Most organized activities have their Halls of Fame, patterned after Cooperstown, baseball’s Hall of Fame. The American Philatelic Society, which has been the largest stamp collecting organization in the United States for over one hundred years, serves as the historical repository of philately in this country. The American Philatelic Research library is the largest useable philatelic […]
A hobby is not an academic discipline. Books and articles are written about hobbies, and millions of people may be devotees, but the origins of the hobby and the contributions of the earliest adherents of the hobby are not often remembered in philately. But if it wasn’t for the contributions of fewer than a dozen
Early Great Philatelists Read More »
The opening of the Panama Canal proved the military dictum that by expanding your borders you need to further expand your area of influence in order to defend those new borders. Before the canal, ocean traffic between the east and west coasts of the United States was either by ship (unloading at either Panama or
Danish West Indies Read More »
Glamor and money often go hand and hand in philately. Certainly the recent $2 million plus that a Hawaii cover sold for is impressive. Who doesn’t wish that they could own a piece like that? Yet countries that have great rarities as part of their main collecting body often face a drop off in terms
Interesting and Affordable Specialties Read More »
Little realized by philatelists now is the fact that postal stationery was intended, by the originators of postage stamps and the early postal agencies, to rival stamps in use. Post Offfices around the world liked postal stationery because the sizes of the envelopes issued were uniform and thus facilitated handling. Most countries so wanted to encourage use
Postal Stationery Read More »
The question of the popularity of philately has been one that every generation of collectors has asked. In the 1970s, the USPS and Linn
Is Stamp Collecting Gaining Popularity? Read More »
There have long been discussions among serious stamp collectors over how to best grow our hobby, and the discussion has usually tended to be dominated by those who favor outreach. They believe that a love of the hobby is learned, and by exposing school students and relatives to the pleasures of stamp collecting we plant
Immigration and Stamp Collecting Read More »
Apfelbaum’s corner has just reached its thousandth posting. All in all, there are nearly 500,000 words on all topics philatelic. The average novel is about 65,000 words; so this would make this series of articles some eight volumes in length. All the articles are different, and most are about philatelic issues and history that have
It is hard to overstate the importance of the Civil War
Civil War Philately Read More »