Welcome to 2013!

Three Major World Exhibitions

With 2012 now behind us, we can all look forward to a year of major philatelic events.

The big event from an Australian perspective is the Australia 2013 exhibition in Melbourne from 10-15 May. The exhibition is being held primarily to celebrate the centenary of the iconic (if rather unattractive in my opinion!) kangaroo series. The 1d red was issued on 1 January 2013. 

When I found this stamp, I was convinced that it was a first day cancel, but under magnification, there is a clear remnant of a "2", making it the 21st. It's still a nice early usage though.

You can visit the Australia 2013 website here. I'll be visiting the exhibition, along with many other members of the Grumpy Old Men's Club

Other major world exhibitions are Thailand 2013 in Bangkok in August, and Brasiliana 2013 in Rio de Janeiro in November.

If you can get along to a major exhibition, you should. You'll either be hugely invigorated and motivated, or overawed!

Rust on Stamps - New Testing of an Old Recipe!

Initial Results Are Staggering

All collectors face the challenge of dealing with rust (known as "rust" when a dealer buys a stamp, and "toning" when a dealer sells a stamp!) on stamps at some stage. 

The preferred, and usually recommended, method of dealing with rust is to throw the stamps away! Almost every blog, forum and dealer site has a discussion how to deal with this problem, and I don't intend to re-hash what has been said hundreds of times and can be found by Googling.

What I do want to do is to present a "teaser" of some current tests using a method described by a gentleman of very senior years. Preliminary tests conducted by a member of the Grumpy Old Men's Club forum (here), have shown remarkable results.

Further testing with modern and multicoloured stamps will be of interest to see if the process works on all issues. It is a wet process, so won't work on mint stamps unless Mint No Gum is an acceptable outcome.

This is Hyderabad SG 43, a very common stamp that is usually found in a poor state

This is the back of the stamp showing rust, and a marker pen addition, which was meant to prove, after testing, that this was the same stamp!

Here is the front of the stamp after testing

....and the back, minus the marker-pen arrow!

At this early stage, I'm wondering if a bleaching process is evident, but as I don't yet know the "recipe", I'm keeping an open mind.

I'll post updates as and when they come to hand

The Internet and Philately - Part 1

If you became involved in philately before the advent of the internet (and I guess that's most of us), the reinvention of our hobby is comparable to the change from gas-lamps to electricity.

The accessibility of information, the ability to view and purchase millions of stamps without leaving your home and the development of online "stamp clubs" (better known as forums), has lead to a sea-change in how we enjoy our hobby.

Forums are a subject dear to my heart. Having never been a member of a stamp club, apart from a couple of visits to a suburban club in Melbourne when I was a young teenager, I was delighted to "meet" so many like-minded people when I joined my first forum in 2007.

Like most things in life, I spread myself thinly for a while, and joined more online communities than my time could deal with, meaning I became overwhelmed with information that actually stopped me from my collecting!