Stamps represent a form of a bearer certificate, like currency. The holder or bearer of a stamp is entitled to a certain amount of a service. In the United States, unlike every other country, this promise has been without time limit going back over 150 years. Every other country in the world has demonetized their […]
Another Example of US Exceptionalism Read More »
Kasimir Bileski, or as he was known professionally K. Bileski, was already a philatelic mainstay when I came into the stamp business in the 1960’s. Born of Ukrainian immigrant parents in 1908, Bileski’s philatelic career is in many ways instructive of how philately changed during the Twentieth Century. His biography is fascinating. He was truly a
Technological changes have produced greater changes in society and history than any other factor. Hard driving nomadic tribes existed across the Asian steppe for thousands of years, but when the technology of compound bows allowed the Hunnish cavalry to pierce Roman armor by arrow from a distance, the Western Roman Empire fell. And when gun
Stamps and Early Capitalism Read More »
Normally, technological changes reduce economic costs and create social benefits. But technological advances have not worked out very well for stamp collecting and not only in the more apparent ways. First, beginning in the 1950’s postage meters began to reduce the number of postage stamps that were used on letters. This reduced collectors
Technology Has Not Served Philately Well Read More »
In economic theory, zero sum games refer to activities in which the net is fixed and any gain for one party means a diminution for another. In medieval times agricultural yields were fixed so if the lord of the manor took more grain from his land, the peasants ate less. If your grandson takes a
Discipline should be one of the cardinal virtues (though it is related to fortitude which is one). Discipline is the ability to work, though rewards seem slim and to continue in a course of action when the fun and the initial glow begin to fade. It is the the skill that creates accomplishment, builds careers and marriages
Most philatelic Errors are printing errors-that is, errors that occur after the stamp plates have been created and are produced during the printing process. Such errors as inverts and errors of color are examples of errors of this type. There is another class of errors that are perhaps more interesting and are created by an error
Stamp shows have become rather hokey affairs in recent years. I remember taking the young woman who would later become my wife to the International show Interphil in 1976 and being proud to be part of a hobby that could boast an exhibition of tens of thousands of square feet with thousands of exhibition frames. True,