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Before confederation in 1870, Italy was made up of many independent states. Among the most prominent of these was the state of Tuscany which is the state where the city of Florence is located. Many of the world’s greatest rarities come from Tuscany, but a collector can obtain many of these stamps at a very […]

In the 1950s and 1960s, large stamp auctions were held much more often than they are today.  Stamp dealers could count on a two thousand lot Harmer’s sale every month along with a good half dozen other decent monthly stamp auctions. And that was only in New York City. Well capitalized dealers would often buy

Pope Francis’s visit to the United States has drawn attention to Popes and papal history. Francis himself has been pictured on many stamps (the United States Postal Services is the world’s only postal service adhering to the tradition of not picturing living people on its stamps), as have his recent predecessors. But the commemoration of

Philately is a hobby where you can turn off the modern world. And the collector who made the collection we are offering intact did just that. He collected by this edition of the 1897 Scott catalog. WONDERFUL NINETEENTH CENTURY COLLECTION of well over ten thousand different stamps in a pristine 1930 edition of the Scott

Millions of stamp collectors worldwide maintain new issue subscription services. Postal agencies avidly promote such subscriptions, where a collector signs up, lists his credit card, and then receives all of the new issues of the agency as they are issued. The price is usually face value plus a service fee and often, for foreign stamps,

Stamp separation isn’t something that most people, even philatelists, think much about anymore. But in its day it was a hot topic, combining technological concerns with ease of use and cost of production. The first stamps had no easy way to separate them. They were printed and not perforated, and scissors were needed to cut

Countries have been issuing postage stamps for over 175 years. The classic period of stamp issues are from 1840-1900. And the modern period is from 1960 until now. The Golden Age of philately encompasses the issues from 1900-1960. These are, for most countries, the most popular issues and usually the most interesting as well.  

Whales are near the top of everyone’s list of favorite animals. They’re beautiful and graceful, don’t bother humans, and, if they needed anything to enhance their appeal, they’re endangered. Smart and savvy, whales had been at the top of their food chain until about 1800 when humans developed the technology to keep sailing ships at

There are two main ways to collect stamps—by country or by theme. Until about 1960, collectors nearly always collected by country. The reason was simple: In the era before widespread commemoratives, there were few themes that had enough philatelic material to make collecting them enjoyable. Early popular thematics were Scouting, Red Cross, children’s welfare, and