2011-2014 ArchivesHi, Welcome to Ken's Korner. I created this page to tell you a little bit about me and what is new with Nieser Stamps.
December 18, 2022--I missed last week as we took a quick trip to Grapevine, Texas (just outside Dallas). The Gaylord hotel had a sculpted ice display that used 2 million pounds of ice, brought in 40 ice scupltors from China and recreated the movie The Polar Express. The artistry in the ice scupltures was amazing...it was about a twenty minute walk in a room kept at 9 degrees to see it all. Quite impressive.
Stampwise, I put up a new Chile collection in a Scott Specialty album--CH-B-73-05. A lot of useful newer material with a like-new Scott binder and pages through 2012 to boot. Not much else as I have started to break down the Shaw dealer stock, which mostly has the same items I already have in stock. A few new things here and there, with more to come once I reach the Mexico Exporta specialty stock. I should be listing this week a few more Bolivia varieties and some new Colombian Postal Stationery. New issues are on the way from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Honduras.
December 4, 2022--Monday I took delivery on the Guy Shaw stock, about 70 boxes of material, which I will slowly integrate into my existing stock. It is a huge project. I may try and take a picture of what I purchased and also of my existing stock so that you have an idea of the task ahead. I added two new collections to the lists this week, including a Colombian States Collection CO-ST-05, an interesting study of Antioquia Scott #5. I also added a very impressive Ecuador collection (cat is about $4000) EC-B-73-09. Both are well worth considering.
I also did something that I usually do not do, I updated a country based on the Scott Monthly listings. I did this for Cuba as there had not been updates for nearly 3 years. Scott hasn't yet listed everything issued during this timeframe, but they did add a lot of material. I had worked my way up to 3 pages of written descriptions of new issues, so I was relieved to be able to replace some of these with their newly assigned Scott numbers.
This month I am running a special on FDCs. Everything on the lists are 50% off during December. Here is a link to the page LATIN AMERICAN FDCs.
Finally, sportswise, the Bills are looking better again and are mostly healthy. Hopefully that will bode well for the homestretch and playoffs. The Unversity at Buffalo Bulls are going to the Camellia Bowl, where they will be playing Georgia Southern University. Interestingly, the GSU quarterback played at UB from 2017-2021 (Kyle VanTrease). Should be an interesting game. The UB basketball team is in the last part of their grueling non-conference schedule (4-4 so far). They have five more non-conference games--two against D3 opponents (St John Fisher and SUNY Canton) and then three very tough D1 games--Tulane (neutral court), West Virginia (in Morgantown) and Michigan State (in East Lansing).
November 27, 2022--What an incredibly busy week, between company, cooking and stamps. I cooked starting on Tuesday night, making a "Boston Market Squash Casserole" recipe, which is absolutely delicious. I am happy to share the recipe if anyone is interested. However, I was sick as a dog and it was all I could do to finish cooking it and head upstairs to bed. I improved as the week went on but as of now, Sunday evening, I can still feel the congestion in my chest, and I cough frequently. Fortunately, it is not COVID (tested negative). The turkey and all the sides turned out great. We will be enjoying those a few more days.
Stampwise, the Honduras corrected set for the 500th Anniversary of San Juan Puerto Rico came in finally. It corrects a typo on the L5 value showing a letter, the new stamp corrects "donde de funda" to "donde se funda". The other values were reprinted as well even though they are correct. The paper is different, as is the gum on the reprints for all values. I also put up quite a bit of Colombian States into stock, filling in numerous holes, so now's a good time to send those want lists.
I also put up a number of collections on the website. The most exciting is CO-ST-04, a specialized study of Antioquia 117-27--just amazing stuff. Great start to build an award winning exhibit. I also put up two Paraguay collections: PY-73-10 and PY-B-73-10 (3 volumes in Palo binders). I also put up an NH Bolivia modern group BO-73-18 and a Nicaragua collection for the person who likes collecting every possible variety NI-B-73-03. Guy Shaw is dropping off his stock tomorrow morning so I expect to have boxes everywhere for the next few weeks until I can integrate his stock with mine.
November 20, 2022--Today was a good day. I went to the Houston Buffalo Bills bar and met a friend from college (University at Buffalo) who lives in Houston but who I haven't seen in 20 years. We caught up, ate some wings and watched the Bills play a little better today, defeating Cleveland. My favorite holiday is this week--I am the chef, so lots of cooking this week...I'm also at work through Wednesday, so there may be slight delays in filling orders. Our Thanksgiving is a blend of Colombia and the USA. Most of the sides are my mother's (green bean casserole, smashed potatoes (that's what my wife insists they are called), Boston Market Squash Casserole (I make it from scratch) and stuffing. The turkey is the Colombian part--Ana Maria's family turkey recipe. It involves a past of olive oil, white wine, basil, green onion, parsley, cilantro, white onion, garlic, mustard, nutmeg, oregano, salt and pepper. We put it all in a blender and liquefy it and then baste it over the turkey on Tuesday night (inside and out). The turkey is green when it goes into the oven. I pop it in the oven Thursday morning and 6 hours later, out comes the moistest, most delicious turkey I ever had (with my apologies to my mom's turkey, may she rest in peace).
Stampwise, I am happy to finally be able to announce my acquistion of Guy Shaw's entire stock of Latin America. I will be taking possession of it next Monday, November 28. It will take quite a while to integrate another massive stock into my own, but I will be able to offer the best variety of material I have every had. This week I also listed a very interesting Honduras collection, HO-73-09, a study of the train issue (103-110) and its various forgeries. Nicely written up, great for a specialist or as the beginning of an exhibit. I expect to list two additional Honduras collections this week. I also just got in the reprint of the the Honduras Puerto Rico issue, that corrects a typo on the low value but all 4 values are printed on very different paper than the original. I should be listing that this week. Ana Maria will be going home to Colombia for a short trip next week and will return December 8 with the new issues issued since her last trip. That's all for today. HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL.
November 13, 2022--Another quick entry as it is quite late on Sunday evening as I write this. This week new issues came in from Paraguay and Mexico, which have already been listed on the website. I also purchased a nice Honduras collection that has some material that usually is sold out (332-7, O82-8, some COs between CO15 and 43, some stamps from 218-229 and a copy of 247). As I only have 1 or 2 of each, they will doubtlessly sell before the make it to the price list. If you need this material, feel free to contact me. I also listed a nice Salvador collection (SA-B-73-05) and a small Honduras one (HO-73-04). Finally I have been breaking down a very solid Mexico collection (parallel mint and used). Have a great week. I will check-in about Thanksgiving next week.
November 6, 2022--It has been quite a busy week as I started to break down the Bolivia accumulation I mentioned last time. There are a lot of new listings both on the varieties page as well as on the Bolivia Proofs page. I also added three new collections this week: Bolivia BO-73-5 (a small but quite useful collection) and two very large collections in albums: Argentina (two volume AR-B-73-12) with stamps through 2005 and Honduras HO-B-73-02, with stamps through 2004. There are new additions in the better stamps section (Antioquia 1, 3; Bolivia C1-7; Guatemala 191c NH) as well. I also agreed to purchase a major Latin American dealer stock. I will be announcing the details of this once the paperwork is signed. Have a great week. Go Bills.
October 30, 2022--It is so easy to get out of the habit of writing these weekly updates. I have thought about it several times, but the weekend got away from me and it didn't happen. Tonight will be brief as it is already late. New issues have come in from Colombia, Costa Rica and Brazil. I am expecting some from Argentina, Mexico, Paraguay and Honduras in the next few weeks. I just broke down a lovely Argentina collection with a good amount of modern used. My stock of Argentina is strong so much useful mateials remains in the collection, which will be listed as AR-B-73-12. I will list the ODs as its own lot (AR-B-40). It may not happen tonight, but surely over the next few days. I also started breaking down a major Bolivia collection. You should expect to see numerous new listings in the Bolivia Odds and Ends Page. Happy Halloween!!
September 12, 2022--I am just amazed at what the Ukrainian military has been able to do over the past 5 days, reclaiming over 1000 square miles of territory. I hope they are able to regain the rest of their lands soon.
Stampwise, this week I added Mexico new issues to the price list and added a lovely Uruguay collection to that listing (UR-B-72-09). I have another Uruguay collection nearly completed. Once listed, it will be UR-B-72-10. I also organized about 2 years worth of FDCs and post office announcements from all over Latin America and updated price lists for most countries. There probably won't be an update next weekend as I will be at the one show I do each year, the Greater Houston Stamp Show at the Humble Convention Center. If you are nearby, come out and stop by the table. I will have lots of collections and better stamps with me.
September 5, 2022--I have been back from Colombia for two weeks and trying to catch up on orders. I'm almost there, so I am taking a short break from that to bring you the latest. While in Colombia, I picked up the new issues which included two additional sheets in the long-running National Parks series. I finally received my 2021 new issues from Paraguay, which are up on the website as is a very attractive set of 3 sheets (24 stamps each) of birds from Caribbean Netherlands. I broke down a major Mexico collection and have added some very impressive items to the Better Stamps page under Mexico. These include the University sets (both regular and airmail) unused, #75 used, 290 and 291 unused as well as the Amelia Earhart airmail (unused with a cert--C74) and the flying airman stamp (C76A unused--also with a cert). Have a great week.
August 7, 2022--This week I have continued working up some of the many collections on shelves awaiting my attention. I just listed an impressive Colombia collection CO-B-73-05 and also put up a "like new" two volume Argentina collection in Scott binders and slipcases. This second collection is not expensive, honestly little more than buying the albums, pages and slipcases new. The supplements go through 2019, so it is ready for expansion. Why pay for the album when you can get one with stamps already? Take a look at AR-B-73-11. I also listed a wonderful Chile collection, we worth a look, CH-B-73--05. This week the new issues for the first half of 2022 arrived from the Dominican Republic as did a shipment of the 2021 issues (one still pending) from Paraguay. Do remember that I will be closed from August 9-20 for a trip to Colombia. I will be bringing back some new issues issued during July and August--everything else issued in 2022 is already on the Colombia price list. Have a great week!
July 31, 2022--Just a quick note this weekend with a few updates. Uruguay new issues for the first 6 months of 2022 have arrived as have some 2022 issues of Brazil. New issues from Honduras (a correction of one of the Puerto Rico 400th Anniversary stamps) and Dominican Republic (a number of issues) are on the way. For those wondering, there were no new issues in the first half of the year from Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Panama, or El Salvador. I just listed several new collections: Costa Rica (CR-73-12); GU-72-19, HO-72-02, a lovely Panama collection (PN-B-72-10) and the best Guatemala collection we have ever listed (GU-B-73-06). I also just listed El Salvador C1a (signed Sanabria and J Heiman) NG and Panama 197b and 198a.
A few asides. I am enjoying the TBT basketball tournament. The University at Buffalo alumni squad (my university) has made it to the semi-finals for the second year in a row--two wins away from winning a million dollars. Hopefully, they can make it all the way this year. Also, I will be heading back down to Colombia from August 9-20, and we will be closed during that time.
July 12, 2022--A few nice things came in this week including some early Dominican Republic (4 margin #1) with a thin, but well struck and very attractive and three sound copies, all with 4 margins unused of #2. I should be listing these on the better stamps page in the next few days. I also had some SCADTA covers come in including 3 consular overprint covers (one each USA, Spain, Peru). These should be listed soon as well. I also bought a lot with over 800 Cuban FDCs (probably about 400 different), many of attractive topicals. Finally, I also bought a banker box of Argentina and a lot of 400+ proofs. I could be tempted to sell these intact, so reach out to me if interested. I also added two collections this week, a very full and useful Costa Rica lot--CR-B-73-11 and an all NH Surinam collection (1955-2010) in a stockbook That collection is SU-B-72-04. Have a great week.
July 3, 2022--Happy 4th of July! We plan a small cookout here tomorrow, just the family with some burgers, hotdogs and homemade macaroni salad--my mom's recipe which is a real crowd pleaser. My wife will miss out, she is in Colombia, visiting family. I picked up a huge amount of new material this week including well filled collections of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, El Salvador and Uruguay. This week I added lots of new material to my Colombia stock, most of which, due to time constraints, will not make it onto the price lists. However, your wantlists are always welcome. Also, check out the new 2 volume Panama collection I just listed, PN-B-72-09. It is full of goodies. Finally, I will be creating a webpage for Puerto Cabello issues (Venezuela--Michel listed). These are quite elusive, most are one of a kind, be sure to look for it on the Latin American stamps page, it will be listed under Venezuela next to Carupano and Guyana.
June 26, 2022--I am back from Colombia. What a pleasant break weather-wise. Houston has been having 100 heat nearly daily all month. Bogota was in the 50s and 60s every day. I brought back some new issues including the 200th Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations with the USA, a very attractive sheet of 4. This week I also added new issues to the Argentina and Guyana price lists. I partially updated the price lists for Nicaragua, Panama. Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. Coming in very soon will be some nice SCADTA consular overprint covers and lots of better items including varieties from Bolivia.
June 12, 2022--The Nicaragua Independence issue is here and has been added to the price list. I have also updated the Brazil, Chile and Colombia pricelists to reflect the new items listed in the 2023 catalog. Finally, I added a few next items to the Argentina Odds and Ends webpage. Expect delays in orders for the next two weeks. I will be travelling in Colombia, returning on the 25th.
June 5, 2022--This week I was able to update the price lists for Aruba, Belize, and Bolivia...This involved mostly putting the new Scott numbers on the new issues and deleting them from the new issue page. I just received confirmation that the Nicaragua 2021 Independence issue is on the way. Hopefully it will be here in the next few weeks. I am still waiting for Venezuela new issues of 2021, which were ordered back in March. I also placed an order for Guyana new issues which again should be arriving in the next few weeks. Finally, I added two non-Latin collections (both all NH) to that webpage--Netherlands Indies and West Irian, which came in with a Surinam collection I ordered.
May 29, 2022-- Just a quick update as there is lots to do around here. New issues came in this week from Colombia, St. Martin and Surinam which have been added to the price lists. I also added a beautiful 2 volume Argentina collection in Scott Specialty binders and pages to the Argentina price lists. The pages go through 2004 and are like new. Now I'm off to fill orders and hopefully be caught up by tomorrow so I can watch the national NCAA Division 1 Men's Lacrosse championship game between Cornell and Maryland.
May 21, 2022--Been a busy week. In anticipation of running a full-page ad in the July American Philatelist, I completely upated my Argentina price list. As of the moment, everything listed is in stock. I also added lots of new material to both the Colombia FDC and Cuba FDC price lists. I will be breaking down collections of Surinam, Panama and Colombia. I doubt this material will make it to the price lists, but feel free to send want lists while I have the fresh items available. I hope to add 2 new collections of Argentina this week to that list--both 2 volume Scott specialty albums with pages well into the 2000s.
May 8, 2022-- This week we added new issues to Surinam and to Caribbean Netherlands. We also added new materials to the Honduras Odds and Ends page, Honduras Proofs and Uruguay Proofs. We also purchased a nice new Surinam collection that should arrive in a week or so. We are also updating our ARGENTINA price list, adding new material and removing items that have sold out. We hope that will be ready some time this coming week. Look for a full page Argentina ad in the American Philatelist in July.
I also heard this week from two suppliers. New issues from Venezuela and Argentina should be arriving in the near future. I have also ordered a Nicaraguan issue of 2021, but have had a hard time with the international payment to this country. Hopefully my wire will go through this time and the 2021 Independence issue will be available soon.
May 1, 2022-- The past two years have been extremely busy...with the pandemic, mail order sales increased greatly, which has limited my time to write for Ken's Korner. We are still working to update our website and add functionality to you can purchase stamps directly on the site, rather than having to send me a separate email. The reason for the long delay is complicated, but hopefully we can get this done over the next few months. I plan to write each week (more or less) and let you know what is new on the site. This week, I have added materials to:
Honduras Odds and Ends
Honduras Proofs
Bolivia Proofs
Unitl next week...
June 26, 2020: Hard to believe it has been nearly three years since I wrote anything here. Much as I would like to make this more regular, life is so busy that I rarely find the time.
Today I wanted to update about our move and how it may affect your shipments. We will be moving out of our home on July 29 and into a new home about 20 minutes away. The house is bigger so I will have a bigger office which will allow me to serve you better. I plan to begin shutting down parts of the business about a week before the move so, some items will temporarily be unavaible until they are unpacked again at the new house. Keep in mind the following when placing orders:
Books, Catalogs: All ready packed, unavailable until after the move
First Day Covers: These will be put away around July 22
Collections and Covers: These will be packed up starting around July 25
Stamps/Souvenir Sheets: This will be the last hopefully will be available for sale until July 27 or so.
Orders during the move will have some delay but hopefully, the unpacking will go smoothly. The stamp office is an entire bedroom, so it will be some time before everything is up and running again. Thanks so much for your patience and understanding during this time.
Thanksgiving Day 2017: Here's wishing you and your family a very blessed and happy Thanksgiving. Here we are having 14 for dinner. The turkey is in the oven, the sides are made, so I am working with stamps while I wait for the turkey to cook. Today will be a very international affair with friends from 5 different countries joining us (4 continents).
As always, I have been busy buying new material. I have boxes of Dominican Republic, Honduras and Cuba that I haven't even yet opened. Recently, I have broken down stocks of Colombia, Uruguay, Haiti and Paraguay and probably some others I have already forgotten. Being a one man show with a full-time non-stamp job, sometimes I fall behind on orders and that is currently the case. I apologize for any inconvenience, but if you are waiting for stamps from me, please know I haven't forgotten you.
Also, even though I regularly update the website, the changes are usually small and you may not notice them. I just added a lot of modern stationery to the cover pages for Argentina and Costa Rica. I also just this morning added a collection to the pages for Uruguay, Chile and Mexico. I was also looking at one of my price lists and noticed that I had stamps in a stockbook that were not on the list. So, I would encourage you to inquire about items you need, even if you don't see them on my price lists. While I try to keep up, my priority is getting orders out, and then making certain that one of a kind items are removed from the website as they sell.
In the next few weeks, expect additional collections to be added to many countries. Also, I will be adding an Odds and Ends page for Uruguay which will have many classic stamps with interesting cancels. I should also be adding quite a bit of modern postal stationery from Brazil and probably some other countries.
Finally, my long-term goal will be to update the website so that you can place your order directly using a shopping cart feature. I plan to have the webiste custom built for me, so that it is much more user friendly than many of the stamp websites I see. The transition will be long and slow as I have tens of thousands of individual items for sale, but hopefully I can get a few parts of the webiste built next year and then get some feedback from you so that I can make adjustments. Stay tuned.
August 30, 2017: Thanks to everyone who has emailed or called to find out how we made it through Hurricane Harvey and the unprecedented rains here in Houston. We were very fortunate as we had no flooding and have had electricity throughout the storm. We stocked in plenty of food so, everything has been okay here. However, our thoughts and prayers are with many thousands of our neighbors who did not fare as well.
July 9, 2017: Only 4 months have gone by since the last update, hopefully this is a good sign that I can post here more regularly. We just returned from a trip to Boston at the end of June. My stepson, Nicolas, had a conference for "future medical leaders" up there and we stayed for a week. While there, Nicolas made a campus visit to one of his top university choices, MIT and really was impressed. We also did a city tour of Boston, walked the battlefields of Lexington and Concord, did whale watching off the coast of Glouchester, and visited Salem. A very pleasant week and we were happy to escape the heat and humidity of Houston for a while.
Recent acquisitions have included an amazing dealer stock of BOB Uruguay. My stock was already strong, but before where I may have had 1 or 2 of an item, now I have 6 to 12. The stock included dues, officials and parcel post (J,O,Q) and a few others. If you want to fill out your collection, now is the time to check with me. There were often odd quantities, so I can also service want lists for singles. I also recently purchased a few Haiti collections, a nice classic Dominican Republic collection and some recent used Ecuador.
Some of the better items to come in include 4 which I have never had before. I recently acquired Colombia C3 and C9 used, just beautiful copies of these rare stamps. Also Ecuador C6 unused and Ecuador O102 unused, both nice centered and seldom seen. If you would like to see these items, you can find them on our better stamps page. Here is a link BETTER ITEMS.
Price lists are in the process of being updated. Bolivia will be relisted this week with many substantial price reductions.
NEW ISSUES: Finally, Brazil 2015-2017 has arrived. A few 2017 issues are in from Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela...with more on the way soon. My stock of recent Guyana has been strengthened after I switched new issue suppliers, so if I didn't list something you needed earlier, check back again. It may now be available.
Have a wonderful summer. Do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of assistance.
March 7, 2017: It's funny, I have the best intentions of regularly adding to Ken's Korner, but whenever I think of it, I am far away from the computer and when I am seated working on stamps, I never find the time. However, upon seeing that it has been nearly 15 months since I wrote anything, I really should give an update.
Non-stampwise, my stepson, Nicolas, is finishing his sophomore year of high school and beginning to look at colleges. He is looking at engineering schools all over the country, so Ana Maria and I will be travelling quite a bit with him. Some of his top choices are MIT, U Washington, Duke, Georgia Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins and UT Austin.
Stampwise, virtually all the 2016 issues are now in. I am waiting for two issues from Chile, 1 from Colombia, 1 from Panama, all of Brazil and a few sets issued in December by Peru. I have made numerous purchases over the past year that have tremendously improved my stock in certain areas. For example, my Argentina Ministeriales or Departmentales (Scott ODs) are now virtually complete, I may be missing 15 stamps or so. This includes many better items including the rare perforation varieties. I also made a major purchase of Colombian States. Not all of it has made the price lists, so feel free to send a list of what you need. You might be pleasantly surprised. I also bought a wide variety of revenue collections from virtually every Latin American country. Check the individual country collection pages to see what is on hand.
Also recently, I re-organzied the country collections, breaking them into individual webpages for each country, rather than one very, very long list. I add to the available collections on at least a weekly basis, as I work up new stock. The latest to go up was a beautiful mostly NH Mexico collection in a hingless album. Check the pages frequently as you never know what may turn up.
I am slowly working through the "oddball" material that I come across and have been slowly adding this material to the "Odds and Ends" pages. This is a long term project as I need to cull the material from stock books, organize it so I can find it when ordered and then add it to the website. Being that I only work part-time on stamps and most of that time is dedicated to filling orders and breaking down new material, it will take me a while to have everything that I want to posted to the "Odds and Ends" section.
OUT OF STOCKS--Occasionally someone will order some items from my price lists which are out of stock. I apologize if this has happened to you. The truth is that I have very little time to keep the lists as up to date as I would like. And for stamps, I buy so much that if I remove something from the website, it might very well be back in stock the very next week. I do a much better job on the "ONE OF A KIND" items--collections, covers, proofs, etc.. because once their sold, they are gone.
Finally, we are looking into software that will create a shopping basket and allow you to make purchases directly from the website. More to come on this soon.
January 1, 2016: Happy New Year! I hope that you and your family had a pleasant holiday season. I have been busy breaking down some new material for stock. The Guyana and Netherlands Antilles price lists have each had many items added, mostly from the 200-2010 period. For Brazil, I just received the 2015 issues and a few from 2014. I also just broke down stocks of Bolivia and Paraguay so much fresh material is available. In addition, I finally have updated the Bolivia price list to incorporate 200 plus souvenir sheets that Scott has recently decided to list. These used to be listed with the Michel catalog number, but now are after the regular Scott listing when the sheets are footnoted.
Check out my collections as well. There is much new material, particularly with Bolivia.
November 27, 2015: I hope you had a pleasant Thanksgiving. We had a small affair, just the 4 of us: my father, my wife (Ana Maria), my stepson (Nicoals) and me. The past few years we've had a full house with up to 15 people...I kind of missed the company but the intimacy of the small dinner was nice.
Stampwise, new issues have come in from a number of countries...Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Uruguay and Venezuela. I heard officially that Peru will NOT be issuing any stamps this year, so along with Panama and Haiti, that makes 3 with no new issues. The others should be on the way shortly after the new year.
The biggest acquisition of late has been Argentina Departmentals. I just spent several thousand dollars to buttress my stock and I currently have in stock the vast majority of these hard-to-find items. Check out the stamps on our Argentina price list starting on p. 43. I have also bought several lots fo Guyana that have filled in quite a number of holes, including complete or nearly complete runs of many of the orchid issues of the 1980s. This week, a run of Guyana material from 2000-2010 is due in which should round out my selection of these elusive stamps and SS. I also have a Bolivia collection coming in that is supposed to be chock-full of varieties.
October 21, 2015: Happy Stamp Collecting Month! Wow, I had no idea that nearly 9 months has passed since my last installment. Guess I have been busier than I thought. I have recently added quite a bit of material to my inventory with more on the way. I have been buying portions of Scott catalog's reference material. This has allowed me to fill in many of the modern holes in my stock for many countries of Latin America. I just acquired a large box of Guyana from that material and hope to have it up on the website soon. Unfortunately, this stock only has stamps and small souvenir sheets, but I am trying to acquire the SS as well. As a bonus, say "Collect Stamps" when placing your order and you can take 10% off on your order during October.
I have also been busy adding hundreds of items to my online listings of covers and postal stationery. There have been additions for nearly every country--sometimes just a few, sometimes many. There are thousands more to list, I simply don't have the time to get them all online. Feel free to request a selection on approval if you don't see what you want.
Two Argentina notes to mention...I have added an Eva Peron page to my "Odds and Ends" webpage. It has a number of printing errors and varieties, such as Imperfs, double prints, printed on gum side, etc... Also, I have finally updated the OD section to reflect the changes Scott made a few years back. My selection is strong and will be getting stronger as I am expecting a large order of ODs from Argentina to fill in some of those pesky holes that I never seem to find in collections.
February 26, 2015: Most of the 2014 stamps are either on order or have now arrived. Here is the status country by country:
ARRIVED: Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, El Salvador
ON THE WAY: Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay
ORDERED: Chile, Honduras, Uruguay, Venezuela
The other major thing that has has happened is the posting of our first Latin American tour in several years. In August, Don Neumann and I will be taking a small group to Ecuador on a 12 day tour. The trip includes 5 days in Quito and the surrounding area and 6 days in the Galapagos Islands. There is even an optional tour to Quito's only stamp store!! Dates are August 18-29. Details are posted on the website at: www.kennieser.com/andean_endeavors.htm-- There you can select PHOTO ALBUM (a day by day picture PowerPoint of the tour) or Brochure (a written description of the tour with pricing and the application). The Photo Album takes a while to download, and you need to save it to your computer to view. Space is limited to the first 20 registrants so sign up early to avoid disappointment.
January 1, 2015: Happy New Year! I wish you and your family a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2015. We closed out 2014 by running my stepson Nicolas (age 14) to the airport for his annual trip to Colombia to visit his father. It's great for him, but the house is sooo quiet with him gone. He returns on Sunday so things will soon return to normal. Ana Maria has some back problems that are causing her some great pain and discomfort, but soon she will have physical therapy and we hope that her recovery will be quick and complete.
Stampwise, my holiday projects were to clear my desk of all loose stamps (accomplished for a few days--now there are new stamps waiting my attention) and to reorganize my stock books to eliminate overfilled binders. I added 24 new binders to the shelves and got the worst binders replaced. I can't say I completely eliminated the issue, but I got all the way to the Us (Uruguay).
I also just uploaded a major update to my Mexico price list with hundreds of new additions of better stamps. There is more to go in this little project as I have a second Mexico collection to break down, but even so, you will find many items I have never before offered. I also just added Brazil 58b (blued paper) with a Brazilian certificate of authenticity to the stamp offer page. This stamp is rarely offered.