John Apfelbaum

The psychology behind price movements is interesting. When something is scarce on the shelves, we all move to buy it. When it is abundant, we all wait. The gold market has been a classic example of this. Philately, too, has had its speculations, price run-ups, and periods of quiescent markets, and as with other markets, […]

Every age has its greatest fears, and what the early twenty-first Century is most afraid of is boredom. Our world provides constant diversion. Nearly everyone under the age of thirty is perpetually texting and looking at their phone. My TV has over 700 stations (and still nothing to watch). Tired of the book you are reading? Amazon has literally

It’s hard to believe that over thirty years have passed since the first issuance of United States Plate Number Coils (PNC’s). These issues were created by the printing of the plate number on each roll of the plate. Most are very common; some are very scarce. However, they are legitimately made varieties, not issued for philatelists and

 Most fans of philatelic history— that is, the history of collecting stamps rather than the stamps themselves— have learned what they know through hands on work with stamps. There are very few books that retell the evolution of our hobby. Largely, it is learned by reading old journals, looking at old auction catalogs, and stamp

German stamps have always been among the most popular of collecting specialties. The German Area is vast philatelically and has typically been broken down into sub-specialties. Few collectors, especially native Germans, attempt it all. The philatelic breakdown is as follows: pre-German Confederation-States collecting, 1870-1930 Empire, and Wiemar Republic, 1930-45 Third Reich, and post 1945 Bundes

    Ireland’s history influenced its philately to a much greater degree than did the history of most other countries. Ireland was subjugated by the British around 1600 and passionately fought for its independence for over 300 years. The first Irish stamps were issued in 1922 after independence had finally been obtained from Britain. There

The United States Post Office has had a close relationship to the hobby of stamp collecting throughout the history of the hobby. The first US postage stamp was issued in 1847, and by 1860 there was an active, if by later standards small, coterie of avid collectors. The USPO was the first worldwide postal service

By 1900, the philatelic world was already too vast for anyone to complete. Their first specialty albums began to appear about 1920, and it was these albums that drove the push towards increasing specialization. Until about 1960, nearly everyone entering the hobby began a general collection. Packets and general albums which had spaces in them

Modern mint stamps issued since 1990 sort out into three broad categories—bad investments, better investments and reasonably good investments. First, a little background. Throughout philatelic history, buying new issue mint stamps as they came out and holding them has been a mixed bet. Obviously, the few philatelists that did this in the late nineteenth century and early