When it is found in family and friends, inconsistency can make make a person’s life miserable. But when found in our hobby, it adds spice and interest. Pictured above is one of my favorite stamps because of what it tells us about our hobby and the mercurialness of the editors of the Scott catalog. It […]
Philatelists want several things in an area in which they decide to specialize. They want availability. It is no fun to collect a country or sub specialty where there is little material available and the game is all search and no find. They want affordability. Unless you are Midas (and he lived in the pre-stamp
Holland? Netherlands? Read More »
The scarcest US commemorative in mint condition is the 10c orange perf 10 #404. Fewer of the higher value dollar denomination Columbian and Trans-Mississippi were issued than #404 but far more of the 10c were used on commercial mail and thus used and lost to collectors. Here’s the story: For many years leading up to
US Commemorative Scarcety Read More »
Two hundred forty four years ago the thirteen American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain and began a seven year war that would result in the the founding of the United States of America. Before our Revolutionary War, Great Britain thought of her American Colonies as a whole and lumped the thirteen colonies in
Philately is an irrational pursuit. Serious collectors generally eschew philatelic items that are produced intentionally for their collecting. Thus, many serious collectors ignore First Day Covers, intentionally issued errors and imperfs, Souvenir cards and similar items. But one area that is an exception to this is Souvenir Sheets. Souvenir Sheets were originally issued mostly for
United States collectors have long had a field day with revenue collecting. (Revenues are stamps issued to prove the payment of a tax or levy instead of for postal use). The US has issued thousands of different revenues and, ever since philately took hold in this country, revenue collecting had been incorporated into mainstream US
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I look for several factors when I recommend a collecting specialty to a collector. First is the intrinsic beauty of the stamps themselves. Does the country have high production values and are the stamps artistically compelling? Do the design types change over time to reflect new technologies in printing and new tastes in the graphic
Cut Squares and Entires (the Scott “U” numbers in the catalog) have always seemed to be less popular than they should be. They have several important specialty features going for them. They are scarce and they are attractive. They are complex. There are hundreds of major numbers and about 95% of them sell for under
First Day Cover collecting in the United States began gradually. Until about 1920, no one made FDCs and the ones that we have were serendipitously prepared by ordinary postal users going to the post office and accidentally using a new issue on the day that it came out. Gimbel Brothers, the department store in Philadelphia,