Stamp collecting has always been an International hobby, and there is no better example of this than the issue of measuring perforations. Europeans and Americans differ on how they take temperature (Celsius versus Fahrenheit) and distance (miles versus kilometers). But collectors all around the world use the same types of perforation gauges and count perfs […]
Stamp Perforations Read More »
Stamp Exhibitions began in the United States in 1888 when a small exhibit of stamps was included in the Boston meeting of the American Philatelic Association. Before that, stamp meetings were largely trading events with no formal displays. In 1889, J Walter Scott (of the catalog fame) organized the first major stamp exhibition at the
Plan to Visit New York International 2016 Read More »
The Althing is the parliament of Iceland and is considered to be the oldest Parliament in the world (though whether this is “continuous” or not is subject to some dispute). But the Icelanders are rightfully proud of their Parliament’s longevity and have publicized it on two 1930 sets which commemorated the one thousandth anniversary of
A Set Worth Buying Read More »
For many years we have been searching for a world wide expert who can expertize the entire non US world. For the US area there is the Philatelic Foundation but they really don’t do much with Foreign stamps. We wanted an expert who expertized a large number of countries and areas, who didn’t indelibly mark
A Wonderful Expert for your Foreign Stamps Read More »
A question that Americans are going to have to answer in the next few years is whether we want to keep our post offices open and have them continue their daily trips serving us all with mail. We have reluctantly made this decision with Amtrak. Rail travel is not a money maker but we have decided that the
Subsidies for the Postal Service Read More »
If there is ever a date that goes into history books to mark the demise of printed books in the battle with electronic information on the Internet, it may well be March 14, 2012-the day that The Encyclopedia Britannica announced that it was ceasing publication of its 20 volume annual edition. For nearly 300 years
Remembering Encyclopedias Read More »
The value of most United States stamps have been falling over the last twenty years. And the CPI has been rising. Critics have claimed that the CPI overemphasizes increases in food, fuel and housing (until the last few years at least). We have not understood that price increases have been commodity driven and that many existing goods and non commodity
Prices Don’t Always Go Up Read More »
Postal stationary has always languished in popularity. In the earliest years of our hobby most albums had spaces for Cut Squares (the stamp portion of a mint entire envelope cut away from the envelope and collected on its own). But with the exception of US and German Area philately there are few postal stationery collectors
Why Isn’t Postal Stationery More Popular Read More »
A remarkable aspect of philately is that unpopularity breeds further unpopularity. It is truly unusual to see a good collection of nearly any South and Central American country. Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and Cuba are exceptions, but for the other twenty or so countries that make up the rest of the southern Americas, collections that are
Why Some Philatelic Areas Stay Unpopular Read More »