Previous posts have warned people about ebay frauds. Future posts will do the same.
Our advice is to buy from a dealer you know and stamps you can see and fell at the time of sale.
NYC offers little in the way of this, but on the weekends, weather permitting, as it was this last weekend,
there is a table full of stamps, sheets, covers and philatelic material, with prices that are very competitive.
The Chelsea Flea Market, which is now into its 25th year, sets up on Saturday/Sunday on West 25th Street between B'way & 6th Avenue, just a block away from Madison Square Park and by the side of the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral, St. Savo.
Over 100 dealers spots are to be found there, so you'll find bargains on just about everything from CDs to furniture, lots of art, it's a great place to spend an hour or two on the weekend, near most trains, 1/2/3, A/C/E, N/Q/R, F/M.
And I might just note also that Madison Square Post Office is a short walk away as well, front entrance on 23rd, back on 24th, btw 3rd & Lexington. This is a historic PO which I like to use to get the MSPO franking and also admire the Ben Shahn murals. AND, on this trek from the market to the PO, if you are making it of a first Saturday of the month, you could hook up with fellow philatelists at the International Stamp Club which meets in the complex of buildings at 2nd/24th, best to contact us - nycphilatelic@gmail.com for exact directions. So start there and go west young man.
The stamp people on the West Side have everything from Chinese ( I saw a set of goldfish sold ) to Israel MNH w/ tabs, Commonwealth, US, covers ( I just missed a German cover franked in France, how that happened I don't know, but for the $1 someone paid they got a bargain before I could!) - early US specialist is a Greek guy - he also has Hermes heads! And a good assortment of int'l, along with coins, notes, etc. + lots of inexpensive starter sets, pages, random lots, and friendly staff to help out collectors at every level.
So before you spend hours on the phone with ebay getting nowhere over some issues with the wrong watermark, go to the Chelsea Market and go home happy. Free shipping of course!
That's a great idea. A very nice walk, up 24th Street, Baruch College has a campus there and just before you get to the park, there are the historic insurance buildings, they were the skyscrapers of the day in the roaring '20s, not far from the Flatiron Building. I always wonder what that building is that looks like a courthouse on the northeast corner of 25th/Madison.
ReplyDeleteThen I cross the park and 5th Avenue and I'm in Chelsea.
BTW, 41 W 25th St. used to be the offices of Minkus Stamp Publications. And there is another stamp dealer on this street, Carl Burnstein, who sets up inside at 40 W 25th, but his hours are erratic. Go downstairs and ask around for him. Not cheap but he has a lot of stock, he has been around for a long time and used to be on Nassau Street.
So 25th Street is now the place for stamps in New York. That outdoor market has more than one dealer, sometimes as many as five are selling stamps covers etc. Good prices as this is not high rent.
There is a stamps show coming up at the Javits, and we are writing a letter to the financial backers of Homer telling them not to let Homer mess with NYers. These kids steal dealers' tables and run riot. The CEO thinks it's a joke. Enough of them, real men will deal with these punks and their CEO, they ride around town like idiots wrong way in traffic pounding on cars etc.
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