Have You Ever Found Treasure In Kiloware?

When everyone is talking about kilo-ware, is that just a lot collection picked up for cheap?

Sorry, I'm just not familiar with this phrase until I joined the site two months ago, and I hear a lot of this terminology.

I was going to start reading at the beginning of this topic, but its way to much reading. It would put me out lick a light regardless of how interesting it is.


Sorry- Went back and read. Got it!

I used to get US kiloware lots mostly back in the 1990's looking for used plate number coils, but never found anything particularly valuable that I can recall. Some lots were clearly pre-picked-over while others appeared to be fresh (even lots from the same source varied from purchase to purchase). In auction lots, that is a different story - I have struck gold in some of those.

I bought a very small amount of kiloware of North America (eBay in Europe uses this category) and found a US self adhesive definitive nice misperf once.

Sometimes people just sell the stuff they do not collect. They might collect only birds on stamps or some such idea or one country only and all the rest is extra. These are good lots to go through if you are collecting something different than the seller is.

I recently ran across a major color shift on a Scott US#1610 from a box of kiloware. With 13 more pounds still to sort no telling what else could be in there!

These are used but mint copies of the same color shift are selling for about US$45 each... which is more than I paid for the kiloware postage and all. I'm not breaking this though and it's now in my collection as you see it.

No absolute real treasures but quite a few Classics have popped up in kiloware lately and I even a few grills amongst some stuff I though had no hope! I love the hunt though. I truly do Love Stamps!

Recently, I purchased a large lot of British Commonwealth stamps and after poking around among the 10,000 or so stamps, pulled out an 1857 New Brunswick 3 penny no. 1. Knowing that forgeries of this stamp exist,I was a little sceptical but the engraving on the stamp looked so perfect compared to a genuine copy I already owned that it was hard to believe it wasn't the real thing. Then started checking it in detail and found that the design was almost 1 mm. too wide. Thus the stamp was a fake and with the help of some knowledgeable collectors, we identified the forger. Some of these forgeries have some value and I haven't bothered to see what this one is worth but it was fun chasing it down.

Recently, a person in Dresden, Germany bought kiloware at a flea market and found a Benjamin Franklin Z-Grill worth about 2.5 Million. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_Grill , http://german.ruvr.ru/2012_11_02/93336441/ It was all over the news and in the newspapers here about 2 weeks ago.

I bought the entire KGV Silver Jubilee series (less Egypt) for $400. Found two varieties easily worth the cost!

Technically, I've found 'treasure' in some larger German lots. The problem is that, with German stamps, you often can't sell a high CV item without a cert.

In an Austrian lot a few months ago, I found a set of 1851 Zeitungsmarke. These are almost certainly all forgeries, but two of them appear to be Spiro forgeries and the others may be Fournier's work. These forgeries sell for pretty high prices (as they are offered by leading European auction houses), but I'm not in a position to identify them precisely. They are probably going to languish on my desk for months to come.

I've certainly never found anything worth sending off to a fancy-pants auction house. But very occasionally I'll come across something odd, like this Brazilian misperf.

Ryan

Back to my posting above - about the Z-Grill find in Germany. It has all been complete BS blown up by a local equivalent of the "National Enquirer". See: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...2023161.html

Just wanted to add this so my posting above is corrected.

George

I've found all sorts in kiloware....nothing worth huge amounts, but mostly there is something that is worth more than the price paid.

Last lot I bought was a real junk box to look at but it contained a genuine B&W photograph taken in a WW2 concentration camp. Wasn't sure if it had an value but it sold on ebay for more than I paid for the whole lot of KW.

i have found enough liberty bells to wallpaper my apartment.
but on the other hand I found hundreds of plate numbers but it is still the joy of the hunt.
i think I have found maybe a stamp with a catalog value of $15.00 or so in each lot I purchased.
but I am happy with that

Exactly, its why I always look for stamps.................

Right on. Exactly the reason why I "waste" so many hours on kiloware, too. However, it is a very nice bonus to find something valuable in kiloware. A bit like digging for gold and finding a nugget :-)