At about the mid-month mark we are truly trundling along with plenty of new and interesting additions to our inventory to report. Leading the way are British Empire items including Australian States, most notably Victoria as well as Bermuda, British Antarctic Territory and India. Worldwide stamps worthy of mention include stamps from France and Colonies, Germany including Danzig, Italy and Colonies and Vietnam. Canada has been busy with VFNH items as well as coils new to inventory. Newfoundland is also worth a browse with new items to inventory including rouletted issues.
May 18
May 18th, 2013
May 17
eBay Embargos
Our customers should know that we are having problems processing payments with PayPal.
A week ago we sold a pre-Castro Cuba item on eBay. This prompted an official query from PayPal which is very aggressively helping the USA “Office of Foreign Asset Control” which tries to ensure that no funds go to terrorist and anti-American organizations.
Earlier this week we spent hours delisting EVERY item from Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria & Sudan. Now we learn that our PayPal account has nevertheless been suspended because “You may be buying or selling goods or services that are regulated or prohibited by the US government.” We have found it necessary to remove our listings on other external sites as well, since we accept Paypal payments from them.
We have spoken with PayPal and this suspension should be lifted soon.
One problem is that while eBay’s robots are sophisticated enough to distinguish, for example, pre-Castro and post-Castro, PayPal comes under greater scrutiny from the US government as it represents the transaction point where goods are actually acquired and money exchanged.
Plainly, the intent of the embargo legislation is to restrict trade with current regimes in order to apply economic pressure. Including stamps issued historically from countries that have a long colonial history, or were once friendly trading partners, seems overzealous. American customers might want to contact their congressperson or senator to point out the lack of logic in this legislation. We are nevertheless attuned to the reality of political decisions so have complied with all rulings and appealed to common sense with Paypal and eBay.
In the meantime, we are still able to sell all of our inventory from these countries here on our site. You can find our stock from Burma, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria by clicking on them. We accept cash, cheque (US$ or CD$), Visa or Mastercard.
Happy Stamping!
-Ian Kimmerly Stamps
May 14
Britannia Block – Weekly Feature #445
First issue of 1852 featuring Seated Britannia in a non-denominated 1/2d. block of six. Fresh mint with three stamps hinged, three stamps never hinged and deep colour, Very Fine. The gum has hinge remnants on the upper three stamps and some unevenness associated with the gum’s having been hand applied, there is also a backstamp. An image of the back of this item is available by viewing the listing on our website. A pleasing multiple with large margins all round, especially when one takes into account the vintage. The catalogue value shown is for six hinged singles, larger multiples like this are scarce. Dr. Fitz-Roett has written a seminal work on the stamps of Barbados which includes information on the relative rarity of postmarks and early multiples such as this. Let us know and we can order it for you. The price for the Barbados #1 block: $950.00
May 07
Proof Positive – Weekly Feature #444
We acquired a seemingly fairly typical collection of early Canada at auction recently. In going through the collection, we stumbled upon that which upon first glance appeared to be an imperforate single of the 1¢ Small Queen. Our initial thought was that, based on the generous margins, this stamp was almost certainly an imperf. single as opposed to a jumbo perforate example, trimmed to appear imperforate. Upon closer inspection it was revealed to be a Proof, based on the type of paper. The paper used to make Proofs for the Small Queens was different from the paper used to make the completed stamps. Therefore we can say positively that this is a Proof. This shows that sometimes the so called ‘dregs’ of a collection may actually be the gems. Small Queen Proofs were printed in gummed and ungummed versions. This example is unused no gum, as issued, Very Fine. Unitrade catalogue value is $600.00. Our Price $500.00.
May 04
May 4th, 2013
We begin this month with some additions to inventory which are not seen very frequently. For the collector of British Empire we may report some interesting additions to Australian States as well as the British Caribbean area, with Barbados leading the charge. We continue adding diligently to our inventory of French Southern and Antarctic Territories. In terms of Canada there are more choice used items and better mint to report. For less frequently encountered countries Brazil and Thailand have received attention.
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