Historians mark two types of dates in history. There are dates like 1066, the Norman Conquest of Britain, which are known at the time to the players involved to be significant dates in which vast changes have occurred. And there are dates such as 1054, which marks the Great Schism between the Roman Catholic church and the Eastern church […]
US Minisheets Changed Collecting Read More »
The story of the 1893 Columbian Exposition issue is well known. World’s Fairs, which was what the Columbian Exposition was, were a big thing until the advent of television and theme parks (in fact the last great US World Fair, the 1964 World’s fair in New York, had the first version of the “It’s a Small
It is almost ancient history now, but the issuance of the 1989 Scott catalog almost caused the demise of stamp collecting. New editors of Scott felt that the traditional discount structure of our hobby needed to be changed, though this system had served the hobby well for decades. Then as now stamps sold at discounts from Scott
Collectors Expect Discounts From Scott Value Read More »
Who doesn’t know what a Hula Hoop is? Who, of a certain age, never played with a slinky? When the Baby Boomers were kids nearly everyone collected stamps. In my neighborhood there were two different kid organized stamp clubs, created and administered by ten year olds. We were very adult in our social organization skills, spending
Fads versus Hobbies Read More »
For many years there was no relationship between the price of stamps and the price of gold. The value of gold, in currency terms, was fixed by national governments whereas the price of stamps was left to rise and fall with the market. Gold was decoupled from currency in 1971. The next ten years saw
Before 1867 Canada consisted of autonomous provinces, some of which issued their own postage stamps. Stamps were issued for the Dominion of Canada which comprised mostly of the central part of the country; separate provinces on the coast issued their own stamps. The Atlantic provinces are called the “Maritime Provinces” by collectors and consist of
Canadian Provinces Read More »
Go to Ebay and run through fifty or so better US commemoratives that are offered for sale from the 1893-1930 period. This was the era in which the United States produced our stamps through a printing process known as flat press printing. In flat press printing most of these issues were printed in large sheets of
A popular specialty of fifty years ago is well worth considering. It is collecting the early stamps of Great Britain by check letter. The Nineteenth Century stamps of Great Britain were mostly printed in sheets of 240. This was done because most of the stamps printed were one penny stamps which, in the pre-decimal period
Classic Philatelic Specialization Read More »
The United States has only one International Stamp Show every ten years, held under the auspices of the FIP (Federation International de Filatelie) the international exhibiting group that authorizes stamps shows around the world. It will be in New York in June of 2016, and if it even approaches the level of the previous five
The Next International Show-New York 2016 Read More »