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Philatelists today are apt to look askance at the new issue policies of many countries. Between 2005 and 2015 the United States issued over 1,100 different stamps. Did we really need that many? OK, maybe we did; after all we are a diverse nation of over 300 million people (with plenty of special interests that […]

Most collectors know the first philatelic story—Genesis of our hobby—the issuance of the Penny Black. Even more interesting is the story of Penny Black’s twin sister, the 1840 1 penny Official. Rowland Hill envisioned twin stamps, the Penny Black for public use and the Penny Black Official for Official use (then, as now, the government

Every discipline has a set of arcana that must be learned by those coming into the field. But often, new disciples mistake how much needs to be known in order to be pretty competent. In literature, every generation, since they first wrote, has been in agreement that Shakespeare, Austen, and Dickens have been among the best. Knowing

Argentinian stamps should be among the most popular in the world. Philatelic popularity is predicated on three things— the education level of the nation, its wealth, and the natural collecting/object acquisitive nature of the ethnic group that makes up the bulk of the people. This can be most clearly seen by comparing the world’s most active philatelic

The psychology behind price movements is interesting. When something is scarce on the shelves, we all move to buy it. When it is abundant, we all wait. The gold market has been a classic example of this. Philately, too, has had its speculations, price run-ups, and periods of quiescent markets, and as with other markets,

Every age has its greatest fears, and what the early twenty-first Century is most afraid of is boredom. Our world provides constant diversion. Nearly everyone under the age of thirty is perpetually texting and looking at their phone. My TV has over 700 stations (and still nothing to watch). Tired of the book you are reading? Amazon has literally

It’s hard to believe that over thirty years have passed since the first issuance of United States Plate Number Coils (PNC’s). These issues were created by the printing of the plate number on each roll of the plate. Most are very common; some are very scarce. However, they are legitimately made varieties, not issued for philatelists and

 Most fans of philatelic history— that is, the history of collecting stamps rather than the stamps themselves— have learned what they know through hands on work with stamps. There are very few books that retell the evolution of our hobby. Largely, it is learned by reading old journals, looking at old auction catalogs, and stamp

German stamps have always been among the most popular of collecting specialties. The German Area is vast philatelically and has typically been broken down into sub-specialties. Few collectors, especially native Germans, attempt it all. The philatelic breakdown is as follows: pre-German Confederation-States collecting, 1870-1930 Empire, and Wiemar Republic, 1930-45 Third Reich, and post 1945 Bundes