It is always interesting to speculate on future winners and losers in the stamp market. Philatelic popularity is ever changing. In 1900, foreign postal stationery cut squares were a serious specialty that looked likely to continue in popularity. Today, almost no one collects them. In 1950, US precancels were avidly collected. Today there are few fans. […]
Market Predictions-2021 Read More »
Watermarks are a design that are put in paper by the manufacturer to identify the paper as their product. They are an outgrowth of the earliest paper which is called laid paper. Laid paper is produced by allowing the paper pulp particles to coagulate on a bed that is a screen made up of closely
Despite a substantial increase in the last several years, the stamps of India and States are still undervalued and under appreciated. As the economy of India has grown and as the Indian diaspora has become more financially successful in the many countries to which Indians have moved, the stamps of India and States have grown tremendously in
Most people are not very comfortable with change and certainly this feeling increases with age. So it is not surprising that the new program that the post office announced to begin featuring living people on postage stamps has been received suspiciously by the organized philatelic community. It’s always a good idea when reflecting on a
This is the punch line to a rather sad joke. A waiter is waiting on a group of sour customers. Everything is a problem, nothing is good enough. At the conclusion of the meal the waiter, instead of asking if everything is alright, asks if anything is alright. We live in angry times or at
Is Anything Alright, Sir? Read More »
Our hobby is just 170 years old, a mere babe by the standards of hobbies such as numismatics. But already the grading standards and the quality grades that collectors desire has undergone a profound metamorphosis, one which current generations of collectors have been spared. For the first collectors, any copy of a stamp from perfect to
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The best part of the news that the United States Post Office is going to be issuing stamps honoring living persons is the effect it should have on our hobby. This has two aspects. First, and less obviously, it shows that even with the technological advances that have made postage stamps less important, the Post Office remains
Post Office Goes Live Cont. Read More »
For all of its history the Post Office has had a tradition (then a rule) that prohibited living persons (and the recent dead) from being pictured on postage stamps. The rule required a ten year grace period after death before being on a stamp except in the case of deceased Presidents, who were eligible immediately
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One of the earliest objections to Rowland Hill’s idea for a gummed label that indicated prepayment of postage was the fear that such a label could be soaked off and reused. A postage stamp is one of the simplest examples of a bearer certificate-anyone who possesses it can use it to mail a letter and