A Saturday stamp show trip

December 10, 2016 revenue-collector Comments 0 Comment

I drove up the MSDA (Midwest Stamp Dealer Association) show in Lombard, IL today. I’ve been going for the last 4 years or so. Even though most of the dealers are ones I saw at CHICAGOPEX in November, this show is a good “follow-up” opportunity; i.e., if there was anything I passed over, this was an opportunity to pick it up, or if a dealer and I discussed material they hadn’t brought with them, they could bring to this show.

Another reason I go is that it’s a real easy drive, just over 2 hours door to door and it’s all interstate driving. I left home at 7:30 this morning and was home again by 3:30 this afternoon… shorter than a work day.

The Lindner Conference Center in Lombard, IL is a nice facility. Free parking and the bourse room is fairly cavernous. I got there 5 minutes after the show opened and business seemed brisk. Lots of activity throughout the room.

As in years past, I assumed I would only be there 2-3 hours, as that’s how long it takes me to navigate those dealers that will have revenue material… and that was just about on the nose.

I picked up an R78a printing anomaly from Mark Reasoner, along with a cut canceled R189 but with interesting cancel, and a small cigar box of Philippines revenues (under Spain, not U.S. administration).

From another dealer I picked up a nice example of R8c on an 1863 check for $5 (stamp alone catalogues $45). Very fresh and bright appearing example.

The vast majority of my time (and money) was spent with Denny Peoples. He’s become one of my go-to dealers for the odd and unusual. I kidded with him that he needs to rename his booth to “Denny Peoples’ Weird Sh*t”. Either that or “Denny ‘Find Another One!’ Peoples” (that’s his standard response if he thinks you’re trying to bargain him down on something extremely esoteric, aesthetically pleasing, or scarce, as in “I dare you to find another one”… and actually he’s frequently right).

Denny specializes in postal history, revenue-related material, cinderellas, ephemera, and the majority of what he carries is not Scott listed. He comes up with some really weird off the wall stuff at times. There’s always interesting stuff at his booth, even if it’s not in areas I collect, it’s material I can appreciate.

I picked up a 2nd issue bisect document for resale or trade bait that he had at Chicagopex but I had originally passed on. Also a few pieces of revenue stamped mining scrip that I didn’t already have examples of; two different Oregon Stage Coach Co. checks, a Wells Fargo stamped check, and an 1898 era check with a Philadelphia brewing company cancel. For giggles, I picked up an RV2 (boating stamp) on license with second day of use cancel… one day off from being a $500 item.

I also bought a ‘Big Carton of Crap’ from Denny. He comes up with great lots from time to time, basically leftovers from material he acquires that he either has cherrypicked or wants to flip quickly. This one was all U.S. material… front of book, back of book, underneath the book, never to be in the book. Stamps, covers, cinderellas, documents, you name it… even some old $1 silver certificates pocking out of the mix (they’re not worth much). Since this is day one of my vacation (off work until after New Year’s), I figured a BBoC will be a perfect winter time spender. And the price was one I couldn’t say no to.

Lastly, I decided to take a look through Denny’s RN stacks (revenue stamped paper). I don’t do a whole lot with RNs, preferring to stick with adhesive revenue stamps. I found a piece that I just couldn’t pass by: A check from the “Indianapolis, Bloomington, & Western Railway” with vignette, used in 1871, printed in vibrant bright orange, a striking visual effect. More importantly, it’s of local significance as the office was in Urbana, IL where I live. I’ve seen a fair number of local checks and documents from that era, but never anything like this. Denny said this was the first time he’s seen this particular check in 40+ years. I need to do some research in order to figure out just how common or scarce it is. Some time on eBay and Google just now doesn’t show any image results matching this check.

That ends my stamp show season for the year. My wallet gets to recover until May (COMPEX in Arlington Heights, IL). I tend to use my income tax refund for that show.

And so endeth 2016.

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