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One of the most idiosyncratic aspects of US philately is the collecting of plate blocks. Many countries have marginal plate numbers in the selvedges of the sheets of their printed stamps. Most United States stamps that were printed before 1894 had plate numbers in the selvedge, put there by the private printing contractor who printed […]

After confederation with Canada in the late nineteenth century, Newfoundland continued to issue its own postage stamps. The classics of Newfoundland are very scarce, but the stamps issued after 1900 are among the most popular in the hobby. Newfoundland used the American Bank Note Company to print its stamps, and it seems that a bit

Stamps played a big part in the communications revolution of the nineteenth century. Before the innovation of postage stamps, mail service was expensive and little used. In the United States in 1840, the per capita number of letters carried by the postal service was three. By 1900 the average person received nearly seventy letters. Before

German States stamps are synonymous with classic philately. Before 1870, what we today call Germany was a confederation of numerous independent states, ten or more of which operated their own postal services and issued their own postage stamps. From about 1850 on the German states issued stamps, and even the earliest collectors vied for them

Most American philatelists have only a loose understanding of Indian history. We know the India was a “British Colony” but are unaware that British rule was largely confined to major cities. Most of India was ruled by hundreds of Princely States, each with their own laws and rulers, pledging allegiance to Britain and allowing the

Before the mid-1860s, Italy was a confederation of a number of independent states. These states were independent countries, loosely confederated for defense purpose (when they weren’t fighting with each other), each with ruling families jealously guarding their independence (which usually meant sources of income). It is one of the major historical debates of the modern

Most of the rarest twentieth century US stamps are either coils or coil waste (“coil waste” are stamps that were prepared to be issued as coils, but later additional perforations were officially put on the stamps, and they were issued as regular postage stamps). Coils present an unusual problem for collectors in that they are

In stamp collecting, there are four “… and States” areas that are collected as cohesive collecting specialties and that have always had tremendous philatelic cachet. They are German States, Italian States, Indian States, and Australian States. Each area is enormously popular and avidly collected as part of classic philately. Each has its own collecting peculiarities,

When it comes to challenges, stamp collectors come in different sizes. Some are the Everest climbers—they collect US, a monumental climb with some 10,000 main varieties (as listed in the Scott specialized US catalog) and costing anywhere from a fortune on up. And some collectors like the bunny hills, collecting only modern new issues. But