The popularity of a country’s stamps varies with the popularity of the government in power. Japanese stamps were very popular in the 1920’s and fell off tremendously in the the 1930’s and 1940’s before renewing their popularity after World War II. The stamps of Iran were very popular until the last twenty years. They are […]
The most basic decision that most collectors make is whether to collect stamps mint or used. In the very earliest stages of collecting either will do and, at the very highest stages, finances often force either to do. But most collectors start saving both and then gravitate to one or the other. The decision comes
Of the major world wide powers in the philately era (that is since 1840) the least imperialistic has been the United States. Great Britain and France had between them hundreds of imperial philatelic entities. German was a big player and even Italy, which had more of an appetite for conquest than the digestion, had fifty
If philately were an academic discipline, there would be several basic elements of understanding that stamp majors would have to master before moving to graduate level courses. High on this list would be a basic understanding of printing methods. There are many methods of transferring ink from plate to paper (and, now, even the word “plate”
Litography vs Engraving Read More »
The German area, Â as collected by the Michel catalog is the most diverse and complicated collecting area in the world. The Michel Germany specialized catalog and the Gansachen (that is postal stationery catalogs) of German and the German Area run nearly 4000 pages and list and price nearly one million stamps and specialty pieces. A
Germany and the Complexity of Michel Catalog Read More »
Collectors of United States stamps in the 1920-1950 period had a dilemma. The days of varieties were gone. The papers and printings of the Bank Note issues which span over 80 major Scott numbers were over as were the wild early days of the Washington-Franklins that spawned nearly 200 major numbers. Stamp issuing policy was
The biggest mistake newer dealers make is the inventory trap. They go out, buy some stamps and begin to resell them. Generally, they get very good prices for some of the things that they offer (“very good” defined as far more than they expected), good prices for some material, weaker prices for more and no
Inventory Pitfalls Read More »
Granted, last year was very different regarding Americans moving traveling around, but on average over 150 billion gallons of gasoline would be consumed in the United States within a ‘normal’ year. That works out to about 500 gallons for each person living in this country. At a national fleet average of twenty miles a gallon
How Green Is Your Hobby? Read More »
There are several factors to take into account when evaluating the challenge of collecting any given country. First, how difficult is the country to complete using the major catalog for that country. Second, how pricey is the material from that country? How much will it cost to complete (or at least make a strong representative collection).
Hardest Country to Collect Read More »