Welcome to the GASS 2022 dealer bourse. Whether you’ve been to 100 shows or this is your first, here is some advice to help you navigate the bourse, make purchases and create important relationships to successfully build your collections. All advice appeared originally in The American Philatelist (March 2021).
First, we hope you brought along some supplies that you might find useful. Things you might need are magnifiers, tongs, a perforation guide, some glassines (although dealers are likely happy to provide some, you may want to have a few extras of varying sizes) and stock pages. If you don’t have something that you think you need, fear not. You can check the dealer listings in the program to find those who sell supplies on site.
Of course, we hope you brought a want list. Happy buying and have fun.
What kind of tools should collectors bring?
Wayne Youngblood: You cannot be without a good pair of tongs. You’ve got to find what’s most comfortable for you. I like using the ones that you can put your eye out with if you’re not careful. I am an absolute lover of magnifying glasses. I have multiple ones at my desk, I keep multiple ones in my pockets. I prefer illuminated magnifiers, as well. A good perforation gauge; something like the Linn’s Multi-Gauge or Mylar specialty gauges. It has to be Mylar because the plastic ones shrink over time.
John Hotchner: Bring a 10 to 30 power magnifier, because you want to look at both sides of an expensive stamp. You should have a sense of what the catalog value is and what you’re willing to pay. You also have to have a sense of conditions (for that stamp). It’s not so much a matter of having physical tools, it’s a matter of developing your sense of what it is you're looking for, what values are likely to be and how condition will affect those values.
Dealing with dealers
John Hotchner: The key is letting the dealer know what you want. I have met most of the dealers that I work with at shows, and I buy material at their tables. I’ll then give them either a card or a list of things I’m looking for. As I talk to other collectors, I hear about dealers with good reputations for honesty, dealers who are associate members of societies that I’m involved with. Of course, the key with dealers is that you buy something...
I’m after fairly specific material. In the case of a show, the dealer is going to have their best stuff under glass, and I can get a sense from that as to whether the dealer is going to have something that I’m interested in. I might look through any cover box, no matter how expensive or how cheap, because you never know what you’re going to find.
Wayne Youngblood: Buying in-person, where you actually have face-to-face contact with the dealer and the material, gives you an opportunity to examine material much more closely and effectively, but also allows you the opportunity to find things that you didn’t know you were looking for.
Kris McIntosh: While you're sitting at the dealer’s table, it’s really important to talk to the people sitting next to you because it’s a wealth of information. I met a man who is a California first day cover collector at a booth while looking at a suffrage envelope. He said, “That's an EJ Halverson, and if you don’t buy it, I will.” I bought it, because I didn’t want it to get away. I think it is really important that you talk to who you're sitting besides, because it’s amazing what you learn.
Jay Smith: As a source of material, collectors might settle on one or a few dealers, but even if a dealer is the best in the world on some particular country or subject matter, they won’t have all of the material in the world. Keep your options open. Don't rely on any one dealer for everything.
Victoria Lajer: At the beginning when you don’t know very much, I think it’s right that you have a trusted selection of people that you can go to for advice. Then you can spread your wings if you want to. Philately is a relationship business even when you’re an advanced collector. [Dealers] help collectors grow from a philatelic point of view and encourage them to diversify.
What do you look for before you commit?
John Hotchner: I’m looking at “fakeability.” Is this a stamp that can be altered, or has it been altered? There are some stamps that have been extensively forged and faked. And regardless of its catalog value, I want to see a certificate for that stamp, because I don’t want to put something in my album that’s faked. If I’m buying something that’s used, I want something with a fairly light cancel, something that’s centered well for its era. If a mint stamp is hinged, that’s OK, as long as the hinge doesn’t mar the back greatly.
Carol Bommarito: I always want something that looks very attractive. Condition is important for me. But, if it’s really rare, condition becomes less important. Also, maybe the destination is interesting. Sometimes you’ll come across something addressed to somebody and you’ll find that the name is an interesting or important person. Those things really make collecting exciting.
Wayne Youngblood: It depends on how scarce the stamp is. For example, if I’m looking at a $1 Columbian, if it’s used, I don’t have to worry about the gum. But if it’s mint, the gum is the first thing I’m going to look at. If it’s purported to be never hinged, you’ve got to look for re-gumming, which is pretty easy to spot. But more nefarious than re-gumming in my mind is redistributed original gum to cover the hinging; that's a huge tripping point. Then the next thing I look at are the perforations. Are they all genuine or have they been added to a straight edge or another edge?