Greetingas and introduction

Greetings from Northern California and thank you for allowing me to register.

Like many stamp collectors I started when I was young (9) introduced to the hobby by my grandmother who got me a beginners WW stamp album I think to primarily keep me from always looking over her shoulder and asking more questions than she could answer. I also had an aunt and 2 uncles who collected, so I had no shortage of duplicate stamps to soak/dry and find the spot in the album where they belonged.

Fast forward 62 years later and I returned to the hobby beginning of 2019 after my wife implored me to do something with all the boxes of stamps I had inherited from those who came before me. My intent was to only collect US, sort through all the WW, sell it, trade it, however in the process I became very interested in France (along with several other European countries and haven't even looked much at the US stamps!

My interest in France is France (only, no colonies) up to the early/mid 1960s. I am especially interested in obliteration's, nuances/shades, and fiscals and revenues. I rely most on Maury, Ceres, and Dallay, but have other catalogues for additional reference.

I hope to learn from others and also be able to share something too!

Cheers

Stan

Hello Stan and welcome to our Forum. I assume you are a visitor and not a member in which case can I strongly recommend that you look at the back issues of the Journal in the Publications tab to get an idea of how much information is available.

It looks as if you have a busy time ahead of you sorting out your boxes of stamps but I am sure it will be most rewarding. You will inevitably have gaps to fill so I would suggest you take a look at the Delcampe.net auction site which operates from Belgium.. For stamp purchases it far excels Ebay. Delcampe currently has 3,224,606 items in the France Stamps category whereas Ebay is offering only 289,890. The site is worth a visit but as most of the vendors of French material are French speakers you will need to use French vocabulary and French catalogue numbers when conducting a search. As you have the catalogues at hand, you won't have a problem.

I collect both France and a few of the colonies but in most areas I limit myself to the 20th century. My interests are very broad and range from a simple collection of the stamps of the 1960s mint, each accompanied by a cover showing single usage, to in-depth studies of one design.such as the Marshal Pétain issue and Marianne de Muller. In these case I collect proofs, colour trials and associated postal history.

Good luck and keep, safe.

Mick Bister
Journal Manager