Printing technology was sophisticated enough for stamps to have been issued hundreds of years before 1840. But, philatelists are fortunate that stamps have been around for only 150 years. As it is now we have issues from nearly 2000 different political-philatelic subdivisions as recognized by Scott (and hundreds of more that are listed by world wide specialty catalogs). […]
Peace of Westphalia Read More »
Mei Lan who took the stage name Mei Lanfang was an opera and performance artist who has the philatelic distinction of being commemorated on the most valuable regularly issued world wide philatelic item (not an error or special issue) since World war II. The sheet itself is lovely and Mei is very deserving of the honor of commemoration.
Probably no stamp has shot up in value more than the 1980 PRC issue for the Year of the Monkey. Originally this new issue sold mint in the US for under a dollar and the last one we sold brought over $1500. Two factors have brought about this huge rise. The well known reason is
There are two main types of stamp collectors- I call them call goal collectors and process collectors. Goal collectors are more visible in the hobby as they are one who are actively out there buying and selling stamps, getting new things for their collections, and exhibiting. Goal collectors always know the next stamp that they need and
Two Types Of Collectors Read More »
In January, 2012 the price of sending a letter first class in the United States will rise from 44c to 45c. The increase of only a penny matches the smallest postage rate rise ever and on a percentage basis (a bit more than 2%) is the smallest percentage increase ever by a wide margin. Many
Postage Rate Change Read More »
The first issue of Jordan contains some very rare stamps. The entire Middle East was administered by the Turks as part of their Empire until the end of WW II. Turkey was on the wrong side of that war, supporting Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Accordingly, the British supported insurrectionary Middle east forces during WW
One of the fascinations of Postal History or cover collecting is the story involved in just about every item and the history it portrays. I reached into a box of covers we bought recently and at random picked out the cover pictured above. Here’s the story as best I can reconstruct it: The cover was
History is best understood on a continuum. WW II was not an isolated occurrence in world history but was the latest conflagration of centuries of territorial and tribal expansion across Europe. Beginning with the Gothic tribes pressing against the Roman Empire in the Second Century through German unification and the Franco Prussian War and WW
Stamps and Information Technology Read More »
There is surprising uniformity of color on early stamps. The first stamp, the Penny Black, was -wait for it- black but that was soon seen to be a mistake and within a year the color of the design was changed to what the English call red and which we would call a red-brown. This red brown became