Every year I try to go to a few European auctions, maybe buy a few things, but really more to get a sense of what major European sellers are saying and doing. The sellers I met with in Europe are pessimistic. And they have reason to be. The Euro crisis is weighing on European perceptions in a way that […]
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Special stamps are categories of stamp issues that indicate a limited or specialized status for the stamps in question. Special stamps include Semipostals, Airmails, Pneumatic Post, Special Deliveries, Registration stamps, insurance stamps, newspaper stamps, Official stamps, Revenue stamps and much more. For most stamp issuing entities there are far more special stamps than there are
Pablo Picasso is not only a famous artist whose works sell for enormous sums but he was also one of the most prolific workers ever. Living into his 90’s, Picasso created over 50,000 works. That an artist who has so many works extant can still be so pricey is a testament to three things. First,
World wide collecting’s main advantage is the quantity of material that a collector needs for his collection. A specialist, even in an area as seemingly vast as United States stamps soon gets in the position where most of his collecting time is spent looking for material for the collection or working to obtain funds to
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Fifty years ago, the vast majority of stamps sold between the same fifty thousand collectors and dealers. How could it have been otherwise? In 1960, except for a few major cities, stamp shops had begun to close (they are almost all gone now). Linns had about thirty thousand subscibers but many of them weren’t active buyers.
Switzerland was one of the world’s first issuers of stamps and the country continues to be one of the most popular philatelic areas. The first issues of Switzerland are called the Cantonals and the first of these was issued in 1846. Switzerland has a federal system of government, similar to the United States in that
As we move into fall, the stamp market traditionally experiences strength and this year appears like it will be no exception. Stamp prices seem strong across the board. US prices are pretty good. British is very strong and European stamps are doing better than they have in years. This is all the more remarkable as
Film and philately share a golden era with personalities larger than life, from a time that is quite different than our own. Jacques Minkus was such a personality. Minkus’s method of selling stamps was to open concessions in major department stores and at its most extensive he had over 35 different shops in many of the largest
I remember reading once that the downfall of the Soviet Union began with the Xerox machine. Totalitarian governments require control of information as free thinking is inimical to dictatorships and xeroxing allowed anyone to copy and distribute forbidden materials. Orwell’s 1984 portrays this clearly. In his dystopia, not only is current content carefully controlled, but history is
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