World wide collecting’s main advantage is the quantity of material that a collector needs for his collection. A specialist, even in an area as seemingly vast as United States stamps soon gets in the position where most of his collecting time is spent looking for material for the collection or working to obtain funds to […]
Advantage of World Wide Collecting Read More »
Fifty years ago, the vast majority of stamps sold between the same fifty thousand collectors and dealers. How could it have been otherwise? In 1960, except for a few major cities, stamp shops had begun to close (they are almost all gone now). Linns had about thirty thousand subscibers but many of them weren’t active buyers.
Switzerland was one of the world’s first issuers of stamps and the country continues to be one of the most popular philatelic areas. The first issues of Switzerland are called the Cantonals and the first of these was issued in 1846. Switzerland has a federal system of government, similar to the United States in that
As we move into fall, the stamp market traditionally experiences strength and this year appears like it will be no exception. Stamp prices seem strong across the board. US prices are pretty good. British is very strong and European stamps are doing better than they have in years. This is all the more remarkable as
Film and philately share a golden era with personalities larger than life, from a time that is quite different than our own. Jacques Minkus was such a personality. Minkus’s method of selling stamps was to open concessions in major department stores and at its most extensive he had over 35 different shops in many of the largest
I remember reading once that the downfall of the Soviet Union began with the Xerox machine. Totalitarian governments require control of information as free thinking is inimical to dictatorships and xeroxing allowed anyone to copy and distribute forbidden materials. Orwell’s 1984 portrays this clearly. In his dystopia, not only is current content carefully controlled, but history is
Freedom (of Information) Read More »
When the Penny Black was first issued in 1840, it was part of what collectors have come to accept as a six item set. There was the Penny Black which prepaid the postage for any letter sent throughout Great Britain under 1/2 ounce. There were four different items of postal stationary called the Mulready envelopes
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The United States Post Office is losing money at a pace that would drive any business into bankruptcy. Their business model is unsustainable and their cost structure makes solvency under the current model impossible. If the USPS were a private company it would be dismantled but because it is a quasi governmental agency politics has kept it
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Most of us grew up collecting stamps that were sent to us from the H. E. Harris company. Henry Harris founded his business in the 1920’s and was a tireless promoter of philately. During the Great Depression, he sponsored radio shows and advertised extensively, introducing a generation of collectors to his approval method of buying