Monday, May 23, 2016

Stuffed Blue On eBay

There has been so little in the way of large Blue collections on eBay recently, I find that I am going weeks without remembering to check for anything new. Fortunately, Jim Jackson of the Big Blue blog fame, alerted me to a listing with the title "1841-1939 worldwide collection - 28,000 stamps - Scotts International Album." The sellers is asking $28K for the collection but will accept counter offers.

This is one of those albums in a single binder that is stuffed to the brim with many stamps mounted in the margins. Thus 28,000 stamps does not translate to 28,000 spaces filled. Still, I think it is worth logging on eBay to see this rather unusual Blue Volume One collection.

Sunday, May 15, 2016

The Adolph J. Capurro Worldwide Collection, 1840-1955

Although I am firmly into collecting the world "used," I must admit that the most visually striking worldwide collections I've seen house only unused stamps. On June 2, Daniel F. Kelleher will auction during the World Stamp Show NY 2016 the The Adolph J. Capurro Worldwide Collection, 1840-1955
of unused and mint stamps.

To quote from their auction catalog (I've underlined a few sentences I thought particularly interesting):

"The Daniel F. Kelleher family is pleased to present the formidable worldwide collection formed by the late Adolph J. Capurro. This impressive collection...was originally assembled in 14 Scott International albums, albums which often did not include spaces for the high values of the better sets.  This fact in no way deterred Mr. Capurro, as he simply mounted the premium values in the blank margins, or on the backs of other pages, wherever ample space could be found.  In other cases, he carefully cut the appropriate spaces out of Scott Specialty pages which did have spaces for all the stamps, and carefully placed these over the International pages.  In this manner Mr. Capurro was able to assemble and mount a truly massive, mint, fairly complete collection of the world through the issues of 1955. "

Unfortunately, Mr. Capurro died recently but I think all Blue Volume One collectors can agree that his is a worthy example of what can be done with the Scott International series (especially with the help of scissors and a bit of paste.)