The whole process made me appreciate how much information is packed into something so small. A torn postmark and a watermark you can only see against light told me more about where that letter had traveled than I expected from a box that cost less than lunch.

I still have about thirty pieces I haven't identified yet, mostly because the cancellation marks are too faded to read clearly. Planning to look at them under a lamp this week before deciding whether they're worth mounting or just filing away as space fillers.

Anyone else find that estate sale mixed lots end up being more rewarding than buying sets that are already sorted and priced? There's something about not knowing what you're going to find in a random handful that makes the sorting part feel less like work and more like actual discovery.