One of the major underpinnings of modern economic and political understanding is a broad paradigm of human behavior called rational choice theory. Different economists and social scientists apply it differently, but it essentially means that left to their own devices people will make decisions that maximize their spending power when they are buying and try […]
Rational Choice Theory Read More »
Philatelic colors often have a nomenclature that is unique to the philatelic field and often the term for shades varies from philatelic specialty to philatelic specialty depending on the whim (and translations from the early foreign catalogs) of the early Scott compilers. The color terms are usually consistent within each country-the dull red of the
Ezra Cole was already an old man when I first came on the philatelic scene in the late 1960’s. Mr Cole (and I would have no more called him Ezra than I would have spelled God with a small g) was a US dealer known for assembling the finest collections and dealing in the very
There are three aspects of any philatelic specialty to consider when you are looking around for a new area to collect-difficulty, cost and satisfaction. Specialties vary in difficulty and difficulty is not always relative to cost. Collecting the mint stamps of the United States is a moderately difficult undertaking if you plan to try to attain
Difficulty, Cost and Satisfaction Read More »
All hindsight is 20/20. But exceptionally keen seems to be historical hindsight. Japanese military postal cards and covers from the Russo-Japanese war and the period leading up to WW II seem exceptionally jingoistic and war admiring. The pervasiveness of militaristic themes was constant. The same was true of Third Reich philately. It always strikes me
Countries and Politicians Tell their Real Intentions Read More »
The Federal Reserve issues a triennial revue of the net worth of Americans and the results for 2001-2010 are what you would expect-down- overall about 30%. Stock market values were steady over the decade but what caused most American families to lose net worth in the period was a substantial decline in home values which,
American Wealth Declines Read More »
Until about 1980, philately was one of the most toxic of hobbies. Collectors used watermark fluid in great quantities. Novice and intermediate collectors used it to determine watermarks, but advanced collectors and stamp professionals used it to determine quality of stamps and whether stamps were repaired. Watermark fluid works as a wetting agent which shows
How history is remembered is one of the best ways of determining how a people wishes to understand itself. Currently we are in the midst of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and this conflict, and the way that it is taught and learned and understood tells us much about ourselves in the early 21st
In the past fifteen years two emerging economic giants have seen their stamps become very popular and shoot up in price-Russia and China. And in each case among the best performing sets from an investment point of view have been the sets of the founders of those two states- Lenin and Mao. The last ten