Hi Gene,
>
> I am going thru a phase where one of my kmail folders is about to
> roll over the 65,536 for number of msgs.
> 
> Unforch as it approaches this it goes thru a phase where a group of 
> messages is not being marked as they are being read,
> 
> Does anyone have a clue how I might fix this. 

An old saying is: KISS (keep it simple stupid).
Why don't you create a new folder, say foldera, and move the oldest 50k
mails from the original folder therein?

Regards Peter.