Photo Gallery

I was a business card and check book carrying member of the Mystic Stamp buying team.
After years of traveling in rental trucks a customized vehicle was built for the sole purpose of transporting large loads of stamps. It was called the “Stamp Mobile”
Typical “salt of the earth” collector.

 

 

Often the widow would be placed in the position to liquidate the collection. Sometimes the collector, before his passing would say something like, “don’t accept a penny less than $$$ dollars”. Most of the time collectors have unrealistic assumptions on the value of the collection. Of course this places the widow in a bind when the offer is lees than she was instructed to accept.

 

Here are three brothers who inherited a collection. Typically, those who inherit a collection have absolutely no idea of the value but they do know it is worth lots of money regardless. Dealing with heirs is usually a difficult and drawn out process because of greed and not reality.
Frequently, it was necessary to place purchased material into storage units across the country as the truck was full. I would do round up runs to gather the material in between buying trips.

 

Here is a collection which was purchased and shipped to a waiting buyer all on the same day. We would work some long days and working in the middle of the night was a common occurrence.
A load of stamps and money headed to Mystic Stamp. Each of those white boxes at the back is $1000 of coins. I hauled lots of high value merchandise of the years and not a single item came up missing or lost.

 

More material in a storage unit to be returned to Denver
Every purchase was assigned a lot number. I would write each lot number and the box count on the wall of the truck.
I loved driving in the western United States. Keep me west of the Mississippi and I am a happy guy. Unfortunately, most of my time was spent in the eastern portion of the country. Driving the big rig in congestion was stressful and demanding.
Rental trucks were generally dirty inside the cab and never dependable. Here I am transferring a full load from one truck to another thanks to a breakdown.
For more than 20 years we traveled using rental trucks. Here is a tow truck backing the truck which is full of stamps up to the loading dock at Apfelbaum stamps in Philadelphia. The truck stalled in the middle of a busy intersection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over the years one stamp store after another fell into the hands of the Mystic Stamp buyer just as this one did in San Francisco.
More often than not collections would be a pile of clutter occupying every room in the house. The buyer liked clutter as it would indicate the collector had no idea of the value of the collection. In chaos is opportunity. Frequently, there was visible joy on the face of the collector’s spouse when the material was boxed and removed from the home.
There was always the possibility of the unexpected when in a collector’s home. Here is a cage of parrots that had essentially turned wild and could no longer be handled by the elderly owner.
When traveling truck stops are part of the process. Here is a trucker transporting his dog in a remote control truck. Truck stops are mostly a dirty and unsavory necessity.
Over the years my driving exceeded 1 million miles and along the way I was privileged to see this amazing county and some unforgettable moments. Here is a sunrise in South Dakota that was dazzling.

 

Over the years I had a collection of food places where I would stop such as this one in Carolina. I had a rule when eating on the road and that was to be willing to walk away from a meal if I suspected anything was wrong with it. Better to pay and walk away than to eat and “pay” later in a toilet bowl. Triangle was awesome, serving a great breakfast.
The best burger on the planet. I love In-N-Out, always the first stop when hitting the West Coast.
Burgers the size of serving platters
Road food is mostly junk food.
The gauntlet on the way to the restroom at a Kansas truck stop.
Inside the home of a hoarder. The filth and debris was unbelievable. We uncovered tens of thousands of dollars of stamps in concealed in piles of debris.
Walking on debris covered floors at a collector’s home.
Another stamp store is liquidated by the Mystic stamp company buyer.
Another stamp store is cleaned out by the Mystic Stamp Co buyer. This transaction was done in conjunction with Gary Possner Stamps.
The view from my hotel room in San Francisco.
The view from my hotel room in North Dakota.
The custom made “stamp mobile was designed to carry 20,000 pounds of purchases in the rear cargo area. It often filled up too quickly during a buying trip requiring that I find storage units to store material for pick-up at another time.
Inside the stamp mobile was a working area for the buyer complete with mini kitchen and entertainment center. The coach was equipped with satellite TV allowing for 500 channels of entertainment while on the move.
My place was behind the wheel of the 40′ coach built on a Freightliner chassis. Traveling around 180 days out of the year, the road was my home.
Wind turbines in Wyoming.
I coined the term, ‘roller dogs’ to describe these truck stop staples. The crustier the roller the better the flavor.