The first American Philatelic Society certificate was issued a bit over a hundred years ago and it was for a US Occupation of Cuba issue. Following the standards of the time the certificate simply said that the stamp was genuine. The first certificates took their role as “certificates of genuineness” seriously. They said nothing about […]
Changes in Certification Standards Read More »
Postally speaking, the United Nations is an invention- an organization not a nation or political entity. The fact that it issues its own postage stamps and maintains its own postal service is a concession to the trappings of sovereignty (real political entities control their own post) and a revenue grab (UN stamps can be sold to
One of the most interesting philatelic areas is Danzig, now called Gedansk. Danzig is a city or rather city state on the shores of the Baltic Sea between Germany and Poland (which was long ruled by Russia) and part of its philatelic charm is in the many issues that were created as political control bounced
We have listed today our end of the year direct sale. In it are over 5000 lots available for your collection at the click of your mouse. There are lots of United States stamps, British Commonwealth including Canada and extensive General Foreign including collections and accumulations. Nearly $2 million dollars of sales value is included here
End Of The Year Buy It Now sale Read More »
The Lone Wolf was a detective series in the 1920’s about a high end burglar named Michael Lanyard who helped the police solve crimes. The series was written by Louis Joseph Vance and was made into about twenty movies in the 1930’s. I happened to see one recently on TCM entitled The Lone Wolf Keeps a Date.
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Linn’s is reporting this week that a collector in Sweden bought a cheap world wide collection at an auction and there was a rare syllabic character (plate number) on a 6 sen 1875 Cherry Blossom issue-rare to the tune of being worth perhaps $200,000 on a stamp that is otherwise only a few dollars. This
Check Your Albums Read More »
The Endowment Effect is a concept in behavioral economics which states that people tend to increase their idea of the value of an item depending on whether or not they are the owner. The Endowment Effect was first hypothesized by the economist Richard Thaler and is an example of a big name for an idea that
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Stamps were collected from 1840 onwards and within a few decades specialized collectors were trying to get their favorite stamps used on cover as well as off cover. But the earliest collectors collected both their stamps and covers only by country and it was not until about 1920 that the first thematic cover collectors came into being.
Hard as this is to believe, throughout the 1950’s the United States Post Office issued an average of ten stamps per year with a total face value of 30c. Last year there were over 150 issues with a $77 face value. When one is tallying up where collector dollars get spent it is hard to avoid wondering
The Cost Of US New Issues Read More »