What Can Be Done: Baden is a very appealing country to collect as it can be collected as simply or as complexly as a collector might want. There are less than thirty stamps needed for completion, so the appeal of completing a major classic philatelic country drives many collectors to the stamps of Baden. And, […]
Wesley Mann was the President of H E Harris in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. His background was in finance and he was made the head of what was then the world’s largest stamp company because of his successful corporate career at General Mills, the cereal conglomerate. General Mills had just bought Harris and
Stamp shows come in different shapes and sizes. The smallest are local bourses, where dealers collect to offer their wares. Most areas used to have such bourses monthly and, though the Internet has replaced most direct person to person stamps selling, hundreds of local bourses are held each year in this country. Â A little
International Stamp Shows Read More »
Communication has gone from being first bound by the voice, that is oral communication, to being completely electronic. Before four or five thousand years ago, communication was all oral, with histories and stories passed down from generation to generation. Writing changed human development and made communication possible with people you could never meet, across wide
One of the most exciting aspects of philately (and one of its most popular until about 1940) is plating. Plating is a subspecialty that is usually only available on classic engraved stamps. When stamps are printed from the engraved (or intaglio) process a single die is created by the master engraver. How that die is
Though only the leader for a few years Ki Jong Un has continued his nation’s slide into abject poverty and oppression. There are few laboratory tests in any environment that so clearly measure the differences in political systems as has North and South Korea. Divided after complete devastation during WW II, the North took a
North Korean Philately Read More »
Modern philatelists have lumped together the three broad categories of stamp reproductions that collectors of previous generations kept separate. This has been done largely because modern collectors are unfamiliar with the history of philatelic reproductions. Philatelic reproductions come in three broad types.  The first major type of philatelic reproductions identified by stamp collectors are
Reproductions in Philately Read More »
Most stamp collectors who collected in the 1950s and 1960s maintained a collection of plate blocks and First day Covers along with their regular collection of US mint. There were two reason for this. First, a plate block was only four stamps and the face value of putting away a new plate block was 16c
Why United States Plate Blocks and First Day Covers have Lost Popularity Read More »
One of the great changes in the stamp world has been the extinction of a species of philatelic professional called the Satchelateer. This type of dealer was common in the early part of the twentieth century and began to decline in numbers around 1980. Satchelateers (word is formed from “satchel” which is a large bag)