanks. I will send you a new envelope soon.
Keijo wrote (on April 16, 2011) :

@Andrei… That’s good to know. It seems international postage is back on full speed
I’ve definitely got to buy myself some new stock books for Romanian stamps
Andra wrote (on April 17, 2011) :

Hi Keijo!

I wrote the Easter Bunny and asked him to bring you a package with Romanian and Egyptian stamps.
Let’s hope he’ll be efficient!

Take care,
Andra
Keijo wrote (on April 17, 2011) :

Andra, that sounds like a swell idea
Keijo wrote (on April 21, 2011) :

Todays mail brought a cover (#46) from Zigurds, Latvia. Plenty of useful items

A response will be placed on mail today.
zenofex wrote (on April 21, 2011) :

Hi, Keijo!

Nice to see my cover reached you and you found something useful there, can’t wait for return one to reach me.
Keijo wrote (on April 22, 2011) :

@zenofex… My Latvia collection was (and still is) pretty basic, so this filled some spaces. I never really understood how well made modern Latvia stamps are; some of these are truly beauty… And I found some very nice Australian ones too
Keijo wrote (on April 27, 2011) :

Todays mail brought a cover (#47) from Markus, Austria. Once again I found plenty of useful items A response will be mailed out this afternoon.
zenofex wrote (on April 27, 2011) :

Yesterday I received letter with stamps inside. Some of them I already “processed” and added to my collection – this swap thing works! Sometime soon I will mail out another batch of stamps.
Rafael wrote (on April 27, 2011) :

Keijo, I have just received your stamps. Thanks, especially for the Samoa stamps… they were my first one from this country. Regards
Keijo wrote (on April 28, 2011) :

@zenofex… Happy to hear You liked it

@Rafael… I’ve received my first Samoan stamps this year too

Other issues… One letter (#48) for today; from Slavko, Canada. Excellent choise of stamps on top of cover (suites well for the spring season):

Response cover will be mailed out this afternoon.
Slavko wrote (on April 28, 2011) :

Glad you like the stamps on the cover. I always try to put some nice stamps on the cover. You will get another one soon, different one of course and for the weekend I will prepare one cover with International Year of the forest souvenir sheet on top.
Mel wrote (on April 29, 2011) :

Hi Keijo,

Posted my first exchange cover to you a couple of days ago, hopefully it will have reached Finland before the end of next week.

Alas I’m very ashamed and apologetic to report that my ‘tough bag’ (the post office I went to did not even have envelopes ) doesn’t have any stamps on it. When I asked the clerk if I could have stamps instead of a printed label (as is the common practice now in Australia) his reply consisted simply of a very grumpy ‘No’and indicating at the line that was literally out the door. After reading the comments above, however, I’m thinking minisheets will be the go for next time. Again my sincere apologies.

Cheers,
Mel
Keijo wrote (on April 29, 2011) :

Three covers (#49-51) for this friday. My compliments to Andra, Guy and Vitaliy. I found some nice new stamps as usual.
Keijo wrote (on April 29, 2011) :

I always try to put some nice stamps on the cover.

Hear,hear!
Keijo wrote (on April 29, 2011) :

Hi Mel,

I get mail quite frequently from Australia, and I’d say that 2 weeks (or 14 days) for delivery makes a good average. So my hunch is that it will arrive on 2nd week of May.

Re, the though bag & grumpy post office worker.. Trust me, You are not the only to experience this. I’ve got a pile of various thermo-label covers worldwide (and I’m still thinking what the heck to do with them). Shit happens, but life goes on. It could get much worse, as I’ve heard several (sadly not urban) stories of postal workers who say that use of stamps is illegimit these days As a side note, I hope are aware of following Australia post practise: “If you wish to use domestic stamps on international mail, you are required to affix postage at 10% above the published rate”… Talk about a complex world. I just want to lick & stick.
Noel Camilleri wrote (on May 3, 2011) :

Are you interested in stamps from Malta? If yes, I can exchange Maltese stamps with you.
Keijo wrote (on May 3, 2011) :

Hi Noel,

of course… Right now my collection of Malta is about 20% complete (meaning I have approx. 300 different Maltese stamps, and I still need the rest 1,300 :).
Rick Young wrote (on May 4, 2011) :

Keijo:
Just sent you a cover with 400+ Canada on Monday (May 2). Hope you find some items you can use. Thanks!
Keijo wrote (on May 4, 2011) :

@Rick… I just reviewed my collection stats, and I’m still missing about 1,400 Canadian stamps. So I’m quite sure I can spot several useful items.
Rick Young wrote (on May 6, 2011) :

Keijo:
I already have a batch of 300 Poland ready to send out. I might wait until I get the one in transit back first, though. And there’s more after that!
Keijo wrote (on May 6, 2011) :

@Rick… Sounds good… I think I’ll have an busy exchange week coming up. I know there are several covers coming my way, and none of them landed this week
Rick Young wrote (on May 8, 2011) :

Keijo, I received this stamp from you in the exchange and wondered if you can ID it for me. Thanks!

http://fisher.osu.edu/~young_53/stamp%20id%20spain-madrid.tif
Keijo wrote (on May 9, 2011) :

@Rick… It’s one of Madrid exhibition stamps.
FRED MUGURUZA wrote (on May 9, 2011) :

It is frustrating Keijo…I got posted my cover for you on April 28 and you haven’t received yet?… how can it be? I don’t understand…sometimes from Suomi the mail arrives next hour and from UK to you take a month?…We’re going down the hill! thanks to globalization! what a crap!
Keijo wrote (on May 9, 2011) :

A bunch of covers arrived in todays mail. My compliments to Melissa (#52), Phil (#53), Trevor (#54), Andrei-Cristian (#55), Slavko (#56) and Fred (#57). Responses to all will be sent out tomorrow morning.

@Fred… Likely it’s because of different type of international mail handling procedures. But all in all I’d say it varies a lot; anything between 5-15 working days for delivery is pretty normal. For example Andrei-Cristian letter from Romania was postmarked on Apr. 16th, the rest were postmarked 26-28th April.
Keijo wrote (on May 9, 2011) :

Other issues… I hope everyone participating these exchanges would take a minute or two read the following the notice:

“AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

My summer holidays are approaching fast, and thus I’m putting my stamp exchange program to summer break as well.

If you want to make any further exchanges before the holidays, I urge You to sent exchange lots BEFORE May 15th 2011.

The exchange will return to normal regime sometime in late summer / autumn.

Best wishes,
-keijo, May 9th 2011″
Andrei wrote (on May 9, 2011) :

I think that it’s a miracle that my envelope has finally arrived I was so sure that they have lost it…
Keijo wrote (on May 10, 2011) :

@Andrei… Possibly it was misplaced as 2nd class / non-priority mail. I get somewhat regularly 2nd class mail (=invoices) from mainland Europe, and they usually travel about 20-30 days before reaching Finland.
Keijo wrote (on May 10, 2011) :

Three more lots for today. My compliments to Jeannette (#58), Slavko (#59) and Rick (#60). Once again I found some very useful items

Responses will be mailed this evening.
Rick Young wrote (on May 11, 2011) :

It is awesome how you put up a photo of the exchange. Gives us something to drool over while we wait for the postman to deliver! Trying feverishly to get a Czech batch (actually it will have to be in at least two batches) before the “deadline!!!!!

Summer is the time for me to really organize my collection as I don’t have as much to do at work — so I want to get as much exchanged before your well-deserved vacation!
Keijo wrote (on May 12, 2011) :

@Rick… It’s great to hear that the “teaser images” of exchanges are useful; after all they require MOST work in each exchange. For me too summer is a time to sort & organize what I’ve accumulated.
FRED MUGURUZA wrote (on May 12, 2011) :

You see?…less than 48 hours and I’ve got your cover right on my hands!…that’s a big difference! and what a nice stamps on cover… I like it…sure, Suomi is the leader of the world…watch this Saturday ‘Eurovision’…I bet Finland make a good score…L O L!
Keijo wrote (on May 12, 2011) :

@Fred… That is uncanny. That’s the speed of domestic mail… But I’m not complaining. I just wish it was a two-way street…

Re, Eurovision… I agree Finland’s got a nice song this year. But nah, it won’t win
Rick Young wrote (on May 12, 2011) :

This is off topic — but you guys started it — what is this about:

“watch this Saturday ‘Eurovision’…I bet Finland make a good score…L O L!”
Keijo wrote (on May 13, 2011) :

@Rick.. Eurovision is annual song competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union. It is stated to be the biggest show on earth with audience ranging between 100-600 million viewers worldwide. And likely majority of Americans have never heard of it

For decades Finland & Portugal were the only countries not to win the contest; and especially Finland has a record of extremely poor results in the competition. But in 2006 the hell froze over & Finland won the contest with “hard rock” song And trust me when I say the whole nation went berserk The Finnish post issued even a set of Eurovision stamps for Finnish glory moments.

This year… Well, anythings possible. Maybe the lightning strikes twice to same spot & cows do fly
Keijo wrote (on May 13, 2011) :

A cover (#61) from Danijel, Croatia arrived today. As usual, I found some nice looking new stamps A response will be placed on mail this evening.
Andrei wrote (on May 13, 2011) :

I have received today the envelope. Thanks!
Rick Young wrote (on May 13, 2011) :

Thanks for the info about Eurovision. Do you watch “American Idol”?

Anyway, ON topic, I sent a cover today with a large lot from Czechoslovakia. Should be postmarked 5-13-11, so I made your “deadline”!!!
Keijo wrote (on May 14, 2011) :

@Rick… Me? No… Too much “americana” for me
Looking forward to receiving the cover.

@Andrei… Good to know it arrived safely
Keijo wrote (on May 17, 2011) :

Cover #62 from Lithuania arrived today. My compliments to Šarūnas. A response has left towards Vilnius today…
Rick Young wrote (on May 17, 2011) :

Keijo, received your mailing yesterday. Looks great. (I am starting to get a reasonable collection from Suomi now. )

Thanks!

PS – Still three more coming your way.
Keijo wrote (on May 19, 2011) :

A bunch of covers in todays mail…

My compliments to Markus (#63), Slavko (#64), Seth(#65) and Rick (#66). As usual, some interesting items in the mixtures… Responses to all will be mailed this evening.
Rick Young wrote (on May 19, 2011) :

Keijo,
Interesting you got the Czech cover, which I sent a few days after the Poland and Netherlands/Denmark covers. I hope they get there okay!!!
Keijo wrote (on May 19, 2011) :

@Rick… Mysterious are the ways of the global postage. Even more mysterious is that few weeks back my incoming international mail was in slow motion, and now it’s warping hyperdrive.
Sarunas wrote (on May 20, 2011) :

Dear Keijo,
Your envelope with stamps arrived safely. Good speed! I found many interesting items inside. My special thanks for Croatian exile government cinderellas. I wish you to have a very nice summer holidays!

Šarūnas
Keijo wrote (on May 20, 2011) :

@Sarunas …
Keijo wrote (on May 23, 2011) :

Two lots in todays mail…

Pierre-Damien from France sent a GIGANTIC mixture (#67) of French stamps incl. some colonies. I can only say that my collection of French stamps needs a new stockbook

My compliments to Anthony as well for much smaller lot (#68).

Responses to both will be sent in few hours time.

As for other things… I’ll be going to oral surgery late this evening. Not sure in what condition I’ll be tomorrow, so don’t panic If I don’t post any exchanges / updates in day or two.
Keijo wrote (on May 24, 2011) :

Just to note, that todays mail brought two covers from Rick (both with thermo labels…grrrr), and one from Slavko (nice stamps, but not canceled).

I’ll try to go through these later this week.
Rick Young wrote (on May 25, 2011) :

Keijo, so VERY sorry about the labels. I PROMISE not to let it happen again!
Keijo wrote (on May 26, 2011) :

Yesterdays mail brought one more cover from Slavko.

@Rick… A response to your covers (#71,72) has been mailed today. I packed in everything inside a large size cover. Hopefully you’ll like what I put up for postage.

@Slavko… Response to your covers (#69,70) will be mailed this afternoon. Like in Ricks’ case, I’ll put everything inside a single cover.
Rick Young wrote (on May 26, 2011) :

Keijo,
I hope your surgery went okay.

I received the cover you previously sent me around May 19. It is very nice what you put up for postage: “Finally I
chose the simplest option and placed a strip-of-three 1€ definitives. Keep them together and you’ve got a decent catalog value item.”

I look forward to receiving your most recent mailing.

Have a nice “holiday”, and thanks for running the exchange!
Keijo wrote (on May 26, 2011) :

@Rick… Surgery went fine. I still look a bit like Rocky after a match against Drago though, and can eat only liquid stuff… Now I’m only facing my Colitis, which got a bit angry about the painkillers I had to eat. It seems I will be taking another week off the work. Sigh.

Re, stamps on top of cover.. I’m going to repeat the same advice as last time: keep the sheets/item together. The items on top of the cover are worth 5-10€ “as is” in retail, tear them as singles and you’ve got a handful of minimum value stamps.
Pierre-Damien wrote (on May 26, 2011) :

Dear Keijo,
I’m happy i could enlarge your french stamps collection. What you sent back pleased me too. I’m preparing a bigger worldwide stamps convoy that will shortly arrive to you. Be ready
Keijo wrote (on May 26, 2011) :

@Pierre-Damien

I’m preparing a bigger worldwide stamps convoy that will shortly arrive to you. Be ready

Please note that my exchange is having a summer break (it reads with big RED letters on top of this page). So I’m NOT doing any new exchanges for next couple of months.

I hope everybody respects this wish of mine. If I get exchange mail postmarked after May 15th, I’ll either return them “as is” (with thermolabels instead of stamps ), or place them on my stampdesk for next couple of months… So please, don’t send anything now….

I’ll inform everyone when my exchange gets back. But be prepared for at least 6-8 weeks of break; if the weathers are good the break might get much longer
Rick Young wrote (on May 26, 2011) :

Keijo:

Sorry your recover is not going smoother.

I did go back and look at the postings related to family and health etc. (Confession of an aging stamp collector.) I did not realize about the UC thing. I will say this: I have three daughters who are now 24, 26, and 28, and I cherish every moment I spent with them when they were little ones (and older, too). Yours are beautiful children, and spending time with them I am sure is great fun for you. Congratulations.

Anyway, back to our “hobby”, I definitely took your advice to heart about not dismantling the cover you sent me.

I am going back over your postings about stock books now, as I am about to make the move of transferring from my old Statesman Album.

Thanks and have a fun and well-deserved break!
Keijo wrote (on May 27, 2011) :

More “long-distance” (=outside EU) exchange covers landing on my mailbox…

Todays mail brought a cover (#73) from Iraq. My compliments to Zakariya – I found some very nice items from the gulf area

A response cover will head towards Mosul in todays mail.
Rick Young wrote (on June 7, 2011) :

Keijo, I finally got around to going thru the latest cover (#72) you returned. Looks fantastic. Thanks and I hope you have/are having a nice break.
Zakariya wrote (on June 12, 2011) :

Hi Keijo
I receive your letter today. Thanks for stamps.
I will send you more, when you came back from your vacation
Keijo wrote (on June 13, 2011) :

That’s great news Zakariya… It’s amazing how long the postage sometimes seems to take.
M.Srenivasan wrote (on June 20, 2011) :

Dear friend,
i am M.Srenivasan, from India and i like to swap with you and first of all many tons of thanks for liking Indian stamps 110% iam an advanced collector, can i have your mail id and your full address for communication after your vacation is over we can swap, i have India, Srilanka, Japan, African countries, Island countries, i am strong in India and can provide MNH stamps and miniature sheets from India and other countries too i can provide you MNH as well as fine used up to certain level. kindly please do reply me my dear friend.
M.srenivasan
Keijo wrote (on June 20, 2011) :

@M.Srenivasan… The instructions (including my mailing address) will become public once the autumn (=cold & miserable) weathers arrive Finland. In the meantime all You can do is wait (and possibly study the contents of the blog to see what I have / what I might be missing).
atul wrote (on June 26, 2011) :

hi i also collect stamps
i have lot of multiple stamps
if you also have then we can exchange,
i m from india

thank you
Keijo wrote (on June 27, 2011) :

Hi Atul,

why not after I’m back from my summer break. Like they say, watch this space for more information (I’ll make a separate post/announcement on the blog, when I’m ready to continue).

PS. And I would definitely prefer, if in future comments You would use proper capitalization of words. It makes the text much more readable. Please.
Irma Anggraini wrote (on July 3, 2011) :

Hi Keijo,

I just find your blog, and I’m planning on sending some stamps to you.
I will send you 100 stamps from my country (Indonesia) and the rest of asian stamps.
I hope you enjoy it and I like to hear some good news ..
(But since you’ve been away for holiday i will send them at the end of July)
Best regards from Indonesia,
Irma
Irma Anggraini wrote (on July 3, 2011) :

Hi again Keijo,
I just saw your pic about your junky of damage stamps … Where did you put them? you throw them or what?
If you don’t mind, i like to keep them ..
It’s just for completing my collection (and change it with with a good one next time I got the same).
Thanks, Irma,
Indonesia
Keijo wrote (on July 3, 2011) :

@Irma…

i will send them at the end of July

Please, WAIT till I notify the return of my exchange.

Like I’ve stated earlier, I don’t have timelines for the break. But I CAN guarantee that the exchange won’t start this July, and not very likely even in August. September maybe… I’m in no rush with this.

So once again, please wait like everybody else.

I just saw your pic about your junky of damage stamps … Where did you put them?

To (recycling) bin… And I use them to start my fireplace during winter
William (hadashi) wrote (on July 6, 2011) :

Hi Keijo-san (your name looks Japanese, and it feels natural for me to add the honorific). I do hope that your summer break goes well, and that you have no more trouble with your teeth (I say, prodding gently at a cavity).

Your site’s friendly yet professional feel increased for me with your quick responses to the two messages that I sent – and within an hour or two. How do you do it? You must be fantastically efficient and self-disciplined.

Regarding your guidelines to exchanging, I agree with you that the-simpler-the-better. Once or twice, to accommodate people, I worked from lists , and it was truly a nightmarish experience.

I wouldn’t want to teach my grandmother to suck eggs, but I do have one or two suggestions to make to you which, of course, you can disregard or try. I’m thinking that the more stamps you acquire, the less the percentage of stamps that you’ll select from the batches that people send. Therefore, they are going to receive fewer and fewer different stamps back. Let’s say that someone sends you 100. At present, there may be 80 that are new for you, so they receive 80 different stamps back (plus 20 of their original ones), of which, say, 60 are needed by them. There is a slight imbalance there, which is going to increase. In a few more years, you may only need 40 from their 100, which means that the person on the other end receives 20 to 30 new ones. Their incentive to trade with you will decrease.

Here’s what I suggest: that you retain ALL the stamps that someone sends, and send them the same number of completely different ones. What happens is that you keep the 80 or 40 or 20 of the 100 for your collection, and set aside A’s remainder (you can keep them in a box) to return to the next person, B’s, packet. (And then B’s surplus to C, C to D etc). This would have several advantages. One, it would mean less work for you. Second, the person at the other end wouldn’t feel despondent about getting a smaller or greater fraction of his or her stamps back, and three, it would keep a greater variety of stamps in circulation.

Oh, and by the way, when I come to exchange stamps with you, I’d like only elephant stamps, green, with the animal balancing on its rear left leg. I have only one stamp to go until my world collection of them is complete!

Sayonara

William
Keijo wrote (on July 6, 2011) :

Keijo-san (your name looks Japanese, and it feels natural for me to add the honorific)

Never thought of this… But it does look great with the “san”

quick responses to the two messages that I sent – and within an hour or two

It’s just a matter of good luck / timing. If I’m not fully mistaken, the Finnish and Japanese time zones are pretty compatible with each other (for example it’s mid day in Finland right now, and in Japan it’s about 6PM).

Here’s what I suggest: that you retain ALL the stamps that someone sends, and send them the same number of completely different ones.

I’ve considered doing this, but there are few major issues why I’m not going there.

First one is quality…. What the statistics and images don’t tell is what stamps I didn’t take, and more particularly why. The rules of exchange state that I will accept stamps only in “good condition” (no thins,folds,rusting etc), but most of the incoming lots contain a varying rate of stamps I consider junk bin material. Mostly it’s around 10-15%, but the worst lots have had percentages of higher than 60% junk bin material… When I work my way with incoming lots, I usually weed out the stamps I know I have. Then I start checking the quality of items I consider taking… If I were to take it all, I would have to check quality of everything – and it would add up my consumption of time… If all the exchangers followed the rules/guidelines precisely, it might work. But I know (and likely You know it too) it’s not going to happen. There are too many variables included.

The second issue are images…Scanning the contents of exchanges is already very time consuming, and if I were to take it all, I would simply have no time for anything else than scan stamps page after page.
Of course I could stop taking the images, but based on the feedback I’ve received, a lot of people consider the images as the backbone of this exchange. Above all, they seem to increase trust and excitement.

And the third issue is keeping a healthy variety in exchange contents.. In current system I have all the power to keep the exchange contents highly versatile. But let’s assume I would exchange it all, and following would happen.
Person A sends 1,000 stamps from US, person B sends me 500 US stamps, and person C sends me 500 US stamps… Suddenly I have exchanged 2,000 worldwide stamps to 2,000 US stamps. What I would have for trade would be mostly US stamps… How many US collectors would prefer further exchanges? Not many I fear…

Sorry to shoot your idea down.

Sayonara
-keijo-
Ravi wrote (on July 18, 2011) :

Hi Keijo,

I am interested in exchanging stamps with you – mainly US and India. However I am not able to open the pdf file.

ravi
Keijo wrote (on July 19, 2011) :

@Ravi… Please note that my exchange is having a summer break. So I’m not accepting any new trades right now (which is why the PDF-file will not load/open).
I will resume the exchange later this year, but I don’t have any specific dates to give out (but like stated several times already, I will make an announcement of this when time is proper).
Edet wrote (on August 12, 2011) :

Kejio, do you have duplicate Nigerian stamps to swap with my worldwide stamps?
Keijo wrote (on August 13, 2011) :

@Edet… I may have some 1970s definitives somewhere in my boxes, and possibly some earlier stuff as well. But nothing later I fear…
But like said on the exchange rules… I’m not taking any wish lists for this exchange. This exchange is simply about exchanging worldwide stamps to other worldwide stamps.
williuam wrote (on August 14, 2011) :

Hi Keijo
I have just subscribed to your blog and would like to know if you can do a piece on the how to tell the difference between Early Finland and Early Russian stamps as I have trouble with them. Also please let me know when you start trading again as I have some duplicates you might be able to use. Happy Stamp Collecting, William
Keijo wrote (on August 15, 2011) :

@Willuam…

The difference between early Finnish and Russian stamps is somewhat easy:

If it’s the 1891 design, then the Finnish designs have rings (either all over the central design, or just in corners). See the third image on this page http://www.stampcollectingblog.com/mounting-stamp-collections-digitally.php
If it’s later desing, then the Finnish stamps have different currency inscription than Russians. The Finnish stamps always read PEN. (or PENNI) or MK/MARKKA. See the fourth image on this page http://www.stampcollectingblog.com/mounting-stamp-collections-digitally.php

Re, the return of stamp exchange… There will be a public announcement when it returns.
william wrote (on August 17, 2011) :

Keijo
Thank you for your help with the early Finnish and Russian stamp problem. After I finish a couple countries I have been workin on I will start that sorting of those two countries so that my envelopes dont get too full.
THANKS AGAIN,
William
Keijo wrote (on August 28, 2011) :

Just to let everyone know, that I’m now beginning to sort out the exchange lots that landed my mailbox during the summer break. As there’s quite a big pile of stuff, it will take at least a week or two before I have everything sorted.

First lot to arrive was a gigantic mixture (#74) from Pierre-Damien. Response will head towards France tomorrow morning. I hope you like the new stamps
Ravi V wrote (on August 28, 2011) :

So has the exchange restarted? Could I send some stamps your way?

Ravi
Keijo wrote (on August 28, 2011) :

@Ravi V… Like written on my comment, I’m just starting to sort and mail stuff that had accumulated during my summer break (not everybody followed my wish not to send stuff, and I have a big pile of unopened exchange ltters that have been sitting on my desk for several months).

So it’s not back yet. When the exchange returns..? Like said before, it’s fully dependent on weathers. Right now we have nearly +25 degrees warm and a gorgeous sunset. It’s very unlikely that I would spend the weekends / after-work hours sitting inside sorting stamps

When it returns, the announcement box on top of this page will disappear, and there will be a separate notification on blog’s home page as well, and very likely I will also put announcement on the newsletter too. So You honestly can’t miss it
Keijo wrote (on August 29, 2011) :

Two more exchange lots (#75 & 75) dealt today. Responses to both will be placed on mail this evening.
Joaquim Camargo wrote (on August 30, 2011) :

I’d like to exchange stamps with you but the link to the PDF file is not working. I await your reply,
Joaquim Camargo
Keijo wrote (on August 31, 2011) :

@Joaquim … Please read the top of this page. It explains why the PDF is not available right now.
Keijo wrote (on September 6, 2011) :

Final cover off the table…

#77 From Keith, Venezuela will be mailed back (to UK) today. Keith made a special request to exchange only the stamps I need, and for the rest pay-them-forward (to kids, charity etc). Very generous offer, and I’ve followed his request.

For future reference to all I might add, that please DO NOT make this kind of donation requests a practice. I’m just one guy middle of nowhere, and I have little / none means or interest to become a channel for donations to charity.

On the other hand I have no objections if somebody wants to give ME some free stamps (as a gift) with no strings attached
FRED MUGURUZA wrote (on September 6, 2011) :

Happy Keijo…I have to tell you that I know the venezuelans like the palm of my hand…I was living in Caracas for more than 30 years, (1957 – 1988) and then I came to live in this country (UK).

I have still part of my family over there and my wife and one of my siblings is from that beautiful sunny country too…

Off the record: I have a good collection of Venezuela’s stamp and of course I’m eager to get more but…(?) rules are rules and I am quite happy to follow them…
Keijo wrote (on September 6, 2011) :

And the exchange is NOW OFFICIALLY BACK from it’s summer break!!!!!

For a short summary of the minor changes in rules, please read http://www.stampcollectingblog.com/my-stamp-exchange-is-back-2.php
Wessel Pretorius wrote (on September 6, 2011) :

Good day

My grandmother passed away about 7 years ago, and just the other day my father gave me a suitcase with old ’stuff’ that used to be my grandmother, and guess what it was…

A rough collection of stamps, and I really do not know how many there are. I have never really collected stamps before, so I sarted surfing the web about it and found this blog, and I like it!

I have soaked them and there are about four 5l ice cream containers full after they were all removed from their envolopes as well as a few old albums.

They range from very old to late 1980/ early 1990 and contain alot of South African (where I live) as well as world wide stamps. I have alot of duplicates, especially from my South African collection.

I am only starting to sort it now, but as soon as I am sorted out I will defenately be sending you a packet (if you want some, haha).

Anyway

As soon as I have my collection sorted, I will let you know.

I see that you have not yet done any exchanges with someone in South Africa?

I’ll be happy to be the first…
Keijo wrote (on September 7, 2011) :

[relating to this: http://www.stampcollectingblog.com/my-stamp-exchange-is-back-2.php, here's a copy of "important" announcement to all... ]

@To everyone… Just take into account, that this is not a race who sends most stamps in one go.

If everybody interested sends me huge exchange lots (with thousands of stamps) simultaneously, I and my mailbox will be buried with stamps in no time. As I have other life too (seriously), there is a risk that the exchange pipeline might get pretty long as I don’t have the time to sort it all as fast as stuff comes in (yikes).

So start it easy folks…. Sent in one (decent sized) exchange sending first. Then wait till I receive Your sending, and mail it out. And once you receive it back, feel free to send another one… That way the fun will last longer and several other (new exchangers) can join in the fun too. OK?
Keijo wrote (on September 7, 2011) :

@Wessel… Wish I had a grandmother like that…. And true. So far I haven’t done any exchanges to South Africa through my blog (otherwise yes).
Wessel Pretorius wrote (on September 7, 2011) :

Haha!

Well like I said I have alot of duplicates for RSA, SWA, Bobuthatswana etc. But it may take me awhile to sort everything out.

Enjoy!
William (hadashi) wrote (on September 8, 2011) :

Hi Keijo-san

Your comment #200 answers the question that I was going to ask just now. I’ve been setting aside Japanese stamps for you, but have only gone through half of my collection. Already, though, I am up to 650 stamps (for you). I didn’t want the envelope to become too large, so I was going to ask if I should do two lots or one. I can see from your comment that not ‘clogging up the pipeline’ is the way to go, so I will send what I have prepared as of now. Please feel under no pressure. If it takes you a couple of months to respond, then that’s fine with me. I think I’m going to be the first exchange from Japan, right? Or at least the first New Zealander living in Japan But I’m not racing.
Keijo wrote (on September 8, 2011) :

@William (hadashi)… True, You are the first exchanger from Japan (as far as I recall).

Re, exchange times.. It’s much more easier for me to reply any mail immediately than let it pile up on my stamp desk. If there is any kind of delay in my responses, then there’s usually a VERY good reason for it (like that I’m on vacation / work trip, or in very bad health).

Re, clogging up the pipeline… This is a real risk, which is why expressed my concerns to all. I have no way to tell how many stamps I will end up per month. It could be 0,10, 100, 1000, 10,000 or even much more!!! Personally I’d like to keep the total somewhere around 2,000 stamps per month, as it is a number I can go through with ease pretty quickly, and keep everyone happy. There has been months when it’s been 2-3 times higher, and I’ve managed them too somewhat successfully too. But… If the amount goes even higher, then I’d be looking for possible issues especially if there are quality issues (which is why I made a stronger guideline / request for everyone to put extra effort on level of quality).
mrprgrmr wrote (on September 8, 2011) :

Keijo – I have about 100 moldy highly acidic stamps that I am putting together for you. Just kidding I would never do that. Besides, those particular stamps are mine. All mine. Until I die (or they disintegrate from the effects of my experiments). muahahaaa

I am just starting collecting again and according to the catalogs, everything I have is common as dirt. I highly doubt I have duplicates of much you don’t already have. Someday I hope to join in the exchange with some fresh (mold free) stamps! Maybe my box of kiloware is headed my way already.
Keijo wrote (on September 8, 2011) :

those particular stamps are mine. All mine…. muahahaaa

For some reason I’m thinking Dr.Evil here….heh…

…according to the catalogs, everything I have is common as dirt.

Same story for me. And that’s the way I like it
Zakariya wrote (on September 8, 2011) :

Hi Keijo
I found an envelope in my stamps collection contain over 200 stamps.
Those stamps which you called them “junk” such as dune states (like Ajman, Manama etc)
They are large, in good condition, and complete sets.
If you want I can exchange them with you, but I don’t collect this kind of stamps, I collect only real postage stamps not bogus .
I know your rules of exchanging, “bogus and cinderella items are worth another bogus/cinderella items”
Is there any way that I can exchange them with real postage stamps
Keijo wrote (on September 9, 2011) :

Is there any way that I can exchange them with real postage stamps

@Zakariya… Why are the simplest looking questions always the hardest?

With bogus/cinderella I’m referring to stamps from places like Dhufar, State of Oman, Eynhollow Island, Berneira Island, Isö etc that have never had UPU or other legal status. Another candidate for this category are stamps from real places, but they have been deemed illegal by UPU / regulating countries (for example most of the post 1990s Afghanistan stamps fall into this category).

As for Ajman and other dune states… Most of these are NOT bogus / cinderella stamps. It’s just a “misconception” that few catalogs (especially Scott, but also SG) have contributed with their their listing policies. Most of the time You’ll see these only as CTO/Cancelled-to-order, but so what – same can be said about stamps of United Nations, Hungary or Cuba. When you digg in deep enough, you’ll find real used too from all of these.

But if they are CTO/Cancelled-to-order, I will exchange them ONLY against another CTO stamps. That’s one of the basic rules of my exchange… As for countries what You could expect to receive? I can’t/won’t guarantee what countries you might get back in return. It’s fully up to what my hands grabs from the box, but I’d say with CTO stamps there is pretty good change it would be a mixture of East Europe (Soviet Union, Hungary, Czechoslovakia etc) and rest of the world (Lao,Cambodia, Dune states, Cuba etc).
Keijo wrote (on September 13, 2011) :

And the exchange is now rolling on full speed…. Todays mail brought few covers:

Fred (#78) – superb! I thank thee for the “gift” as well… I hope the below image of does not shock you too much (hey, at least they managed to cancel the cover, something you can’t say usually about UK mail)

Danijel (#79)…. Some very interesting stamps (as usual)

Responses to both will be mailed this evening / tomorrow morning (depending on whether the rain stops or not).

And finally, a special compliment to my friend Tsung Fei. Your greeting arrived in todays mail as well. Thanks for remembering me
FRED MUGURUZA wrote (on September 14, 2011) :

WTF!!!???…All the care I put on it and now this!!!…they don’t deserve respect…anyway, the damage has been done and nothing can restore it…I hope you see my good intentions…but what else can you expect from this bunch of wonkers… Post Office, mes félicitations!
Keijo wrote (on September 14, 2011) :

@Fred… At least they managed to cancel the stamps. They may not be pretty, but they are something I didn’t have before. And as is they will add to my collection.
Cathleen wrote (on September 14, 2011) :

@Keijo and Fred
Here in Canada, my mom would regularily send me parcels with tens of $$ worth of stamps for my collection and the post office would use a Sharpie permenant marker to cancel them. A great big X through the whole collection. She had to watch them cancel the stamps in order for them to do it properly. Sigh…no respect!
tsungfei wrote (on September 14, 2011) :

Hi Keijo,

You are welcome! Glad that the mail arrived safely.
tsungfei wrote (on September 14, 2011) :

Just to share my experience with cancellations: it seems that the cost of labour is so high in Europe that postal workers don’t even bother to cancel stamps. I had a self-mailed letter while on a visit to Belgium, and disappointingly, half of the stamps where uncancelled; the rest by ugly wavy lines.

In Malaysia machine cancellations are getting more common now and I fear it is only a matter of time before nice cancellations become a thing of the past.

Which is why I love the Thai postal service. The still honour the good old tradition! (But increasingly sticker stamps are also becoming a menace there)
Keijo wrote (on September 16, 2011) :

Three more exchange lots in todays mail. My compliments go to Nora(#80), Ravi (#81) and Steven (#82). As usual, I found some nice stamps to fill some spaces

Return covers will be placed on mail today.
FRED MUGURUZA wrote (on September 16, 2011) :

Hi Keijo! just to let you know the cover arrived this morning really fast and sound!!!(???) the content very,very,very nice! no damage and happy to know that…you’re 36 now?…congratulations!!! and have a nice family reunion to celebrate… wow! you are approaching fast the 40’s…Ja,ja,ja,ja…never mind, the oldest you get…the more stamps you got acquire…have you consider to make a shed on your garden?…I think you should…Ah! thank you for ‘no returns’, much better this way…long live Keijo!
Ravi V wrote (on September 16, 2011) :

Glad you liked many of the stamps I sent. Waiting eagerly for your packet…THis is what I love about collecting and exchanging stamps. Even though I am 40 now, i wait for the stamps to arrive like a young boy on his first date

Ravi
Keijo wrote (on September 17, 2011) :

@Fred… Yes, by now I’m officially 36. One year older, grumpier and “wiser” – and closer to reaching forties …. Happy to know the cover landed UK promptly, and stamps were of use.

@Ravi V…That’s the good part on collecting worldwide. There’s ALWAYS something you can pick PS. Sorry for the single high value definitive on top of your cover. Could not come up anything else to match the postal rate this time.
Keijo wrote (on September 19, 2011) :

Four exchange covers in todays mail…

@Anthony (#83) – superb cover as usual

@Slavko (#84) – likewise a superb cover Unfortunately I had most of the German stamps. The Burundi bogus sheet was very interesting – I’ve seen lots of similar ones lately.

@Sanjay (#85) – superb cover too, but it was shred to pieces by mail (half of top stamps lost all their tooth, and cover has large hole on bottom too). Luckily the contents were safe inside the postcard stiffeners.

@Steven (#86) – superb contents, and I definitely like the “Green forever” stamps on top too

Responses to all will be mailed this evening / tomorrow morning….

As a secondary note, I’ll be heading to a business trip tomorrow evening. The exchanges will continue Sept 28 when I get back home.
Keijo wrote (on September 20, 2011) :

One more cover to list before heading to weeks business trip… My compliments for exchange #87 go (once more) to Steven, USA. Response will be placed on the mail today.

Next update for exchanges will be on Sept 28th.
Ravi V wrote (on September 27, 2011) :

Unfortunately I still haven’t received return mail with stamps . Hope it is not lost in the mail somewhere

Ravi
Keijo wrote (on September 27, 2011) :

@Ravi… Give it some more time. Mail to/from US can take anywhere between 1-4 weeks; the average is about 2 weeks…. I’m pretty confident it will land sooner or later.
Keijo wrote (on September 28, 2011) :

I’m back home now. The following lots had arrived while I was away:

#88 from Jeannette, Netherlands. Interestingly the cover was opened by Finnish customs. First time I’ve seen this happen for cover sent inside EU.

#89 from Steven, USA. Seems like yet another superb mixture.

#90 from Melissa, Australia… Gorgeous sheet on top. Hooray

#91 from Holger, Germany… Seems like very useful mixture. Sadly the stamps on top of cover were shred to pieces

I’ll try to process these before the end of week (but not today as I’ve got some family coming in this evening).
Keijo wrote (on September 29, 2011) :

And exchanges #88-91 are done now. Return covers will be placed on mail within few hours time.

My compliments to all. I found plenty of interesting items
Holger wrote (on September 29, 2011) :

Wow…it’s great you could use more than 50 % of what i sent to you! I’ve never expected such a high quote. I’m very curious what i get in return! Could you identify the three MAPKA/PYB stamps with hammer and sickle? Maybe these are court stamps, but i’m not sure…
Keijo wrote (on September 30, 2011) :

@Holger… I was not so much surprised by high ratio. My DDR collection has still nearly 3,000 empty spaces, and BRD/modern Germany is nearly 1,000 stamps short. So there’s plenty of spaces to fill – even after this trade

Re, the Russians… No idea at all. I just took them & counted them as “old commemoratives”. Like written on exchange rules, I don’t look for catalogs while picking items from/to exchanges. I just pick & go (pretty much the only reasonable option if trying to sort hundreds of stamps a day) … I have a feeling they are some sort of revenues, but I went the “safe”route, and counted them as commemoratives + added few revenues to mixture as well.

Re, what to expect… A worldwide mishmash of this & that.
SUNNY wrote (on October 4, 2011) :

i wish to know more about stamp exchange and business
Keijo wrote (on October 4, 2011) :

@Sunny…
I think the rules on this page are somewhat clear and detailed about how the stamp exchange goes. Just read them properly….

Business??? What business??? Now you lost me completely….
Tucker wrote (on October 4, 2011) :

Hey how long will this exchange be going on, all year? I am waiting to get stock pages to organize my collection and that may take a few weeks and then i would find my duplicates and mail them to you a few more weeks after that
Keijo wrote (on October 4, 2011) :

@Tucker… It’s up & running approx. 3/4 of the year.

There will be a Christmas break from mid November to mid January/early February. This is simply to avoid lost mail, delayed delivery etc. that are far too common during the holiday season.
Another break is during the summer (from June onwards), and it can be anything from few weeks up to few months depending on weathers.
Keijo wrote (on October 4, 2011) :

Three covers in todays mail. My compliments go to Ion, Andrei-Cristian and Slavko. As usual I found some useful items in all

Responses to all will be mailed tomorrow morning.
Keijo wrote (on October 7, 2011) :

Another batch of 3 covers in days mail. My compliments go to Markus (#95), Steve (#96)and Seth (#97). I found plenty of useful in all lots. Responses to all will be mailed today.
Holger wrote (on October 7, 2011) :

Hmm, Keijo…unfortunately i haven’t received your return mail yet. I hope it hasn’t got lost in the land of thousand lakes
Keijo wrote (on October 7, 2011) :

@Holger… Economy rate letter from Finland to Germany will take 8-10 working days to mail. As the cover was mailed 29th last month, so it should arrive sometime next week.
Pawel wrote (on October 8, 2011) :

Hi,
I can exchange used stamps

50 :50

Polands on all the World

Regards

Pawel
Ravi V wrote (on October 9, 2011) :

Hey Keijo,

I still haven’t received your mail that you posted around the 16th of september. I fear that it might be lost in the mail – fingers crossed.

Ravi
Keijo wrote (on October 9, 2011) :

@Ravi… Ouch… If it doesn’t arrive next week, then I fear the worst. If so, it would be the first piece of lost mail on this years exchange (if my memory serves me right)… But lets keep fingers crossed. International mail can behave weirdly sometimes.

@Pawel… Please read the exchange guidelines (on top of this page).
Ravi V wrote (on October 12, 2011) :

Finally!!! The stamps are here. THanks Keijo, very nice stamps.

Ravi
Keijo wrote (on October 12, 2011) :

@Ravi V… Hooray This one took only 3 ½ weeks. Talk about proper snailmail.
William (hadashi) wrote (on October 12, 2011) :

Hi Keijo-san

An envelope of from Japan is on its way to you from me. Hope all goes well, and that everything is well with you and yours.
Keijo wrote (on October 12, 2011) :

@William (hadashi).. Thanks for letting me know.
Andrei wrote (on October 12, 2011) :

Hi Keijo,
I received the envelope.
Thanks!
William wrote (on October 13, 2011) :

Hi Keijo
I sent you a packet a couple days ago so let me know when it gets there.
Thanks,
William
Keijo wrote (on October 13, 2011) :

@William… I’ll post updates on this page usually the same I receive any bit of mail. So just watch this page, and you’ll know when it has landed Finland… Mail from North America takes usually roughly 2 weeks to arrive, so I would expect your letter to arrive around week 42/43.
Keijo wrote (on October 17, 2011) :

A bunch of covers in today’s mail… My compliments go to Gayland, Helmut & William. I found lots of new stamps

Response covers to all will be mailed tomorrow morning.
william wrote (on October 17, 2011) :

So I take it you got my letter? If so were the stamps on front damaged at all?
Keijo wrote (on October 18, 2011) :

@William… Likely; there are few other Williams on this board. This cover had a very nice strip of trains + few other stamps. All somewhat nicely canceled, no damages whatsoever
Keijo wrote (on October 18, 2011) :

One exchange lot (#101) for today… My compliments go to William(hadashi) to Japan. I found a mountain of stuff for my collection

~~Response cover will be placed on mail tomorrow morning.~~ Correction… Mail truck was late, and I manage to catch it up. So it’s already on on it’s way to Japan…
william wrote (on October 18, 2011) :

Hi Keijo
I think that letter was from me as I used the full set strip of trains and two other stamps to mail it to you. Did you find Benin stamps and two sealed envelopes in the letter if so Thats Mine. I hope you were able to use some of them. Hope all is well, William
Andra wrote (on October 18, 2011) :

Hi Keijo!
I posted an envelope for you today.
I hope you manage to find something you need in it.
Take care, Andra
Keijo wrote (on October 18, 2011) :

@William… Yep. That was your letter. I took approx. 2/3 of the mixture; I found plenty of nice CTO-stamps. Too bad that all the included Somaliland bogus stamps had “sticky tape hinges” (=impossible to remove, will eat their way through the stamp sooner or later) – otherwise I would have taken them too.

@Andra… Sound superb I’m pretty sure I’ll find at least some useful items.
william wrote (on October 19, 2011) :

Hi Keijo
Its cool about the Somali stamps as I got all the stamps in a collection, and I couldn’t use them. So Im glad you could use the stamps. I will keep putting used stamps away for you.
Take Care,
William
Keijo wrote (on October 19, 2011) :

Two covers for the day… My thanks go to Maryann(#102) and Guy (#103). Responses to both have been mailed today.
Keijo wrote (on October 20, 2011) :

@Andra… Your cover (#104) arrived in todays mail. Response will be placed on mail within few hours time…
Slavko wrote (on October 20, 2011) :

Hi Keijo,
I received the mail you posted on 2011/10/4 #93 but still didn’t get the one from 2011/09/19 #84. Hope it is not lost.
William (hadashi) wrote (on October 21, 2011) :

My goodness, that was fast (for my stamps to reach you) and you too for running to catch the mail truck (in my imagination). As the ‘other’ William, I shall try to remain Hadashi for this blog’s purposes. Back in the 1300s it was the most common English name. On no account, please, should anyone call me Bill I’m so glad that many stamps were useful to you, so I shall start compiling another mountain for you.
Keijo wrote (on October 21, 2011) :

@Slavko… Sounds worrying. Anything between 1-4 weeks is still within normal boundaries, but it’s been soon 5 weeks. Keeping fingers crossed…

@Wiliiam (hadashi)… Yep. That was fast. I too was amazed… I’ve been having some great time bouncing back & worth the catalog when trying to ID/locate them properly
Mary wrote (on October 24, 2011) :

Hi Keijo,
After reading through all the posts here and learning that the exchange will have a break mid-November, I quickly posted some stamps to you today. Hope it gets there before the Christmas season madness takes over everything. Fingers crossed that you’ll find something you need.
Cheers,
Mary
Keijo wrote (on October 24, 2011) :

@Mary… Thanks for the tip…. There’s still few more weeks of time to mail stamps for exchange. Very likely I’ll pull the plug around the first or second week of November.
Keijo wrote (on October 24, 2011) :

One cover (#105) for the day… My compliments go to Domenico, Italy. I found some lovely new stamps for my Italian collection Response cover is already on it’s way towards Italy.
Fred Muguruza wrote (on October 24, 2011) :

November,November… the 5th of November…of course!…the grand Bonfire!!!…I’ll pack the whole lot of stamps, I want to be the first to throw it to the flames and see what happen!… LOL!!!
Keijo wrote (on October 24, 2011) :

@Fred…LOL…. Unfortunately we Finns don’t celebrate Guy Fawkes night/day… But I’ll promise to make a nice exchange
Keijo wrote (on October 25, 2011) :

Two covers for the day… My compliments go to Slavko (#106) and Joaquim (#107, extra thanks for superb contents!!!!)… Responses will be placed on mail later this evening.

Interestingly, Slavko’s cover was opened by Finnish customs. AFAIK ,nothing seems to be amiss… Hmm… Maybe they just like soft, bulgy covers (this is second “officially opened by customs” cover I have received in somewhat short timespan).
Fred Muguruza wrote (on October 25, 2011) :

Be aware man…things are going really out of the blue…wikileaks are going down…Finnish customs get suspicious…hmmm!!…Keijo, hold it tight!!! hugely changes are coming nigh…
Keijo wrote (on October 25, 2011) :

@Fred…. : :
mrprgrmr wrote (on October 26, 2011) :

Does “officially opened by customs” give the cover additional collector value??? They could be trying to do you a favor!!
Keijo wrote (on October 26, 2011) :

@mrprgrmr… Postal history collectors might value it, but me…nah… It’s just ugly yellow/black “crime scene” tape placed across the cover…. It’s waiting to get soaked soon.

My wife was kidding last night that maybe they were looking for another kind of “stamps” (some xtc-like drugs are known to be distributed in stamp/sticker like sheets)… What an advert it would make for stamp collecting… Lick, and get high .
(Seriously speaking, I’m very much against drugs abuse…)
Fred Muguruza wrote (on October 26, 2011) :

Ja,ja,ja, hmmm….Keijo, lick and get high?…where is the party? L O L !!! (me seriously too… banned it !)
William (hadashi) wrote (on October 27, 2011) :

Hi Keijo-san

Happy to report that your envelope arrived yesterday – so that’s less than one week from Europe to Asia. I especially appreciated your Finnish and Swedish stamps. I was very light in that department. Now I must knuckle down and prepare the second mountain before the end of the month. I already have 200 set aside for you. You’ll have more fun trying to identify them before Xmas!
Keijo wrote (on October 27, 2011) :

@William (hadashi)… Excellent!
Cathleen wrote (on October 28, 2011) :

Hi Keijo

I have a bunch of stamps ready to be sent. A few of them have hinges on the back. Are you okay with those?

I”ll post once I hear back from you.

Cheers!

Cathleen
Keijo wrote (on October 28, 2011) :

@Cathleen… Hinges and hinge remainders are usually not an issue. The only case I don’t like them is when the hinge/remainder is unsoakable, or there’s a very heavy layer of old hinges on top of each other.
Domenico Griseri wrote (on October 28, 2011) :

Keijo, I’ ve received today your shipment and all is perfect, thanks!
Best wishesssss…
Slavko wrote (on October 29, 2011) :

Cover #84 finally arrived today, thank you Keijo.
Everything is ok with the cover.
Keijo wrote (on October 29, 2011) :

@Slavko… Superb!
Brendan wrote (on November 3, 2011) :

Hi Keijo,

I have a small packet of stamps ready to post from Australia, when do you plan to stop for the holiday break?

Regards

Brendan
Keijo wrote (on November 3, 2011) :

@Brendan… Any covers mailed this week or early next week will make it in time.
Keijo wrote (on November 5, 2011) :

Yesterday’s mail brought three lots: my compliments go to Mary(#108), Melissa(#109) and Ion(#110). I found plenty of nice stamps

Response covers will be mailed on monday morning.
William (hadashi) wrote (on November 6, 2011) :

502 Japanese stamps your way on Monday. Let’s see if they catch the Concord again.
Keijo wrote (on November 6, 2011) :

@William (hadashi)… sounds excellent…
Keijo wrote (on November 7, 2011) :

One exchange batch to start this weekend: #111 from MaryAnn, USA. Excellent stuff

Response cover will leave towards Florida in todays mail….
Hank Ankins wrote (on November 8, 2011) :

Hi, Keijo,
I see you have a collection of ‘Air Mail” stickers, I also have a collection of these . Do you exchange these for others, if so I would like to send you some of my duplicates.
Regards Hank.
Keijo wrote (on November 8, 2011) :

@Hank… Of course
I’ve got only a limited number of duplicates on these. Most are of “common sorts” (Australia, UK, Germany, Malaysia), but I should have few duplicates on more rarely seen countries too…
Hank Ankins wrote (on November 9, 2011) :

Hi, Keijo, Thanks for the reply, will put what I have in the mail asap.
Regards Hank Ankins.
Keijo wrote (on November 9, 2011) :

@Hank… Excellent!
Erik wrote (on November 9, 2011) :

Hi Keijo,

Looks like I missed this round of the exchange. Hopefully in the spring I will be ready to go. I am sorting and organizing my ever expanding collection and will hopefully have a nice collection of duplicates to mail you in the spring. Stay warm!!
Keijo wrote (on November 10, 2011) :

@Erik… No rush with the exchanges… If all goes well, I will try to revive the exchange in January / February (they are the coldest of cold winter in Finland, and keep it going till the arrival of Finnish summer (May/June)…

Anyway…. There’s still two days time to sent to stuff for this season. After that I’ll take the instructions etc. exchange related instructions offline for the break.
Suresh wrote (on November 10, 2011) :

Good infarction regarding stamp exchange.I am also interested in such type of exchange.

Suresh
Keijo wrote (on November 10, 2011) :

@Suresh… Like said in previous comment, there’s still day and a half time to send stamps for exchange. After that there will be (at least) a 2 month break…
Rafael wrote (on November 11, 2011) :

Hello my friend, how have you been? After some time, yesterday I have posted a pack of Brazilian stamps for you. I hope you can find usefull stuffs for your collection.
Best regards
Rafael
Keijo wrote (on November 11, 2011) :

@Rafael… Great to hear from You. I’m well, thanks…. I’m very eager to see what’s coming my way. I’m pretty sure I can pick quite a many stamps
Keijo wrote (on November 11, 2011) :

Two covers in the days mail. My compliments go to Romeo (#112, superb cover but sadly uncanceled) and William (#113, equally superb cover but canceled with heavy and smudgy killer). Great contents on both

Responses will be mailed in half hours time.
Keijo wrote (on November 12, 2011) :

The exchange is now officially closed for this season. My compliments to all who took part.

Very likely some covers are on the mail coming my way, and I’ll deal with them normally.

If you didn’t manage to send your exchange lot this season, don’t worry, the exchange will continue sometime in 2012. All you have to do is wait a few months… If I will receive any exchange related mail postmarked after Nov 14th, I’ll treat it as unwanted mail & keep any contents to myself. Seriously, I’m not joking. The last two seasons I didn’t specify this “rule”, and I received several exchange lots despite I asked people to wait / not to mail stuff…. So once more: the exchange is closed for this season.
Cathleen wrote (on November 13, 2011) :

Hi Keijo

I sent out a batch this morning and it is dated Nov 12th!! I watched her cancel the stamps myself as Canada Post sometimeshas a habit of cancelling stamps wih a Sharpie marker!
Sorry I hadn’t checked your blog before heading out to the post office.

Cathleen
Keijo wrote (on November 13, 2011) :

Cathleen… no problem with this one.
Keijo wrote (on November 14, 2011) :

Three stamp covers to start this weekend. My compliments to Igor (#114,superb cover), Gregory (#115) and John (#116; the cover was torn fully open on mail – I think nothing was lost though)… Responses will be placed on mail this evening or tomorrow morning.
Keijo wrote (on November 15, 2011) :

One lot(#117) for today… My thanks to Guy; good stuff
Response already winging it’s way to Quebec….
Igor wrote (on November 16, 2011) :

готовлю для вас новую партию марок
кейо- а вы по русски понимаете говорите?
Keijo wrote (on November 16, 2011) :

@Igor… I can do a bit of Russian, but not much. And Google Translate (and Translator on my phone) help for the rest
As this blog is read around the world, I wish people would primarily use English for communication. It makes things simpler for all.

Re, sending another exchange lot: please wait. My exchange is now on a holiday break, and I’m not accepting any new exchange covers now. The exchange will resume sometime in early 2012. But please ,do not send anything before that.
Joaquim Camargo wrote (on November 19, 2011) :

Hi Keijo,
Today I received your letter with stamps. I really liked the stamps you sent me. I will separate some stamps to send to you as soon as you restart the exchange of stamps.
A Merry Christmas and a great new year.
Regards, Joaquim Camargo from Brasil
Fred Muguruza wrote (on November 19, 2011) :

Niet Keijo!☺☺☺☺♬…
that’s my first trial on little faces …LOL!
Keijo wrote (on November 20, 2011) :

@Joaquim… Excellent

@Fred… Nice. There’s also a simpler way to do some smiley faces, see http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Smilies
William (hadashi) wrote (on November 26, 2011) :

Hi Keijo-san

Your envelope arrived safely yesterday. Many thanks for the stamps and for your kind note. Enjoy the winter break (it’s going to be a strange experience for me to have Christmas in winter instead of summer!). I laughed at your advice never to buy a bulk lot of any one country. I’ve just finished roughly sorting a box of 50,000 stamps. What a lot of Hungary there is! Is that because letter writing is their national sport, or do they just like to push a new issue every week? See you next exchange season.
Romeo wrote (on November 26, 2011) :

Hello!

I received your mail today, thank you so much for the stamps!

Wish you all the best on your holidays and a prosperous new year.

Romeo
Keijo wrote (on November 26, 2011) :

Two more covers arrived in yesterday’s. As I was feeling bit under yesterday, I processed them this morning. My compliments to Rafael (#118) and Cathleen (#119) – excellent stuff from both Response covers will be mailed on monday morning.

@William (hadashi)… Excellent. The box of 50k stamps should keep you busy for a while

Re, the number of Hungarian stamps… Hungary was one of the key countries of philately in Eastern Europe during the communist regime. They issued a lot stamps, and unlike in some countries also a lot of them were used postally. They also had (and still have) one of the most efficient approvals services for stamp collectors in world.

@Romeo… Superb. A Merry Xmas & Happy New Year too.
William (Webster) wrote (on November 26, 2011) :

Hi Keijo,
The envelope came to my house yesterday and I was quite happy with the trade as I collect both Hungary and Czechoslovakia and I will see what I need from what you sent.
Whatever I cant use will go to a friend who sends stamps to kids charities and they use them. So thank you so much for the trade and I hope we can do it again when it starts up again.
Merry Christmas,
William
Keijo wrote (on November 27, 2011) :

@William (Webster)… Excellent: )
Merry Christmas & Prosperous New year too.
John Hart wrote (on December 3, 2011) :

Keijo,

First, my prayers will for you to come thru this episode of UC. Your health is so much more important than pieces of paper, no matter how much we love the hobby!

When you come back next year will there be some explanation of how you do your exchanges ? I’ve been reading this page and gather you do a digital photo exchange prior to actually mailing the stamps but can’t find a detailed explanation anywhere. Do you have a FAQ’s section that explains the rules anywhere?

I just found your site today and love looking thru it. It has been added to my “favorites.” THANKS in advance.
jch
Keijo wrote (on December 3, 2011) :

@John Hart

When you come back next year will there be some explanation of how you do your exchanges ?

Yes. I pulled that section of the page offline when the exchange was closed. But it will make a comeback when the exchange continues sometime next year.
Cathleen wrote (on December 13, 2011) :

Hi Keijo

I received the stamps yesterday – thank you. From my memory (and unsorted piles waiting for my attention) about 99% are new to me. Have a wonderful Holiday and I will hopefully have some more sorted through to send in the new year.

Cheers!!!
Maryann Kershaw wrote (on December 16, 2011) :

Hi Keijo. Thank you for the stamps you sent and for your reply to my questions. I wish you and your family all the very best for the holidays and for the new year!
Keijo wrote (on December 17, 2011) :

@Maryann…. Thanks. And a merry Christmas to You too
Masud wrote (on December 21, 2011) :

Hi!
I’m Masud From Bangladesh And very much Interested in swap with you.I collect used stamps,SS/MS,FDC,Bank notes (UNC),Coins world wide.
So,If you are also interested then please E mail to me,
Greets and Best wishes
Masud
Keijo wrote (on December 22, 2011) :

@Masud… My exchange is now having a break, but it will continue sometime next year.
varma wrote (on January 6, 2012) :

Hello,
I have Indian fine used stamps for exchange, please send your offers of exchange.

Regards,
S V
Keijo wrote (on January 6, 2012) :

@Varma… My exchange activities are still on holiday break (as said on top of the page). Likely I will relaunch the exchange sometime after mid January / early February; right now I’m focusing on sorting the piles I have on my stamp desk
Keijo wrote (on January 10, 2012) :

As uncanny as it is, yesterdays mail brought two more late-runners for the exchange of 2011.

First, I received cover(#120) from Zakariya (Iraq) postmarked on on mid-September 2011. So it had been traveling nearly 4 months somewhere. Considering the time spent on the road, the cover was in amazingly good condition. Found some nice Iraqi stamps from this.

Second, there was a cover(#121) from Gregory dated on early November. Again, there were zero clues why it took so long to arrive. Unfortunately, I was unable to take anything from this as the lot consisted of 19th century (Mexican) revenues only and I had nothing of equal (=19th century revenues) to put in. So I choose to sent the lot back as is. At least we both got some nice stamps on top of cover.

Anyway, responses to both have been sent out in todays mail.

Other than that, this will be the last message in this page. This page is now archived (and no further comments can’t be made). For the latest events relating to my stamp exchange please go to http://www.stampcollectingblog.com/stamp-exchange

My compliments to all who took part in 2011. Hope to see you involved in 2012 too.

-keijo-