There is no more valuable substance in the world by weight and volume than original gum. Consider
Original Original Gum is the World’s Most Valuable Substance by Weight Read More »
Stamp theft, despite the scare stories that you sometimes hear, is really not much of a problem. We rarely have a customer inform us that his stamps were stolen and the APS’s stamp theft committee almost never sends out an advisory of a stolen collection. In the 1970’s stamp theft was more of an issue
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Confederate States regular issues consist of fourteen Scott issued stamps that were issued over a period of four years during which the Civil War was fought. There are only two scarce stamps, and both of these issues occurred when the Confederate States Post Office decided to change issues in 1863. The new stamps were originally printed
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For many years, few stamp collections required many steps to be taken for their security. Few were valuable enough for the average burglar to bother with, and even if damaged by fire, the low value of stamps in general meant that they were easy to replace. But the rise in philatelic values in the last
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When Rowland Hill invented the postage stamp, an integral part of his design was a “wash of mucilage applied to the back, which, when moistened would allow the stamp to adhere to paper.” In the very early years of stamp collecting, collectors primarily collected used stamps. After all, the reasoning went, why spend good money
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There are very few long term savings certificates that are tied to the rate of inflation, but several years ago the United States Post Office effectively issued an even better investment vehicle. With the “First Class Forever” stamps, the Post Office promised completely paid first class postage any time in the future. In 1960, the
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Almost from the very day that Philately began as a serious hobby, stamp collectors were plagued by forgeries. Forgeries exist in two types; those made for philatelic consumption and those produced to defraud the postal service of revenue (called postal forgeries). These postal forgeries are in nearly all cases not only very rare but highly
Russian stamps of the 1930s have always fascinated me. They are beautiful and well designed with friendly, internationalist themes, and yet they were issued by a vicious regime that was systematically exploiting its citizens and was highly militaristic in orientation. Another aggressive state of this period, Germany, at least was more honest about its goals
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The biggest mistake newer dealers make is the inventory trap. They go out, buy some stamps, and begin to resell them. Generally, they get very good prices for some of the things that they offer (“very good” defined as far more than they expected), good prices for some material, weaker prices for more, and no
Some Advice for eBay Seller Read More »