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Howard Ryan was an old collector when I first entered the stamp business forty years ago. He collected line engraved stamps of the nineteenth century which meant the first issues of Great Britain, all of United States and a few issues of a few European and foreign countries. Line engraving was the most secure form […]

One of the most interesting aspects of US philately over the last twenty years has been the number of unusual collecting varieties that are issued as part of the ordinary postal issues of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Modern technology seems to produce more printing varieties rather than fewer and in the future many

We bought a collection yesterday that I want to offer to my blog readers before we offer it for general sale. It is a worldwide collection of approximately 40000 different stamps in 18 Scott International Albums. All countries are represented and the collection goes up to about 1970. Strongest areas include British Commonwealth especially Oceania

One of the several indices that I use to predict future stamp market strength is the ratio of the number of advertisements in Linns wanting to buy stamps to the number of ads wanting to sell. From 1975 (when I began tracking this) to about 2000, the ratio would vary from about 40% Buy ads

The stamp market has ended the year on an up note. The year started strongly and had some weakness mid year but has come back quite well towards the end. Since the recession began three years ago prices for most material has come down 20-30%. This was a large decrease to absorb (though less than

Philately differs country to country in the degree of specialization with which it is pursued. For many Latin American countries a specialist will want only the classic stamp, perhaps a few multiples, and a cover or two. Mexico has the district overprints which offer a delight of minutiae but among Latin American philately this is

Increasingly, matters that used to be explained by personality and temperament are being shown to have a genetic base. The theory is not that one’s genetic makeup forces him to be a hypocrite or a republican (not that they are the same) but that genetics plays a prominent role in psychology and personality development. This

A wonderful country to collect is Canada. The stamps are beautifully printed and more affordable than most major countries. You can complete the entire country with the exception of #3 for under $10000 which considering the scarcity of the stamps is remarkable. It probably relates to the relative size of the home market. There are

Montaigne, who died in 1592, was one of the world’s great essayists(you can buy his complete essays, which run to nearly 1400 pages of print, on Amazon Kindle for 89c-which has to be one of the great bargains of all time). He was reared as a minor French aristocrat by a pedantic father who raised