Until about 1970 the vast majority of stamp collectors were world wide collectors. They often concentrated (mostly in this country in American and Canadian stamps) but the large majority of collectors in that generation maintained world wide collections as well, usually buying box lots. They sorted these box lots out over time adding to their […]
One of the more unknown and interesting areas to collect is the Koban issues of Japan. Unlike the first two Japanese issues which have been extensively forged (actually faked #1-8 of Japan are about ten times more common than the genuine, and forgeries of the second Japanese issue, called the Cherry Blossoms, are ubiquitous too),
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Many groups have little written history of their activities. Among literate societies this is because the group itself is considered tangential to what the people involved are doing or are trying to accomplish. Thus you have, for instance, hundreds of academic historians in this country writing about history and many writing about how to write history
Traditionally, most collectors of United States stamps have collected in a similar fashion. They collected the stamps after 1930 mint and in Very Fine NH condition. From 1900-1930 they collected mint as well but usually were content with hinged stamps and often lesser centering as well. Nineteenth Century was largely collected used by the vast majority
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Until 1970 the stamp market in the United States was mostly determined by the domestic market alone. Virtually all stamps, both US and Foreign, that were sold in this country were sold to domestic buyers. International travel was unusual and expensive, there was no Internet, and American philatelic auctioneers didn’t send many catalogs overseas. 1970
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One of the worse views of humanity is summed up in Leo Durocher’s famous line “Nice guys finish last”. Durocher was a major league baseball shortstop and manager and its not clear what in his life led him to this philosophy. Durocher was famously not a nice guy. He was a drinker, passer of bad checks, womanizer
Nice Guys Don’t Finish Last Read More »
In the aftermath of hurricane Sandy, people in our area felt firsthand the changes that the modern world has brought us and the dependence that we have on electricity. In our home the nights after the hurricane, after the lights went out, trying to read by candlelight, we had just an inkling of what life in