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Reviews of stamp catalogues and other philatelic accessories
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Using a macro lens with smart phone to turn your camera app into digital magnifier/loupe/microscope
Here's one of the tools I've used for few years:a 20x clip-on macro lens that fits pretty much any smartphone. There are dozens of brands selling similar lenses from 10-40€ price range; mine's pretty much in the middle price range. Some stamp brands, such as Lighthouse/Leuchtturm got their own equivalents, but IMHO they seem lower grade and quality than those aimed for 'general photographers'. I thought I'd show some photographs of what is possible with stamps using a "cheap" macro lens, as well as talk some of the ups and downs compared to scanner vs. digital microscope vs. traditional magnifier/loupe.
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A day at Finnish Postal Museum
During my winter holidays I went to three day trip to Tampere, the "Manchester city of Finland". My main goal there was spending a day visiting Vapriikki Museum center. There amongst other museums lies also the Finnish Postal Museum. All in all I wasn't expecting too much as I acknowledge the main goal of Postal Museum is not with stamps nor stamp collecting, but history of postal services.
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German (Reich) hyperinflation era postage stamps - fake vs. genuine postmarks
Postally used stamps of German hyperinflation era are said to be minefield of fake cancellations. Each and every stamp catalogue provides a slightly different wording, but the baseline is same: catalog values (from August 1916/early 1919 to end of 1923) apply only for INFLA-signed/certified copies, anything else should be treated equal to mint stamps value. Thus it is somewhat excruciating that many sellers, buyers and collectors do not pay any importance to provided guiding, but always get stuck with the *what if...* scenario.
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Book review - Nowherelands: An Atlas of Vanished Countries 1840-1975
It is somewhat rare that a stamp collector writes an book of their hobby and interests these days. It is even more astonishing that the book becomes an international best seller. But Norwegian ASFE (A Stamp From Each/Everywhere) collector Bjørn Berge has done so with his book 'Nowherelands: An Atlas of Vanished Countries 1840-1975'. The original Norwegian edition was released in 2016, and ever since the book has been published in number of languages such as Finnish, Swedish, English, Dutch , German etc. Ever since I saw the title on Christmas sale last year it's been on my wish list and I finally received a copy.
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The great watermarking fluid experiment (and why it failed)
Like many stamp collectors I too occasionally struggle with stamp watermarks. Most of the time watermark are relatively easy to see by simply placing the stamp face down on black background or viewing the stamp against a source of light. But then there's always one or two stamps that refuse these methods. They are cause of both angst and frustration. One of my plans for the past summer was to experiment with various watermarking fluids, and figure out if there was any real world difference with various watermarking fluids available.
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A review of Michel Southeast Asia (ASEAN) 2017 stamp catalogue
As some might have noted from my comment few months ago, I received new Michel Southeast Asia catalogue into my hands while back. As I've now perused the entire volume while working with Stamp Gems project, it is good time to share some of my impressions.
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How accurate are stamp catalogue perforation details - a study
Here's a question I want you think for a while: how accurate/creditable do you consider stamp catalogue given perforation data? Just pick any percentage you consider fair, and then proceed reading the result of below small study. Since I am now building the Stamp Gems database, I am not tracking down just catalog values of selected items, but also other metrics like actual perforation data - and how well it matches the (Michel and Scott) catalogue details.
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How accurate (or inaccurate) are traditional stamp perforation gauge results
Lately a discussion at SCF caught my attention. The original poster there had noted that the ruler in his Lighthouse/Leuchtturm stamp perforation gauge was not accurate and was seeking for better alternatives. I have for a long time known that traditional perforation gauges are not tools of extreme accuracy, but I have never read a proper study on the subject. So out of curiosity I decided it was high time to check the precision of my traditional gauges. At first I scanned all my three stamp perforation gauges at 1200dpi using a high end professional scanner, then I used Photoshop's Measurement Log tool and SCB's Free Digital Perforation Gauge to obtain accurate measurements from these scanned gauges. Needless to say the results were more than interesting.
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A review of Spink Maury Timbres de France 2016 (Kindle edition)
I admit I have got very mixed feelings against technology. As a geek I love building and trying all sorts of new and shiny digital things. But as an end user however I am likely more preserved and demanding than most casual users. A good example of this are eBooks. I have had Amazon Kindle subscription for some time, but I really have not used it that much besides few random titles. I just find it slightly awkward to use when compared to traditional touch interface (of pen & paper). As such I’ve been holding back for some time on writing this review of Spink-Maury ‘Timbres de France’ 2016 eCatalogue which I acquired earlier this year to learn more about Type Duval postage due stamps.
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Review of Lape Finland Concise stamp catalogue 2015
Recently I ordered a box of new stock books from a clearance sale, and as a freebie I received two copies of LAPE Finland Concice Stamp Catalogue 2015. For a dealer out-of-date copies such as these they may be dead inventory, but as a collector I definitely love a cheap (or as in this case free) upgrade. Retail price of LAPE Concice has been about 20€ several years, but as the catalog comes out annually, older copies are somewhat easily available and sell for pittance locally. Usually the highest cost of obtaining Finnish catalogs is not the price of book itself, but postage and delivery costs.
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Review of 'Forgeries of common stamps after World War 1: Eastern Front, Balkans,Caucasus'
New books focusing on forgeries of common stamps don't come out often, so when I saw Amazon Kindle listing of 'Forgeries of common stamps after World War 1: Eastern Front, Balkans, Caucasus' by P. Clark Souers for $11 I was immediately attracted to it, and few days later I added a copy of it to my Kindle reader.
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Review of Edwin Delsing's 'Qualität von Briefmarken'
There are a lot of stamp books worth reading out there, and one of those is Edwin J.F. Delsing's 'Qualität von Briefmarken - Zur einstufung der erhaltung von Briefmarken' (roughly translated, 'Stamps and quality - advice on grading of stamps', published 2015). I acknowledge most non-German collectors will never read this 150-page book simply because the title is in German only. But I'm still going to educate you about it, because this is most likely the only (proper) scholarly study about different types of faults and damages on stamps, a topic that every collector should have proper working knowledge.
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A review of AFA Denmark Special stamp catalog
Right before Christmas I bough myself a copy AFA Denmark SpecialKatalog 2002 catalog, and I've been browsing it almost daily ever since. Though 2002 edition may sound 'old, it is only two editions behind, and for the price of 13€ (plus postage) this seemed like a too good a deal to miss. To find out whether I was I right or wrong, please read on.
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A Quick Review of Michel Russia Specialized stamp catalog
During my latest business trip to Helsinki, capital of Finland, I had a day off between the meetings, so I headed to local library. Though most of the philatelic books were something I've got copies on my bookshelf, there was one particular item that I had never seen, namely Michel's specialized Russia catalog Michel Rußland /Russland Spezial. So here's a quick look / review of the catalog.
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If you are a postage stamp catalog publisher, the most stupid thing you can do is...
For the past two weeks I've been browsing the brand new Michel North Africa 2014 catalog. As always with new Michel catalogs, it's pretty excellent piece of work. But this time everything isn't so rosy as Michel has done something that every stamp collector and stamp dealer fears the most: it's re-numbered/re-catalogued the stamps of an entire country.
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Review of Stamp Mate 2014
Around August of last year I was approached by fellow software developer Tomaž Langerholc asking my opinion of about a stamp inventory tool he was working. Little did I know that this simple request would lead into nearly six month involvement in testing and making of Stamp Mate. Anyway, as Stamp Mate has been publicly available for few months now, I thought I'd share a quick review of it as it is IMHO one of the 'coolest' stamp software product for 'serious' stamp collectors out there.
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A review of Michel's Valuable Stamps of the World catalog
About week and half ago I was visiting Jyväskylä for my annual health check, and during my way back home later that evening I decided to pop on my hometown's main public library. Normally I don't visit there as it's 30km away from my home, but as I now had both the time and opportunity, I popped in to see if I'd find anything new/interesting. And you can guess what I found: copy of the Michel's Valuable Stamps of The World catalog issued few years back.
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A review of Unitrade Specialized Catalogue Of Canadian Stamps
One of the highlights of my summer was when I received a copy of Unitrade Specialized Catalogue of Canadian stamps as a gift (thanks Mark, thanks Franz ^^). I know that readers from US and Canada are likely familiar with the name of Unitrade, but for rest of us the name does not ring much bell. So what does Unitrade stamp catalogue look like, and how does it stand up when in comparison to regular worldwide stamp catalogues (like Michel or Scott)?
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A short review of Gibbons Stamp Monthly
It's been a while since I reviewed anything stamp related, so when I grabbed myself a copy of November 2010 issue of Gibbons Stamp Monthly (generally known also as GSM) from a Helsinki located bookstore I smelled a chance. I confess that I'm a highly irregular reader of GSM simply because new single issues are hard to get (so far I know only 2-3 bookstores in whole of Finland that sell GSM), and the somewhat high overseas price.
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A quick review of Norma 2010, a specialized catalog of Finnish stamps
Last thursday I managed to get a copy of "Norma 2010 - a specialized catalog of Finland postage stamps" from nearby public library. So I decided share yet another short catalog review.
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I'm back...With review of SOTW 2010 and misc stamp related tidbits
Time definitely does fly, as it's been a bit over a month since my last post. Yes, I did have a relaxing summer vacation with plenty of sun and heat.
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Top 5 free online stamp catalogues reviewed
One of the frequently asked questions by newbie stamp collectors concerns free online stamp catalogues: are there any, and how to find them. So, I thought it would be fun and useful to write a short review list of what I consider the top5 alternatives. I hope You have fun exploring the below websites.
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A review of Stamp Albums Web (aka Steiner pages)
For a long time I’ve been thinking about writing a review of William.E. Steiner’s Stamp Albums Web but haven’t really gotten around it. But let’s give it a go… In short the deal is simple and sweet: worldwide stamp album pages for yours to keep and print for only US$30.
...(571 words, 2 images, 34 comments)
A short commercial break
I was very suprised to find this very large cover in my postbox. And even more suprised I became, when I opened the cover.
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A quick review of Linn's Stamp News Digital edition
Linn's Stamp News is a name most US and Canada based collectors are very familiar with. It is very likely one of the biggest (in size and print numbers) stamp related magazines, and the only one that comes out each and every week. Unfortunetaly due to long delivery times and expenses most non-american collectors have ignored the publication. With arrival of Digital Edition (meaning online edition) things have changed.
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A short review of Michel online stamp catalogue
As some know (or may have noticed from my earlier writings), I'm a great fan of Michel's printed worldwide stamp catalogue series. I use Michel as my primary source of generic information for worldwide stamps. The problem with printed catalogues however is, the price levels get out date rather fast and new catalogues cost huge sums of money. For example Michel Europe catalogue is currently 7 volumes, Übersee (outside Europe) is 11 or 12 volumes - all costs between 50 and 100 euro brand new, and even few years old used prints cost 20-30€ each. That's way more than I'm willing to spend for catalogues... Luckily there's Michel Online Catalogue for frugal collectors like me.
...(479 words, 3 images, 5 comments)
Article categories
- Generally speaking about stamps, philately and collecting
- Learn the basics of stamp collecting - advice on how to get started
- How to preserve and build a stamp collection
- Philatelic knowledge base
- Stamp forgeries, philatelic fakes and other counterfeits
- Stamp collecting software (inventory programs and databases, online stamp catalogs etc)
- Straight talk about stamp values (both catalog and real world)
- Back of book stamps and other unusual stamp-like items
- EFO-stamps: errors, freaks and oddities on postage stamps
- Q & A - Ask anything about stamps and collecting
- Article index by country and topic
- SCB's Digital Perforation Gauge