Post by JerryB on Mar 29, 2016 1:45:17 GMT -5
Hi
I work part time for a friend that is a stamp dealer. I break down collections for the purpose of putting stamps in store stock. When I was going to the store I did not use this method as stamps from album pages, or loose stamps, went directly to stockbooks. However, at home I sort the stamps by catalog numbers and put the stamps on manila stock pages. My friend then puts the stamps in stock or files the stockcards for a later time.
Over the years, I devised a method to make the sorting process easy. At first, the sorting method may seem complicated, but it really isn't. After using the method a few times it becomes easy. The sorting method is described below.
Note: This document was written a few years ago for a friend.
a. Have on hand a number of 12 row Manila Stockcards. The number necessary will depend on how
much material you will be sorting. You will need more than 6. The stockcards are fairly inexpensive.
If you have a large amount of material, the sorting stockcards may get "worn out" and have to be
replaced.
Note: Before using any stockcard, run your stamp tongs through the rows to loosen them up a bit. It
will lessen the chance of damaging stamp(s) when putting them in the stockcard.
b. A supply of glassine envelopes. They should be at least medium sized and do not have to be new,
used is fine. If there are no quantities of loose stamps then only a few are needed. If loose stamps
then you will need more.
c. Definitely a good eraser. The plastic ones, like Staedtler, work best as they do very little damage
to a stockcard. You will be doing a fair amount of erasing. Using a "Ruby" type of eraser will wear
out a stockcard very quickly.
d. A soft pencil will make erasing easier.
e. Stamp tongs. For this process I find that the long tongs with a spade tip on an angle works best
for me, but any tongs will do. I have used both needle point and spade tip tongs. You have to be
a little more careful with the needle point tongs so you do not poke a hole in a stamp.
2. Setup
a. reserve 2 stockcards. These will be used for the actual sorting.
b. Mark the reserved stockcards as Sorting.
c. On the sorting stockcards mark the rows (in the margin where the hole punches are) as follows:
Row Card 1 Card 2
1 0 60
2 0 60
3 10 70
4 10 70
5 20 80
6 20 80
7 30 90
8 30 90
9 40
10 40
11 50
12 50
d. The remaining 4 rows on card 2 may be used as overflow rows. Very rarely will a third card be
needed but it can happen. If you can remember what the rows signify this step can be eliminated.
e. Put the cards aside. They will be used later in the process.
3. Cataloging - Setup
a. Sort any album pages by album, country, year and category, usually album page order. Put
the pages for each album type in separate piles.
Note: You may end up with some loose stamps. Stamps do fall off pages so put those in a
glassine. If you already have a glassine of loose stamps for that country, put the loose
stamps in that glassine.
b. If any loose stamps, sort the stamps by country and put each country's stamps in its own glassine.
c. Select the album pile with the largest number of pages. This album will be the base for
cataloging and identifying stamps.
d. From the base album pages select a country. Select the same country from the other album
pages and from the country glassines.
4. Cataloging - Identification
a. This process assumes that all stamps will be removed from album pages. However, you may
lect to leave stamps on pages if there is a large number of one type of stamp, or if there is no
interest. It is also assumed Scott catalogs are used, but this process will work for any catalog.
b. Sort the country's glassine stamps by image type. There may be the same image with different
values, but at this stage only image is necessary. You can elect to put the stamps in glassines
but leaving them in 'piles' is alright.
c. Use separate stockcards for Regular, Air Mail and Back of the Book. Do not put these categories
together as it will make the sorting process more difficult. Additional 'Category' stockcards may
be designated.
d. Carefully remove a stamp from the base album page and remove the same stamp from the other
country pages and the image pile (by value if multiple values). If a page is empty, put the page
aside in a separate "processed" pile. I usually put a stockcard at the back of each album pile as a
divider. When a page is processed, I put the page behind the divider. This way when the divider is
on top I know that the album has been fully processed and the album is in its original order.
Note: If the album pages are relatively clean they may be saleable as there are collectors who look
for these old pages.
e. Referring to the catalog, identify the stamp(s) (image, value, perforation, watermark, etc,).
f. Place the stamp(s) in the appropriate stockcard and lightly pencil the catalog number under the
stamp(s). Do not worry about catalog number order which comes later. Put the stamps in the
stockcard with caution.
Note: Collectors are famous for putting stamps in an album wherever there is room on a page.
Using the category stockcards the stamps are automatically sorted by Regular, Air Mail
and Back of Book.
5. Cataloging - Sorting
a. At this stage there should be no more stamps remaining on country pages or glassines. If
there are, recheck and place in the appropriate stockcard. There should be three stockcard
piles, Regular, Air Mail and Back of the Book. Note that any one of these categories may
have no stamps and, therefore, no stockcard.
Note: The Back of Book category contains any stamp that is not Regular or Air Mail issue.
This includes Postage Due, Semi Postal, etc.. Do not worry about the sub category
sort, that will be later.
b. The two sorting stockcards will now be used.
c. Sorting is as follows (seems complicated but very easy to accomplish):
1. Select the Regular stockcards.
2. Stamps are extracted from the stockcards, created in the Identification process, in catalog
number groups of 100. First, stamps with catalog numbers from 0 to 99 are extracted from
all the appropriate stockcards and placed in the appropriate row of the sorting stockcards
in catalog number subgroups of 10 (note: the sorting stockcard row designations). Catalog
numbers 1 to 9 go in rows 1 and 2, catalog numbers 10 - 19 go in rows 3 and 4, etc.. If too
many stamps for a row then use the overflow rows on stockcard 2, or another stockcard.
Do this carefully so that you do not miss anything. I always do a recheck to make sure I have
everything.
Note: Make sure you enter catalog numbers on the sorting stockcards.
3. After step 2, you should have sorting stockcards with stamps in groups of 10 catalog
numbers. It is easy to sort 10 numbers by eye. Transfer the sorting stockcard stamps,
by catalog number, to the appropriate permanent location.
4. You should now have empty sorting stockcards. Erase all catalog numbers as the stockcards
will be reused.
5. Repeat steps 5c2 and 5c3 for catalog numbers 100 - 199, 200 - 299, etc,, Note that for each
group of 100 the row designations are 100 more than the previous process.
6. Repeat steps 5c2 through 5c5 for Air Mail stamps.
d. Once Regular and Air Mail stamps are sorted, then Back of the Book is sorted. The Back of
the Book stamps are sorted by sub category: Postage Due, Semi-Postal, Official, etc.. For
each category repeat steps 5c2 through 5c5.
6. Completion
a. Repeat Cataloging steps 4 and 5 for each country in the base album pages.
b. If country pages are left over in any of the remaining album page piles, or glassines,
repeat Cataloging steps 3, 4 and 5 for the next album page pile, or glassine.
Revision 1.3
Jerry B
I work part time for a friend that is a stamp dealer. I break down collections for the purpose of putting stamps in store stock. When I was going to the store I did not use this method as stamps from album pages, or loose stamps, went directly to stockbooks. However, at home I sort the stamps by catalog numbers and put the stamps on manila stock pages. My friend then puts the stamps in stock or files the stockcards for a later time.
Over the years, I devised a method to make the sorting process easy. At first, the sorting method may seem complicated, but it really isn't. After using the method a few times it becomes easy. The sorting method is described below.
Note: This document was written a few years ago for a friend.
How To Sort Stamps by Catalog Number
1. Suppliesa. Have on hand a number of 12 row Manila Stockcards. The number necessary will depend on how
much material you will be sorting. You will need more than 6. The stockcards are fairly inexpensive.
If you have a large amount of material, the sorting stockcards may get "worn out" and have to be
replaced.
Note: Before using any stockcard, run your stamp tongs through the rows to loosen them up a bit. It
will lessen the chance of damaging stamp(s) when putting them in the stockcard.
b. A supply of glassine envelopes. They should be at least medium sized and do not have to be new,
used is fine. If there are no quantities of loose stamps then only a few are needed. If loose stamps
then you will need more.
c. Definitely a good eraser. The plastic ones, like Staedtler, work best as they do very little damage
to a stockcard. You will be doing a fair amount of erasing. Using a "Ruby" type of eraser will wear
out a stockcard very quickly.
d. A soft pencil will make erasing easier.
e. Stamp tongs. For this process I find that the long tongs with a spade tip on an angle works best
for me, but any tongs will do. I have used both needle point and spade tip tongs. You have to be
a little more careful with the needle point tongs so you do not poke a hole in a stamp.
2. Setup
a. reserve 2 stockcards. These will be used for the actual sorting.
b. Mark the reserved stockcards as Sorting.
c. On the sorting stockcards mark the rows (in the margin where the hole punches are) as follows:
Row Card 1 Card 2
1 0 60
2 0 60
3 10 70
4 10 70
5 20 80
6 20 80
7 30 90
8 30 90
9 40
10 40
11 50
12 50
d. The remaining 4 rows on card 2 may be used as overflow rows. Very rarely will a third card be
needed but it can happen. If you can remember what the rows signify this step can be eliminated.
e. Put the cards aside. They will be used later in the process.
3. Cataloging - Setup
a. Sort any album pages by album, country, year and category, usually album page order. Put
the pages for each album type in separate piles.
Note: You may end up with some loose stamps. Stamps do fall off pages so put those in a
glassine. If you already have a glassine of loose stamps for that country, put the loose
stamps in that glassine.
b. If any loose stamps, sort the stamps by country and put each country's stamps in its own glassine.
c. Select the album pile with the largest number of pages. This album will be the base for
cataloging and identifying stamps.
d. From the base album pages select a country. Select the same country from the other album
pages and from the country glassines.
4. Cataloging - Identification
a. This process assumes that all stamps will be removed from album pages. However, you may
lect to leave stamps on pages if there is a large number of one type of stamp, or if there is no
interest. It is also assumed Scott catalogs are used, but this process will work for any catalog.
b. Sort the country's glassine stamps by image type. There may be the same image with different
values, but at this stage only image is necessary. You can elect to put the stamps in glassines
but leaving them in 'piles' is alright.
c. Use separate stockcards for Regular, Air Mail and Back of the Book. Do not put these categories
together as it will make the sorting process more difficult. Additional 'Category' stockcards may
be designated.
d. Carefully remove a stamp from the base album page and remove the same stamp from the other
country pages and the image pile (by value if multiple values). If a page is empty, put the page
aside in a separate "processed" pile. I usually put a stockcard at the back of each album pile as a
divider. When a page is processed, I put the page behind the divider. This way when the divider is
on top I know that the album has been fully processed and the album is in its original order.
Note: If the album pages are relatively clean they may be saleable as there are collectors who look
for these old pages.
e. Referring to the catalog, identify the stamp(s) (image, value, perforation, watermark, etc,).
f. Place the stamp(s) in the appropriate stockcard and lightly pencil the catalog number under the
stamp(s). Do not worry about catalog number order which comes later. Put the stamps in the
stockcard with caution.
Note: Collectors are famous for putting stamps in an album wherever there is room on a page.
Using the category stockcards the stamps are automatically sorted by Regular, Air Mail
and Back of Book.
5. Cataloging - Sorting
a. At this stage there should be no more stamps remaining on country pages or glassines. If
there are, recheck and place in the appropriate stockcard. There should be three stockcard
piles, Regular, Air Mail and Back of the Book. Note that any one of these categories may
have no stamps and, therefore, no stockcard.
Note: The Back of Book category contains any stamp that is not Regular or Air Mail issue.
This includes Postage Due, Semi Postal, etc.. Do not worry about the sub category
sort, that will be later.
b. The two sorting stockcards will now be used.
c. Sorting is as follows (seems complicated but very easy to accomplish):
1. Select the Regular stockcards.
2. Stamps are extracted from the stockcards, created in the Identification process, in catalog
number groups of 100. First, stamps with catalog numbers from 0 to 99 are extracted from
all the appropriate stockcards and placed in the appropriate row of the sorting stockcards
in catalog number subgroups of 10 (note: the sorting stockcard row designations). Catalog
numbers 1 to 9 go in rows 1 and 2, catalog numbers 10 - 19 go in rows 3 and 4, etc.. If too
many stamps for a row then use the overflow rows on stockcard 2, or another stockcard.
Do this carefully so that you do not miss anything. I always do a recheck to make sure I have
everything.
Note: Make sure you enter catalog numbers on the sorting stockcards.
3. After step 2, you should have sorting stockcards with stamps in groups of 10 catalog
numbers. It is easy to sort 10 numbers by eye. Transfer the sorting stockcard stamps,
by catalog number, to the appropriate permanent location.
4. You should now have empty sorting stockcards. Erase all catalog numbers as the stockcards
will be reused.
5. Repeat steps 5c2 and 5c3 for catalog numbers 100 - 199, 200 - 299, etc,, Note that for each
group of 100 the row designations are 100 more than the previous process.
6. Repeat steps 5c2 through 5c5 for Air Mail stamps.
d. Once Regular and Air Mail stamps are sorted, then Back of the Book is sorted. The Back of
the Book stamps are sorted by sub category: Postage Due, Semi-Postal, Official, etc.. For
each category repeat steps 5c2 through 5c5.
6. Completion
a. Repeat Cataloging steps 4 and 5 for each country in the base album pages.
b. If country pages are left over in any of the remaining album page piles, or glassines,
repeat Cataloging steps 3, 4 and 5 for the next album page pile, or glassine.
Revision 1.3
Jerry B