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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. 

January 26, 2026--A lot of the country has been affected by the major winter storm and I hope wherever you are that you are safe.  We were very fortunate here in Houston, the rains came before the freeze and for the most part, the roads dried before the temperatures dropped below freezing.  It has been could for Houston, our low Sunday morning was 22 degrees--not bad by Northern standards, but here where winters tend to be mild and insulation tends to be lacking, that is enough for some homes to become uncomfortable and some pipes to freeze. 

In football, another year of disappointment and frustration for the Bills Mafia.  It was especially disappointing to outplay Denver last weekend but to lose because we turned the ball over 5 times.  Oh well, next year...

Stampwise, new issues have started to come in despite the tariffs.  I now have all the issues of Argentina and the Dominican Republic for 2025. Chile should be here this week; I am expecting Panama any day and Uruguay and Peru should soon be on the way.  I will be going on a brief trip to Colombia in February and I will pick up the remaining issues for 2025.  My suppliers in Mexico and Paraguay have shipped new issues to Colombia (as it is currently not possible for them to send packages to the US.  Hopefully, they will have arrived at my wife's family's home in Bogota and I can bring them back as well.  Costa Rica has been a problem.  I wired money to my supplier but the bank says it was never received.  My bank confirms that the money was sent.  Account and routing numbers were double checked and everything was correct.  My bank is trying to recall the wire and I am trying to find a different way to make payment to Costa Rica. 

Here is the status for the rest of Latin America:  Bolivia--I have the 2025 issue already--a sheet for the bicentennial.  Brazil--I am not sure, there haven't been a lot of regular issues this year, but there have been a good number of "Institutional Stamps" stamps that an organization paid for to be issued.  If interested in these, you can find a listing here--Scott does not list them.  Cuba--as far as I know, they have not issued any new stamps.  Ecuador--I am not aware of any 2025 issues, but I do not have a way yet to obtain these.  Several people I know in Ecuador have reached out to the post office without success to try to purchase the issues from the past several years.  I'm not sure what the problem is.  Guatemala--will probably require me making a trip to pick up the new issues--hopefully in the spring.  Honduras--I have all of the 2025 issues.  Nicaragua--unknown--I do know nothing was issues in the first half of 2025.  El Salvador--there are a number of issues, but the country is not currently handling international mail, so there is no way to get the stamps here without a visit to the country. Venezuela--despite the change in leadership, there have been no changes to the economic sanctions, so no new issues yet.

I've added lots of collections to the listings for most countries and have also added a lot of "Odds and Ends" (varieties) to many country listings--especially Dominican Republic, Peru, and Costa Rica.  I should be adding some Panama this coming week. I also had a nice Chile collection come in loaded with lots of the scarce official stamps--several have already sold, but most are still available.  They are all one of a kind, so once they're gone, I won't have them again until another collection comes in.

Have a great week.

January 4, 2026--I hope that you had a very pleasant holiday season.  My week and a half break from my university job is just about over.  I head back into the office tomorrow.  I did enjoy my time off.  I got to spend some quality time with my father--normally we see each other on Sundays, but we got together quite often during the holidays, sometimes to share a meal, to watch a football or basketball game or just to hang out.  I am very grateful for that time. 

First, let's talk sports.  We now know the Bills wildcard round opponent--Jacksonville.  Here's hoping the Bills can make a deep run this year...and hopefully, finally get back to the Superbowl.  In college sports, the University at Buffalo basketball team has been quite a pleasant surprise.  They were picked preseason to finish almost at the bottom of the MAC, but currently, the boast a record of 13-2 (3-0 in conference play).  Next up is Miami of Ohio on Saturday.

Stampwise, I have been working out how to get new issues from Latin America.  The challenge has been that several countries are not sending anything heavier than a letter to the US due to the tariff situation.  Some countries are still shipping and I am expecting new issues to arrive from Brazil, Chile, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Panama, Peru and Uruguay to arrive directly.  I don't know how much I will have to pay for the stamps in customs duties--we will just wait and see.  For several other countries, Paraguay, Mexico and Costa Rica, they are sending the stamps to my wife in Colombia and she will bring them back with her when she returns home, hopefully next month. She will also bring Colombian new issues with her.  The remaining countries are still pending or there are no new issues in 2025.

That's all for this week.  Happy New Year!  Feliz año nuevo!  Feliz ano novo!