Stamps by the pound

Rarely by the pound, but fairly often by the quarter-pound or other fractions. I think the last pound I bought was recent United States commemoratives/pictorials a few years ago.

There tends to be a ton, so to speak, of duplication in those larger quantities. I've ended up with up to 100 copies of certain definitives and probably similar quantities of some of the Americans, like Bob Hope from a few years ago and Mary Cassatt from a couple of years before that.

I've found many interesting items, because the whole 1980-2007 era was pretty much of a mystery to me. Kiloware can be great for postmarks and for the whole concept of postally used copies of stamps whose primary purpose in life didn't include being postally used. Expensive? I don't really think so; some Norwegian stamps that catalog for a couple of dollars (I don't know why), and a few freaks/oddities (misperfs and the like; errors that don't really rate as errors) that may be worth something but that have vague market value. Scarce? Yeah, stamps that were issued in small quantities but aren't in much demand. Quite a few South American stamps fall into that category.

I don't do as much kiloware as I used to (though I did send off a check for some today, to a dealer who has sent me some good lots in the past), partly because I'm getting a little more specialized and more because kiloware can be a huge time sink, with all the sorting and soaking (when necessary) and drying. I might have missed a rare error or 2 along the way. I doubt it, but you never know.

Thanks for sharing, I'm thinking about ordering a quarter pounder to see.