Blog

German States stamps are synonymous with classic philately. Before 1870, what we today call Germany was a confederation of numerous independent states, ten or more of which operated their own postal services and issued their own postage stamps. From about 1850 on the German states issued stamps, and even the earliest collectors vied for them […]

Most American philatelists have only a loose understanding of Indian history. We know the India was a “British Colony” but are unaware that British rule was largely confined to major cities. Most of India was ruled by hundreds of Princely States, each with their own laws and rulers, pledging allegiance to Britain and allowing the

Before the mid-1860s, Italy was a confederation of a number of independent states. These states were independent countries, loosely confederated for defense purpose (when they weren’t fighting with each other), each with ruling families jealously guarding their independence (which usually meant sources of income). It is one of the major historical debates of the modern

Most of the rarest twentieth century US stamps are either coils or coil waste (“coil waste” are stamps that were prepared to be issued as coils, but later additional perforations were officially put on the stamps, and they were issued as regular postage stamps). Coils present an unusual problem for collectors in that they are

In stamp collecting, there are four “… and States” areas that are collected as cohesive collecting specialties and that have always had tremendous philatelic cachet. They are German States, Italian States, Indian States, and Australian States. Each area is enormously popular and avidly collected as part of classic philately. Each has its own collecting peculiarities,

When it comes to challenges, stamp collectors come in different sizes. Some are the Everest climbers—they collect US, a monumental climb with some 10,000 main varieties (as listed in the Scott specialized US catalog) and costing anywhere from a fortune on up. And some collectors like the bunny hills, collecting only modern new issues. But

Before confederation in 1870, Italy was made up of many independent states. Among the most prominent of these was the state of Tuscany which is the state where the city of Florence is located. Many of the world’s greatest rarities come from Tuscany, but a collector can obtain many of these stamps at a very

In the 1950s and 1960s, large stamp auctions were held much more often than they are today.  Stamp dealers could count on a two thousand lot Harmer’s sale every month along with a good half dozen other decent monthly stamp auctions. And that was only in New York City. Well capitalized dealers would often buy

Pope Francis’s visit to the United States has drawn attention to Popes and papal history. Francis himself has been pictured on many stamps (the United States Postal Services is the world’s only postal service adhering to the tradition of not picturing living people on its stamps), as have his recent predecessors. But the commemoration of