I know most of us at least one experienced funny, strange or simply sad situation while doing something related to collecting. Use this topic to share your stories that will make us laugh, cry or just be left puzzled.
Inspired by a today's event I opened this topic.
Here is my story.
The story of a collecting box that traveled across the World
As some of you know, recently I started cleaning out my collection and getting rid of things I no longer want or the items that are my duplicates. So, I have put at least 60 albums on my eBay.
Just today I was about to send a packet to a collector from another country that bought few albums from me, when I realized I do not have suitable box for it.
So I went down to my basement and started digging into boxes that I occasionally store for some strange reason, hoping one day one of them will be a a good fit for a pack. After few minutes of figuring out which box is suitable, I have found one that was a PERFECT FIT.
Since the box was already used, it obviously had my name on it and the name of person from Netherlands who previously sent a packet to me. Obviously, box was a perfect fit since the Dutch guy sent me, (guess twice) - albums.
After putting albums that I sold on eBay in a box carefully, I realized that bellow the address sticker that has the Dutch collector and my name, there was another one. I peeled it off just a little and bellow was the name of a Russian collector who obviously sent a packet to a Dutch collector that after a while used that same box (since it was a perfect fit) to send his albums to me.
At this point it was funny enough, since I already knew the Russian collector and traded with him few times since 2011. That was so funny.
Okay, you think that is odd? Listen to this. I have started to remove some stamps and AirMail labels from the box, and right there was another name of a collector who traded with Russian guy, who later sent that same packet to me later.
Can you guess what was the name on the box? I bet in your wildest dreams, you would not imagine, but the name of the box written with a pencil, a bit faded out but still visible. A name of a collector that I just sold my albums to who is also from Netherlands!
To sum up, a collector from Netherlands, lets call him Dan, send a packet to Russian fellow collector at some point. The Russian collector then arranged a swap with Peter another Dutch collector and sent him very same box that Dan sent to him. After Peter received his albums, he kept the box, just like we all did, and when he finally found it suitable he sent that box to me with my albums. Haha! Creepy!
So I am now taking that same box and returning it to its original owner - Dan, together with albums he bough from me.
I did not want to remove names and stickers, so that Dan can see how small and interesting the world of collecting is. Sadly, at my post office the bureaucracy meets stupidity, and they said I can not send a packet that was already labeled at one point and contains traces of stamps and addresses. As I understood that can cause confusion, I had to take the labels with names off and all the stamps. I also had to use white hammer paper to wrap up the box.
So lets hope Dan will see the box and perhaps recognize it.
The next time you do a trade or buy an album, take a look at a label, if it says Pavle on it, well our lovely globetrotter box it is!
Disclaimer > This story actually happened and its not fictional. However since I wanted to protect privacy of collectors involved, I have changed their names, but not the countries.
Inspired by a today's event I opened this topic.
Here is my story.
The story of a collecting box that traveled across the World
As some of you know, recently I started cleaning out my collection and getting rid of things I no longer want or the items that are my duplicates. So, I have put at least 60 albums on my eBay.
Just today I was about to send a packet to a collector from another country that bought few albums from me, when I realized I do not have suitable box for it.
So I went down to my basement and started digging into boxes that I occasionally store for some strange reason, hoping one day one of them will be a a good fit for a pack. After few minutes of figuring out which box is suitable, I have found one that was a PERFECT FIT.
Since the box was already used, it obviously had my name on it and the name of person from Netherlands who previously sent a packet to me. Obviously, box was a perfect fit since the Dutch guy sent me, (guess twice) - albums.
After putting albums that I sold on eBay in a box carefully, I realized that bellow the address sticker that has the Dutch collector and my name, there was another one. I peeled it off just a little and bellow was the name of a Russian collector who obviously sent a packet to a Dutch collector that after a while used that same box (since it was a perfect fit) to send his albums to me.
At this point it was funny enough, since I already knew the Russian collector and traded with him few times since 2011. That was so funny.
Okay, you think that is odd? Listen to this. I have started to remove some stamps and AirMail labels from the box, and right there was another name of a collector who traded with Russian guy, who later sent that same packet to me later.
Can you guess what was the name on the box? I bet in your wildest dreams, you would not imagine, but the name of the box written with a pencil, a bit faded out but still visible. A name of a collector that I just sold my albums to who is also from Netherlands!
To sum up, a collector from Netherlands, lets call him Dan, send a packet to Russian fellow collector at some point. The Russian collector then arranged a swap with Peter another Dutch collector and sent him very same box that Dan sent to him. After Peter received his albums, he kept the box, just like we all did, and when he finally found it suitable he sent that box to me with my albums. Haha! Creepy!
So I am now taking that same box and returning it to its original owner - Dan, together with albums he bough from me.
I did not want to remove names and stickers, so that Dan can see how small and interesting the world of collecting is. Sadly, at my post office the bureaucracy meets stupidity, and they said I can not send a packet that was already labeled at one point and contains traces of stamps and addresses. As I understood that can cause confusion, I had to take the labels with names off and all the stamps. I also had to use white hammer paper to wrap up the box.
So lets hope Dan will see the box and perhaps recognize it.
The next time you do a trade or buy an album, take a look at a label, if it says Pavle on it, well our lovely globetrotter box it is!
Disclaimer > This story actually happened and its not fictional. However since I wanted to protect privacy of collectors involved, I have changed their names, but not the countries.
