St. Vincent Stamps
( & Philatelic Reference Website)
FREE Australian stamps
I have received a large number of used Australian commemorative stamps from the American Philatelic Society (APS) that are to be given away free of charge for "recreational & educational" purposes. To me that means if you are a beginning or youth collector, you qualify (or if you happen to collect Australian stamps)!
----> May 3, 2009 UPDATE: Set #6 is now ready! I've made up another 100 packages of 55 different stamps! If you have requested sets #2, #3, #4 or #5 before, please feel free to request this new Set # 6 !
Would you like some? Please read the instructions below on how to receive them.
--> US postage rates will increase to 44¢ for domestic and 98¢ for international basic 1 ounce mail !
(The picture above shows the large box of stamps that I received from the APS.)
I have separated the stamps based on loose stamps versus the ones that were put together in little stamp "bricks" of 100 stamps each. I am estimating that this pile consists of well over 80,000 stamps! First I am getting rid of most stamps in the loose pile (top box), and then I'll work on the tub on the lower right; lastly I'll work on the tub on the lower left.
Here I am around midnight, preparing a set of 91 packets of stamps in set #2 that each contain about 50 to 55 Australian commemoratives! That works out to over 4,500 repetitive wrist motions in creating the piles, not to mention putting them into glassine envelopes. It took me about 5 hours to do the 91 packets. If you were to look at this from a business perspective, each packet represents at least $2 of labor! So: My free labor = your free stamps....
As a side note, somebody had to soak all of these stamps off the original envelopes to begin with! Since my box contained well over 80,000 stamps, and the APS mentioned that they gave away over 25 boxes containing Australian, German, British and other stamps, that means that "somebody" out there got to soak off well over 2 million stamps! Mind-boggling! It takes me a couple of hours to soak off just a couple of hundred stamps...
(Here's another view of the 91 packets of 50 stamps from set#1 that are awaiting collectors!)
(March 23, 2008 - Here's set#2 of 55 different Australian stamps awaiting collectors, it was a bit easier to make these 100 sets since I made a box to sort them faster..)
Instructions for obtaining a packet of free Australian stamps:
The key thing to remember is that these stamps are free to anyone, and people at our local stamp club and youth tables at the local shows (Dallas / Ft. Worth area) will receive these free of charge as well; everyone else will have to re-imburse me for the postage to mail these (sorry, but I'm not going to pay postage for everyone on the planet... my budget doesn't allow for it). The information below may seem lengthy, but everything you need to know is there, so there's no need to e-mail me with questions.
1) If you reside in the United States:
- Send a Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope (SASE) containing 44¢ of US Stamps to: Peter Elias, attn: Free Australian Stamps set# 6, PO Box 940427, Plano, TX 75094-0427.
- Alternatively, you can also send an addressed envelope and mint stamps (must either have full gum or the self-adhesive backing in place!) and I will attempt to use some of my "personalized" USA stamps (such as those from stamps.com, Zazzle, Endicia or YourStamps) on the envelope back to you. These are highly collectible and not easily found on mail!
- Be sure to use a commemorative stamp on your envelope to me (hey, I collect stamps too and it would be nice have some recent used commemoratives for trading!)
or
2) If you reside outside the United States:
I realize that people outside the USA will have more difficulties to provide a way to pay for return postage (which is presently $0.94 for basic airmail service), so here are the only choices that I deem acceptable:
- 1 IRC (International Reply Coupon). You can go to the following Universal Postal Union (UPU) website to see if your country's post offices are supposed to be selling IRC's: http://www.upu.int/irc/en/irc_countries_list_en.pdf
- Mint US stamps (with full gum or self-adhesive backing in place) adding up to $0.98
- 1 US Dollar banknote
- 1 Euro coin
- 1 Swiss Franc coin
- 1 Canadian dollar coin
- Send any one of the above to: Peter Elias, attn: Free Australian Stamps # 6, PO Box 940427, Plano, TX 75094-0427 USA, or:
- PayPal (https://www.paypal.com) payment for US $1.40 sent to info@stvincentstamps.com . The reason I'm asking for $1.40 is that PayPal will charge me 35¢ in fees, resulting in the 98¢ that I need for postage and an envelope to mail you the stamps with. Please note that PayPal may give you a choice in sending funds in various currencies; due to the high conversion rates, I can only accept PayPal payments in US Dollars (if you send funds in other currencies, I will refuse or return the payment).
- For your convenience, if you want to use PayPal, you can also use this button here:
Important Notes:
- You must state the set # in the address (example, "free Australian stamps # 6"), otherwise I will not know which set to send; you may request one older set at the same time, which I will send if it is still available when your request reaches me. In the off-chance that I am completely out of the set that you are requesting, I will send the latest set that I have available. For example, if you request set #6 and I am all out of it, you will receive set #7 once it is available....
- Please write legibly! If I can't read your writing, neither can the US Postal Service. I can not emphasize this enough!
- The stamps in each set are identical; I generally make approximately 100 sets each time. So, for example: the 100 sets #6 all have exactly the same stamps in them, so please do not send in for additional sets of the same number, as you would simply get duplicate stamps and deprive someone else of getting the set.
- Do NOT send any stamps in trade, I do not want any.
- I am not allowed to accept any trades or payment for these stamps as part of my signed agreement with the APS that these stamps are only to be given away (although they stated that asking for return postage is only fair).
- The stamps that are part of the give-away are fairly common with minimal catalog values, meaning 20¢ to perhaps 45¢ each for some of them, and are best suited for youth or beginning collectors; they are a great way to add some nice stamps to your collection. The "catalog value" of the stamps that you will receive will be between US$10.00 to $13.00
- Do not use or send me previously used or uncancelled US stamps on your stamped return envelopes. Why? Because it is a federal criminal offense here in the USA, and since it will appear to the postal service that I have put these stamps on the envelope, I could potentially be subject to criminal penalties. So, if you send me an envelope with previously used or uncancelled stamps on them, your request for free stamps will be ignored.
- Please use commemorative stamps on your letters to me. I am a collector as well. Don't use common or definitive stamps.
- Remember that sending cash or banknotes through the mail is at your own risk. I simply offer this as a convenient alternative to using US stamps or sending an IRC.
- You can contact me via e-mail if you'd like, but only if there are some extenuating circumstances. There's no need to reserve these stamps, I'll have enough to go around for quite a while. Once the supply is getting close to be depleted, I will erase this webpage.
- Please keep in mind that some foreign mail can take quite a while to reach me. Recently it took 3 weeks for an envelope mailed from Singapore to reach me! Therefore it could take anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks for you to receive your stamps from the date that you originally mailed your request.
- Only one request for each set per person / household.
- I am not responsible for items lost / stolen in the mails; this does happen unfortunately from time to time. The stamps are sent via regular airmail the day after I receive your request.
- I am not interested in any sort of trading, since my own collecting & exhibiting specialties are outside of what the average collector has to offer... To get an idea of what I collect and exhibit, please feel free to browse around the rest of this website and the links to the other philatelic websites that I run; this should give you a good idea of what I am interested in...
