The Scott catalog prices for most countries after 1940 is for stamps in mint Never Hinged condition. This is for three reasons. First, most post-1940 stamps are more common in NH than in hinged condition (especially as you come closer to the current period in time). Second, most collectors have been trained to believe that they […]
What Effect Does Hinging Have on Price? Read More »
2014 may be the year when the sales tax exemption that most philatelists enjoy when they add stamps to their collections ends. The current sales tax code in most states does not formally exempt postage stamps from sales tax but rather exempts sales of products that travel across state lines when the merchant lacks a
Philately and Sales tax Read More »
If there is ever a date that goes into history books to mark the demise of printed books in the battle with electronic information on the Internet, it may well be March 14, 2012
Today’s Access to Information Makes our Hobby Easier Read More »
Gum has had a long relationship with printing on postage stamps. In the pre-1930 days, flat press printing meant that sheets of paper were fed into the press one by one and then the printed sheets were hung up to dry, gummed, and weighted at the corners so that as the gum contracted the stamp
For over thirty years, from 1965 to 1987, my grandfather, Earl Apfelbaum, published a weekly column in Linn’s Stamp News called “Apfelbaum’s Corner.” In the very first article, he said that his model for the articles were a series of car columns that had run in the Philadelphia Bulletin in the 1930s and 1940s called
Earl Apfelbaum’s Writings Read More »
One of the most interesting and specialized areas of philately is the Italian area. Italian philately comprises several main areas of interest
Italy and Area Pricelist Read More »
One of the most popular stamps of the Nineteenth Century is the black stamp honoring President Andrew Jackson that was issued first in 1863 and then again in several grilled forms over the next few years. The black Jackson, called the Blackjack by collectors has been popular for several reasons. First it has never been
On President’s Day, try President Jackson Read More »
Valentine’s Day is a holiday for which no long historical tradition exists. There were several St Valentines as part of the pantheon of Catholic martyrs and saints but none of them had any association to romantic love. Scholars looking for antecedents to the holiday can trace it back to a poem of Geoffrey Chaucer in
Valentine Collecting Has Always Been a Part of Our Hobby Read More »
Let’s start with a postulate: The American Philatelic Society is worth saving, and membership in the APS is worth having and worth the $45 or so that it costs. The question then is how to save the society, because certainly the membership losses, the demographic makeup of the society, and the declining revenues don’t bode