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International stamp shows have long lead times. The announcements have already begun for the next US based International show which will be held in New York in 2016(http://www.ny2016.org/)  International shows are held under the auspices of the FIP (Federation Intenational de Philatelie) a group that arranges international competitive exhibits and certifies stamp shows. The United […]

There is no more valuable substance in the world by weight and volume than original gum. Consider -the gum on a thousand mint US Ten Cent 1847s if miraculously removed, commingled and weighed would total about an ounce. And the value of such gum on the stamps is $12,500 for each stamp according to the latest

Increasingly, the political calculus seems to be the game of chicken. In the US debt extension negotiations in Congress this summer the idea of compromise was considered unacceptable, largely by the Republicans. In the European debt crisis going on now, the Germans have taken the same position. The idea that intransigence is a smart political

The current Euro mess has seemed to have little impact so far on the stamp market. The Euro has fallen some 15% against the dollar and the financial system in Europe is in turmoil but prices for European stamps seem stable. There is little buying from the weaker European areas, countries like Italy and Spain which would see serious

 Yesterday’s post (about a private delivery service that operates at Airport TSA checkpoints to allow passengers to send back to themselves items of value that they unintentionally brought to a plane and are to be tossed as not acceptable boarding material) got me thinking about what is the major cause of the Post Offices budgetary

Last weekend I spent some time with the TSA, the Transportation Security Administration, the government agency that operates under the Department of Homeland Security to make our air travel safer. TSA has a variety of hard to understand rules about what you can and cannot take through security when you fly on a commercial airliner.

For over thirty years, from 1965 to 1987, my Grandfather, Earl Apfelbaum published a weekly column in Linns 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 1930’s and 1940’s called

Here’s something we didn’t know       http://www.examiner.com/american-history-in-national/black-friday-is-upon-us-but-where-did-it-start

The Internet has become a huge sales tool and it is just a matter of time before online sales overtake walk in retail sales in gross volume. Some products, such as books and especially music, are already sold mainly on line and each year brings a higher proportion of sales in these fields away from