Sorting Modern Issues -Solving The Problem .

Let me first explain that we live in a different world than the stamp collectors of generations past . These experts who you see on here and at stamp shows never handled the problems that all of us have now .

To purchase ANY stamp or to get information it can be done at home 24/7 ,our issues are total different .

Here is a problem that collectors in past generations never had . But many collectors now face , sorting recent issues . I have no problem sorting 1840-1950 issues, matter in fact it is easy . The worldwide collector gets a large lot that is all modern issues ,you just can't spend hours shifting thru 20 or 30 pages in a catalog looking for one stamp and hope there is a picture to make a fast identification .

Here is my answer going thru 3,000 to 4,000 modern TURKEY stamps than came thru a recent bulk lot purchase . My Turkey collection ended with 1965 but now I got thousands more modern issues I decided to print the album pages up to 2010 and keep them in a separate binder ,but first stamps need to have some organization for mounting .

As you can seen I wrote the year dates on a set of stock cards and then reading the dates off the stamps and placing them in the right year group it makes mounting and sorting much easier than flipping album pages or catalog pages for each stamp . SPEED IS THE NAME OF THE GAME TO BUILD A DECENT WORLDWIDE COLLECTION .

Amen.

I use somewhat similar approach when working with new additions. But instead of stock page/card I just a use a very BIG table (can easily rough sort 100 years worth of stamps into it).

-k-

I like the stock book option I don't have the big table or room to lay out a lot of stamps.

This one is my method for the big lots of a country.
I have a big magnifying glass with foot and a box of wood with 8 sections in two rows.
With the big and fixed magnifying glass I do not have to handle it to see the years of issue. I take a handful with the left hand and identify and place them in his stall rapidly with the right hand.
In the 1 º put the previous ones to 1959, 2 º 1960-9, 3 º 1970-9, etc.
Later I do the same thing with every decade, putting 0 and 5 on the table, in front of the box
Later I place them ordered in a small drawer and with a paper between every year.
I extend the stamps of every year on the table, grouped by series and already I pass to catalogue them
I write with pencil n º to the back and am placing them with the others.
In your card if I collect them, or in boxes of business cards if I do not collect them.
I go more than 40 years experimenting and this one is more rapid that I have found.

Best tool I have for 'speed identifying' is a lighted, hands-free magnifier...


Don

Amazing!




Have one of these that came into my stamp collecting family in the 60's. It has a large detachable heavy base.

It gets a little hot when using it in the summer months. Bet the modern ones do not get hot bulbs in them.

Last time I used it was looking though Aus KGV's. Best thing out. Its quicker than a digital magnifier.

If you put the word philatelic in the name, it will cost you more.

Stamps that have dates printed on them make everything much easier -- but a lot of countries don't do that, or only recently adopted the practice.

Suffering space restrictions, I usually do my sorting on an old album cover resting on my knees, but for something like Floortrader describes its way too small.

So to sort out commems I roughly sort them by era -- not an exact science, but stamp design changes mean you can roughly guess what decade a stamp is -- then when I have small enough pile (a few hundred stamps) I sort into individual stamps or sets. With a small plywood board, about 1'6 by 2', I can make about 100 different stamp piles.
Then as I go through the catalogue chronologically I can pick out the stamps or sets from the board, and put them in the album -- with only 100 to choose from its easy enough to remember where they have all got to.

I recently did this for Hong Kong, Thailand and some other countries.

"reading the dates off the stamps and placing them in the right year group"

Well, sure, if there are actually dates on the stamps, I'm sure everyone would do that. But most (many?) stamps don't include the date they were issued. That's one reason you need a catalologue.

I see an entire year's worth is stamps is given one line in your stock book. If I did that, I'd immediately find that I need 2-5 lines for some years' stamps.

Also, be careful in overlapping mint stamps. Any humidity can cause them to stick to each other. Not nice if that happens.

Have fun!