Monthly Archives: March 2012

Grace and Calvin Coolidge were considered generous and gracious people. But little did they realize that the invitations that they sent out in 1927 had more than just the significance of being able to have cocktails with the President. On the White House stationary that was used for this invitation the President used a rare type II,Scott #634A which was a stamp variety that was not known immediately when it was issued and was no doubt used by accident on this invitation. A collector would have known instantly that he had gotten a real bonus with his invitation, but the recipient saved this because it was from the President not because she was a collector. It is interesting to note that this was probably an invitation to a political fund raiser as the President has the Free Frank for all official business and then, as now, only used stamps in sending mail for political functions. A political giver invited to the White House had to be a heavy hitter and

Remember how you organized your day was in 1970. Your clock radio alarm went off and you listened to a bit of news or some music while the percolator made coffee. The morning newspaper was at the front door and you read that before going off to work. At your office you did your professional tasks while looking forward to a date later that night with your Apfelbaum Auction catalog or Linns or whatever philatelic item would come in the mail that day. People's lives were compartmentalized and the change in this aspect of our lives is probably why you hear so little about conversations around the water cooler anymore. They no longer exist as the Internet age has let us have access to who and what we like, whenever we want. No more waiting to go home to read the news-it was reported today that 27% of people use their phones to get news updates numerous times per day. People no longer wait until they are off work to engage in philatelic matters-Stamp Auction Network reports its

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 the Althings founding in 930. These sets have always been popular not only among Iceland philatelists and Scandinavian collectors but among all stamp collectors who like well designed and printed stamps and who like good value for their money. Iceland has always been one of those countries that has enjoyed great philatelic popularity despite limited internal demand for their stamps. Iceland has less than 250,000 inhabitants which puts it, as a country, in the range of the city of Hialeah, Florida in terms of size. Like Monaco and Andorra, Iceland has had to rely on collectors outside its borders to maintain and increase demand for its stamps. It has done

One often sees discussions concerning repairs on lower priced stamps. While collectors do need to be careful about repairs and alterations it is important to remember that stamps are repaired for a reason and that reason is so they can be sold as non damaged items at higher prices than they would be otherwise. Thus repairing a stamp is an economic act, not someone engaging in an esoteric activity. I say this so that you'll keep in mind the two questions that reasonable philatelists ask when they are examining an item for repairs- Why and When. If a stamp has been in a collection for thirty years and was thought to be a cheap stamp thirty years ago why would anybody waste their time repairing or reperfing it. And when would they have done it?  Keep in mind that perforating pins on early Nineteenth Century stamps were not perfectly placed and even when they were, they could move over the course of thousands of cuts into stamp sheets.

Collectors either esteem or denigrate the earlier stamps of British Commonwealth and they do so for the same reason. From about 1890 to the QE II period (1953), the stamps of nearly all the Commonwealth colonies are the same-small stamps with a portrait of the reigning monarch (either Victoria, Edward, George V or George VI)-distinguished by stamp collectors by scores of varieties by monarch, denomination and watermark. Many find it very redundant. Others exhilarate in the variety on a simple theme. Some like Mahler. Some like Bach.  But several of the British Commonwealth colonies in the 1920s and 1930s experimented with change and collectors have rewarded these experiments with great collecting popularity. These countries (and Malta and  Jamaica come to mind immediately) withdrew from the Crown Agents printing and design group and began to plan their own stamps with themes that were germane to the politics and history of the particular Colony. These stamps and

The famous German hyperinflation period, to which we are often warned we are about to return, was now nearly 100 years ago. That this was a period before monetary theory and strong central banks. That nearly one hundred years have gone by without hyperinflation occurring in any major country hardly seems to matter when it comes time for hard money people trying to scare us. We have an interesting lot in our March auction that should help keep things in perspective. It is a collection of pristine mint Germany 1923 inflation period, over 50  sheets of 100 as collected from the Post Office, with a total face value of  over 50 Billion (with a B) marks. These sheets were demonetized in 1924 and the auction estimate is $250. I try to think of these sheets every time I see that gas has gone up another dime a gallon.

I am one of the least techno people around. I never learned how to use our VCR at home and when that technology was replaced I figured that I could wait out most innovations and never have to figure out how to use anything new. But about a year ago I got an Ipad and it was revelatory, so intuitive and easy and fast that I now carry mine around the house reading books, going online and responding to emails. All this is to say that if I can use the Scott catalog Ipad app, which is really just the Scott catalog downloaded on your Ipad, anyone can. Right now, Scott has the 2012 US Specialized catalog and the 2012 1840-1940 Classic catalog available as Ipad apps but they plan on issuing the full 2013 catalogs on Ipad as they are issued in hard copy format. This Ipad app is wonderful. The illustrations are great and movement between pages is fast. Imagine having the entire forty pound Scott catalog on your tiny Ipad to take to stamp shows or your friend's house

There are very few philatelic investments that are a sure thing and that have very small dealer markups going in and out. But buying "forever" discount postage is a winner. Right now you can buy discount "forever" first class postage rate stamps at about 86% of postage value. With the Post Office planning to raise the cost of sending a letter next year to 50c, this investment should show a 10% gain in one year. Since most dealers work on margins of about 10% on discount postage,the entire dealer markup cost will be gained back in one year, an occurrence almost unheard of in philately. Long term predictions of postal rates vary but its not unreasonable to assume that rates should go up in the 5%(or more) range for the next several years. And all the while you can be using the stamps on your mail. When I think of how much money people have invested and lost in United States postage over the last forty years the idea that there may be a way for people to finally make some money doing

Tiny islands have often assumed importance because of their geographic proximity to someplace of great economic value. Hong Kong became as important as it did because it was a British possession and practically Chinese at the same time. St Thomas in the American Virgin islands was purchased from the Danes to protect American shipping lanes to the Panama Canal in the event of military hostilities. And Malta, a small group of islands in the middle of the Mediterranean sea is halfway between the Straits of Gibraltar and Egypt. The British acquired Malta in 1814, as part of the spoils of the Napoleonic wars, and as a port and military installation, Malta was an integral part of the Empire. After the Suez Canal was built in 1869,  Malta became a key transit point on the way from Britain to India. Maltese stamps differ from the Crown Agents common design types that were issued for most Colonies, no doubt because the population and postal needs of the Colony could support stamps designed

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 this encyclopedia has been the first read for many people who begin to research a subject. The encyclopedia was put to rest by the Internet and Wikipedia, which has incorporated most of the eleventh edition (first published 1911)  in its entries. Stamp collectors have always found Britannica useful and I keep an old hundred year old set above my desk from the days when I used it for quick reference for towns, geography and autographs. Britannica held an exalted position among philatelists in years gone by. My grandfather, Earl Apfelbaum, was in a philatelic Britannica readers group. This group was made of people who claimed to have read the entire

De Tocqueville finished his famous book "Democracy in America" in 1840 the year that the first postage stamp was issued. Capitalism was in its adolescence and the jury was still out on whether as a system capitalism would produce wide ranging socioeconomic benefits or would just serve to enrich the few. De Tocqueville has a section where he talks about inheritances (volume 1, chapter 3) and it's clear that economics was thought of in those days as a zero sum game in which any gain to one party had the effect of reducing another. Stamps then were part of an enormous revolution of wealth brought about by technology and capitalism that not only has continually raised living standards and enriched the world but has changed the very nature of the social contract. We no longer see economic activity as a process that to benefit one party necessarily impoverishes another. An agricultural based economy, with finite land and crop yields, had only a set amount of wealth, which could be fought

There are several British Commonwealth countries that have always issued stamps with no regard for the Crown Agents traditions and issuing policy. Countries such as Australia and the Transvaal are examples of this. These are countries that have always placed  their own history and ethnology first when designing their stamps and philatelists have rewarded this independence with great popularity. Perhaps foremost in this regard is Papua New Guinea. The island nation has many interesting stamps and is greatly specialized in, especially the Lakatoi issues which come in many shades and printings. The 1920s set pictured above has always been a favorite. Showing scenes from the islands, they are exotic and beautifully engaved, true little pieces of art.