23rd February 2021

I have merged into stock a collection of Spain. The years covered were 1950-2007 and many gaps in my stock have been filled. The postmarks were quite nice as Spanish stamps can be heavily marked. Unfortunately, SG have decided to re-number at least 80 stamps in the late 2000s. I really do not like this because when I receive an order from a customer, how do I know if they want the old or new number? Then I have to spend literally hours making the changes and re-setting my stock. So I will see how many people use the new numbers and then I might re-number those stamps.

18th February 2021

My Canadian supplier has sent me the first new issues for 2021. There are twelve stamps depicting the various new year symbols plus a “mini” sheet. Then there are two stamps for Black History Month. Thank goodness they are not issuing new definitives this year as there is no change in the postal rate. SG always make such issues much more complicated than they need to!  

17th February 2021

I have re-worked my stock of the Chain-breakers of Yugoslavia. They are now listed with different perfs, papers and shades. Some people love sifting through issues like these. We found several stamps not listed in SG.

Continuing my work on GB, two more areas have been re-sorted. My range of Downey Heads has been re-assessed with some new items in stock. Then it was the turn of the Seahorses to be re-identified. Both these areas have been updated in my GB list.

16th February 2021

It has been a long time since I added anything to the Diary. I have not been completely idle! Firstly the orders have come in, thick and fast. Always good news. Then I embarked upon a sorting job with my Uruguay stock. I did not realise it would take so long, but at least it has now been completed.

So far my Uruguay goes up to 1972 although I know I have more stock to add when the time is right. This range is not as good as the Peru and Venezuela that I worked on recently, but it is a good base point. The coverage is quite good among definitives and commemoratives and there is considerable depth to the stock in places. 

Not many Latin American countries remain to be sorted, at least first time around. Once that is done I have 5 boxes of collections etc to merge into the main stock.

6th February 2021

My Swedish supplier has sent me a nice little selection of stamps. These were mostly gap-fillers from my wants list. Many were from recent years, although I must now give him a new list covering the 2010s. As usual the condition is impeccable. With Sweden, I have to try and keep stocks of singles, pairs and booklet panes. Luckily my supplier is well suited to this.