Hi Group, I may be the last in this group to know about this Philatelic Buyer/Seller site but just in case there are a few of you tired of always going the eBay-Way. You might want to take a look @: https://www.hipstamp.com/ I thought the prices reasonable. So I hope to hear from anyone from our StampExchange group buying or selling from this site . Regards, unhinged-Harry
Ahoy, Golightly! Is it somehow connected to http://www.bidstart.com/ ? I've used bidstart a few times for lower end items, seems fine-and-dandy.
Thank you, daRKtoweR Don't think we've met. Do you mind sharing your collecting interests? Regards, unhinged
I forgot to mention that I 'pulled the trigger' on this block* bought from a 'HipStamp' seller. ($112 USD) One concern I had was that he claims it to be a perf. 10 & I could find no such perforation listed in my 2016 SG. Have not checked my 2010 Scott yet because Gibbons is usually the sine qua non for Brit. Commonwealth. * https://www.hipstamp.com/listing/gold-coast-1938-2s-blue-violet-sg130-block-of-four-mnh/1584705 Opinions if you please, Harry
That's a very nice looking block. All the stamps have great centering and MNH makes the block quite a plum. The price seems quite reasonable from the asking prices I saw for the stamp. As far as a perf 10 is concerned I never heard of this issue having that. From the picture it doesn't seem to me to be perf 10, perhaps the description is a typo error. Congrats on the acquisition!
Thanks Hoch., It's nice to have feedback from another member as I seem to now have 5 individuals with which to talk stamps. Do you mind sharing your collecting interest? Personally, I had been collecting Iceland & British Commonwealth all MNH until recently. I worked for 8 months on & off getting a working list (Scott #, 2017 Values & Quantity) of all my Iceland material and was amazed at the $52K+ 2017 catalogue value. I intend on selling this collection next year perhaps and devote both 'Collecting' time & resources on Pre-1965 MNH Br. Commonwealth material. All the Best, Harry
Harry I am a collector of the U.S. and Germany. I have ended my collection of both these countries at the new millennium. The only modern mint I buy is for my PRC collection which is all modern stuff. I have a modest global collection as well. I have often thought about starting a Commonwealth collection, but it always seemed so daunting. I like the King Edward VII and King George V colonial stamps. Perhaps someday I will bid on a collection of Commonwealth colonies to get started. Good luck on your plan to sell your Iceland collection. Good quality stuff finds an appreciative audience. MNH older material has nothing but upside potential.
BidStart started out as a Stamps Only forum under the name StampWants sometime in the mid-to-late 2000's... I started buying on that site shortly after it started (my earliest invoice is 2008). After some time they changed to BidStart and offered almost all collectibles. Stanley Gibbons bought them out and, in my opinion, not much was changed but I was a buyer, not a seller. Many of my Seller friends complained about fees, lack of support, etc... Recently, the family that started StampWants regrouped as HipStamps and many of the sellers went from BidStart to HipStamps. SG claimed infringement but recently they settled the case and HipStamps now owns BidStart, or at least the stamp portion of them. From my understanding, they will maintain both sites for some time until the Sellers have a chance to migrate to the new one.
Your overview of HipStamps was most appreciated. Shame on Gibbons for being so greedy, then not presenting a quality site. (Sounds like some U.S. companies I've dealt with) Guess the HipStamps site has not had time to accrue their bonafides. I'll keep this group apprised of my current experience. i.e. Gold Coast MNH 2/- block* mentioned above.
Your post is much appreciated. I'll be looking for a collector to sell the Iceland but they are as rare as hen's teeth. One of my reasons for collecting a country is the quality of both the stamp design & engraving. Hence the Br. Commonwealth & Iceland collections. When countries move away from engraved images I loose interest. Czslaw Slania (Sp?) did a series of Stamp Day Souvenir sheets for Iceland that are just excellent. I believe there is a 'Collector Society' of his multi-national work. At any rate good luck finding your KE-VII & Geo-V material. Tough stuff in MNH. Regards, Harry
OK but i do not collect US Stamps L collect German, Irish and my own country GB havimg said overtime i collectede all counrys and can offer plenty of exchanges
My Bad! Regarding my collection of Iceland. The sentence above should have read: "I'll be looking for a collector to sell my collection to." I'm NOT looking for another dealer or collector to help me sell the collection. Sorry for this mis-understanding. HGG
I meant to add some days ago: I use BidStart for high-end items as well. There are a number of older (listen to me... I am probably older than at least 60% of the folks here...) folks selling collections and individual stamps at greatly reduced prices. Yes, the prices for items may be out of reach of some folks but if you look at the condition, the asking price, then go to an auction site or catalogue you will find out that there are a LOT of bargains! I sometimes have to pay catalogue prices but that is because there are so few of the good grade items that come up for sale that if you want it, you better bid for it! There are a few of us 'sharks' on the site that make some of the bidding interesting, to say the least! But about 90% of the time, I pay 25% or lower of Scott Catalogue prices for my stamps on BidStart.
You don't write like an 'ancient'...guess I'm the younger @ 72..LOL! You must have a Harry Potter wand if you are finding XF quality stamps at 25% of catalogue. When I was a young collector it was Quantity over Quality. I began collecting again both coins & stamps about 12 years ago. I decided to reverse my collecting paradigm and be very selective. I have since added only the highest quality material I could find. (One of the 1st things I noticed was that many of the On-Line stamp/coin dealers seemed to put their inferior material up for auction.) I have found that if you are looking for XF-Gem quality it can really turn into a treasure hunt & if I can find it for 50% of CV I'm pleased. The only reason I can afford to be so 'picky' is that I fell into a dream job being a Metrologist, doing QC for a large Seismic System company here in Houston. Are we the only 2 Texians in this group? Regards, H
Check out these sellers... couple of my main 'go to' guys for quality stuff. View all items from this seller... guess I will start bidding against you soon, right? https://www.hipstamp.com/store/stampcpa?utm_source=Sendy&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1000626_327 https://www.hipstamp.com/store/bobs-us-stamps-shoppe
Hey SATX, Both sellers are great, but Bob's takes the cake. Don't think I've seen that many perfectly centered blocks & single stamps. Many having jumbo margins. His prices were great, as well, even though I noticed he had the audacity to charge just over 1/2 CV on his better material....Shameful!...LOL! No Seriously, This guy's prices are so good, I found myself thinking about starting a U.S. collection.... He has some really great deals & now all I have to do is find a "Bob' British Commonwealth Stamps" store. Cheers, Unhinged
Bob and I have a personal relationship as well as a business one. He specifically looks for collections and parses out the "good stuff" for the sole purpose to get graded materials... so that is where some of the prices come from. He wanted me to go into business with him (and I still might!!!) but I have to finish my inventories before I would have the time to do so.
