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Hi, Welcome to Ken's Korner.  I created this page to tell you a little bit about me and what is new with Nieser Stamps. 

December 29, 2024--Happy New Year everyone!!  As I reflect back upon the year about to end, I am reminded how fortunate I am to have so many blessings in my life...family, friends, health, a great job at the University of Houston and all of you who keep me motivated with the stamp business.  The stamp business enabled me to go to Guatemala for the first time ever this past year, and while there, to spend 5 unforgetable days travelling to Panajachel (Lake Atitlan) and Antigua. 

Football-wise, today the Bills clinched the second seed in the AFC, guaranteeing us home field throughout the playoffs unless we play the Chiefs.  My University at Buffalo Bulls are playing in the Bahamas Bowl this Saturday morning against Liberty.  I won't be travelling to the Bahamas to the game but hope to watch the game with some alumni.  Unfortunately, with a 10am local start time, trying to find an open sports bar will be a challenge.  On New Years Day, I will be preparing the traditional Colombian Christmas dinner of tamales...as we had an American Christmas Dinner this year (ham with all the fixings).  Colombian tamales are very different from Mexican ones.  They are much larger and wrapped in banana leaves, filled with pork, chicken beef and vegetables.  One is an entire meal by itself.

Stamp-wise, I have just put up some new issues from Argentina, which arrived yesterday...finally.  New issues from Mexico and Honduras are lost somewhere in the USPS, probably at our local processing center.  Another local dealer told me what happened at that plant, which handles large envelopes (flats) and packages.  New, faster equipment arrived, so the workers disassembled and disposed of the previous equipment only to then find out that the new machinery wouldn't fit into the plant.  They actually had to expand the plan to make room for the new equipment, leading to months of back up, congressional visits, etc...We thought that this had finally been resolved, but lately, shipments have again been suffering lengthy delays.  Mail service isn't too much better--a letter from Ohio dated October 25 arrived just last week.  Very frustrating.

There are also lots of new collections I have added this week, the latest being a pristine Minkus album with pages through 1993 (NI-B-75-20).

December 8. 2024--Just a short note tonight as I will be up very early tomorrrow to take my wife to the airport.  She heads back to Colombia for some more medical issues.  We hope she will be able to return to the US in time for Christmas.  I watched the Bills game tonight and the Rams just played a little bit better.  They deserved the win. 

Stampwise, I put up a nice collection of Nicaragua 1-12 (NI-75-19).  I am working on a Mexico collection in a Scott binder and hope to have it ready this week.  No new issues have arrived this week.  Hopefully they will show up soon.  More will be ordered soon.  I have added more FDCs and should have all the newly listed issues added to the FDC lists in a few days.

Have a great week.

December 1, 2024--I just finished watching Sunday night football, a snow game in Buffalo, with my Bills winning big against San Francisco.  I love watching snow games.  Stampwise, I have added covers to the classic period of Mexico.  I have also added recent FDCs to the Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Panama lists with more to follow soon.  I also added post office announcements to the lists for Chile and Colombia as well as Post Office Folders to that list from Colombia.  I added an interesting group of "Correspondencia Dilacerada" labels to the Odds and Ends section of Brazil, and PO Folders with contents to the Colombia Odds and Ends page. 

I just ordered new issues from Bolivia along with a complete set of 160 handstamps--a truly difficulty feat to do, with some issues with only 50 handstamps made.  I can quote a price if anyone is interested in a complete run.  This will be nearly impossible to put together again in the future as these stamps are dispersed throughout the collecting community.  Many are just as rare or rarer than the inverted Jenny stamp. 

Finally, this week I will be requesting new issues from all my sources in Latin America to fill out the 2024 issues.  I will keep you posted as they come in.

November 10, 2024--Another month without an update.  It is just amazing how quickly time goes by.  Just a very brief update.  A lot of Paraguay material has come in that I have added to the price list, including new issues from 2024.  Colombia new issues should be available in about a week.  Honduras, Argentina and Brazil new issues are on the way. 

I was up in Dallas this weekend (specifically Grapevine, Texas) for the Mid-Cities stamp show, which despite rain on Friday, was pretty successful.  I should have some very nice Panama and Salvador collections arriving this week.  I also recently picked up an amazing Nicaragua collection.  Most of the better items will never make it to the website as they will sell too quickly, but if you need Nicaragua, drop me a line as I have items at the moment that I haven't seen in years.  For example, in this collection were two C135 (unused), both with multiple signatures.  There was also a set of O344-355 unused, which I get in maybe once every 5 years or so. These three items are on the website, with images.  You can follow the link here.

Have a great week.

October 6, 2024--Wow, I cannot believe that it has been a month since my last blog posting.  Time flies.  A tough day for a Buffalo Bills fan living in Houston.  My friends here in town are having some fun today after the Bills loss 23-20 to the Houston Texans.  More to follow tomorrow at work for sure, but it is all in good fun.  I will not be making a posting next week as I will be heading up to Buffalo for an annual reunion with many of my buddies from my college days.  Three of us reconnected back in the fall of 2020 (right as COVID restrictionswere slightly loosened) and we have gone back every year since then.  This year will bring somewhere between 6 to 8 of us up to Buffalo. 

I have been having issues with the post office.  I had one large order of Dominican Republic new issues that had been in the local Houston processing center in Missouri City since September 9th and tracking said it was "in transit to next location" since September 13.  It arrived yesterday.  Another registered package of new issues (this one from Brazil) arrived Thursday with NO contents.  The story is much longer, but let me just state how frustrated I feel about USPS's customer service.  I told one employee at the local office to "please give me some good options" on what to do, and his best option was not to use the USPS.  Not exactly the answer this mail order dealer was hoping to hear.  Anyway, on to happier topics...

Stampwise, The Dominican new issues are listed on the website.  I also just acquired a major Nicaragua collection--probably the best I've ever seen, so I currently have many items that normally are simply out of stock.  Many are one of a kind, so if you want something special, drop me a line and I will see if it was among the items I purchased.  I currently have someone in Ecuador trying to get some of the new issues from the past few years.  From what I gather from philatelists down there, he probably won't be successful, but I have my fingers crossed.  I should be getting in the new issues from Paraguay shortly (they are coming EMS to avoid the Houston processing center).  There will also be some SS and sets he is sending to fill in gaps in my stock.  Mexico new issues have also recently come in and are listed on the Mexico price list.  Colombia new issues should be arriving toward the end of the month when my wife returns from Bogota.

Have a great week.  I hope to post again on the 20th.

September 8, 2024--Hi guys.  It is a little late, so I will be brief.  I was glad that the Buffalo Bills came back to get a victory in their opener today.  Not a pretty win--but a win is a win.

Not much to report on this week.  I did add a number of collections to the lists this week--especially Nicaragua (NI-07; NI-75-08; NI-75-10; NI-12; and NI-B-75-14).  I also added a pretty nice Brazil collection (BR-B-75-11).  I am currently breaking down the Mexico part of this lot, mostly used but some hard to find items are being added to stock.  I won't have time to update the Mexico price list, so it you want to send a want list of what you need--even items not on my list, you might be pleasantly suprised.

My supplier in Paraguay has a large lot of material ready to send me.  I will be working through his list to make sure the items listed are needed and hope to have it on the way in the next few weeks.  I also continue trying to find a new supplier in Ecuador, but so far without luck.  From what a collector there told me, the new post office is barely functioning, with only 4 offices open in the entire country.  Since its reincorporation, the new postal service has issued a handful of stamps but they appear to be very difficult to obtain.  In 2022, they issued a stamp and a SS honoring diplomatic relations between Mexico and Ecuador (women in the fight for independence), a 2022 Christmas issue--which appears to be a set of 3 and then the same three stamps in a booklet, a single $2 stamp for the new postal service and 3 stamps commemorating the Galapagos Islands.  Apparently, the Christmas booklet may not have ever been issued...things are quite murky.  I will continue to try and get these stamps but it will probably be a while.

September 1, 2024--My trip to Minneapolis I mentioned in my last update went well except for the return trip home.  Weather in Chicago had us twice abort a landing at Midway and then we were diverted to Indianapolis, with dozens of other planes.  We sat on the tarmac for several hours until we could get to a gate and refuel.  I got to Chicago at 1am, spent the night in the airport and caught a morning flight back to Houston. 

This week I have worked up a few collections including a nice Colombia (CO-B-75-20), a small Panama/Canal Zone (PN-75-26) and an oddball US used collection with a few better items in it, but otherwise mostly empty and with lots of common modern used.  That last collection (US-04) is priced at about 8% SCV and includes a 30c Colombian among other stamps.  A great buy, but I need shelf space.  I am currently working on adding some new Guyana to that price list, most of which will be orchid stamps--both singles and sets.

Football is back and my alma mater, UB (University at Buffalo), started with a home win against Lafayette.  Next week is a much bigger challenge--on the road at Missouri.  A good start for a team that went 3-9 last year, then lost our coach late when he went to Alabama as an assistant.  Our new coach, Pete Lembo, is experienced and will hopefully rebuild the program.  Until next week...

August 20, 2024--It has been quite a while since I did an update.  My wife, Ana Maria, and I travelled down to Guatemala at the end of last month.  The main reason was to purchase Guatemalan stamps, as at the moment, there is no international mail service out of Guatemala. Since the stamps couldn't come to me, we went to get the stamps.  As a result, all new issues through July 2024 are now listed on the website.  We took advantage of the trip to turn it into a short vacation...neither of us had been to Guatemala previously.  We rented a car and drove to Lake Atitlan, staying in Panajachel.  While there we visited the small town of San Juan La Laguna, where we got to see honey and chocolate production and a cooperative of women making traditional weavings.  From there we went to Antigua, an enchanting town about 25 miles from Guatemala City, which used to be the capital of colonial Central America.  A few major earthquakes convinced the Spanish to move the capital, but fascinating ruins abound and the cobblestone streets and Spanish architectue give the town a special charm. The downsides were the roads to get to Lake Atitlan--we had to drive on mud one lane paths between fields of crops and actually through a riverbed as a bridge was destroyed.  Fortunately, the river was not deep.  The other downside was traffic, especially in Guatemala City.  Our 25 mile drive to the airport from Antigua took us well over 2 hours.

A few new issues have come in or are on the way.  Chile 2024 has arrived.  Dominican Republic is on the way.  Uruguay just arrived yesterday and I will be putting it up over the next few days.  Panama and Paraguay have been requested. 

I have also been breaking down some pretty solid collections--mostly of Central America, and mostly used.  So, some items not usually in stock are currently available,  I am working on the Nicaragua now.  I have already put up some nice collections from this lot...a real solid collection of El Salvador (SA-74-25); another solid collection of Guatemala (GU-B-75-09) and a strong collection of Dominican Republic (DR-B-75-09). 

Still lots to catch up on with us being away, so I am going to stop here and try to get a few orders out.  I hope to be adding entries more regularly here...probably not this weekend as I have to head up to Minnesota for a few days with my other job to do a teacher training...but more regularly than I have been.

July 7, 2024--I just purchased a large mostly used collection of Latin America and have already started to break down some items into stock.  I have put up El Salvador and Costa Rica and hope to list the collections very soon, which will still have plenty of useful material.  I also just added two Honduras new issues to that list as well as new FDCs to the price lists for Mexico, Dominican Republic and Costa Rica.  A few new collections have been added (Costa Rica--CR-B-75-15 and Canal Zone--CZ-75-07.  I am late in getting the monthly special up, but FDC's will be 40% off all month.

Last Monday we went to the Colombia-Paraguay soccer game (Copa America) here in Houston.  I think every Colombian in Houston was at the game.  Attendance was 67,059 and my wife said that it seemed like 67,000 were for Colombia and 59 were for Paraguay.  The stadium was a sea of yellow--the color of the national team jersey.  Colombia won 2-1. 

June 16, 2024--Just a very brief update as I am about to hop in the shower and then head to the airport for a university related trip to Massachussetts for one of our studies.  I will be gone only two days, so it shouldn't interfere at all with orders.  This week I updated price lists from A through E with new items listed in Volumes 1 and 2 of the Scott catalogs.  I also added a few collections to the listings including a very interesting specialized collection of El Salvador (SA-B-12) and a nice lot of Haiti for anyone thinking of starting that country (HA-11).  I have linked to the webpages and you can see the collections by clicking on the collection numbers.

I also finally pulled out an amazing collection of El Salvador covers, mostly flight covers,  that I will be listing as time permits.  I have listed the first two on the cover page, but I have also put the cover descriptions below, so you can check them out.  Much more is to come...even a cover with C1a will be listed shortly.

512-515 Imperf singles on two 9/2/1930 covers (two stamps on each cover) to NYC.  Each has a neat slogan cancel that reads, "EL SALVADOR is the name of the country; SAN SALVADOR is the name of the capital of the republic." $120 for both SCAN

516-519 on a 12/3/1930 registered FDC to Guatemala, reverse has a 12/6/30 Guatemala City receiving cancel, very unusual $75 SCAN

Have a great week and stay cool.

June 9, 2024--We just made plans to visit Guatemala in July...a short trip to the Philatelic Office to purchase stamps and then on to the cities of Antigua and Panajachel (the latter on the shores of Lake Atitlan).  Neither my wife or I have been there, so our 5 day journey should be pleasant...at least we will get out of the Houston heat.  Both towns I mentioned are in the mountains and have spring-like temperatures year round.

I have received new issues from Brazil and Mexico which are listed on the website.  New issues are on the way from Honduras and my supplier for Guatemala told me I should be getting some of those in the next few weeks as well.  No progress yet on getting Ecuador new issues, but I will keep trying.  Panama is also difficult due to a lack of international mail service.  Lots of FDCs were added this week from lots of different countries.  I also added a 4 volume Paraguay collection (PY-B-74-12--a,b,c and d) which can be purchased separately or as a lot. 

That's it for this week.  I hope your part of the world is cool.  Here it has been as high as 96 already with a heat index in the low 100s.  And it is only early June.

May 27, 2024--I hope you had a pleasant and restful long weekend and had a chance to reflect this Memorial Day upon the fallen heroes who have ensured that we have the freedoms that we do today.  I had a good reason for not making an update last weekend.  We had some extremely powerful windstorms come through Houston last Thursday (May 16).  We were left without power for 5 full days.  We were able to save most of the food in the refrigerator, moving it to friends who had power, but with temperatures in the 90s, we ended up leaving our home for two days and stayed with my dad about 35 minutes away.  This weekend was all about playing catch-up with orders.  Below is a picture from our neighborhood--a house that had just been framed up collapsed from the winds.

Stamp wise, I have finished breaking down the material from the modern Paraguay collection I purchased.  Much of it is not on the price lists, but many items previously sold out are now in stock.  In most cases, I only have 1 stamp or souvenir sheet, so please let me know what you need before they sell out.  I also put up new collections of Cuba (CU-15 and CU-74-16); Colombia (CO-31), Honduras (HO-B-8).  See you next week.

May 5, 2024--Happy Cinco de Mayo.  We celebrated by going to Olive Garden--my wife is not a big fan of Mexican food--too spicy for her Colombian palette.

This week has been busy as usual, with new issues arriving from Argentina, Brazil, Aruba and Surinam.  I am still working to obtain new issues from Ecuador and Guatemala.  No luck so far, but I will keep you informed.  I have also made good progress in breaking down a large Paraguay collection.  I still have 1 and 1/2 volumes to go, but many items previously out of stock are now available.   That's all for this week.  Sorry this is short, but it is late and I have to work tomorrow...I still work full-time at a university.  Have a great week.

April 28, 2024--It has been quite a busy week as usual.  I am now about half way through the Paraguay collection and have filled in many holes in stock, especially modern material, both mint and used.  I have added some interesting FDCs to the listings as well. I have also added material to the "Odds and Ends" pages for Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Colombian States, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela. 

I have decided to slowly move many of the varieties listed on the regular price lists to the "Odds and Ends" list.  This is because most of the varieties usually come in quantities of 1 and once I sell that item, it is unavailable.  As I am not able to keept the price lists up-to-date as often as I would like, it is easier to add and delete items from these "Odd and Ends" pages.  On the price lists, you will continue to see some minor numbers--mostly perforation varieties, imprint differences and such.  However, overprint varieties, imperforate and part-perforate stamps as well as oddities will be migrating to the "Odds and Ends" section.  This is one of the buttons on the left hand of the stamp homepage, but you may have to scroll down to see this button.  Here is a link to make it easier to find "Odds and Ends".

I did finally put up a special offer for April/May--10% off Argentina.  Sorry for the delay in getting to that.  This week I also added a few new issues to the Caribbean Netherlands listings.  That's it for this week--see you next Sunday.

April 21, 2024--Wow, it's hard to believe that 2 weeks have passed since my last update.  Well, as I mentioned last update, I went out into the Texas Hil Country to be in the path of totality for the eclipse.  I met five very close friends and we spent the weekend in the country, enjoying each other's company, eating well, laughing a lot and having fun.  The eclipse was more of an excuse for us to get together.  Despite cloudy weather, the eclipse was not a total bust.  The sun would come out from time-to-time and we were able occasionally see the eclipse.  During totality, the skies darkened like at dusk and at that moment, the clouds lightened and we were able to see the complete eclips along with the solar corona.  Quite nice.  There were scary reports of nightmarish traffic on the way home, but we were very fortunate that we didn't run into any problems on our return to Houston.

Stampwise, Surinam, Chile and Peru new issues have arrived and are now listed on the website.  I have been breaking down a comprehensive Paraguay collection and adding quite a bit of material into stock.  I have also added a small lot of Brazil revenues BR-45 to the collection page.

March 31, 2024--Happy Easter.  I hope your Easter weekend was pleasant.  We had a quiet day at the house.  I cooked a ham with smashed potatoes (that's how my wife calls them) and asparagus.  My father brought over a nice bottle of Malbec (Norton Reserve--if you don't know it, try it...).  It was a pleasant afternoon.

Turning to stamps, I have had problems with mail delivery at the PO Box.  Apparently, USPS has, for some reason, flagged my PO Box and is either returning mail to senders or sending it for further "research", delaying receipt of mai.  The box is paid through June and I've had the same box for over 15 years, but all of a sudden, they can't find me.  This is the third time in 3 years that this has happened.  It is very frustrating.  The local PO people tell me that this is happening at the processing center and there is nothing they can do.  I feel quite helpless.

The collections I spoke about have been added.  The three volume Venezuela is VE-B-74-12--well worth investigating.  The Argentina is AR-74-44 and the Brazil is BR-74-39.  Surinam new issues have been added.  In the next few weeks, I will be working up a large Paraguay collections--mostly modern, with many covers.  I will let you know as this material gets listed.  Also, Chile and Peru new issues are on the way.  I will also be receiving soon a set of 19 overprints from Argentina from last year.  A very difficult set to find, but I have a number of complete sets coming in.  They will be priced at $175.

There will be no update next weekend.  I will be in Kendalia, Texas, for the solar eclipse.  I should get to putting up the monthly special for April in the next day or two.  Have a great week.

March 17, 2024--It has been a busy week, as usual.  I set aside stamps for a few days to get all my tax paperwork pulled together and organized.  This year, everything fell into place pretty well, no major complications.  Now that taxes are finished, I am beginning to turn my attention back to stamps. 

I did manage to price up two of the collections I mentioned in my March 3rd blog.  The Bolivia collection is fantastic, highly complete for the period.  Check out BO-74-19.   The Chile collection is also worth a look--it is CH-74-18.  I am currently working up a 3 volume Venezuela collection through 2018 that will doubtlessly be the best we have ever offered.  Hopefully I can get is listed some time this week.

I also will be adding a few books to the catalog page of the website.  I have already added the 1998 Mello catalog of Argentina.  I have to cross check a few others to make sure I have a reference copy myself, but I think I will be listing a photocopy of the Latin American portion of the Sanabria airmail catalog and a reprint of the Lamy cancel catalog of Argentina and perhaps a Kneitchel Argentina catalog.  This should also happen this week.

March 3, 2024--This week we purchased a very nice album with advanced Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Chile material.  So far, I have broken down the Chile BOB and I am currently working on the Argentina OD stamps.  If you have any tough holes to fill in that area, please send us your want list--the better and scarcer items rarely last long.

No new issues came in this week, although I did finally get around to ordering Peru's 2023 issues.  That just leaves Chile unordered--I am waiting to receive the final total from my supplier there.  I am looking for new suppliers to send new issues from Ecuador and Venezuela.  If you know of any collectors in those countries who might be interested in earning a little extra money supplying those isses, please let me know. 

Until next week...

February 25, 2024--Sunday nightaround 10:30 local time and I am just getting to Ken's Korner.  I spent most of the weekend organizing and putting into stock probably over 1000 FDCs and many more of the post office announcements that come out with each issue.  Most of the FDC boxes are now filled to the brim and I need to figure out where to put them next.  When I really have some time, I need to completely reorganize them as any particular FDC could be in one of 4 or 5 places...I can usually still find everything, but it can be time consuming sometimes to locate a particular envelope.  I decided to do this project as I was finally able to get around to pricing up all of the new issues that got listed in the 2024 Scott catalogs.  So, those FDCs are finally available.

I put up into stock this week a very nice Haiti collection--very strong in the early issues and with pages through 1995.  It is a like new Scott Specialty album and everything is in pristine shape.  If interested, check out collection HA-B-74-10.  You can follow this LINK.

Not much other news since my Tuesday update, so I will end here.  Have a great week.

February 20, 2024--Well, it has almost been two weeks since my last update.  I have been back from vacation for over a week, playing catch-up on orders and with a houseful of guests.  Ana Maria's family came up from Colombia for our Caribbean Cruise and have stayed on for a short visit.  It has been great to have them here.  So, with their arrival, I received the latest new issues from Colombia.  I have also received new issues from Dominican Republic (a few missing 2022 issues plus the remaining issues from 2023).  I also received the last of the Mexican issues of 2023 and a number of new, scarce handstamps from Bolivia as well as the last issue of 2023 (Christmas--a pair of stamps).  More good news--Panama new issues are on their way.  Once I know what I receive, I will order the issues that came out since this long delayed order was placed.  I hope to order Chile and Peru 2023 issues in the next week or so.

That's all for the moment.  I will try to get back on schedule, doing a Ken's Korner update each Sunday.

February 5, 2024--We are closed this week as we will be away on vacation.  We are back Saturday, February 10.  Have a great week.

January 27, 2024--Sorry about no updates for a while.  Whatever I've had over the past two weeks has just sapped all my energy, so I haven't made updates.  I am feeling better, still coughing, but now with near-normal energy levels. 

I just received and put up new issues from Uruguay and Honduras.  My Uruguay supplier also sent some recent postal stationery, which I added the the Uruguay cover section.  I added numerous collections to the El Salvador (SA-74-21; SA-74-22 and SA-23); a collection of NH SS from Uruguay (UR-74-10) and also a very nice Chile collection (CH-B-74-08).  On other new issues, Dominican Republic is on the way as is some of the final Argentina issues of 2023.  Soon I will be ordering Bolivia (Christmas 2023), Chile (last 6 months) and Peru (whole year 2023).  Guatemala and Panama are still tied up with airmail delivery issues to the US and no word on Venezuela.  I will keep you updated as Iearn more.

I am continuing to work through the Guy Shaw stock.  Much of it is now accessible, so I soon hope to add specialized price lists for the Exporta, Conservation and Folkart series.  I have added a new selection of Mexico sheets...here is a link.  It is a work in progress and I will be expanding this list as time allows.

Finally, I just got in a huge box of Venezuela from the first issues through 1970s.  Many of the problematic early issues are identified as real vs. fake.  There is heavy duplication but also suprising variety and value.  Onwer's cat was over $52,000.  A great deal at 2% SCV--just $1000.

Janary 14, 2024--It has been a week.  My stepson had a very bad cough, which he passed along to me.  I don't feel particularly bad, but the cough sounds awful and my eyes look really bloodshot.  However, I have noticed that I tire easier and so, I haven't been filling orders for most of the week.  I have tomorrow off from the university and hope to catch up some.  We also have a hard freeze coming.  Houston homes aren't built for cold weather, but they should be.  So, wrapping external pipes is an essential.  We are luckier than most...our home was built in 2020 and has decent insulation and only 1 pipe running up an exterior wall.  It appears to be well enough insulated that it shouldn't be a problem.

In terms of stamps, new issues have arrived from Paraguay and Brazil.  The Brazil is up on the website (including some presonalized stamps on that webpage) and I will be adding the Paraguay soon.  I also have received quite a bit of material from Paraguay that was previously out of stock, so I need to add those sets to the price lists.  It should all get listed sometime this week.  Most of the other new issues have been ordered (Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Peru, and Uruguay).  Argentina should arrive any day and so should Honduras.  I finally  have a lead for a supplier in Ecuador, so hopefully I will be able to get the issues of the past few years shortly.  Guatemala and Panama are currently problematic as there is no airmail service to the US currently (I don't know why...).  El Salvador and Cuba issued nothing in 2023.  Venezuela is still a problem, but hopefully with recent improvements in relations with the US, I will soon be able to secure the few items issued over the past few years. 

If you like private posts, please check out collection AR-SP-08.  This is a large collection of Andreani and OCA stamps (private companies that operated in the early 2000s).  That's all for this week.  Hope you are able to stay warm and dry this week.

January 1, 2024--Happy New Year!  We had a quiet celebration yesterday.  At noon, I went down to the local Buffalo Bills bar to watch the game against the Patriots.  The Bills' offense didn't play well, but despite that, they still won.  So, on to the final regular season game against the Dolphins.  After the game, we went out for dinner early (around 4) and then hung around at home watching movies and waiting for midnight.  Not exciting but still enjoyable. 

Stampwise, I really didn't think I would have much time to put up collections and other material but I was very wrong this last week.  I added nearly 2 dozen collections to the price lists.  The most interesting were some ABNCo archive Specimen collections--all pristine  and beautiful examples of great engraving.  The are Brazil (BR-B-09); Colombia (CO-B-18); Costa Rica (CR-B-13); Haiti (HA-B-09); Nicaragua (NI-B-13);.Panama (PN-B-15) and Venezuela (VE-B-11).  I also put up collections of Panama (PN-20), Chile (CH-74-17); El Salvador SA-74-20), Colombia (CO-74-30 and CO-B-74-19), Colombian States (CO-ST-74-09), and Nicaragua (NI-B-74-12).  I received some new issues from Argentina, Bolivia and Mexico, which have been added to those respective lists.  I also added a fantastic cover to the Panama listings--a late fee cover with 187 and I4.  A rarity and a real showpiece.  Check it out if you like Panama BOB.

Here's hoping your 2024 is healthy, happy and peaceful.