New Year's Resolutions

BUYING

I don't go around asking for discounts from dealers. But I am going to start in the New Year: if the Dealer has pencilled their price on a cover, I am going to ask for 10% discount. It's like a stamp hinge: you can remove a hinge from a mint stamp, but it leaves a trace. You can rub out a pencilled price, but it always leaves a trace - quite often a crease where your rubber snags against the paper.

If the dealer has added other random thoughts "Unusual destination", " TPO", "Early date" ... then I will ask for 20% discount.

If some Italian expert or Roger Calves has autographed the cover, I will ask for 10% discount for each autograph.

I suggest you do the same. Only in this way will we kill the lazy habits of some dealers. The place for a cover is inside a plastic holder and the place for the price is on the holder. The place for an Expert Opinion is on a Photo Certificate. There is really no room for debate about this.

SELLING

I am going to sell most of my remaining cheap and bulky stock through Worthing Stamp Auctions in March. UK readers please note!

I have maybe 50 stockbooks and boxes with "back up" stock of the stamp issues in which I specialise - mostly Ukraine and Transcaucasia. Nothing very much happens with this material - it just gives me a sense of familiarity, a sense of how these stamps should look when they are genuine ... It's an expensive luxury which takes up a lot of space. I am going to drive the stock down to Heinrich Koehler in Wiesbaden and consign them for their March auction. European readers please note!

I will continue to consign nice items between 10€ and 100€ to the Internet auction www.filateliapalvelu.com Everyone have a look!

COLLECTING

I am going to focus on Russia - mostly Bolshevik-controlled Russia - in the period 1917 - 1921, the period of the Civil War and "War Communism". If I need something else to keep me busy, then I am tempted by the first Moscow police fiscals in use from the 1860s onwards. Don't ask me why, but if you have any for sale, feel free to make an offer :)

BLOGGING

It will continue :)