Newsletter 17 May 2022
Newsletter
It is a long time since I wrote a Newsletter or even pages in “Robin’s Diary”. As a new era begins, it seems appropriate to provide news on aspects of Robstine Stamps and other observations.
One Website
www.robstine-stamps.com will be my only web site from now on. There were several technical problems with www.robstineextra.com and as there was duplication of most items, the simplest move was to offer one site. The main part of my web presence is the stamp listings and that remains the same. In future, we may liven up the lists (or lively them up, as Bob Marley would say!). The scans have gone for now and I am pondering what to offer in their place. More news here imminently.
For now www.robstineextra.com is still online but with each day it gets more out of date and hopefully soon it will disappear. For now, online ordering is a thing of the past due to technical difficulties.
about
After six years, I have written an extension to “About Us”. Much has happened in the last six years, especially with Covid. Some of the major developments are now described.
stamp fairs
You will no longer see me at Stamp Fairs. I had traded at fairs for nearly 40 years which is enough for anyone. Covid made me think about the future and fairs are unlikely to be the same as before. I will miss talking to lots of the customers and dealers but time is short. Covid greatly increased my postal/online sales and some days I am pushed to get the orders out as quickly as I would like. Going to fairs would put greater demands on my time.
New stock
In the last few months I have continued to process new stock, despite having less available time. From now on, I will try to indicate what items have been added. Some things come to mind:
- Commonwealth. I have added lots of material from all reigns. QE2 stamps are selling very well and I have been lucky to have an excellent supplier who keeps coming up with more. The same goes to a lesser degree for QV-KG5. My KG6 stock is perhaps the strongest and I have two big lots waiting to be merged with existing material.
- Japan. A recent purchase of 14 big stockbooks gave my recent Japanese stock a big lift. Most of the stamps were issued from 2000-2018 and there were good quantities of many of the stamps.
- French Colonies. A fabulous four-volume collection came my way some months ago. I have only had a chance to work on part of this collection but the contents are better than any other lot of these colonies that I have seen. The period covered is extensive. Although the best material is from early issues to the 1930s.
postal rates
Royal Mail increased some prices in early April. Elsewhere in this site you will see my new rates which just affect normal mail to Europe and within the UK. Also recorded mail/signed for postage. These increases are just 10p each!
