Best Way To Sort 7lbs Of Kiloware

So, I decided to give it a whirl and I purchased 7 lbs (3.2kg) of kiloware off of an Ebay auction. It was described as "TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF US (ON PAPER) KILOWARE, COMMEMORATIVES, DEFINITIVES, AIRMAILS, AND I HAVESEEN SOME CANADIAN IN IT", but raking my hand through it it appears mostly UK, with some Canadian and a little US.

I'm not really bothered and am thinking of using this to start my collection of Machins.

Any way, I've got 7 pounds of the stuff, all on paper. Any suggestions on the best way to sort? Sort first, then soak or the other way around.

Also, any ideas what I am going to do with all this stuff?

Thanks for your thoughts. The box came on Wednesday and with Thanksgiving and such I haven't tackled this yet and thought I would first ask my stupid question.

The answer to that is "it depends". If you are just looking to take one of each type for your collection then sort by country and type, choose the ones you want, and only soak what you want. If you are planning on searching for perf differences then you may as well start soaking.

Richard

Just don't try to soak too many at once. It will get so overwhelming that you will soon give up. It's very easy to get carried away, and then you get so discouraged with all the work you have to do.
I would suggest sorting first. Then if you want to soak everything or most of everything, then do one or two types at a time. Depending on how many of each type that you have. Or keep them sorted as you lay them out to dry. That way you don't have to resort when the stamps dry.
You can also pick out damaged and heavily cancelled stamps before you bother soaking them. Not much point in soaking a bunch that you don't need, want or can't use.

Whatever you do, don't get in too big a hurry. It took me a year or more to get through just a pound of Germany on paper.

You've gotten some good advice already. I would sort by country then by stamp or series if you have a lot of duplicates. I would then choose the best '#?' of cancellations of each and soak them. You can give the remainder to the Boy Scouts or some such organization, or soak and stock the rest for trade over time.

Again, just don't get frustrated with the almost impossible task of soaking thousands of stamps . . . day after day after day after day . . .

Figure out what you want, then sell the remainder to someone else, or donate it to a junior stamp club.

I just throw the kilo in the wash machine...rinse cycle...delicate....

And, after the wash cycle is done, I presume into the dryer with the stuff, permanent press cycle? I'll also probably add a Bounce fabric softener tissue, too.

No, no, no!! You can't use the washer and dryer. The paper gets caught in the drain and then in the dryer filter.

What you do, is fill the bathtub up with nice warm water, and Mr Bubble. Then you dump in the bag of stamps and then carefully wiggle into the tub with them and instead of playing with your little yellow rubber ducky, you take stamps of paper.
Sitting in the tub for a few hours is nice and relaxing, and while you are there, no one will bother you. You can get lots of work done in total peace and quiet.

Here's what I do for large kiloware lots:

Step 1: Sort properly - unless You have huge free floorspace, then I suggest plastic tubs (large enough) / containers / pouches to place separate values / sets / countries into.

Step 2: Pick up anything you find usefull and soak them later (unless worth keeping on piece)

Step 3: Get rid of the rest - donate, sell,exchange etc.

Don't stay in too long, though. Don't want to end up with a pile of waterlogged paper and skin

here is what I would do list the lot on ebay quickly. there are a lot more valuable things to do with your time :)

I suggest breaking it into 14 lots of 1/2 pound each and sell them on ebay

Does kiloware sorted by country do better or worse on resale than unsorted? I'd assume sorted kiloware was completely picked through (while I only *suspect* that unsorted kiloware is completely picked through).

Collin

Well I sort of expect it depends.

For this 7lbs of unsorted kiloware (that was described as being US, but was, as a matter of fact, almost 99.997% UK) I paid $35 or $5/lb.

I then bought a pound of UK Machins with no NVIs, at the price of $8.90 a pound.

And finally, a half pound of Machin Regionals at $8.70 or $17 a pound

so, presuming I am not accused of stupid bidding (which is a distinct possibility), the more its sorted the more it costs. Makes sense, if you think of it. In the unsorted UK lot, I got several lbs of Christmas, Ist and 2nd class stamps, whereas the others are more "interesting" but your mileage may vary.

I never thought of using the bathtub. I still have 3 or 4 lbs of stamps to soak. Thanks guys this is going to be fun, I have a huge bathtub. I just have to zip to the store for Mr Bubbles.

Dianne

With all that dissolved glue, you won't have to moisturize for weeks. This idea saves time (and money) on a number of levels.

Collin