2023-12 American Philatelist

LUNAR EXPLORATION

How One Experienced Collector Got What He Wanted When Selling His Stamps

Mystic has been serving collectors for over 95 years, so when longtime-collector Joe decided to downsize his large collection, he knew just where to turn. He called Mystic and their stamp buyer knew how to help Joe meet his goals. He listened to Joe’s concerns and gave him expert advice. Then he bought every stamp Joe wanted to sell and gave him payment on the spot.

After doing business with Mystic, Joe said: “[Your buyer]...helped me make some important decisions about a hobby that has been the focal point of my life for over 30 years. His advice was helpful of my needs to keep a small hand in the hobby for the future. And his immediate payment was as fair as I could expect.”

Why Experienced Collectors

Like Joe Recommend Mystic

When the time comes to sell your stamps, you can get the same service and high market value Joe did if you call Mystic first.

From your first contact, Mystic’s stamp buyers treat you with the professionalism and respect you deserve.

You’ll receive an offer for what your collection is really worth, even if you don’t know its true value. (One collector received over $90,000 from Mystic for a collection he only valued at around $10,000.)

When Mystic makes an offer, they don’t “cherry pick” your collection, taking only the best stamps

and leaving the rest for you to dispose of.

Mystic’s stamp professionals tell you the truth – so you can feel confident every step of the way knowing you’re getting honest answers from a dealer known for its integrity and small town values.

And whether you’re selling a private collection or a multi-million dollar dealership, Mystic pays you on the spot, so there’s no waiting for your money.

Plus it’s easy – your collection doesn’t have to be organized. And Mystic’s stamp buyers will pack up your stamps and move them – making the sale even more convenient for you.

Mystic Needs Your Stamps and Coins

Mystic has spent tens of millions of dollars to buy stamps and coins in the past five years, and still needs more to meet the needs of its collectors.

Mystic stamp buyers are looking for worldwide new issues, rare and high quality US and foreign stamps, US of all qualities, British and European colonies, China and all Asia stamps, accumulations and mixed collections, and entire dealer stocks.

Mystic also purchases coins, including gold and silver coins, mint sets, accumulations, and other collections.

When you’re ready to sell your stamps and coins, do what Joe did and contact Mystic first. You’ll be glad you did!

America’s Leading

Email: stamps@jerseypost.com or call us on +44 (0) 1534 616717 www.facebook.com/jerseystamps @JerseyStamps @JerseyStamps

AMERICAN PHILATELIST THE

December 2023

OVER THE MOON ABOUT THESE STAMPS

BY JIM ROTH

The United States produced 13 stamps over 51 years that directly connect humans with the exploration of the Moon. The stamps tell interesting tales of design, production, and promotion, all told via the thread of the U.S. space program and lunar exploration.

VACCINATIONS IN THE SMALLPOX ERA

BY DR. JAMES MILGRAM

Public health practices changed dramatically with the discovery and development of vaccinations. Letters and ephemera help tell this important story.

ON OUR COVER

SOME SPECIAL POSTAL HISTORY

BY TERENCE HINES

Stamps issued for special delivery in the United States were created to add a little something extra to the delivery service. A close look at covers bearing these stamps show numerous types of standard uses along with many unexpected uses.

PERSONAL PASSION BRINGS

AUTHOR TO IBRA

BY KENNETH GILBERT

The author writes about his trip to Germany – where he spent time as an exchange student – to attend and exhibit at IBRA ‘23, a large international stamp show with much to offer.

WHY COLLECT CZECHOSLOVAKIA?

BY JAMES A. BUCKNER AND KEITH HART

There are so many reasons to latch onto this small country (now divided) that carries deep history and packs a big philatelic punch. Political and technological changes over eras yield their own denominations, overprints, designs, and varieties.

THE LETTER OPENER

BY CHARLES EPTING

Ships, steamboats and steamships all played a part in transporting mail across waters. A cover’s markings help tell what kind of vessel carried a cover.

THE MARKETPLACE

BY MATT LIEBSON

There are some basic tricks to finding new material, along with some tricks to help you build your collection.

Designed by Chad Cowder, a U.S. stamp celebrating the Apollo 11 mission waves proudly on the surface of the moon.

Other Features

AMERICAN PHILATELIST THE

Since 1887 — The Longest Continuously-published Philatelic Magazine in the World

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF APS PUBLICATIONS

Susanna Mills, ext. 207 • smills@stamps.org

SENIOR EDITOR

Jeff Stage, ext. 221 • jstage@stamps.org

GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST

Chad Cowder, ext. 223 • CCowder@stamps.org

DIGITAL EDITOR

Nora Bryson, ext. 256 • nbryson@stamps.org

ADVERTISING SALES

Steve Schwanz

Fox Associates, Inc. 800-440-0231 x114 adinfo.theamericanphilatelist@foxrep.com

American Philatelic Society

American Philatelic Research Library

100 Match Factory Place • Bellefonte, PA 16823 814-933-3803 • 814-933-6128 (Fax) STAMPS.ORG • STAMPLIBRARY.ORG

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Scott English, ext. 219 • scott@stamps.org

DIRECTOR OF MEMBERSHIP

Wendy Masorti, ext. 218 • wendy@stamps.org

CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER

Jeff Krantweiss, ext. 216 jkrantweiss@stamps.org

GENERAL INFORMATION apsinfo@stamps.org

ADDRESS CHANGES & MEMBERSHIP INQUIRIES membership@stamps.org, ext. 201

DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION/ YOUTH/DIGITAL CONTENT

Eric Spielvogel, ext. 239 eric@stamps.org

DIRECTOR OF EXPERTIZING

Ken Martin, ext. 205 kpmartin@stamps.org

DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION SERVICES

Scott Tiffney, ext. 246 stiffney@stamps.org

DIRECTOR OF SALES

Carol Hoffman, ext. 270 stampstore@stamps.org

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT & DONATIONS

Amy Larimer, ext 225 • amy@stamps.org

SHOWS/EXHIBITIONS, ext. 209 stampshow@stamps.org

The American Philatelist (ISSN 0003-0473) is published monthly by the American Philatelic Society, Inc., 100 Match Factory Place, Bellefonte, PA 16823. Periodicals postage paid at Bellefonte, PA 16823 and at additional mailing offices. Price per copy $6.95. Canadian Distribution Agreement Number 40030959. Opinions expressed in articles in this magazine are those of the writers and are not necessarily endorsed by the society and/or the magazine. The American Philatelist cannot be responsible for the accuracy of any information printed herein.

Postmaster: Send address changes to: The American Philatelist 100 Match Factory Place, Bellefonte, PA 16823. ©2023, The American Philatelic Society, Inc.

13 Mint “Forever” Stamps Only $16.95

Did you know 13 different Liberty Bell Forever stamps were issued over a four-year period? If not, your collection is probably missing key varieties of this important issue.

Get the special collector’s set of 13 mint Forever stamps for just $16.95. Plus you get a FREE identifier and FREE shipping and guaranteed delivery. Strict limit of one set. Send today and you’ll also receive special collector’s information and other interesting stamps on approval. Your satisfaction is guaranteed.

13 Mint “Forever” Stamps

❏ Yes! Send me the 13 Mint Forever Stamps. Enclosed is $16.95. Strict limit of one special collector’s set. My satisfaction is guaranteed.

Quick order at MysticAd.com/5V115

BY Cheryl R. Ganz APS President cherylganz@yahoo.com

USPS Workers Put Stamp on Modern Collecting

During the holidays, we often reflect and give thanks for the many wonderful people and moments of the past year. I am grateful to the U.S. Postal Service for ensuring that we have masters of canceling at the Great American Stamp Show (GASS) and at Stamp Fulfillment Services (SFS) so that our first day covers, special event covers, and mailings have perfect postmarks.

If you have attended GASS and taken a cover to the cancelation booth, you have probably met Linda G. Mason and Jacquelyne J. Fletcher, clerks from Stamp Fulfillment Services. They have pictorial cancels, first day cancels, and circular date stamps as choices for you. They expertly hand cancel your chosen postmark, applying the precise amount of ink and pressure to create a lovely souvenir of the show for yourself or to send to friends.

The Postal Service brings Linda and Jacquey to GASS from the fulfillment office in Kansas City. I had the privilege of a tour of the SFS facility, and it is amazing.

The USPS is located 100 feet underground and about a half mile inside the subtropolis that is popularly known as “the cave.” This dug-out limestone underground business center houses about 50 firms in the bluffs of the Missouri River. The USPS began bringing stamps to this ideal climate location about 1982. The floors are tilted, many walls are rough stone, and personal Wi-Fi does not penetrate the cave. This is where online and catalog orders are filled, from receiving orders to packaging and shipping.

At the center, Linda and Jacquey have an open work center where they process postmark orders, hand cancel, and spread out covers to dry adequately. They see wonderful cachet artwork, often hand-painted designs. They have also canceled some unusual items, including a license plate, hubcap, corn hole board, baseball and bat, mini skateboard, My Little Pony toy, Hot Wheels car package, and rocks. At shows, they have even postmarked human arms and a forehead, with

stamps attached, of course!

Linda has 33 years of service with the USPS, and 27 of those in hand canceling! Jacquey has 30 of service, and eight years in hand canceling. Together, they have applied about 136,000 postmarks this year alone. In their careers, they have canceled many millions of covers! They enjoy attending stamp shows, and have fun meeting dealers and collectors. In the world of first day covers, everyone knows them by name. Next year, when you get to the front of the handcancelation line at GASS, say hello and thank you!

Jacquey Fletcher (left) and Linda Mason at work at Stamp Fulfillment Services in Kansas City. Note the limestone cave wall at left.

Our Story

BY Scott English Executive Director scott@stamps.org

End of Year News for the APS

McGill joins APS Board of Directors

At the October meeting of the American Philatelic Society Board of Directors, Steve McGill was appointed and confirmed as director-at-large. McGill replaces Matt Kewriga, who stepped down to focus on his new auction business. The term runs through August 2025.

McGill joined the APS in April 1998. He is an accredited APS philatelic judge and treasurer of the American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors. McGill has also been a regular instructor at the APS Summer Seminar on British philately.

McGill started collecting stamps as a child but took a break to raise a family and develop his business. He returned in the late 1990s, focusing on Great Britain, China, Russia, and portions of Scandinavia. He most recently took the grand award at Indypex 2023 for his “Britain’s Marvelous Machins” exhibit.

McGill’s business experience has been in the electronics and software industries, and he has an aerospace engineering degree from Georgia Tech and an MBA from University of California Berkeley. McGill’s wife, Louann, attends many shows with him, and they have three young adult children in California and Colorado. Welcome aboard, Steve!

Redefining our educational mission

At the board meeting, I also outlined how we’re redefining the education mission. We’ve outlined how we deliver education into three categories:

• Beginner Education (Stamp Chats, StampEd).

• Intermediate Courses (Collecting and Connecting Central Academy, a.k.a. C3a).

• Member Services (The American Philatelist, Newsletter, APS Website).

We have also defined four key goals for education services in 2024:

• Delivery without limitation, take an open-access approach.

• Consistency: deliver year-round instead of specific events.

• Available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

• Relevant to the needs of collectors.

Traditionally, most of our education activities have been in-person at stamp shows or our annual Summer Seminar in Bellefonte. Following the pandemic, surveys of members and other collectors show one of our most significant ser-

vice gaps is accessible education events. After careful evaluation, we’ve shifted our resources to more virtual events to reach broader audiences. This plan includes more regularly scheduled events throughout the year and more on-demand resources. We’re also developing a library of learning material aimed at beginner and intermediate collectors.

Unfortunately, we will not host the annual Summer Seminar in 2024. That’s not an end to in-person courses, but we will change how we deliver those services. Our team is working on a year-long program at this writing, but we will roll out those plans to the membership in the weeks ahead. If you’re interested in helping develop educational programs with the APS, please contact our Education Department at education@stamps.org.

Alfred F. Kugel estate

In August, we released a request for proposals to sell the philatelic holdings of Al Kugel, who passed away in 2022. Al’s collection of military postal history from around the world served as material for his numerous articles and more than 100 exhibits. An estate appraisal estimated the value at $1.8 million, but subsequent reviews suggest the collection could sell for more.

We received seven proposals to sell the material, and the APS board reviewed the responses in October. We narrowed the field of bidders and sent a formal request for clarifications and further information with a response deadline of November 30. Our Joint Finance and Audit Committee will review the final proposals and make a recommendation to the APS Board. Once the APS Board selects a proposal, we will finalize the contract details and announce the final decision to APS members. We expect an announcement in January 2024.

Given the size and complexity of Al’s three pallets of material, we expect multiple sales spanning at least two years or more. We will work with the firms to actively promote the sales to APS members and report the outcomes in future journal issues. Our other objective is to honor the legacy of Al Kugel for future generations, and through this sale, we will highlight his collection and work. Our library staff is working to scan Al’s exhibits, and we will work with the Military Postal History Society to share Al’s exhibits online.

The sale proceeds will go to the Joint Capital Fund for long-term maintenance of the American Philatelic Center and investment in technology needs.

Have Tongs, Will Travel!!

BY CAR

BY BUS

BY TRAIN BY PLANE

We Want to Visit!! We Want to Buy!!

“SELLING

A STAMP COLLECTION SHOULD BE A REWARDING EXPERIENCE.”

The “BEST SALE” is when the buyer will personally visit your city and view your collection. The dealers listed below will travel to “any city” to view appropriate holdings.

UNFORTUNATELY

many collections in the $2,000.00 to $20,000.00 range do not economically justify the time and expense for a professional buyer to travel long distances to personally view your collection.

WE OFFER A SOLUTION:

Each dealer listed below has designated a state, and region, he will make every effort to personally visit. Contact that dealer direct and discuss your collection and options.

YOUR GUARANTEE:

While each dealer listed is an independently owned business, all are members of either the ASDA or APS (most - both), insuring fairness and integrity in purchasing your collection.

If you lIve In: Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New England, New Jersey, New York and Canada

Call or WrIte: Randy ScHoll

Randy ScHoll STaMP co. 7460 Jager Court | Cincinnati, OH 45230

Email: randyscholl@fuse.net Phone: (513) 624-6800 www.randyschollstampcompany.com

If you lIve In: Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, South/North Dakota, Missouri, New Mexico, Wisconsin

Colorado and Arkansas

Call or WrIte: coinS, STaMPS ’n STuff llc

JeRRy KoePP

P.O. Box 42037 | Urbandale, IA 50323 1-847-778-5519

If you lIve In: California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Oregon and Washington

Call or WrIte: neWPoRT HaRboR STaMP

P.O. Box 3364 | Newport Beach, CA 92659 (800) 722-1022 (Dave) newportharborstamps@gmail.com

If you lIve In: North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Virginia

Call or WrIte: Randall T. ScRibneR PRM enTeRPRiSeS, inc. 10700 Hickory Ridge Rd. | Harrisburg, NC 28075 Phone: (704) 575-2795 E-mail: scrib1@yahoo.com Coins also wanted

Editing Philately

BY Susanna Mills Editor-in-Chief of APS Publications smills@stamps.org

A Buffet Spread of Interesting Topics

The December issue is a smorgasbord (or a smorgie, as my late grand-uncle used to call it) of delightful articles on topics around the world. As I recently visited the largest smorgasbord buffet in the U.S., conveniently located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, I feel uniquely qualified to compare each article with a smorgie dish. (Yes, I am writing this right before Thanksgiving weekend).

We begin with fried chicken, the only thing my father ate at the Lancaster smorgie (defeating the purpose of a buffet). “A Small Stamp for a Moon” by Jim Roth is a delicious walk through the stamps issued in the U.S. to celebrate humankind’s exploration of the moon. Jim brings in a fantastic set of accompanying materials to showcase early stamp designs, special covers canceled in space, and ephemera related to these lunar stamps. I chose fried chicken to represent this article because I love them both.

Next, Swedish meatballs, another one of my favorite dishes. Terence Hines writes on “Special Delivery Stamps,” specifically, uses of special delivery that fall outside of the norm. With more than 25 unusual uses explained in full, Terence gives us a hearty understanding of this kind of mail usage throughout the 20th century.

Chicken pot pie is next, essential in a buffet dinner. James Buckner and Keith Hart represent the Society for Czechoslovak Philately, an APS affiliate, in their article “Why Collect Czechoslovakia?” The philatelic eras of Czechoslovakia are tied together here with the political conflicts and historical eras from October 1918 (when the Czechoslovak Republic was declared) until post-1993 and the present (the break of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and the Republic of Slovakia). We love to work with APS affiliates on articles like this, to introduce other collectors to new areas of specialization and spark their interest in collecting a new country.

The bar of accoutrements is what makes a smorgie special – various homemade pickled vegetables, sauces, delightful little seafood salads – and thus I declare this to be James Milgram’s article “Tracing the Beginnings of Genuine Vaccination.” Jim has amassed wonderful examples of ephemera related to the earliest days of inoculation and vaccination against the smallpox virus, about the pioneers in New England who worked against the odds to not only make a societychanging discovery but actually make it marketable to 19th century Americans.

Finally, we get to dessert, in my case apple pie. Dessert here means an article from Kenneth Gilbert about his experience recently attending IBRA ’23 in Germany. This is in some regards a companion to our October issue’s articles about the present and future of organized philately, from international and national shows to the state of local clubs. Ken comments on the show, international exhibiting, and some things that IBRA did that are unique.

Now that we’re all sufficiently hungry, I’ll wish you all a very happy holidays, safety and good health for you and your families, and good cheer as we move into the new year! StampEd, a new magazine

2024 is going to be an exciting year for the APS, especially for us in the editorial department. As has been mentioned before in this column, we are launching a brand-new, quarterly, digital magazine, StampEd. StampEd is an outreach project to the wide world of collectors out there who aren’t members of the APS – specifically, the younger generations, newcomers to the hobby, the digital-savvy, the online collecting community, and the people who are interested in stamps, or in traditional mail, or design, or history, but haven’t made the leap into organized philately. StampEd is all about telling stories that will reach and fascinate people

PRESIDENT Cheryl Ganz cherylganz@yahoo.com

BOARD OF VICE PRESIDENTS

Mark Banchik mebanchik@gmail.com

Greg Galletti unstampz1@gmail.com

Yamil Kouri yhkouri@gmail.com

SECRETARY

Peter P. McCann ppm103226706@aol.com

TREASURER

Kathryn (Kathy) Johnson kjj5217@gmail.com

DIRECTORS-AT-LARGE

Elizabeth Hisey lizhisey@comcast.net

Michael Cortese mc@noblespirit.com

Steve McGill steve.mcgill@comcast.net

Evan (Van) Siegling sieglinge@yahoo.com

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT Robert Zeigler Ziggy_Travesty@yahoo.com

STAMP THEFT COMMITTEE

Nicholas A. Lombardi P.O. Box 1005 Mountainside, NJ 07092 stamptheft@stamps.org

APS INSURANCE PLAN

Hugh Wood Inc., 220 Match Factory Place Bellefonte, PA 16823

Toll Free: 888-APS-6494

Phone: 212-509-3777 Fax: 212-509-4906 aps@hughwood.com

ADDRESS CHANGES CONNECT ONLINE To change your address online visit stamps.org and log into your My APS account. Or mail your new address information to APS, 100 Match Factory Place, Bellefonte, PA 16823 (Fax: 814-933-6128). Please try to give us four weeks’ notice. You can also add an e-mail address or website to your APS record.

#PR98. 1894 60¢ Pink Newspapers & Periodicals Issue, Mint, Fine to Very Fine Looking, PF Certificate #542119 Notes “Previously Hinged, Thin Spot at Bottom, and Horizontal Crease.” Rare and Attractive.

Scott $40,000

Our List Price $16,000 Ad Price $13,500

#184. 1879 1¢ American Bank Note Imprint & No. 347 Plate Block of 14, Mint, Never Hinged, Extremely Fine, an Amazing Piece of Postal History, as Fresh as the Day it Was Printed, with PF Certificate #261826. Scott Value as Singles $3,550 Our List Price $5,500 Ad Price $4,350

#RW72b. 2005 Hunting Permit “Duck Stamp” Souvenir Sheet, Artist Signed in Black, Mint, Never Hinged, An Extremely Fine to Superb Beauty!

#294a. 1901 Pan-American 1¢ Green & Black with Inverted Center, Used, Nice Looking with Faults, Super Scarce, with PF Certificate #66416.

Scott $25,000 Our List Price $7,900 Ad Price $6,750

Our List Price $2,150 Ad Price $1,650 #610a. 1923 2¢ Harding Issue Horizontal Pair Imperf Between, Mint, NH, Small Thins, Scarce, From the Only Pane, with PF Certificate #1433962. Scott $2,000 Our List Price $1,400 Ad Price $1,225

#261A. 1894 $1 Black Type II, Mint, XXLH, Extremely Fine in Jumbo Margins, Fresh, with PF Certificate #432073 Grading it XF 90 OG PH.

SMQ $4,000 Our List Price $4,500 Ad Price $3,450

#R116. 1871 60¢ Blue & Black Documentary Revenue Second Issue, Mint, No Gum, Rich Color, Full Perfs All Around, with PF Certificate #327324. Our List Price $1,000 Ad Price $850 #255. 1894 First Bureau Issue 5¢ Chocolate, Mint, Never Hinged, Extremely Fine, Rich Color, with PSAG Certificate #582073

#Q10. 1913 50¢ Carmine Rose Parcel Post, Mint, XLH, Superb, A Beautiful Stamp with PSE Certificate #1262499 Grading it Superb 98 OG PH.

SMQ $1,200 Our List Price $1,295 Ad Price $1,100

outside of the APS community, and helping them to become more confident, well-informed collectors.

StampEd will launch in February 2024. Go to https:// stamps.org/stamped-info and enter your email to stay informed about the new magazine, and share the link with your friends, family, fellow club members, and online community. We need your help to spread the word and share the new magazine widely. More details will be forthcoming on stamps.org this month and in January as we get closer to the magazine’s launch.

2024 editorial calendar

In 2024, we’ll be publishing the following themed issues. We invite you to take a look and see if any inspire you as an author. Please note that some issues are already filled and we cannot accept further submissions; please reach out at AParticle@stamps.org with a proposal or call me at 814-9333803 ext. 207. I’ll be glad to talk to you about your article idea.

January – General Topics

February – Military Mail

March – Art & Design of Stamps

April – Collecting Your Hometown Philately

May – U.S. Classics

June – Trains & Railroad Philately

July – General Topics & GASS Show Issue

August – Fakes & Forgeries

September – Topical Collecting

October – UPU Anniversary & Notes on Auctions

November – German Empire

December – Cinderellas & General Topics

Advertising for The American Philatelist, the GASS Show Program, the Philatelic Literature Review, and the new magazine StampEd is available for the new year. See https:// stamps.org/services/advertising or call Steve Schwanz of FOX Associates at 800-440-0231 for more information about advertising.

Buyer beware – tell your friends

Raise of hands – how many of you have seen discounted U.S. postage being advertised on social media platforms, like Facebook or Instagram?

The holidays are scammers’ favorite time to take advantage of unsuspecting customers, convincing us to buy first class postage at a discount to send our holiday cards and newsletters to family and friends. It always looks like a great deal – a 50% discount or more from the current $0.66 price.

Counterfeit stamps sold on high discount on Etsy.

 Continued on page 1084

Photo of a Facebook ad from Wayne Youngblood's presentation on counterfeits.

“When a collector finally disposes of his stamp collection it may seem like parting from a long time friend – perhaps one of a lifetime. When you choose to deal with Dr. Friedman and his sons you will realize that here are people who will look at and appreciate your every page and know exactly how you felt as you added to your collection. It’s easy to see why almost all of their offers are accepted because they are more than fair, they are generous. You will not feel that it has been an ordeal, but a pleasure. There will be no need to look elsewhere.”

Donald Polhemus, M.D. Novato, CA

Do you wish an immediate response?

2029 West 75th Street • Woodridge IL 60517

Free: (800) 588-8100 • Fax: (630) 985-1588 Visit our website: www.drbobfriedmanstamps.com Email: stampcollections@drbobstamps.com

But invariably the discount postage is counterfeit and could put your mail at risk of being thrown out.

In early 2023, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) announced new regulations declaring that mail using counterfeit postage would be considered abandoned. The USPS can remove from circulation, open, or destroy any mail bearing counterfeit postage. Mail bearing counterfeit postage has no guarantee of reaching its destination, and the sender could have no idea that their letters were taken out of the mail stream.

The advertisements and websites offering discount stamps often use the USPS logo or pretend to be affiliated with the USPS; we’ve also seen an advertisement using an image of Executive Director Scott English from an official first day of issue ceremony. The fake stamps are very difficult to distinguish from genuine U.S. postage stamps, even for stamp collectors.

People are being fooled into buying counterfeit stamps at an alarming rate. It’s our job as collectors who know the truth and risks of discount postage scammers to keep our friends and family informed. Let them know: The easiest and surest way to protect yourself is by purchasing from trusted sources.

Remember:

• The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and its retailers never sell discount postage.

• The current price for first-class Forever stamps is $0.66, with a rate increase to $0.68 on January 21, 2024.

• Genuine Forever stamps are always valid first-class postage regardless of the price paid at the time of purchase - so buy as many as you’d like now.

• You can buy online directly from the U.S. Postal Service at www.usps.com.

• In a hurry? Purchase in person from a nearby post office or approved postal provider.

If you encounter an ad or website selling discount/counterfeit stamps, report it to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service via email at PostageFraudReporting@uspis.gov or visit the U.S. Postal Inspection Service website. It takes just five minutes to fill out the report.

Statement of ownership management, and circulation from PS Form 3526 (as required by 39 U.S.C. 3685):

1. The American Philatelist 2. 0002-2700 3. November 2, 2023 4. Monthly 5. 12 6. $45 7. American Philatelic Society, 100 Match Factory Place, Bellefonte, PA 16823 8. American Philatelic Society, 100 Match Factory Place, Bellefonte, PA 16823 9. Publisher Scott English and Editor Susanna Mills, American Philatelic Society, 100 Match Factory Place, Bellefonte, PA 16823 10. American Philatelic Society, 100 Match Factory Place, Bellefonte, PA 16823 11. None 12. Has not changed in preceding 12 months 13. The American Philatelist 14. October 2023 15a. 23,457:23,758 15b(1). 23,118:23,519 15b(2). 0:0 15b(3). 0:0 15b(4). 0:0 15c. 23,118:23,519 15d(1). 0:0 15d(2). 0:0 15d(3). 0:0 15d(4). 39:39 15e. 39:39 15f. 23,157:23,558 15g. 300:200 15h. 23,457:23,758 15i. 99.83%:99.83% 16a. 1,876: 1,903 16b. 24,994:25,442 16c. 25,033:25,461 16d. 99.84%:99.85% 17. December 2023 18. Susanna Mills, Editor-in-Chief

Rocky Mountain Philatelic Library

Stamp and Cover Auctions http://www.rmplauctions.org

Next auction closes

February 22nd at noon, MST No Buyer’s Premium

Stamps, stationery, postal history, die proofs from around the World. Send a note of your interests and we’ll advise you of suitable items we have. If in London, please visit our offices and browse our stock. Have you visited our DELCAMPE STORE?

All items listed are F/VF or better OG NH. We do stock VF to SUPERB examples and have other varieties, so ask us or see our website: www.MALACK.com

We have a large stock of plate blocks, position and plate collectors contact us for special numbers or positions. We are sure we can help you out.

1, Wardour Street London W1D 6PA Great Britain

Phone: 011-44-20-7930-6100

Fax: 011-44-20-7494-2881

E-mail: philatelists@argyll-etkin.com Website: www.argyll-etkin.com

1938 PRESIDENTIAL ISSUES

All items listed are F/VF or better OG NH. We do stock VF to SUPERB examples and have other varieties, so ask us or see our website: www.MALACK.com

All items listed are F/VF or better OG NH. We do stock VF to SUPERB examples and have other varieties, so ask us or see our website: www.MALACK.com We have a large stock of plate blocks,

We have a large stock of plate blocks, position and plate collectors contact us for special numbers or positions. We are sure we can help you out.

We have a large stock of booklets and panes, we have an extensive inventory of booklets and panes with plate numbers. Contact us for what you need.

We have a large stock of booklets and panes, we have an extensive inventory of

Singles, Plates, Sheets, Booklets and Panes!

Letters to the Editor

A sonnet for our hobby

I asked Google Bard to write me a sonnet about stamp collecting and this is what I got:

Sonnet for Stamp Collecting

Oh, stamp collecting, hobby of my heart, Thy tiny treasures fill my days with glee. From every corner of the globe, they start, A testament to human history. Each stamp a story, told in ink and hue, Of cultures ancient and of lands afar. A glimpse of worlds I’ve never seen, but true, A bridge to worlds beyond my earthly bar. From humble postage to the rare and prized, Each stamp a work of art, so delicate. Their colors vibrant, their designs devised, A feast for eyes, a joy to contemplate. Oh, stamp collecting, more than just a game, A journey through the ages, all the same.

I hope you like it!

John Swenson Carlsbad, California

[Editor’s note: Bard is Google’s experimental, conversational, AI chat service, according to the ZDNET website. It is meant to function similarly to ChatGPT, with the biggest difference being that Google’s service will pull its information from the web. – Jeff Stage]

Digital is the way to stay vital I recently turned 85 years of age which puts me solidly in the APS demographic majority. Attending stamp shows has no appeal to me since I rarely drive or fly anywhere these days. Additionally, large and/or crowded show venues create problematic mobility issues. Stamp clubs are also problematic. Clubs are no longer very numerous especially since COVID-19 closed many down and they did not re-open.

Clubs also have transportation and mobility obstacles for seniors. I believe digital initiatives are the way to go. Many senior collectors are retired academics with computer training. Computer literacy among the young and not so young is pretty extensive in schools and in the workforce. The pandemic made Zoom part of most households and companies.

If philatelic societies, stamp shows, and stamp clubs are to survive, they must have a digital component and a social media presence. It is the only way to attract younger collectors and it would be helpful to the senior citizens of the philatelic world.

Joseph A. Giacalone, PhD

Smithtown, New York

Haimann showed how innovation can move hobby forward

Alex Haimann did superlative work on his article, “Clash of Empires: The 1879 Anglo-Zulu War” published in the October edition of The AP. He deserves much praise and recognition. Alex’s many years of dedicated effort has connected the stamp hobby with history, culture, heritage, as well as an epic battle, through use of the internet and print media.

Those who were unable to travel to London can access the exhibit through either YouTube or the Royal Philatelic Society London, and an exhibit book is available through the society. Internet views are likely to soon exceed 1 million.

The foundation of the stamp hobby remains firm and sound. Alex’s efforts have shown how innovation and new ideas can help it grow.

Additional thanks and appreciation to columnist Matt Liebson (“The Marketplace”) for keeping the topic of stamp grading alive. Grading has largely solved the problem of authentication and alterations for the coin hobby. It has not entirely solved the controversy over the grade assigned, but has significantly reduced the area for disagreement. It can do

the same for the stamp hobby.

Innovation and new ideas will help the stamp hobby grow and flourish. Keep up the good work!

Benjamin J. Trichilo Oakton, Virginia

Looking closer at third party and numerical grading

Matt Liebson’s “Marketplace” column in October is an interesting piece and it’s good to see some responsible writing with some wise comments. I would like to add a few points, ones I think are well justified from experience, from what can be seen in online marketplaces and which may be of value to collectors.

Numerical grading is, as was noted, more than just centering. Sadly, in the U.S., it would seem numerical grading has become synonymous with centering. Other aspects of condition quality are missed, certainly by some sellers. That can be proven time and time again to be true if one looks at certain online marketplaces.

I agree you should pay a higher price for a graded stamp when centering is part of that grading assessment, but surely collectors are not gullible enough to believe all the hype and pay 100 to 800 times catalog retail for a stamp that is described only with a numerical grade for the centering, but still has tone spotting, or bends, or short perfs? Surely not!

It would appear some sellers think collectors will pay inflated prices and the practice of listing such material seems to be endorsed by the marketplace, thus, perhaps, adding credibility to the grading-by-centering mantra.

Of course, the marketplace is not doing anything to stop or monitor listings that breach their own terms and conditions because that would reflect on their commissions; the grading resources are not doing anything to control or take sensible action because that would affect their revenues, and sellers certainly won’t take a responsible and ethical position for the same financial reason.

Someone said, if you don’t like the graded stamp price, don’t buy it. That is not the answer, because it does not answer the question, “do collectors fully understand what is happening in this aspect of collecting?” Exactly, as said in Liebson’s closing remarks, “… buy the stamp, not the grade ...” and “collectors should make their own assessment of a graded stamp.”

Wise words, but, dear collector, look around and see the prices for other copies of that stamp you want for your collection. Most likely, you will find it without a description focusing on centering or numerical grading by centering. Most likely, you will find an excellent copy at a fair price. Others are doing just that and buying the stamp from honest sellers who sell at realistic and fair prices, then marking the stamp up 5, 10, 20 or more times with a description statement focusing on centering and trying to take your money as a gullible collector. I am not making that up. It is a fact.

Caveat emptor, maybe, but surely we should all be acting

more responsibly as players in this wonderful hobby?

Michael Dodd

The Philippines

No sense in raising minimum values in catalogs

A recent letter to the editor suggested increasing Scott minimum catalog values to $1.

This is a BAD IDEA.

Minimum value stamps are not worth a dollar. Most of them are common, and are sold in bulk as lots or by weight. Raising the minimum value would make new and non-collectors believe that they have valuable stamps. They would be very disappointed when they tried to sell them.

I think the Scott catalog sets the minimum at 25 cents so that it doesn’t have to decide if a stamp is worth 5 cents, 10 cents, or 20 cents. It should either keep the minimum as is or reduce it to 20 cents.

John Gyori

Bound Brook, New Jersey

Minimum catalog value should be lowered, not raised

Two pieces in the October edition of The American Philatelist deserve comment. In a letter, Phil Schick says that the Scott catalogs should increase the minimum catalog value of stamps from 25 cents to $1. I think this is a terrible idea. Even the 25-cent minimum value is a bad idea. The minimum value should be 1 penny. Super common stamps will always be worth only a penny or so. Increasing the minimum value to $1 would badly mislead non-collectors about the value of stamps.

On a different topic, Steve McGill says in his article “Getting Started with Philatelic Exhibiting” that “an exhibit is not a collection, but a story.” Other commentators have said that an exhibit is not an article. The details that would produce “an interesting story line” belong not in an exhibit but in an article or a book. An exhibit needs to be logically organized but such organization need not constitute a story.

Terence Hines

Carmel, New York

What happens after collection is sold?

I have enjoyed many articles and comments from others over the years. There have been a number of articles written giving us some insight when selling our collections to dealers. But I haven’t noticed any articles on what happens after the sale. That is, with large amounts of money that can be acquired when selling, what obligations do we need to take into account when reporting our sells on tax forms?

I’m sure the dealer must report to the IRS their transactions on the buy, especially if over a certain amount. If I’m not mistaken, collectibles were taxed at 33 percent at one time. Is this true when selling our collections? Are they considered collectibles?

We can deduct the purchase price of our stamps, but how many of us retain our cost basis over the many years of collecting. An in-depth, insightful article discussing the ins and outs of what is expected on the seller’s part after the sale would be very helpful and informative.

Gary Buechner

Spokane, Washington

[Editor’s note: We welcome comments from tax experts who might be willing to share some basic guidelines to editor@stamps.org. - Susanna Mills]

Reaching out in public places

I read with interest the letter from Rajeev Pandey in the November edition of The American Philatelist regarding displaying postage stamps on related and interesting topics at various local and civic venues. For several decades our club has set up displays of Christmas stamps from around the world at local libraries. More recently we have prepared a similar display of just U.S. issued Christmas stamps.

In 2016, when Canada issued a very large uncut press sheet of a snarling, drooling, T-Rex, I could not resist the urge to prepare a poster of dinosaur stamps from around the world. Besides the libraries, every elementary school within three counties surrounding our Clarke County have displayed it in their media centers to the joy of students and teachers alike. Whenever it is displayed there is an upswing in books checked out on dinosaurs.

One school recently asked for its return to highlight its “Dinovember” book theme. The stamps are placed in Vario stock sheets that are inserted into archival plastic sheet protectors. These are mounted on a foam board (30 inches by 40 inches) with double-sided Scotch tape. The stock sheets can easily be removed for re-arranging the stamps. A clear

Plexiglass sheet of the same size, from the local hardware store, is placed over the foam board and secured with small bolts around the edge. This insures no unwanted hands/fingers reach the stamps, although none I display have any high value. The board is then attached to a posterboard stand with wire so the whole display is one unit. I have had no problems with attempts to remove the display.

Countries have recently issued a plethora of astronomyrelated stamps and I have made another topical display of “Space Related Stamps,” which includes ancient and modern observatories, astronomers, constellations, planets, eclipses, comets, telescopes, etc.

Very exciting and interesting displays of postage stamps can foster interest in a topic and even possibly gain new members for your club.

Maurice Snook

Vice President, Athens (Georgia) Philatelic Society

Athens, Georgia

A new collecting label

I enjoyed your stamp and coin issue! One of the things I collect is coins on stamps. Does that make me a “philatnumatist” or something?

Don Schilling

Burbank, California

Children check out a special Dinosaurs poster created by the Athens Philatelic Society and placed at a local school library.

UPA VIP Series … British Post Office Swap-Shop

Because Collectors are seldom treated as Very Important Philatelists (VIP’s) UPA is paying for this ANNOUNCEMENT

If You Collect Great Britain QE2 IGNORE THIS AT YOUR PERIL ...

UK ‘New Issue’ Decimal Machins to be Invalidated... ACT NOW

If You Wish to protect the value of Your surplus

MINT regular British QEII Decimal Stamps Act Now –

COST / LOSS IMPLICATIONS FOR COLLECTORS ?

SERIOUS

There’s Still Time If You Act NOW – Everybody knows that prices of NEW ISSUES are under-pinned by the ‘face value’ printed on the stamps because the face value signifies the amount of ‘service’ that the issuing Post Office is liable to provide.

Imagine MINT United States stamps suddenly becoming invalidated … well that is precisely what is happening in the UK … Even before the untimely demise of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth 2 the British Post Office announced that the regular small decimal Machin Queen’s Head series issue will be invalidated.

Now You may be thinking “so what ?” – that will make my stamps more valuable. We urge you to think again because the amount of MINT BRITISH QE2 regular Machin stamps on the market issued over the past 50 years is H U G E

Nobody can predict the future – but we urge you to DO this now if you have quantity of MINT DECIMAL Stamps suitable for ‘postage’ … because after January 2023 these stamps will be invalidated. PLUS – bear in mind that the market is ever-moving backwards to quality classic stamps that they aren’t printing any more – Bear in mind that some modern GB collections have $1,000’s / £1,000’s face value … So, here’s where you go to check this out NOW: https://www.royalmail.com/sending/barcoded-stamps Or simply Google: Post Office Swap Shop

And here’s where you go if you collect Classic British and British Empire Stamps, USA Foreign - nobody can invalidate them: FREE 20,000+ Auction Lot Catalogue + 1st US$60 FREE Introductory Offer when you win stamps in excess of $85 (GBP£75):

There’s Still Time If You Act NOW: https://www.upastampauctions.co.uk/catalogue-request/ Or simply Google: UPA Stamp Auctions FREE Catalogue

[Editor’s note: That’s a fun moniker! You won’t catch me trying to say it out loud, though. – Susanna Mills]

Update regarding ‘The Digital Age for Springfield Stamp Club’

I am writing to provide an update to the article written by Kevin Hans concerning the digital age at the Springfield Stamp Club that appeared in the October issue of The American Philatelist.

In the year that has passed since Kevin originally wrote the article, our club has seen impressive results from our new website. We have recruited 16 new members, two of whom have assumed the roles of publicity chair and awards breakfast chair for our club’s annual stamp show, SPRINGPEX.

The new website has resulted in several dozen individuals contacting us for advice concerning what to do with an inherited stamp collection. While we do not do appraisals, we do provide guidance on how to safely store philatelic material, approaches to selling to a dealer, and options for charitable donations. As a result, a considerable amount of material has been donated to our club, which we place in our monthly auction or use in our youth program.

We strongly encourage local stamp clubs to invest in their website to raise awareness of their club and our great hobby.

David

Baron President, Springfield Stamp Club Springfield, Virginia

Errata NOVEMBER

Page 999. International Reply Coupons were created in 1906, not 1874 (when the Universal Postal Union was created).

Page 1015. The U.S. Haym Salomon stamp (Scott 1561) was issued in 1975.

Page 1030. Author Ladd Faszold’s name was inadvertently left off his article, “Hidden Treasure.”

AUCTIONS

Pondering the criteria for selecting U.S. stamp subjects

Should Nat Turner be honored on a stamp? In 1831, Turner led the most notorious slave uprising in American history. His “army” killed around 55 members of slave-owning families. When his rebellion was crushed, authorities executed around 56 slaves and cracked down on the slave population as a whole.

Was Turner the equivalent of a member of the French Resistance or a fighter in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising? Or rather that of a terrorist? Geronimo (Scott 2869m) certainly killed his share of Americans. Does the Postal Service deliberately avoid honoring controversial persons?

In 1984, the Postal Service honored Richard Russell (Scott 1853) long after his segregationist votes in the Senate and advocacy of white supremacy should have rendered him unworthy of honor.

The selection criteria of the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee for new stamps state that “negative occurrences and disasters will not be commemorated . . .” Are slave uprisings considered negative occurrences or more akin to the freedomseeking activities that fueled the American Revolution? Has the Postal Service been too conservative, or hypocritical, in its selection of Americans worthy of honor on stamps?

I hope that other readers will write in expressing their thoughts on this question.

Saul Zalesch Ruston, Louisiana

[Editor’s note: For directions to submit ideas to CSAC, see page 1160.]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

We encourage readers to send their comments, questions and feedback to The American Philatelist

Submission of a letter implies consent to publish, unless specifically prohibited by the sender. The decision of whether to publish is made by the editorial staff of The American Philatelist

Generally, letters will be published unless determined to be offensive, disrespectful, libelous, or not chiefly related to the stamp hobby.

The opinions expressed in a Letter to the Editor are those of the author and not The American Philatelist We do not publish or accept requests for the publication of anonymous letters.

To allow more Letters to the Editor, you are respectfully requested to limit submissions to 500 words or less. If your submission is longer, the editorial team will ask you to resubmit a shorter version, or provide you a copy of an edited version to review prior to publication.

Submit your letters to letterstotheeditor@stamps. org or mail a typewritten copy to: Letter to the Editor

The American Philatelist, 100 Match Factory Place, Bellefonte, PA 16823.

And a giant leap for stamp collectors

JIM ROTH

The Moon has forever sparked the imagination as it traverses the ocean of stars, storytellers creating fanciful ships magically ferrying dignitaries to our celestial neighbor.

When rocket pioneer Robert Goddard declared in 1913 that rockets would someday reach the Moon, he was laughed out of town. In 1961, when the United States’ Mercury Program launched Alan Shepard on a 300-mile, 15-minute suborbital hop, President John Kennedy boldly proposed that America could land on the Moon and safely return within the decade. The whole world watched as two Americans – Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, along with their command module pilot Michael Collins – pulled off the impossible against staggering odds in the summer of 1969.

More than 50 years later, in 2025, America plans to land a new generation of astronauts on the Moon to start permanent habitats and industrial activity.

Discounting stamps that just show an image of the Moon and focusing just on those that show human exploration, here are some lesser known facts about the 13 stamps that the U.S. has issued to commemorate America’s human exploration of the Moon for the past 50 years (or so).

1968 – Apollo 8 / 6¢ First Class

When Apollo 7, the first manned spaceflight of the Apollo Program, returned safely to Earth in October 1968 after a simple orbital shakeout mission, NASA surprised every-

One of Leonard Buckley’s Apollo 8 concepts showed the spacecraft orbiting the Moon and included an alternate biblical quote, “And God saw that it was good.” (Courtesy Third Postmaster General’s collection, National Postal Museum.)

Figure 1.

Photo from Apollo 11 mission, courtesy of NASA.

one by announcing that Apollo 8 would break the bonds of Earth to circle the Moon, an extremely risky gamble to say the least. Apollo 8 made 10 orbits of the Moon. When the mission returned to Earth, grateful Americans wrote to the U.S. Post Office Department expressing that it would be fitting to honor this accomplishment with a stamp.

Two weeks later – on January 9, 1969 – Postmaster General Marvin Watson in conversation remarked, “We should put out a stamp for the Apollo 8.” That same day, Lee D. Saegesser, an American Topical Association Space Unit member, and his manager, Eugene M. Emme, both employed with the NASA Historical Office, joked that the Johnson Administration would love to score political points by issuing an Apollo 8 stamp.

Later, Emme shared the thought with Dr. Edward C. Welsh, executive secretary of the National Aeronautics and Space Council. Welsh asked if there had been a Mercury or Gemini stamp. Told that stamps had indeed been issued, Welsh said he would take a look into the subject.

Meanwhile, the celebrated astronauts were visiting a joint session of Congress in Washington D.C. that very day when Representative James Fulton, of the House Science and Astronautics Committee, introduced legislation to issue a postage stamp honoring the historic spaceflight. It would appear that the stars were aligned for an Apollo 8 stamp.

The next day, Watson announced that an Apollo 8 stamp would be issued on May 5, 1969, the anniversary of Alan Shepard’s spaceflight. This was before even a sketch was scribbled or a city of issue was selected.

During the preliminary design process, Leonard Buckley drew up a series of concepts and the one shown (Figure 1) is similar to the final design, with a great perspective of the Apollo spacecraft orbiting the Moon. Every "final design" stamp in this article is shown from pages 1094-7.

1969 – First Man on the Moon / 10¢ Airmail

There were three separate official first day ceremonies for the Apollo 11 postage stamp on September 9 in Washington D.C. All three produced programs with first day of issue canceled stamps.

The official Post Office Department ceremony was held in the afternoon at the Washington Hilton Hotel with as many as 5,000 people jammed into the hotel’s International Ballroom. The three American lunar voyagers arrived to two minutes of thundering applause and enjoyed an afternoon of exuberance and levity. Armstrong noted that while he wasn’t able to create any revenue for the post office while delivering a cover to and from the Moon, he discovered that since postal regulations entitled small office carriers to charge by the mile, he would send a voucher the following month for the 468,000-mile delivery route.

A presidential invitation was required for a prestigious ceremony held in the White House. The program was not the usual list of stamp details. Instead, it was a historic memento with a portrait of Aldrin on the Moon, text of Presi-

2. Officials in Apollo, Pennsylvania, denied for a first day ceremony, had an “official second day of issue ceremony” for the 1969 airmail Moon Landing stamp.

dent Richard Nixon’s congratulatory phone call to the orbiting spacecraft, the jumbo stamp canceled with the dual first day of issue postmark, and a transcript of Armstrong’s and Aldrin’s conversation while on the Moon.

NASA held a “Splashdown Party” complete with its own program at the Shoreham Hotel in the evening with 1,200 invitation-only VIPs, contractors, and employees closely related to the Apollo Program in attendance; the three astronauts were again the highlight of the evening.

And, there’s a fourth “official” program: a USPOD approved “second day of issue” ceremony set for September 10, 1969 (Figure 2).

During a time when it was still a badge of honor to be an official first day of issue city, aldermen in Apollo, Pennsylvania wrote to the postmaster general asking to be considered for a first day ceremony. The Post Office Department nixed the idea, so the aldermen settled for the next best thing, declaring that they would have an “official second day of issue ceremony” at the Apollo Ridge Stadium, complete with dignitary speakers and a program.

There also is a very special philatelic item connected with the historic Apollo 11 mission, and I show it here, courtesy

Figure

of an exhibit at the National Postal Museum. Here (Figure 3) it is possible to see with your own eyes the actual envelope that was carried to the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission.

While touted as being canceled on the Moon (and it was part of the plan to do so) the intensity of the wild landing, the preparations for a two-and-a-half hour excursion, and sleeping in a cramped cabin prior to the lunar liftoff put that task on the back burner. It wasn’t until the three explorers left lunar orbit on their way home that someone mentioned that there was a letter to postmark.

During the Apollo 11 mission, 214 covers were flown as part of each astronaut’s “personal allowance pouch.” Neil Armstrong had 47 covers, identified with an “N,” Michael Collins took 63, with “C” in the corner, and Buzz Aldrin had 104 with the codes “A” and “EEA” (Edwin E. Aldrin).

Three different cachets were used: NASA Manned Spacecraft Center Stamp Club’s vignette of working astronauts (Figure 4); Project Apollo 11 displaying three astronaut profiles; and the Apollo 11 mission seal. Two different stamps – Scott 1371, the Apollo 8 issue or Scott 1338, U.S. flag over the White House – were used.

All were autographed by the three astronauts. Each has a handstamp “Delayed in Quarantine at Lunar Receiving laboratory M.S.C. Houston, Texas” and a Webster, Texas, August 11, 1969, cancel.

1971 – Space Achievements / 8¢ First Class (two se-tenant stamps)

The Apollo 15 mission featured a new lunar rover enabling the astronauts to explore farther than previous expeditions (Figure 5).

Visionary artist Robert T. McCall was THE guy to call for space stamps and this concept art for the “Decade of Space” se-tenant (joined) stamp has most of the elements in the final design, with a swoosh of the entire “Race to the Moon” team: the Mercury capsule, the Gemini capsule with a spacewalker, and the Apollo spacecraft on the same stamp as the roving lunar explorers.

It was a great way to commemorate the entire decade, but deemed to be confusing, as they feared the public would ask, “Why are there three spaceships over the Moon?” A redesign was in order.

Creating a huge publicity boost for the se-tenant stamps, William Dunlap, deputy special assistant to the postmaster general, came up with an idea that the Apollo 15 astronauts could cancel a cover while on the Moon.

On April 29, 1971, Dunlap wrote to NASA, “The Postal Service would provide the envelope already stamped and the hand canceling device required. The planned ceremony would be announced in advance and the astronauts would carry this out very quickly on the moon while they are on

Figure 3. The envelope carried to the Moon and canceled in space during the Apollo 11 mission. (Courtesy of the William H. Gross Stamp Gallery, Smithsonian National Postal Museum.)

live television. This visual presentation to all Americans will permit direct involvement in the Space stamp program and since Americans will be able to obtain a similar stamp at their post offices, they will have a direct tangible involvement in the Space celebration.”

NASA thought it was a great idea and the postal service had three months to produce a stamp and figure out how to cancel a stamped cover on the Moon. The postal service decided that “No advance announcement would be made in case of failure to reach the moon.”

On July 1, 1971, the United States Post Office Department ceased to exist; the new United States Postal Service now assumed the responsibility to deliver through sleet or snow.

The very next day, now permitted to create revenue in innovative ways, Gordon Morison, of the Philatelic Affairs Division, wrote to Dunlap recommending “that the

4. The Apollo 11 mission included 214 covers in the payload that were among the astronauts’ “personal allowance pouch,” with each cover bearing an astronaut initial code: “N” for Armstrong, “C” for Collins and “EEA” for Aldrin. Three different types of covers and all were signed by all three astronauts. The Moon-flown covers also have the inscription: “Carried to the Moon aboard Apollo 11.” It is unknown why this cover has no astronaut code. (Courtesy of CollectSpace website.)

Shown on pages 1094-1097 are examples of the stamps referenced in this article.

The lineup of 12 U.S. stamps depicting human exploration of the moon, from left on page 1094: Scott 1371; Scott C76; Scott 1434-1435; Scott 1912 (top left);

and

Scott 2419; Scott 2633 (bottom left); Scott 2842; Scott 3413a; Scott 5399-5400; Scott 2841;

Scott 3188c.

Figure

Figure 5. Artist Robert T. McCall created an early design for the “Decade of Space” stamps with three spaceships over the Moon. (Courtesy of Arizona State University.)

Postal Service make an extensive printing of a souvenir program for use in conjunction with the first day of the Space Achievement Twin.” Dunlap agreed and advised that, “If we move rapidly and promote this from two cities we could anticipate sales of about $100,000.”

The two sites would be Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where the spectacular launches took place, and Houston, Texas – home of Manned Spaceflight Mission Control.

On July 28, two days after the launch of Apollo 15, the USPS issued a press release stating that, “at the request of NASA, a third first day city — Huntsville, Alabama — had been named for issuance of the Space Achievement twin postage stamps.”

Suddenly, a third set of cancellation devices needed to be produced for Huntsville, which meant that Huntsville souvenir folders were going to be backdated.

Meanwhile, Apollo 15 successfully landed on the Moon and the astronauts drove their spiffy lunar jeep on three jaunts. On the last run, just as everything was about to wrap up, astronaut Dave Scott reached under the rover seat and

pulled out an auxiliary storage container about the size of a toaster; upon setting it on the rover, he pulled out what looked like an envelope.

Postmaster General Blount was in the Mission Control room in front of the screen watching this little stunt unfold.

Excursion Commander Scott said, “Okay. To show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the universe, I have the pleasant task of canceling, here on the Moon, the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to commemorate United States achievements in space. And, I’m sure a lot of people have seen pictures of the stamp. I have the first one here on an envelope. At the bottom it says, ‘United States in Space, a decade of achievement,’ and I’m very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman.”

Scott then reached into the pouch and continued, “I pull out a cancellation device. Cancel this stamp. It says, ‘August the second, 1971, first day of issue.” Scott pressed it on the ink pad and remarked, “What could be a better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rille.” He set the cover on a flat spot of the rover and with one chance to get it right for posterity, carefully canceled the cover.

Blount watched Scott return the cover back into the “Lunar Post Office” and then announced that the stamp was now officially on sale at three Earth post offices.

1981 – Exploring the Moon / 18¢ First Class (One of a block of eight se-tenant stamps)

Ten years passed before the subject of Moon exploration appeared again on U.S. postage — on a very unusual sheet of eight stamps.

The central theme of this issue was the long-

Figure 6. Some of Robert T. McCall’s concepts for the eight-stamp Benefitting Mankind set. (Courtesy of Arizona State University.)

awaited space shuttle, which had just flown its very first mission on April 12, 1981, without any prior unmanned launches to work out any glitches. Astronauts John Young and Bob Crippen were very brave souls indeed.

The USPS wanted to highlight American space achievements, particularly the world’s first reusable spacecraft that was going to revolutionize the space industry. Veteran stamp designer McCall was chosen for the project in 1978, but since the shuttle’s launch date kept slipping, the real work started in 1980.

Only four of the stamps would depict different stages of a shuttle mission. The remaining four featured the Moon landings, planetary exploration, solar science, and the yetto-be-launched Hubble Space Telescope.

Since the lunar expeditions were mankind’s greatest feat, McCall chose the first upper left stamp for that honor. Since all of the other stamps featured spacecraft, he went with a sketch of the Apollo Command Module and Lunar Module approaching the Moon. The Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee nixed the concept, so McCall came up with an astronaut holding an Apollo Lunar Surface Drill (Figure 6).

McCall’s unique set of eight celebrated the shuttle by depicting the launch, booster separation, the payload bay at work, and the astounding landing on a runway of this new Space Transportation System. The upper left corner would honor astronauts on the Moon. The final iteration has the astronaut standing straight up with a drill, subtly hinting that all of the lunar missions had exploratory tools.

1989 – Twentieth Anniversary of the First Moon Landing / $2.40 Priority Mail

By 1989, the USPS had improved the delivery network capable of two-day shipping to the nation’s major markets and needed a stamp for the service. With the philatelic sales

potential in mind, consideration was given to the fact that space-themed stamps were popular and 1989 happened to be the 20th anniversary of the historic lander.

Even though the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee policy stipulated that “events of historical significance shall be considered for commemoration only on anniversaries in multiples of 50 years,” USPS art director Jack Williams, manager of the Priority Mail project, chose to go ahead with the theme, noting that the Priority Mail stamp was not a commemorative stamp.

Chris Calle, an experienced stamp designer with a dozen issues to his credit, was selected for the artwork. Williams knew that Calle was the son of the 1969 Moon stamp designer, Paul Calle. The father-son link would be a publicity bonanza. Chris included several “stamp-on-stamp” designs, using his father’s 10-cent Moon Landing stamp in his concept sketches (Figure 7).

" It wasn’t until the three explorers left lunar orbit on their way home that someone mentioned that there was a letter to postmark.

Figure 7. For the 20th anniversary of the lunar landing, Chris Calle crafted a concept that paid homage to his father’s original Moon Landing stamp by adding a patriotic border. The design was nixed by the USPS. (Courtesy of Chris Calle.)

"I have the pleasant task of canceling, here on the Moon, the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to commemorate United States achievements in space."

- Apollo 15 Excursion Commander Dave Scott

Among the concepts submitted, Chris pays homage to the original with a patriotic border.

The advisory committee, though, rejected that approach and went with a concept of both Apollo 11 astronauts raising the American flag on the Moon, which most likely made Aldrin happy, because two men had landed simultaneously in the lunar lander.

Again, it was no coincidence that the Postal Service chose a popular subject for the Priority Mail stamp rollout as more than 10 million stamps ($24.4 million in revenue), never to be used for postage, found their way into collections.

Among the perks of being a quasi-governmental postal agency is that you get to promote the stamps with spiffy programs and offer merchandising deals. Colorforms, a major puzzle manufacturer, cherry-picked some of the more popular stamp designs and put out a line of jumbo puzzles, including the 1989 20th Anniversary of the Lunar Landing stamp (Figure 8).

1992 – United States and Russia Joint Issue of Space Achievements / 29¢ First Class (Four se-tenant stamps)

The 1992 block of four se-tenant stamps honoring the celestial achievements of Russia and America was the third issue in a series of postal cooperation between the two superpowers. A 1990 “memorandum of understanding” for this joint space issue specified that an artist from each country would collaborate in the design, each producing an identical painting to be used by their respective postal agencies.

The U.S. Postal Service chose Robert McCall, who sketched several concepts for the se-tenant design while on a flight from New York to visit his collaborator, Vladimir Beilin, in his hometown of Moscow.

The two spent some time working out the final design: four stamps of a continuous design, equitably honoring the space achievements of both nations. Their solution would incorporate 11 spacecrafts, three celestial objects and two astronauts, all in harmony.

The Moon connection appears on the bottom-left stamp of the quadrant with the Apollo Command Module in orbit, along with a tiny, upside-down Lunar Module preparing to touch down on the Moon. One of McCall’s early sketches had the lander coming in from the top, below the cosmonaut’s foot, but that might have caused some political grumbling, and besides, there’s truly no up or down in space, so upside down it was.

The 1992 summer issue of the USPS stamp catalog USA Philatelic (Figure 9) featured a preview of a new Space Accomplishments joint issue. The observant reader will note that the astronauts are wearing “USSR” and “USA” banners to signify the two nations’ accomplishments in space. Then, politics happened and suddenly there was no “USSR” anymore, which had artists McCall and Beilin scrambling to repaint the master artwork to reflect the new political situation.

1994 – 25th Anniversary of First Moon Landing / $9.95 Express Mail

In 1993, the Postal Service needed a new Express Mail stamp to replace dwindling stock. USPS Art Director Joe Brockert explained his subject choice, “Well, it’s an expensive face value …We have to do a new Express Mail stamp anyhow, and we need to do something for the 25th anniversary of the Moon landing. So let’s kill two birds with one stone, so to speak, and take care of it that way.” A third bird was also killed: the eagle motif used on previous Priority and Express Mail stamps.

The Calle connection to previous Moon landing stamps offered an obvious choice for Brockert – this time father and son would be working together. They came up with a great design with both astronauts and the American flag.

For this stamp, the Postal Service designated 13 cities as official first day locations! Washington, D.C. headed the list, along with 10 NASA center locations spanning the

Figure 8. The cover of Colorforms’ jigsaw puzzle of the 1989 20th Anniversary of the Lunar Landing stamp.

country, plus Wapakoneta, Ohio, Armstrong’s hometown. The 13th postmark was across the ocean at Noordwijk, the Netherlands, where the European Space Agency technology and testing center was located. A pictorial cancel depicting the Moon, a lunar astronaut, and the American flag was used for all postmarks, differing only in city names.

To top all of this, the USPS offered the public an opportunity to purchase a space stamp that actually flew in space.

NASA’s space shuttle had a program called the “Getaway Special (GAS),” which offered the opportunity to launch self-contained experiment packages or approved cargo in the shuttle cargo bay. The USPS packed a half million of the $9.95 Express Mail stamps into seven large boxes that were loaded into an airtight GAS canister, plus one smaller package that was stowed within the flight cabin of Endeavour. NASA billed the USPS $50,000 for the ride aboard STS-68.

Space artist Keith Birdsong created a commemorative cover for the USPS depicting an astronaut floating above Earth with an embossed gold foil frame where a flown stamp was inserted (Figure 10). This item sold for $15.35 and was marketed primarily to stamp collectors.

The packet that flew in the flight deck was serially numbered and signed by artist Birdsong, then placed in goldstamped portfolio cases and sold for $69. Unsigned, numbered envelopes were available for $25.

The Postal Service also offered the Moon Landing Stamp Folio for $4.95 as well as a Moon Landing limited edition print featuring the Calle’s artwork for $14.95. But wait, there was more! A special package that included the Moon Landing limited edition print, the souvenir sheet of stamps, the ceremony program, and a first day cover was available for the special price of $19.69 (the year of the Apollo 11 mission).

All of this was enough to make a stamp collector’s head explode.

1994 – 25th Anniversary of First Moon Landing / 29¢ First Class (souvenir sheet of 12)

In December 1993, a USPS marketing focus group that included stamp dealers, cachetmakers, USPS overseas agents, and an American First Day Cover Society representative was asked to share their thoughts about the planned Express Mail stamp honoring the Lunar Landing’s 25th anniversary. It did not go well, to put it mildly.

People were jumping up and heatedly demanding that the stamp’s price should be lower, or at the very least, a companion stamp at first class rate should be issued so that “children, overseas collectors of space topicals, [and] people on limited budgets” could afford a postal souvenir of the event. Even Postmaster General Marvin T. Runyon agreed that the Express Mail stamp was too expensive to be the Postal Service’s only memento of the Apollo 11 journey.

USPS manager Terrence McCaffrey and Art Director Phil Jordan were chosen to come up with a solution, pronto. The idea of closely cropping the large Express Mail artwork or digitally rearranging the elements didn’t work, so

Figure 9. The 1992 summer issue of the USPS stamp catalog USA Philatelic featured a preview of a new Space Accomplishments joint issue with the Soviet Union.

Paul and Chris Calle would have to start from scratch. They duplicated the lead astronaut’s pose but tucked the flag in tighter, while Earth, once again, was positioned in violation of celestial physics wherever it suited the artist. The second astronaut vanished into thin space.

With the new art approved, McCaffrey decided that the event deserved a souvenir sheet for people to collect. A row of four stamps by three deep for 12 stamps was chosen as the perfect layout. It may simply be a coincidence that 12 astronauts had walked, hopped, and drove around on the lunar surface.

1999 – Celebrate the Century, 1960s / 33¢ First Class (One stamp on a souvenir sheet of 15)

With the changeover of the millennia, the USPS saw the

event as an opportunity to do a grand tour of the 20th century. This was a stroke of marketing genius as the USPS pulled out all the stops. Ten sheets of stamps, one for each decade, with 15 stamps per sheet AND, to boot, the public would get to vote on some of their favorite topics!

During May of 1998, the second ballot, this one for topics of the Sixties, was rolled out and one of the 30 choices was “1969 Moon Landing,” which captured 534,734 of the public’s vote. In a July 8, 1998, news release, the Postal Service announced that “The American public has decided the most memorable event of the 1960s was man’s first walk on the moon.”

USPS art director Carl Herrman’s concept for the Moon Landing stamp started with a scene of Armstrong on the ladder about to step foot onto the lunar surface. When Hermann saw that a majority of the 15 stamps featured people, he created alternate images to break up the monotony, and

Master Die Aboard Apollo 11

At some point before the blast-off of Apollo 11, someone at NASA or the Postal Service decided that it would be a great promotional gimmick to carry onboard the Command Module the actual master die that the new airmail stamp would be printed from.

NASA commanders, though, noted that master dies are not known for being lightweight and the dies would likely be too heavy to launch.

Someone determined the solution was to cut away excess metal to the bare minimum. Shown is the die and a “proof print” of the black die.

Figure 10. This deluxe envelope designed by artist Keith Birdsong (American Indian Dances stamps) for the 1994 issue of two 25th anniversary of the Lunar Landing stamps was offered to the public as an opportunity to own a stamp that flew in space. The $9.95 Express Mail flown stamps were affixed to an insert within a numbered commemorative envelope with a die-cut window.

for the lunar stamp, settled on the iconic footprint, for which he lightened the dark tones and rotated to flow with the other 14 stamps in the tilted format.

2000 – Landing on the Moon / $11.75 Commemorative (hologram)

In the National Postal Museum archives, there is a small box that contains a meticulously crafted model of the Apollo Lunar Excursion Module smaller than a dime, complete with spindly landing legs, mounted on a mirrored plate of glass. Crafted to the exact size as it appears on the holographic stamp, this foreshortened artwork was scanned with lasers to create a 3-D effect that was embellished with a digitally drawn rocket flare and a lunar backdrop. The scene is both stunning and a bit puzzling. Is the celestial body in the background a very bright and vastly oversized Earth, or is it the Moon which somehow is on the horizon of the Moon?

This tribute to the lunar expedition was one of four souvenir sheets (along with a circular holographic stamp) that were issued individually but also produced as a large sheet 16 inches high by 20 inches wide that contained 15 stamps, a holographic tour de force that included circular and pentagonal stamps. The selvage of this sheet features a photo of astronaut Charles Duke standing next to a rather large lunar boulder, snapped during the Apollo 16 mission.

2019 – Fiftieth Anniversary of Apollo 11 Moon Landing / Two Forever Commemoratives (Issued during 55¢ First Class rate)

For reasons of its own, the USPS decided that the stamp design for the 50th anniversary of the lunar mission would not feature artwork created by Chris Calle, which would have been a nice gesture, had they gone with tradition.

Instead, Art Director Antonio Alcalá chose to use the iconic photo of Buzz Aldrin’s helmet with Neil Armstrong’s reflection on the gold faceplate, a unique photo of the astronaut pair (Figure 11) – because Neil was carrying the only camera on the Moon, firmly strapped to his suit.

Antonio paired this with a photo of the Moon by Gregory H. Revera, with a tiny dot (intended to be yellow, but printing the single spot was problematic) indicating the Eagle lunar module’s landing site, with a black background on both stamps (making any overlapping postmark impossible to read) and a silver ink “undercoat” that put a bit of flash on the pair of stamps.

The stamps were issued a day early, on July 19, 2019, because the actual date of the anniversary fell on Saturday. This puzzled many collectors since there have been first day ceremonies held on the weekends for past stamp issues.

This stamp issue may well be the last created by the USPS to commemorate an anniversary of the historic 1969 lunar landing because by the time the 100th anniversary rolls around (46 years from now) stamps will probably have become history themselves.

The Author

Jim Roth has been a graphic artist for a half century, has collected spacethemed stamps and covers since 2005,  and has been creating covers for American contemporary space events under the label “Mission 57” since 2006. He is currently working on the story of the Palomar Mountain Observatory stamp to start his “Exploring Space on 2 Square Inches (or less!)” series of American space-themed stamps. He is grateful for his wife’s support and love that ignites his universe.

11.

was made better thanks to modern print technology capable of printing fine details at high resolution. Designer Antonio Alcalá used a reflection in the helmet’s face shield to show both astronauts on the lunar surface. Curiously, USPS announcements never really commented on the silver ink aspect of this issue.

Figure

This stamp design

Saturn V launch vehicle for the Apollo 11 mission. Courtesy of NASA.

Special Delivery Stamps: Rarely Seen and Special Uses

Just what characterizes an unusual use of any stamp is, of course, a matter of judgment. In this article I’ll describe covers that show what I consider to be unusual uses of special delivery stamps, beginning with the first of the so-called bicycle messenger design issued in 1922.

Special delivery stamps offer great opportunities to find covers showing more than the usual use of the stamps. Such covers can also illustrate the application of some fairly obscure postal regulations.

Covers from government agencies bore the famous “penalty clause” warning that private use of the envelope could result in a $300 fine. Such official federal government covers did not have to pay first class postage. If the sender needed extra postal services, those had to be paid for.

Shown (Figure 1) is a May 11, 1943, official cover from the Coast Guard Station in Biddeford Pool, Maine. As a government agency, the Coast Guard did not have to pay first class postage, but payment of the special delivery fee was required.

The next cover (Figure 2) shows an example of the use of airmail and special delivery stamps without payment of the basic 3-cent first class postage.

The cover bears both a special delivery and a 6-cent airmail on an impressive War Depart-

Figure 1. A solo use of the 10-cent special delivery stamp of 1922 (Scott E12) on official mail.

Figure 2. A cover sent by the War Department in 1942 that must have included very important information. TERENCE

ment cover with the marking, “WD ESSENTIAL OFFICIAL AIR MAIL.” The cover, addressed to Washington, D.C., is postmarked November 10, 1942, from the Atlanta, Georgia, Federal Annex. This illustrates that official mail had to pay both special delivery fees and airmail postage. The text in the blurred blue receipt mark at the left of the cover dated November 11 reads “Telegraph & Cable Section.” The striking red border and the text “IMMEDIATE ACTION” indicates that this cover contained some very important communication.

During WWII, soldiers’ mail could be sent free of first class postage. This privilege commenced on April 1, 1942. As was the case with other official mail, additional services required prepayment. Figure 3 shows a soldier’s letter sent free of postage but bearing a special delivery stamp. The “soldier’s mail” inscription under the stamp explains the lack of 3 cents postage. The letter was mailed April 6, 1942, from St. Louis by a soldier stationed at Scott Field in Illinois. The cover was received April 7 in Huntington, West Virginia.

V-Mail was a special form of mail used by armed service personnel during World War II. It commenced June 15, 1942, and ended October 29, 1945. Special V-Mail forms were used. A sender would write their message on the form as if it were a regular letter, complete with the address of the recipient. The military postal system would then send the completed form to a location where the contents would be censored and photographed on microfilm.

Amesbury. However, the special delivery stamp wasn’t canceled by the Army Postal Service, but in Amesbury on July 28, nine days after the airmail stamp was canceled.

What can explain the discrepancy between the dates and places of the two postmarks? It was the height of World War II in 1943, and parents would have been more than anxious to get mail from their sons and daughters serving overseas.

The message was from George E. Collins to his mother, Mabel Collins. I suspect that Mrs. Collins set up some sort

The combined microfilm would be developed and printed, with the messages sent to the addressee. This system allowed millions of soldiers’ letters to be transported to the United States from the European and Pacific theaters at a fraction of the cost of sending the physical letters. (Thirty-seven mail bags required to carry 150,000 one-page letters could be replaced by a single mail sack.) V-mail was free for basic first class postage, but if the sender wanted anything other than basic service, the form was treated as regular mail (with proper postage affixed) and was not microfilmed.

An example of such a V-Mail form, uprated for airmail service with a copy of the 1941 6-cent transport airmail, is shown (Figure 4). Perhaps the sender thought that the letter would make better time if sent by airmail than if it was microfilmed. The airmail stamp was postmarked July 19, 1942, and the form was addressed to Amesbury, Massachusetts. The form also has a copy of the 10-cent special delivery stamp affixed.

At first glance it seems that the sender wanted the cover to get special delivery service when it arrived in

Figure 3. Soldiers’ letters did not require postage but special delivery fees had to be paid.

Figure 4. A special delivery stamp (Scott E12) used for uncertain reasons on a V-Mail form.

Figure 5. A Congressional use of a special delivery stamp (Scott E17).

of account at the Amesbury Post Office such that any mail from her son would be sent to her home by special delivery and she would pay the postage. I’ve not found any mention of such an account being authorized in the Postal Laws and Regulations of the time, so it was probably done informally. She wanted to get mail from her son as quickly as possible.

The return address on the form is APO 512 which was in Algeria in 1943. But the postmark is from APO 777, which was in Tunisia at the time, so Collins was probably in Africa as part of Operation Vulcan when he mailed this form. Operation Vulcan was the Allied invasion of Tunisia, which resulted in the surrender of Axis forces there on May 13. Collins mentions living in Britain in his message, so he was likely stationed there originally. He survived the war and died in 1998 at age 76 in Amesbury.

Members of Congress have franking privileges but, as for so many other official mail users, this did not extend to special delivery fees. Shown (Figure 5) is a cover from New Hampshire Senator Styles Bridges (1898-1961; senator, 1955-1961) postmarked Washington, D.C. at 12:30 p.m. on August 6, 1951. The cover is backstamped with a Concord receiving postmark dated

11 p.m. August 6, 1951. At first this may seem to indicate that the cover arrived before it was mailed, an unusual circumstance. But the “12:30 pm” indicates a time of 30 minutes after noon.

Bridges’ Congressional frank did not cover airmail or special delivery postage, so in addition to a 13-cent special delivery stamp, there is a 6-cent airmail. Unfortunately, the special delivery fee increased from 13 to 15 cents on January 1, 1949. So, senator or not, the New Hampshire Department of Motor Vehicles had to pay the 2 cents postage due.

The Postal Bulletin dated October 16, 1958, states that Public Law 85-745 allows former presidents to send mail free of charge. The relevant section (page 5) reads “Any mailable matter bearing the written signature of a former President or a facsimile of his signature … shall be accepted in the mails free of postage.” But the actual text of Public Law 85-745 makes no mention of any franking privileges, so it is unclear where the Post Office Department obtained the authority to grant franking rights to past presidents.

In any event, the cover in Figure 6 shows the use of a past presidential free frank. It was mailed October 22, 1959, by Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) and has a facsimile of his signature. The cover is marked “AIR MAIL – SPECIAL DELIVERY.” But only the special delivery fee was paid with a stamp. This suggests that the Post Office Department did not consider special delivery fees as “postage” and so Hoover had to pay for that service.

Diplomatic mail from some foreign embassies and consulates could be sent postage free. Under the Act of February 14, 1929, “correspondence of the members of the Diplomatic Corps of the countries of the Pan American Union stationed in the U.S. may be reciprocally transmitted in the domestic mails free of postage and registered fee, without any indemnity in case of loss.”

It is interesting that this exemption extended to registered mail but not to special delivery mail. Such free franking ended in 1972.

Figure 6. Former presidents – such as Herbert Hoover using his postal franking – could send mail postage free but had to pay for special delivery service, done here with a 30-cent stamp (Scott E21).

Figure 7. The Dominican Republic Embassy in Washington, D.C. to Philadelphia could mail postage free but affixed a stamp (Scott E16) to pay special delivery fees.

The cover in Figure 7 was sent April 23, 1951, as special delivery by the Embassy of the Dominican Republic in Washington, D.C. to Philadelphia. Since the special delivery fee was not included in the 1929 Act, the embassy paid the 15-cent fee with a special delivery stamp. The cover was received in Philadelphia the next day at 5 a.m.

In their book about domestic mail rates, Henry Beecher and Anthony Wawrukiewicz note that by the Act of November 15, 1937, Spain was “added to the countries of the Pan American Union,” and so Spanish diplomatic mail could send mail free of basic first class mail charges. But such mail still had to pay for additional services like special delivery as shown by the cover in Figure 8, for which the special delivery fee is paid with a 20-cent stamp.

Special delivery stamps used on post or postal cards are not common. Would it be possible to find a solo special delivery stamp used properly on a card? Just such a use is shown in Figure 9.

The 30-cent special delivery stamp is used on a card from the Arizona State Employment Service, postmarked in Phoenix with a “barrel” postmark dated December 3, 1958. Since, as the corner card explains, the service was “affiliated with United States Employment Service,” it was authorized to use permit mail to cover basic first class postage. As usual, this did not cover special delivery service.

The cover in Figure 10 shows the use of a pair of the 17-cent orange-yellow special delivery stamps and a 1-cent postage due stamp. The total of 35 cents pays the postage for seven business reply envelopes at 4 cents each (3 cents postage and 1-cent business reply mail fee) and one airmail business reply envelope at 6 cents postage plus the 1-cent fee. Rather than affix postage due stamps to each business reply envelope, it was a common practice to apply stamps for the total amount due to the top cover in a stack that was delivered to the addressee.

E.J. Guerrant Jr., in a 2020 United States Specialist article, described an interesting official postal card (not shown) that was used to inform an addressee that a package that appeared to contain perishable goods but had not had special delivery prepaid had been accorded special delivery service. The card requested that the addressee would “see your way clear to pay the usual special-delivery fee.”

Figure 8. After Spain became a member of the Pan American Union it could sell standard mail for free but still needed to pay for special delivery (Scott E20).

Figure 9. A solo use of the 30-cent special delivery stamp (Scott E21) on an official postal card.

Figure 10. A pair of 17-cent special delivery stamps (Scott E18) along with postage due to paid postage for a small stack of envelopes.

The card illustrated in the Guerrant article was dated December 25, 1941, and had 5- and 10-cent postage due stamps (presumably Scott numbers J83 and J84 respectively) affixed and canceled. At the time, 15 cents would have paid the special delivery fee on an article other than first class that weighted less than 2 pounds.

The 1933 receipt shown in Figure 11 may represent an earlier and similar situation. The St. Augustine, Florida, Post Office received a package on which special delivery service had not been requested. Someone at the post office recognized that the package contained something perishable and dispatched it immediately (as it would have been had the sender paid a special delivery fee). The addressee paid the fee after the fact; the 10- and 15-cent special delivery stamps were placed on as a receipt and postmarked. The 35-cent fee paid for special delivery of a non-first class package weighing more than 10 pounds.

As noted earlier, the sender did not have to pay first class postage on business reply envelopes. The addressee paid whatever the first class postage was at the time plus an additional fee for each envelope returned. If the sender desired

Figure 11. Special delivery stamps of 10 (Scott E15) and 15 cents (Scott E16) on a paper receipt.

Figure 12. A 13-cent special delivery (Scott E17) and a pair of 2-cent postage dues on a business reply cover.

Figure 13. A 3-cent stamped envelope (Scott U436) combined with 2-cent Washington (Scott 634), and 11cent Harrison (Scott 694) stamps, plus a 10-cent special delivery (Scott E15) to send this Christmastime cover.

Figure 14. The reverse of the cover shown in Figure 13 shows postmarks of December 24 and 25.

services over and above basic first class mail, such services had to be paid for by the sender. Beecher and Wawrukiewicz in their book discuss and show examples of extra services such as airmail, certified mail, and registered mail paid by the sender on business reply envelopes.

Special delivery services also had to be prepaid by the sender. Figure 12 shows a business reply mail cover with a stamp paying the special delivery fee. The postmark on the front of the cover is unclear but the back (not shown) has a receiving postmark from Wallingford, Connecticut, dated October 24, 1947. The cover also has two 2-cent postage due stamps. These represent the 3-cent first class postage rate in effect in 1947, plus the 1-cent fee for a business reply envelope paid by the addressee.

Sometimes, special delivery was really special. At first glance, the cover in Figure 13 is just a nice registered special delivery cover. The envelope is the 3-cent of 1932 uprated with copies of the 10cent special delivery, plus 2-cent Washington and 11-cent Harrison postage stamps. The total postage of 28 cents breaks down as 3 cents for first class postage, 10 cents for the special delivery fee and 15 cents for registration with indemnity of up to $5.

What makes this cover special is found on the reverse (Figure 14). As indicated by the backstamps, it was mailed December 24, 1937 in Salamanca, New York, addressed to Buffalo. The cover arrived on the evening of December 24 as shown by the Buffalo “Special Delivery” backstamp of that date with a time of 8 p.m. (or 8:30 p.m., the time is not clear) indicated. The cover did not go out for delivery that evening. There is another “Special Delivery” backstamp dated 7 a.m. December 25. Thus, the cover was delivered on Christmas Day. I wonder what it contained.

How about domestic use of a special delivery stamp on an international cover? Now that sounds like an unusual situation – and it is.

Here (Figure 15) is a cover addressed to Germany with a 10-cent special delivery stamp affixed, along with a 6-cent Winged Globe airmail, a 3-cent Washington definitive and a pair of 1-cent Franklin definitives, all postmarked December 6, 1937, in Ashville, North Carolina.

The first clue that there is something odd here is that in 1937 the special delivery fee for international letters was 20 cents, not 10 cents. The reverse of the cover (not shown) bears a postmark of the Salisbury (North Carolina) and Knoxville (Tennessee) R.P.O. dated December 7, 1937. There is also a postmark of the Washington, D.C. airmail field dated 7 p.m. December 7. The cover ended up in New York City, where it was marked at the bottom with “Not in Special Delivery Mail

/ (Post Office New York, U.S.A.).”

The sender’s intent was not to obtain special delivery service to the addressee in Germany. The manuscript inscription at the lower left indicated the reason for the special delivery stamp: “spec. delivery / to a fast / boat.” But the New York post office was certainly not going to send a messenger to the docks to hunt down whatever boat was the next to leave for Germany. Rather, the cover was treated like any other piece of mail to Germany and dispatched along with other mail for Germany on whatever boat was next in line to transport mail.

Figure 15. A sender from Asheville, North Carolina, asked for airmail and special delivery to a “fast boat.”

Figure 16. This cover was sent special delivery to a specific ship.

The total of 21 cents postage includes, of course, 10 cents for special delivery. The remaining 11 cents consists of 5 cents for surface mail to Europe – this included the basic domestic 3 cents postage. There was a 3-cent surcharge for airmail to New York City and another 3-cent surcharge for airmail within Europe. (My thanks to Ken Lawrence for his explanation of the postage on this cover.)

In contrast to the cover in Figure 15, the cover shown in Figure 16 (front and reverse) is properly addressed to a specific passenger on a specific ship at a specific pier in New York City. The blue crayon “255” probably refers to the number of the cabin on the ship.

There is one very unusual aspect of this cover. It has only a 10-cent special delivery stamp affixed. The cover passed through numerous postal clerks as can be seen by the backstamps. But not one of them spotted the fact that it was short paid by 3 cents. Had they done so, the cover would have been charged 3 cents postage due.

It seems odd that a piece of third class mail would be sent special delivery. After all, if it’s that important, why not spend the little extra money to send it first class with special delivery service? But the sender of the cover shown in Figure 17, the Perry Picture Company, apparently didn’t use that

reasoning. The Perry Picture Company sold images of famous artworks, people, places and things to schools and other institutions such as churches and hospitals.

This cover has a total of 21 cents postage: a 10cent special delivery, a 5-cent Belgium flag from the Overrun Countries series and a pair of the Win the War issue. On May 3, 1944, when the cover was mailed, the special delivery fee for mail of less than 2 pounds other than first class was 15 cents and the third class rate was 1.5 cents per 2 ounces. So, the cover weighed more than 8 but less than 10 ounces. Sending it first class would have cost 37 cents – 10 cents special delivery and 27 cents postage, assuming the weight was 9 ounces. So sending it by third class saved 16 cents.

Covers or pieces showing the use of special delivery stamps on parcels are unusual for two reasons. First, parcels were sent special delivery less frequently than letters since letters were more likely to have time-sensitive contents. Second, parcel wrappings that would have had stamps attached were usually thrown away. The result of these two factors is that most uses of special delivery stamps on parcels are found on parcel tags that were attached to the package.

The 17-cent special delivery stamp was issued in 1944 specifically to pay the fee on non-first class mail pieces of less than 2 pounds. It is the most difficult special delivery stamp to find on cover or tag. The parcel tag in Figure 18 shows two of these stamps, plus singles of the 7- and 20-cent stamps of the 1938 Presidential set, for a total of 61 cents. This breaks down as 35 cents for special delivery service on a parcel of other than first class mail and 26 cents for postage.

The letter envelope in Figure 19 shows the unusual combination of payment for parcel post postage, parcel post special delivery fee and first class postage. The package, with attached envelope, was mailed March 16, 1934, from Port Huron, Michigan, to Philadelphia.

In 1934, the special delivery fee for a mail piece that was not sent first class and weighed less than 2 pounds was 15 cents. Here, that fee was paid with a single special delivery stamp of 1931. The two 7-cent McKinley definitives overpay the parcel post fee by one-half cent. Port Huron to Philadelphia was a Zone 4 distance. The postage on such a package was 10 cents for the first pound and 3.5 cents for each additional pound, for a total of 13.5 cents for a package more than 1, but less than 2 pounds. Finally, a copy of the 1933 3-cent NRA commemorative paid the first class rate for the letter.

Examples of special delivery stamps on wrappers of heavy packages are rarely found, since as noted earlier, they were usually tossed out when the package was opened. What one usually finds are only pieces of the wrapper with the stamps

Figure 17. A special delivery request for third class mail.

Figure 18. A pair of special delivery stamps join a pair of Prexies on a 1946 parcel post parcel tag.

affixed, such as is shown in Figure 20. Here there are three special delivery stamps – two of 10 cents and a single orange 15-cent stamp. The combination pays the 35-cent special delivery fee on a non-first class mail piece weighing more than 10 pounds.

What about the additional 63 cents in postage affixed? This is made up by three 20-cent Golden Gate stamps and a 3-cent Washington. The parcel was mailed from Philadelphia and there is no address on the fragment of the wrapper. But wherever it was addressed to was probably in Zone 4 from Philadelphia.

In 1934, the parcel post rate for Zone 4 was 10 cents for the first pound and 3.5 cents for each additional pound. If the package weighed more than 15 but less than 16 pounds, the postage would have been 10 cents, plus 3.5 cents multiplied by 15 pounds, which equals 62.5 cents. No other combination of zones and weights gives a result so close to 63 cents; so, the parcel was overpaid by one-half cent.

Special delivery service was terminated on June 7, 1997. At that time the basic rate was $9.95 for first class mail of less than 2 pounds. The last

Figure 19. First class mail was enclosed in an envelope on a parcel post package sent special delivery.

Figure 20. A parcel post wrapper with three special delivery stamps.

Figure 21. A 60-cent special deliver stamp (Scott E23) used during the very brief 80-cent rate period in 1976.

Figure 22. A pair of regular postage stamps join a pair of the 60-cent special delivery stamps (Scott E23) used during the $1.25 rate period.

special delivery stamp was a 60-cent stamp issued May 10, 1971, for the rate change from 45 cents to 60 cents that took effect on May 16, 1971. The 60-cent rate was in effect through April 17, 1976. The next day, the rate increased to 80 cents. The 80-cent rate was in effect for a very short period of time, just three months. The rate then increased to $1.25 on July 18, 1976.

The cover in Figure 21 shows the 60-cent stamp used on April 24, 1976, just a week after the 80-cent rate became effective. The 20-cent George Marshall definitive pays the remaining 20 cents of the special delivery fee. The 13-cent Liberty Tree pre-stamped envelope issued in 1975 pays the first class rate.

The cover is postmarked in Philadelphia on the afternoon of April 24. A receipt handstamp on the reverse shows that the cover was received at 5 a.m. April 25 in Kissimmee, Florida. This may seem to be extremely fast service, given

that the cover is not endorsed “airmail.” Surface transport could not have gotten the cover from Philadelphia to Kissimmee in so short a time. But starting October 11, 1975, all first class mail was transported by the fastest means available. This cover certainly went on its way by air.

Since special delivery stamps with denominations greater than 60 cents were never issued, higher rates had to be made up with either regular definitive stamps or multiple copies of lower denomination special delivery stamps. Such latter uses are not common.

The cover in Figure 22 shows the $1.25 rate paid with a pair of the 60-cent Arrows special delivery stamps of 1971, our last special delivery stamp, and a single 5-cent Washington definitive, the redrawn “clean faced” Washington issued in 1967. The first class postage is paid with a 13-cent Pueblo Art commemorative.

The special delivery rate was $2 from May 29, 1978, to March 21, 1981. The cover in Figure 23 bears a strip of three of the 60-cent Arrows and a 20cent Marshall to pay the $2 fee. The 15cent first class postage is paid with an Americana Flag stamp. The postmark on the cover is too faint to read but the reverse has a return address of Salt Lake City, Utah, and a Eugene, Oregon, special delivery receipt handstamp dated 6:30 a.m. February 4, 1979.

Special delivery was discontinued June 7, 1997. Express mail took its place and became a fully integrated service on October 9, 1977.

For reasons that I have never understood, special delivery stamps were not accepted for express mail postage. But in at least one case they were allowed, even if against regulations.

The express mail cover in Figure 24 is franked with 15 45-cent Arrows stamps and 15 60-cent Arrows, making a total of $15.75 postage. The stamps are postmarked March 20, 2000. At that time, the express mail rate for a package more than a half pound, but not more than 2 pounds, was $15.75. The package was addressed to an office at the University of Kentucky. Given the sloppy way in which the stamps were affixed and that the envelope was opened, we can assume this is not a philatelically inspired cover.

Uses of special delivery stamps from Puerto Rico, Alaska and Hawaii are not that uncommon, so none are shown here. The Philippines and the Canal Zone are different stories.

Figure 23. Three special delivery stamps and a pair of standard postage stamps used during the $2 rate period.

Figure 24. Multiple copies of the 45-cent (Scott E22) and 60-cent (Scott E23) special delivery stamps improperly used to pay express ,ail fees.

Figure 25 shows an airmail “Via Clipper” cover from the Philippine Islands franked with a 10-cent special delivery and a Philippine Islands 1-peso Commonwealth overprint. The stamps are postmarked July 28, 1939, in Manila.

The cover was received in Los Angeles on August 3, as indicated by a machine postmark on the reverse. Making this example more interesting is the fact that the Philippines had long issued, since 1901, its own special delivery stamps. This cover suggests that U.S. special delivery stamps were at least tolerated for use in the Philippines.

Unlike the Philippines, the Canal Zone never issued its own special delivery stamps. Thus, U.S. special delivery stamps had to be used.

The cover in Figure 26 shows a 20-cent special delivery stamp postmarked December 16, 1952, in Cristobal, Panama. A New York, N.Y. receipt postmark on the reverse is dated December 18. The basic airmail postage rate of 6 cents was paid by three 2-cent 1946 Canal Zone Roosevelt definitives.

But wait, there’s more! Careful examination of the cover shows that the Canal Zone postage stamps have been affixed over three 1938 2-cent Adams stamps from the 1938 Presidential series. These U.S. stamps were not valid from the Canal Zone because the zone issued its own postage stamps.

When first considering the postal use of modern special delivery stamps, one might think that there would not be much variety in the uses to which these rather common stamps have been put. They were, of course, most commonly used singly on basic first class letters.

The covers illustrated and discussed in this article show that there are very wide variety for these stamps. This is true not only of modern special delivery stamps. Any stamp, or group of stamps, that at first glance may appear to have led a simple and uncomplicated postal life will, upon closer examination, be found to give rise to some fascinating postal history. Header image is of "Special delivery" glass negative, circa 1924. Courtesy Library of Congress, National Photo Company Collection.

Resources

Beecher, Henry W., and Wawrukiewicz, Anthony S. U.S. Domestic Postal Rates, 1872-2011. 3rd edition. (Bellefonte, PA: American Philatelic Society, 2011)

Guerrant, E.J., Jr. “Special delivery? It’s confusing.” United States Specialist 91, no. 12 (2020): 552 – 555.

Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers (Sidney, OH: Amos Media).

The Author

Terence Hines collects New England state revenues, Old Home Week seals, the postal history of his hometown, Hanover, New Hampshire — and, as highlighted here, U.S. special delivery stamps from Scott E12 (issued 1922) to E23 (1971) on cover. Professionally, he is a professor of cognitive neuroscience at Pace University in Pleasantville, New York.

Figure 25. A 10-cent special delivery stamp (Scott E15) used from the Philippines.

Figure 26. A 20-cent special delivery stamp used from the Canal Zone.

WHY COLLECT CZECHOSLOVAKIA?

This small country (now divided) with a deep history packs big philatelic punch

JAMES A. BUCKNER AND KEITH HART

Czechoslovak philately reflects the rich and turbulent history of central and eastern Europe in the 20th century and the struggles of the Czech and Slovak peoples for self-determination.

The history of the country is shown in its beautifully produced stamps, and tell a story of domination under AustroHungarian rule, sudden independence at the end of World War I, then after only 20 years, a sudden and brutal occupation, followed almost immediately after liberation by repression under the thumb of communism, and finally a freedom in 1989 that still exists today. All this in a little more than 100 years.

Situated in the middle of the continent, between Austria, Germany, Poland, Hungary and Ukraine, today Czechoslovakia no longer exists. In its place are the (relatively) new Czech Republic (also known as Czechia) and the Republic of Slovakia.

The Czech and Slovak ethnic groups lived in the areas of Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia for 1,000 or more years. The Kingdom of Bohemia was incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years’ War (1618 to 1648) and came under Habsburg rule.

Czech and Slovak nationalism grew as a cultural movement during the 19th century despite Bohemia and Moravia being under Austrian domination for 300 years while Slovakia was ruled by the Kingdom of Hungary for more than 1,000 years.

As World War I was winding down, the Czechs and Slovaks, led by primarily Tomáš Masaryk and Milan Štefánik,

respectively, declared independence. The establishment of a new country begets an interesting time, philatelically speaking, and Czechoslovakia is no exception. The new country, an amalgamation of two main groups of peoples (the Czechs and the Slovaks) along with smaller groups (Poles, Germans, Hungarians and Ruthenians among others), was established on October 28, 1918.

As mentioned, Czechs and Slovaks had existed in this area for many centuries and were joined by other minorities from the surrounding areas. They had been ruled over by the Habsburg dynasty for hundreds of years but had managed to develop thriving industries in Bohemia, while Moravia and Slovakia were largely (but not exclusively) agricultural. Many of the groups of the new country had little in common except an overwhelming desire for independence from the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The attempt to build a multicultural society during the First Czechoslovak Republic began a chapter of history and philately that still resonates today.

The philately of Czechoslovakia can be divided broadly into historical periods:

1. The forerunner period or transition period, 1918-1920.

2. The First Czechoslovak Republic, 1918-1939.

3. Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia, 1939-1945.

4. The First Slovak Republic, 1939-1945.

5. The Second Czechoslovak Republic, 1945-1992.

6. The Czech Republic and the Republic of Slovakia, both 1993 to present.

Prague Castle, built in the 9th century and the largest ancient castle in the world. Photo courtesy of Tilman2007, Wikipedia.

What makes the philately of Czechoslovakia so satisfying is that collectors can choose one or more periods or perhaps, all the periods to collect or to specialize. The quality and beauty of the Czech and Slovak stamps are also an outstanding attraction to collectors as many to this day are engraved. But how to collect Czechoslovakia?

A beginner can start with Czechoslovakia Scott No. 1 and collect all the stamps up to the present time until they have everything up to the last issue. Accumulation is one way of doing it. However, they will run into certain difficulties and will have passed up some very exciting and interesting aspects of Czechoslovak philately.

A better approach might be to look into the different periods and examine the stamps to see what catches the eye. A survey of Czechoslovak philately is an examination of the history of the 20th century Europe: war, the struggle between fascism and democracy, peace, Cold War, the struggle between capitalism and communism, and later, the difficulties in converting a moribund centrally managed economy into a vibrant, free-market society. Czechoslovak philately shows it all.

1 The forerunner or transition period, 1918-1920

The forerunner or transition period presents the collector with many opportunities to specialize. When the Czechoslovak Republic was declared in Prague on October 28, 1918, the only postal system and stamps existing at the time were those of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The new country took over facilities of the existing postal system and continued to use previously issued Austrian (and Hungarian, mainly in Slovakia) stamps. Many specialists collect those Austrian and Hungarian stamps used on Czech territory after October 28, 1918, until their validity ended on February 28, 1919.

There also was a Scout postal system set up in Prague for a short period of time after the demise of the AustroHungarian government. It ran from November 7, 1918, until November 25, 1918, issuing two stamps (Figure 1). Scouts delivered mail franked with specially printed stamps in Prague. The Scout postal system also created one of the greatest rarities of Czechoslovak philately. The Scout service was resurrected for one day, December 21, 1918, for the return of Tomáš Masaryk to Prague. The 10-heller blue and 20-heller red Scout stamps were overprinted “Příjezd prezidenta Masaryka” (Arrival of President Masaryk) for use on that day. These stamps and covers are highly sought by collectors, especially those with a Scout specialty.

Were you aware that there was a Czechoslovak army in Russia fighting against the Austrians and Germans during World War I? The demise of the Austro-Hungarian Empire came in part due to the efforts of this Czechoslovak army. By 1915, groups of ethnic Czechs living in Russia were allowed to form their own units in the Czarist army. They were

joined by deserters from the Austro-Hungarian army as well as from those recruited from prisoners of war. This army grew quickly and was known as the Czechoslovak, or Czech, Legion in Russia, peaking at more than 100,000 men. It distinguished itself in battle, notably at Zborov in Ukraine.

However, Russia’s exit from the war after the rise of the communists in 1917 trapped the Czech Legion in Russia. Unwanted by the Reds and viewed as traitors by Austria, the legion was asked to disarm and leave Russia. The soldiers refused to disarm and took control of the trans-Siberian railroad as they moved east toward Vladivostok, where Allied ships would take them to Western Europe.

During all this, a postal system was established along the railway that issued its own postage stamps (Figure 2). These stamps are listed in the Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue and are coveted by specialists and collectors.

Transition periods of any country often see the rise of existing stamps being overprinted, either officially or locally, and Czechoslovakia is no exception.

By decree of the new government in Prague, Austrian and Hungarian stamps were valid until the end of February 1919.

Figure 3. Overprints from Prague, Skalic and Žilin used in 1919 on Austrian and Hungarian stamps, listed in the Michel catalog (Michel Mitteleuropa catalog Lokale Revolutionsausgaben 14, 119, and 142). Courtesy of Chris Jackson.

Figure 1. The 20-heller Czech Scout Post stamp of 1918, Scott OL2. The 10-heller blue with the same design of a Bohemian lion is OL1.

Figure 2. The Czechoslovak Legion Post stamps of 1919-1920, Scott 1-3.

stamps such as this one.

Republic.)

In the interim, various private parties designed their own overprints used on Austrian and Hungarian stamps. Among these are Prague, Skalic, and Žilin overprints (Figure 3).

In setting the new country’s boundaries, a plebiscite was held to decide to which country (Czechoslovakia or Poland) a portion of Silesia would belong. Officially issued Czechoslovak stamps were overprinted “SO” (“Silesia Oriental” or Eastern Silesia) toward this effort. These overprints spawned many types, varieties, and errors, and are popular with collectors (Figure 4).

The most well-known overprinted stamps are those prepared by the Czechoslovak Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs and issued in 1919. After the issuance of the first officially authorized Czech stamps in December 1918, the Ministry had gathered the remaining Austrian and Hungarian stamps and overprinted them “POŠTA ČESKOSLOVENSKÁ 1919” (Figure 5). They were sold at twice face value at the main post office in Prague. Among these issues are some of the rarest and most sought-after Czechoslovak stamps.

The transition period also had a number of provisional issues, most notably the provisional newspaper stamps authorized after a shortage of Austrian newspaper stamps arose in November 1918 (Figure 6). Their use ended February 28, 1919.

2 The First Czechoslovak Republic, 1918-1939

Officially authorized and produced stamps of the First Republic initially appeared on December 18, 1918.

The first postage stamp of the new republic was the Hradčany (pronounced HRAD-tcha-nee) issue (Figure 7), inspired by the Hradčany Castle in Prague, the seat of the national government. The sun can be seen rising behind the right side of the castle. Actually, the sun can neither rise nor set in that scene behind the castle as shown, as this is a north-south view. It is merely symbolic of the birth of the Czechoslovak Republic.

The Hradčany issue is a favorite with collectors and specialists because of the many varieties and types. The designer of this issue was the world-renowned Czech artist Alphons Mucha. The First Republic’s stamp issues throughout the 1920 and into the 1930s generally showed portraits and historical figures such as Masaryk (1850-1937) and Štefánik (1880-1919), both of whom worked tirelessly during World War I to convince the Allied Powers that the Czechs and Slovaks deserved an independent nation. Masaryk was an early supporter of Czechoslovak independence and was the country’s first president. Štefánik, co-founder of Czechoslovakia, was killed in a plane crash near Bratislava toward the end of the WWI.

Other issues depicted picturesque views of cities, castles, and other national symbols. The aim seemed to cement the idea of Czechoslovakia as a nation. This era of Czechoslovak history is rich in opportunities for specialization. Most of the early stamps were produced via typography, which allowed for many plate varieties and retouches for specialists to collect.

3 Protectorate Bohemia & Moravia, 1939-1945

In October 1938, after agitating and presenting an ultimatum, Nazi Germany occupied certain areas of western Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland, where the inhabitants were largely German. Many Sudeten Germans were elated, and, in some towns, stocks of Czech stamps were overprinted with a swastika and the words “Wir sind frei!” (We are free!) (Figure 8).

On March 15, 1939, Germany completed

Figure 4. Eastern Silesia Scott 5.

Figure 5. Overprints prepared in 1919 by the Czechoslovak Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs, Scott B54 and B87.

Figure 6. Several provisional stamps were issued during 1918-1919, including newspaper

(Listed as NN17 II; courtesy of POFIS catalog, published in Czech

Figure 7. Czechoslovakia Scott 1.

Figure 8. Sudentenland 9, from the Michel catalog. Courtesy of Chris Jackson.

its conquest of the rest of Czechoslovakia. Soon thereafter, stamps were issued by the new rulers with the names “Bohemia and Moravia” in German and Czech (Figure 9) after setting up a so-called “protectorate” while nominally allowing a friendly Republic of Slovakia.

These stamps generally adopted Czechoslovak stamp designs at first, but after 1942, the words “Deutsches Reich” were added and the designs became more typically German, including portraits of Hitler (Figure 10), which galled most Czechs. Most of these stamps are very inexpensive today due to the fact that they were unpopular and therefore not used extensively; they are readily available on the philatelic marketplace.

4 The First Slovak Republic, 1939-1945

After securing nominal freedom by agreeing to be an ally of Germany, Slovakia also began to offer its own postage stamps.

At first, Czechoslovak stamp issues were overprinted “Slovenksý Štát 1939” (Figure 11) but soon the country began producing issues with national symbols and landmarks as well as figures such as the nationalist Andrej Hlinka and Josef Tiso (Figure 12), president of the new state.

The “Slovenský Štát 1939” overprints have many varieties and errors (for example, reverse or upside-down overprints) for the specialist to focus on. For those of Slovak descent, collecting this era, along with those issues from 1993 on, can be a way of connecting with their heritage.

5 The Second Czechoslovak Republic, 1945-1992

Liberation from the Nazis came slowly. In Slovakia, a national uprising in the summer of 1944 failed to attain this goal when the Soviet army became bogged down in the Dukla Pass in the Carpathian Mountains. The Red Army pressed on, however, and reached Bratislava (capital city of Slovakia) in April, and Prague in May 1945. The U.S. Third Army reached Plzen in the west of the country.

With the defeat of Nazi Germany in May, Czechoslovakia was reconstituted minus Carpatho-Ukraine, which was annexed by the occupying Soviet army into what is present-

day Ukraine. The national government, which had fled to England just prior to the Nazi takeover in 1939, returned and Edvard Beneš resumed his presidency in Prague.

The first stamps after the war were printed in Košice in Slovakia; they feature a Red Army soldier and a map of the country (Figure 13).

Other post-war stamps (Figure 14) were printed in Moscow, such as those featuring Masaryk, who had died in 1937; and London, including those depicting Czech and Slovak soldiers; and the Bratislava Coat of Arms.

The Communist Party did well in the elections of 1946, but support faltered before the 1948 elections, so the communists stepped up their hardline tactics, eventually forcing President Beneš to allow the Communist Party to form a new government. Beneš resigned his office in June 1946 and died in September.

Stamp themes and designs under the Communist Party changed, mainly featuring images of workers and Soviet leaders such as Lenin and Stalin (Figure 15). Production values remained high, however.

Figure 9. Bohemia & Moravia Scott 20.

Figure 10. Bohemia & Moravia Scott 62.

Figure 11. Slovakia Scott 14.

Figure 12. Andrej Hlinka, Scott 33, and Josef Tiso, Scott 43, appear on Slovak stamps issued during World War II.

Figure 13. The first post-WWII stamps of Czechoslovakia were printed in Košice and feature a Red Army soldier, Scott 307, and a map of the country below clasped hands, Scott 314.

Figure 14. Other post-war stamps were printed in Moscow, such as those featuring Masaryk, who had died in 1937, Scott 262A; London, including those depicting Czech and Slovak soldiers, Scott 280 and 286; and the Bratislava Coat of Arms, Scott 268.

Figure 15. By 1949, strong Soviet iconography appeared on Czechoslovakian stamps, including images of Lenin, Scott 370, and Stalin, Scott 400.

16. Tulips, by Vaclav Spála, Scott 1438.

17. Exploration of Solar System and Rocket, Scott 1457.

The Czech Engravers

Another area popular with collectors is that of engravers of Czechoslovak postage stamps.

From the time of the very first Hradčany stamps in 1918, designed by the most famous Czech artist, Alfons Mucha, the Czechoslovaks managed to have the majority of their stamps designed by leading artists/graphic and designers/engravers.

The period from 1945 to 1992 was the golden age of stamp design.

Immediately following the re-establishment of Czechoslovakia in 1945, the preeminent duo at that time were artist Max Švabinský and engraver Jindra Schmidt, who together produced many popular stamps until Švabinský’s death in 1963.

A 1984 stamp from Czechoslovakia honors graphic artist and engraver Jindra Schmidt (1897-1984), Scott 2876.

Other notable engravers, who collectively created more than 1,000 stamps, are Josef Herčik, Bedřich Housa, Ladislav Jirka, Miloš Ondráček, and Jiří Svensbir, who worked with artists such as Cyril Bouda, Josef Liesler, Karol Svolinský, Victor Kovářik, and Josef Lukavský. Their work was celebrated in the end of year Postage Stamp Day series that continued until the final Czechoslovak stamp in 1992.

This presentation of high-end production is still carried on today in the Czech Republic’s Tradition of Czech Stamp Design series, and in Slovakia’s own continuation in December for stamps honoring Postage Stamp Day, philatelists, and designers.

Figure

Figure

For the next four decades, Czechoslovakia produced many beautiful and well-designed stamps covering various topics: space, art, sports, animals, architecture, and transportation were constant themes and are very popular with collectors today. From 1949, canceled-to-order stamps (CTOs) were sold to the West; however, postally used stamps are easy to find from dealers at reasonable prices.

The art series (Figure 16), begun in the mid-1960s (and continued today by both the Czech Republic and Slovakia), is an example of the high-quality production values and engraving techniques that Czechoslovak stamps are known for the world over. From the mid-1960s through 1992, Czechoslovakia issued approximately 147 stamps in this series. After 1992, the Czech Republic issued approximately 89 stamps and Slovakia issued 52 in the series, for a total of 288. They had the same basic design and show paintings from the national museums in Prague and Bratislava.

Space themes and celebrations of communism were also constant in the 1950s and 1960s (Figure 17).

By the late 1980s, the pressure of the Cold War on the Soviet-dominated eastern Bloc began to show.

One by one, the Eastern Bloc nations revoked totalitarian and communist-dominated governments. On November 17, 1989, a peaceful student demonstration in Prague was met with violence by security forces. A general strike was called, and on November 26 the Communist Party relinquished power. On December 29, 1989, dissident and playwright Václav Havel was elected president.

With a change in government, stamp designs reflected the changes the country had undergone (Figure 18). For example, in 1990, Milada Horáková, a leading advocate for women’s rights and a respected member of parliament, was honored on a stamp honoring victims of injustice. She had been executed in 1950 after a show trial held by the communists.

The first free and honest elections held in more than 40 years occurred in June 1990 and the event was marked by a stamp showing typical election art. The very first Christmas stamp was also produced. These stamps would not have been possible just a year earlier.

6 The Czech Republic and the Republic of Slovakia, both 1993 to present

Although the joy and elation of the return of democracy and free markets was overwhelming, there were rumblings

of dissent. During the early 1990s, it was becoming clear that Czechoslovakia was fracturing.

Longtime lingering political, a cultural, and historical resentments resulted in the “Velvet Divorce” – so-called because of the peaceful breakup of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and the Republic of Slovakia.

At first, stamps of both countries were issued without currency denomination (Figure 19). The currency, the koruna, was later split into Czech koruna and Slovak koruna (eventually Slovakia would adopt the euro as its currency). Collectors can concentrate on the new issues of either or both countries.

With Slovakia, it is possible to collect the 1939-1945 Republic, as well as all issues from January 1, 1993, to present day, relatively inexpensively, if completeness is a goal. Topics covered by both countries include the continued art series as well as the tradition of stamp production (Figure 20, see sidebar for more information). Both countries continue to produce beautiful postage stamps that are coveted by collectors around the world.

The Society for Czechoslovak Philately

In this brief survey of Czechoslovak history, we have touched on areas where the collector could concentrate or dig more deeply into. But where to find the resources to do so?

This is where the Society for Czechoslovak Philately (SCP) comes in. The SCP (APS Unit No. 18) is an 84-yearold international organization focused on helping its members get the most out of collecting this area. Founded in May 1939, by collectors in New York City during a dark time in Czech history, membership soon spread throughout North America and today includes members in Japan, Australia, and Europe as well. There are different levels of membership, but all members of the society enjoy the following benefits:

A quarterly bulletin, The Czechoslovak Specialist, which has been continuously published since 1939 either electronically or in hard copy (or both). An interactive index is available to search all past issues of The Specialist from 1939 through 2012. The Specialist has been accorded numerous philatelic literature awards throughout the years.

A bimonthly electronic newsletter via email for members to keep up with the happenings in the society.

• Access to a sales circuit where members can sell their excess material and buy needed items for their collections.

Figure 18. As a new government formed in 1990, new stamps reflected a major change in subject matter. The new era includes stamps honoring Milada Horáková, Scott 2795; free elections, Scott 2791; and Christmas, Scott 2809.

• Access to a sales division, where members may purchase publications, catalogs and other philatelic books covering our various fields of interest at reasonable prices with a membership discount. Most of what is offered is only available in the U.S. through the society.

• A society borrowing library that may be the best outside of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Members can check out books for the cost of postage in their area of interest and do research with top resources.

• Support for novice exhibitors through the VernerMajer Exhibiting Program.

Best of all, enjoy access to many members and experts

THE AUTHORS

who shares their interests and passions. Members are always willing to share knowledge and help solve philatelic questions.

If you would like additional information about the Society for Czechoslovak Philately and its services or a membership application, please see our website, www.csphilately.net, or write Membership Secretary Marisa Galitz, P.O. Box 646, Owings Mills, MD 21117.

So why collect Czechoslovakia and areas? Because this area of philately has it all: the breadth and width of the area, the varieties and types of stamps, their beauty and high production standards. The stamps of Czechoslovakia are renowned for their quality, themes, design, and color rendition which are second to none.

James Buckner is the current president of the Society for Czechoslovak Philately. He has collected stamps since 1968 when his Czechoslovak grandfather and father gave him his first album and stamps in an effort to stop his nagging questions as they watched and discussed the coverage of the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. Given his heritage, James’ collecting interest lie mostly in Central and Eastern Europe. He is also a member of the American Philatelic Society, the Czechoslovak Philatelic Society of Great Britain, and the Society for Hungarian Philately.

Keith Hart is the editor of The Czechoslovak Specialist, the quarterly journal of the Society for Czechoslovak Philately. As a schoolboy in England, he began a pen pal correspondence with a Czech student that led to exchanging stamps. He will celebrate his 65th anniversary of collecting Czechoslovak stamps and first day covers later this year. He is also a member of the American Philatelic Society.

Figure 19. New stamps were needed after the formation of the Czech Republic, Scott 2877, and Slovakia, Scott 150.

Figure 20. Modern stamps from the Czech Republic and Slovakia continue the art series: Slovakia Scott 488 and Czech Republic Scott 3135.

JAMES W. MILGRAM, M.D.

This world has just gone through a very traumatic period where everyone was threatened by a viral infectious disease. This disease appears to have been brought under control by vaccination, a medical procedure that uses another agent to stimulate a person’s body to create an immune response that will protect the vaccinated individual if they are exposed later to the virus that causes the disease.

We live in an age when the process of vaccination has controlled a great many deadly diseases that have ravaged humanity for an unknown period of time. These include smallpox, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), polio, tetanus, measles, shingles, and forms of influenza. What we have to remember is that no such treatments existed for any of these diseases until vaccination as a treatment was discovered just more than 200 years ago.

Smallpox tended to affect communities in a cyclical fashion, causing many deaths at a particular time and then abating for a while before recurring again in another epidemic. At that time no one knew that small invisible organisms could be the cause of disease that was transmitted from person to person by exposure, but it was known that exposure to the pustules of smallpox could infect another person.

Over time, people began to understand that if someone had limited exposure to the disease – i.e. via inoculation – chances of survival were better, and the inoculated individual would not catch the disease again.

Inoculation

Cotton Mather (1663-1728), the famous preacher in Boston, read of cases of successful inoculations as early as 1716, according to an article from the Massachusetts Historical Society. He also received a firsthand account of successful inoculations in West Africa from Onesimus, an African he enslaved. He promoted a program of smallpox inoculation but only one physician showed an interest in the idea. That physician, Zabdiel Boylston (1679-1766), inoculated two Africans enslaved by him, Jack and his 2-yearold son Jackey, and his own 6-year-old son Thomas – none of the three developed the full disease.

There was a marked negative reaction to Boylston and Mather’s ideas that caused the practice of inoculation to be discontinued as a dangerous procedure.1

However, in 1721 there was a major smallpox epidemic in Boston brought in by a British ship with infected sailors that would cause 5,800 cases of the disease, killing 844 individuals. During this epidemic, 287 people were inoculated and only six of those died. Thus, certain people chose to be inoculated from time to time in order to escape more serious disease in the case of an outbreak in their community.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) writes in his autobiography about the death of one of his sons from smallpox at the age of 4. He writes, “I long regretted bitterly and still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation.” This was written when Franklin was age 79. However, it was recognized that

the practice was not without risk. Inoculation meant taking the actual disease from a sick person and transmitting it to someone else who was healthy. So few would take such a risk.

Figure 1 shows a printed broadside in my collection referring to smallpox inoculation. This poster, which appears to be unlisted in various references, dates from March 1794 in the city of Richmond, Virginia. Because the poster uses the letter “f” for the “s” letters, I have transcribed it with the substitution of the “s” letters in order for it to be read by the modern reader.

AT a Meeting of the Magistrates for the City of Richmond, on Tuesday the 15th of March 1794.

It was agreed that the following parts of the Act of Assembly, passed the 21st of December, 1792, entitled “An Act to reduce into one, the several Acts for regulating the Inoculation of the Small Pox within this Commonwealth,” should be published—viz.

Sec. 4. No Patient in the Small Pox shall remove from the house where he or she shall have the Distemper, or shall go abroad into the company of any person who hath not before had the Small Pox, or been inoculated, or go into any public road where travellers usually pass, without retiring out of the same, or giving notice upon the approach of any passenger, until such Patient hath recovered from

the distemper, and hath been so well cleansed in his or her person and clothes, as to be perfectly free from infection, under the penalty of seven dollars for every offence.

Sec. 9. If any person or persons shall inoculate or procure inoculation for the small pox, to be performed within this commonwealth, without obtaining a license or consent to inoculate in the manner herein before directed, or shall not conform to the rules and regulations prescribed by such justices, he, she, or they shall forfeit and pay respectively, for every such offence, the sum of three hundred dollars.

Sec. 10. Every person wilfully endeavoring to spread or propagate the small pox, without inoculation, or by inoculation, in any other manner than is allowed by this act in special cases, shall be subject to the penalty of three hundred dollars, or suffer six months imprisonment, without bail or mainprize.

And the said Magistrates do most earnestly request the citizens to cause their houses, clothing and bedding to be well cleansed from all infection, before the first day of April next.

And they do also desire that each Citizen will be watchful, and give notice to either of the Magistrates of any infraction of the law aforesaid, or of either of the clause above recited, either by inoculation or coming into this city while under the said disorder.

Signed by desire of the Magistrates, JOHN BARRET, Mayor.

This very interesting broadside shows that inoculation was both known and strictly regulated.

It also regulates the actions of those showing signs of disease to stay separate from other individuals; and thorough cleaning of the clothes, bedding, and residence of an infected person was required by law.

Another Massachusetts physician, Amos Holbrook, of Bellingham, Massachusetts, also was involved with the early use of vaccination against smallpox. Holbrook had been a surgeon during the Revolutionary War and later established himself in practice in the town of Milton, Massachusetts.

Holbrook’s first act in public was to petition the town on March 17, 1777, to provide a hospital building where he might practice inoculation for smallpox. It is a matter of public record that in 1808 he vaccinated 337 persons of varying ages, a fourth of the population, according to The National Cyclopedia of American Biography

Three months later he inoculated 12 individuals, all of whom he had previously vaccinated with smallpox virus and placed them in the hospital for 15 days. None of those so treated showed signs of the smallpox disease. Holbrook received international recognition for his actions.

My collection contains a most interesting document concerning this important experiment, shown in Figure 2. It is a 4-inch-by-4¾-inch embossed double-paged sheet of stationery with a pink border on the first page. One fact to come from this document is that the inoculation of

Figure 1. A 1794 broadside from John Barret, mayor of Richmond, Virginia outlining the city regulations concerning those with smallpox and inoculating against smallpox.

The failure of American governments to effectively implement vaccination against smallpox is considered an avoidable tragedy.

Figure 2. Top, the first page of a Holbrook document headed “Milton 25th Oct 1809,” from Oliver Houghton, chairman of the Committee for Vaccination. Middle, the second page of Holbrook document naming the 12 children who were tested by inoculation of smallpox. Right, the third page of the Holbrook document, an unsigned letter dated Milton November 11, 1809, to a Mrs. Rowe about the inoculation of the children.

the children took place in 1809 and not 1808. And it gives the information that all 12 persons tested were children, with their names.

The text on the first page reads:

Milton 25th Oct. 1809

The twelve children, whose names are written on the back of this card, were vaccinated at the town inoculation in July last, they were tested by smallpox inoculation on the 10th Instant, and discharged this day from the Hospital, after offering to the world in the presence of most respectable witnesses, who honored Milton with their attendance on that occasion, an additional evidence of the never failing honor of that mild preventive the cowpock against smallpox infection; a blessing great as it is singular in its Kind, when by the hearts of men should be elevated in praise to the Almighty Giver

Amos Holbrook Oliver Hougton Physician Chairman of the Committee for Vaccination

[Author's

note: The back of the first page lists the names of the children.

Joshua Briggs

Th’s. St.Briggs

Benj. Ch. Briggs

Martin Briggs

George Briggs

Samuel Alden

Charles Briggs

Mary A. Belcher

Catherine Bent

Susanna Bent

Ruth Sdr. Horton

John Smith

These twelve were the only individuals qualified by the town vote who expressed a desire of being tested by small pox inoculation, out of 337 vaccinated in July last.

[Author's

note: The third page of this document appears to be an unsigned letter from the committee.

The committee beg to wait on Mrs. Rowe and to request her acceptance of a card [the three page document] expressive of the result of the test by small pox inoculation of twelve children vaccinated at the town inoculation in July last; a result which can not be indifferent to the tender mother, and to a Lady of her known benevolence.

Happy to have this opportunity to offer their sincere good wishes for her happiness, and the prosperity of her family.

Milton 11th Novr 1809

Cowpox Vaccination

It was a British physician, Edward Jenner (1749-1823), who noticed in the late 1700s that milkmaids were immune to catching smallpox, a disease of high mortality. He deduced that they had caught another less serious disease similar to smallpox, called cowpox, a disease of cows.

The famous case of the first vaccination, which was using another disease to bestow immunity to prevent a more serious disease, occurred in 1796 when Jenner injected cowpox material taken from a lesion on a milkmaid with active cowpox into a young boy. Jenner then inoculated the boy with smallpox and

Figure 3. A painting of Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, by Rembrandt Peale (1833).

Figure 4. The “Genuine Vaccination by S. Fansher” broadside from 1829 promoting vaccination against smallpox by Dr. Fansher.

I rejoice at the discovery as a friend of humanity...

the boy failed to develop any symptoms.

Jenner himself was inoculated with smallpox at the age of 8 and had survived fortuitously. He then experimented on other patients and in 1798 published his paper “An Inquiry Into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae.”

I published an article “British Prison Ship System During War of 1812 with Examined Postmark” in the February 1964 issue of The American Philatelist. In this article I quoted many times from a small book, A Journal of a Young Man of Massachusetts, by Benjamin Waterhouse, M.D.

Waterhouse (1754-1846) had been a surgeon onboard an American ship captured by the British in 1813 during the War of 1812 and had been imprisoned on a prison hulk in Chatham and then at Dartmoor Prison. Little was I to know that Waterhouse’s name would again come up in a later article, the present article about vaccination.

Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, of Harvard University, read Jenner’s 1798 article and resolved to experiment with the cowpox vaccination method. But cowpox did not exist in America, so he asked British correspondents to send a sample of the disease, cowpox-soaked threads sealed in a glass vial, from Bristol to Boston.

On July 4, 1800, the ship Foxcroft carried his vial with live cowpox into Boston. Waterhouse started by vaccinating his own son, then 5 years old. Within days the doctor then

used the cowpox agent on other members of his family and household. No one got sick.

But he needed assurance that immunity existed in these individuals, so he sent his son to a smallpox hospital where he was exposed to persons with the disease. Twelve days later the boy came home without signs of the smallpox disease. The doctor who operated the hospital wrote, “This is no deception. I rejoice at the discovery as a friend of humanity although it must deprive me of a very handsome annual income.”

Waterhouse corresponded with Jenner, who sent cowpox samples. In 1802 Waterhouse conducted a controlled experiment, supported by the Boston Board of Health, in which 19 boys were vaccinated and two were not vaccinated. All were exposed to active cases of smallpox. The 19 were immune but the two unvaccinated boys died of the disease.

Generalized vaccination did not come about due to the lack of a pure source of cowpox matter. Waterhouse continued to promote vaccination with presentations and papers. Figure 3 shows a painting of Waterhouse by Rembrandt Peale, currently housed in the Harvard Medical School.

Waterhouse wrote first to President John Adams, who did not reply to him, and then to Thomas Jefferson, who promoted vaccination when he became president.

In 1813, Congress passed an Act to Encourage Vaccination, which established a national source for uncontaminated smallpox vaccine.

Postal historians should note that Congress subsidized the distribution of vaccine through a valuable franking privilege, providing free postage to and from the vaccine agent. The first national vaccine agent was Dr. James Smith, of Baltimore.

The 1813 Act was not adopted to any wide extent, with the result that smallpox raged throughout the country for

Figure 5. The broadside was folded and mailed as a stampless cover shown here. The postmark is “Berlin Ct. Nov 15” with “10” due from The Selectmen of Plymouth, Connecticut. The date is probably 1829.

most of the 19th century.

In comparison, Denmark by 1810 had almost eliminated smallpox by a policy of compulsory vaccination. Prussia reduced the toll from the disease from 14 percent of all deaths to 1 percent. While many Indigenous tribes had been decimated by smallpox during the Colonial period, federal vaccination was so successful among Native Americans in the second half of the 19th century that smallpox mortality rates were a fraction of that among the non-native population. Thus, the failure of American governments to effectively implement vaccination against smallpox is considered an avoidable tragedy.

This article is also about an extremely early piece of advertising by mail.

The item shown in Figure 4 is really a printed broadside

– “GENUINE Vaccination By S. Fansher” – with a fancy frame on which there are two written messages at top and bottom. It was then folded and mailed postage due as a stampless cover, shown in Figure 5 with “Berlin, Ct. Nov 15” and “10” postmarks, the rate for 30 to 80 miles of postroads.

The cover is addressed to the Selectmen of Plymouth, Connecticut. I located an auction lot that contained an autographed receipt by S. Fansher dated Plymouth, December 23, 1829, for $116.50 received from the town of Plymouth for “vaccination of four hundred and sixty-six inhabitants of said town at 25/100 dollars per head”. Thus, the November broadside might have been mailed in 1829.

The Massachusetts Historical Society’s archives contain a letter from Waterhouse to a friend attesting to Fansher’s experience in vaccination, asserting that he had vaccinated a greater number, by far, than any man in America, if not the world.

However, it is the message within the text that makes this an item of great historical interest. Dr. Sylvanus Fansher is promoting vaccination against smallpox, one of the most serious infectious diseases, using the cowpox (Genuine Kine Pox) inoculum. And he advises that he has tested between 500 and 600 of the 87,000 persons he has vaccinated with smallpox without “producing a symptom of that terrible disease.”

Fansher (1770-1846) was a native of Plymouth, Connecticut, who evidently was an early proponent for vaccination. The Massachusetts Historical Society’s archive also contains another broadside from him, likely from 1810 in Providence, Rhode Island, where he was vaccinating residents. This very interesting document contains “Dr. Fansher’s Rules, To be observed during Vaccination,” written in poetic verse, excerpted here:2

Persons in any situation, Fit subjects are for vaccination. And infants one week old or less, It gives them no uneasiness. It is presumed no prudent mother Will vaccinate one child from another: Better to make the business sure, And ever after feel secure, From that disease which seals their doom, And hides its victim in the tomb.

There are advertisements from Fansher in various New England newspapers for vaccination services, some of which cite his connection to Waterhouse. These advertisements date from the 1810s and later, so the claim made by the Figure 3 broadside, about vaccinating 87,000 persons by 1829, may well be true.

Moreover, there is a third broadside known from Fansher. This undated poster is shown in Figure 6, “RULES TO BE ATTENDED TO DURING VACCINATION.” It was part of the same auction lot that contained the 1829 receipt to the town of Plymouth, already mentioned.

Since the only one of the three broadsides that can be positively dated is the one shown in Figure 4, I think it’s pos-

Figure 6.A broadside from Fansher also showing “Rules to be Attended to During Vaccination.”

sible that the other two broadsides might be from the 1820s, too, but they may predate the “Genuine Vaccination” poster. The two “rules” broadsides may have been handouts given to those who were vaccinated.

Fansher wrote a “Memorial of Sylvanus Fansher” to the 25th Congress dated April 18, 1838. In this he promoted a permanent vaccine institution “for the benefit of the army, navy, and Indian department.”

The first two and a half pages give a history of the effect of smallpox on the military as well as civilian populations.

In it Fansher writes, “Your memorialist would further represent, that he was an early promoter of vaccination in this country, and that, with a zeal somewhat in proportion to the importance of the discovery, cooperated with Dr. Waterhouse many years in the arduous struggle against a strong opposition, endeavoring to convert public opinion from the old inoculation to the new [vaccination], until we had the satisfaction to see the better practice triumphant …”

Added afterwards were several circulars written by Fansher, one on Vaccine Institution, one “Highly Important Improvement in Vaccination.” Following this are several quotations from 1811 to 1832, including a full page of list of patrons and directions for using the vaccine matter.

Resources

“Benjamin Waterhouse,” Dictionary of American Biography Vol. X (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1936).

Bonhams Auctions. “Medical and Scientific Library of W. Bruce Fye, Lot 1189 June 20-29, 2022”.

“Dr. Fansher’s Rules To be observed during Vaccination,” Massachusetts Historical Society, https://www.masshist.org/database/5923.

Milgram, James W. “British Prison Ship System During War of 1812 with Examined Postmark.” The American Philatelist (February 1964): 333-338.

Singla, Rohit K. “The Vaccine Act of 1813,” (Harvard Law School, May 1, 1998).

White, James T. The National Cyclopedia of American Biography Vol 13 (New York, 1906): 184-185.

Endnotes

1 Editor's note: A 2014 Boston Globe article notes the source of the anger and fear of Boston residents about inoculation, a combination of the following: fear of smallpox being spread further; the simultaneous rise of bubonic plague in France at the time; religious doubt about going against God's plan; and racial suspicion of a foreign treatment that came from Africa. https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/10/17/how-african-slave-helpedboston-fight-smallpox/XFhsMMvTGCeV62YP0XhhZI/story.html

2 To read the full broadside on the Massachusetts Historical Society website, visit https://www.masshist.org/database/viewer.php?item_id=5923&pid=3

THE AUTHOR

James W. Milgram is a retired orthopaedic surgeon who has been a member of the APS since 1958. He has written more than 675 philatelic articles, including more than 65 articles for The American Philatelist. He collects United States postal history covers before 1900 and interesting historical letters.

Croatia

Macedonia

Reflections on IBRA 2023 — A Personal Memoir

[Editor’s note: Author Ken Gilbert offers his view about the IBRA international stamp show, which he attended in May 25 to 28 in Essen, Germany. This column is a continuation of the Social Stamp Community presentation in the October edition of The American Philatelist.]

YMIBRA story actually begins in 1973, in a small farming village, Röddensen, about 15 miles east northeast of Hannover. I was on a high school exchange program.

Just a crossroads on the main road between Lehrte and Burgdorf, Röddensen had a small postal agency in the parlor of one of the houses. As a stamp collector since my youth, I went there to send a couple of postcards and see if they had any interesting stamps. The souvenir sheet for IBRA 73 (Scott B502) had just gone on sale, and I was happy to be able to buy one. I did think for a minute of having it canceled with the local postmark, but did not (but wish I had). I still have that sheet.

Little did I know then that I’d actually be attending IBRA 50 years later in 2023; and, not only attending but having an exhibit in the main show. The exhibit is based on the postal history of the rural mail in Lehrte, the area where I had lived.

IBRA 2023 – the International Briefmarken Ausstellung (International Stamp Exhibition), held under the auspices of the 33rd Essen International Stamp Fair, was huge — perhaps the largest exhibition I’ve ever been to, with the possible exception of Interphil 76, which I attended as a young college student.

There were almost 800 exhibits from 70 countries and more than 3,000 frames in the exhibit hall, with almost 90 dealers and almost 25 postal agencies in the other main hall. Scattered throughout were booths for the various interest

groups of the Bund Deutscher Philatelisten (BDPh — the equivalent of the APS in Germany).

We loved the passion the collecting community at IBRA had for youth, which included a small swimming pool full of stamps and a number of 1-euro boxes with donated material, open to all, to raise money for programming (this was similar to what was done at GASS this year).

Sadly, the U.S. Postal Service was not represented among the postal agencies, though the APS was well represented in the person of APS President Cheryl Ganz and many other APS members.

Deutsche Post had a large area with both a philatelic shop and working post office as well as a video board. You

KEN GILBERT

The author and his wife at the IBRA 23 show. The postcard was created at the BDPh photo booth.

could choose which special cancel to get by depositing your mail in the box labeled for that purpose, or you could have it done by hand at the booth.

The entrance hall hosted a small cafe and was where the main talks took place, and there was also a reasonably priced restaurant on the upper level and a small concession stand with sausages, frikadellen (German burgers), and drinks between the main halls. It was nice to have affordable dining options.

It was amazing to visit all of the dealers. Many of them I’d patronized on eBay or Delcampe, and I finally got to meet them in person for the first time. Of course, as a German specialist, it was a very fruitful experience. Usually I’m lucky to even find a single Lehrte cover at a show. Here, I found more than 25. Some dealers had boxes broken down by postal codes, which made that much easier; it even helped me find a couple of covers from my great-great grandfather’s hometown of Breitenberg, a small village deep in the Black Forest near Calw. We had a fun time searching the 1-euro boxes, especially for my wife’s areas of interest: elephants and red pandas.

But a big international show is more than just a place to find new material. It’s a place to get new ideas, pass on new ideas, and “to confer, converse, and otherwise hobnob with my fellow wizards,” to paraphrase the Wizard of Oz, as well as to exhibit.

The main reason my wife, Catherine, and I attended IBRA was to participate in the 13th German-American Salon, a joint meeting between the BDPh and the Germany Philatelic Society that occurs approximately every three years, alternating between the United States and Germany. It’s a time to renew old friendships with tours and social activities as well as exhibits.

The hospitality of the BDPh was amazing. We were invited to a number of receptions, and there were tours available to Düsseldorf and Aachen (which were also open to other IBRA attendees). The main hotel provided a num-

ber of opportunities to meet fellow philatelists from around the world. We were also treated to a special reception where those who had exhibited at the salon were given IBRA medals.

Salon organizer Günter Korn came up with a “Klein aber Fein” (“small but fine”) idea for the salon that really worked well, using one to two frames (European size, 12 pages per frame).

My wife and I brought three display class exhibits — one on red pandas, one on human-elephant interactions, and one on my favorite soccer team, Borussia Mönchengladbach — plus the start of a postal history exhibit on the 1933 Sir Gilbert Humphrey set from Newfoundland to honor the Arbeitsgemeinschaft e.V. USA Canada (Interest Group USA Canada) from the BDPh who were also meeting at IBRA. Heinz Selig, from the BDPh, brought an exhibit on rural mail from his home area, as he’d seen my similar exhibit on Lehrte at previous salons (another good example of sharing interests), and, of course, APS President Cheryl Ganz had one on zeppelins!

My experience exhibiting at the main show had its ups and downs.

I had heard that the judging at FIP shows is tough. I expected it, and that proved to be true, as I received a large silver. But the biggest disappointment was not being able to talk with the jury, as we can do at World Series of Philately shows in the U.S.

One thing we do well at WSP shows is feedback, especially allowing the lower medal levels to go first, as they often have the most to learn. The show had a limited opportunity for feedback, given the size of the show, and I was not selected. I’m hoping that Boston 2026 will have a better opportunity for judges’ feedback.

But I also had an amazing surprise. The first official day of the show, I went over to see how my exhibit had been

The IBRA exhibit floor.

A stamp swimming pool in youth area.

mounted (at international shows, the country commissioners take care of delivery and mounting). When I got there, a fellow philatelist was staring intently at my exhibit (“Landpost über Lehrte”) and was taking notes. It turns out that he was from Lehrte! We had a long discussion and I learned something new about one of my covers. The postal marking used for Sossmar über Lehrte was quite different than the other postwar markings for that area. There was a reason. The operator of the postal agency was a POW in the USSR after the war, so that office did not reopen until he got home around 1949.

There were a lot of things I liked about how exhibiting was handled at this show, which we might be able to expand to our own shows. As expected, there was standard exhibiting, including the FIP Grand Prix of Philately. But there were a number of other, smaller exhibiting areas that were not judged.

Like many shows, there was a special treasury of top items, including, in this case, the famous, officially unreleased but postally used German Audrey Hepburn stamp, and the Baden 9 Kreutzer misprint. Along with the aforementioned GPS-BPPh Salon exhibits, there was a special exhibition from the German Postal Museum on the Germania stamp design, with proofs and essays; an exhibit covering the 100th anniversary of the German high-inflation period; and a section where collectors could show one page of their best item in their collection.

All of these ideas are possible good additions to our

top shows. Small, fun exhibits help bring the new collector or novice into the exhibiting world and are fun for the general public. The last couple of years, our local shows in the Columbus, Ohio area have had a “Free f’r All,” in which folks are invited to show a single frame of the collecting area they enjoy. It’s just for fun and just to share with the public.

I will add a sad footnote. Shortly after the show, the organizers of the Essen International Stamp Fair decided that this would be the last one, due to financial reasons (even though this show was very well attended). This ends a very long tradition.

It seems Europe has problems similar to ours, given the number of WSP shows that have folded in recent years. Still, nothing can replace in-person shows for the fellowship and personal connections, if nothing else. Philately is where we make lifetime friends, and that’s so much harder to do virtually.

Wolfgang Maassen (right) presents a book to GPS President Rudi Anders at a reception.

American Philatelic Society President Cheryl Ganz and BDPh organizer Günter Korn.

BY CHARLES EPTING

Of Ships, Steamships, and Steamboats

Figure 1.This 1815 folded letter from Bordeaux, France, to New Orleans bears a manuscript “Sh 14½” rating at top right. “Sh” was a common abbreviation for “Ship” during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Figure 2. An 1858 cover from Mexico City to New York City which was endorsed to be carried by the contract steamer Tennessee of the New Orleans & Vera Cruz Line but was instead carried by a private ship and correctly marked as a ship letter (“Ship” and “5” handstamps) in New Orleans.

This brief column, which sets up a topic I’d like to discuss further in the future, was predicated by a conversation I had with my colleague Alison Sullivan recently.

I was editing one of our forthcoming auctions and Alison asked me to explain the difference between ship mail, steamship mail, and steamboat mail. It was only when I stopped to think about the similarity of these terms that I came to realize how impenetrable such aspects of postal history must seem to newcomers. So, let’s do our best to briefly break down these terms, and we will explore each of them more fully at a later date.

We’ll start with ship mail, which encompasses letters that entered the United States on vessels that did not have a contract to carry mail. Dating back to colonial times, ship captains would often carry mail on their voyages; this evolved into a formalized system whereby captains would deliver mail to the post office at the port of entry, where it would enter the mainstream. For this service the captain would be paid a small fee, usually 2 cents.

Before we proceed any further, I feel it is important to define a word that’s meaning is so often taken for granted in philatelic literature: “contract.”

Governments, including the United States and United Kingdom, would enter into contracts with private shipping companies for the carriage of mail: the government would require a certain number of trips be made in a set

Figure 3. The steamship rate between Havana, Cuba, and the United States was 12½ cents, as shown by the handstamp on this 1851 folded letter to New York City. This letter was carried on the Howland & Aspinwall Line’s Philadelphia.

amount of time, and the shipping line would be subsidized by the government for their service. These contracts typically allowed for mail to be prepaid at its point of origin, as opposed to ship mail, which was sent collect. Between 1840 and 1875, 31 companies carried government mail on the North Atlantic.

Beginning in 1840, the British & North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (commonly called the Cunard Line) obtained a contract with Great Britain to carry mail to North America. From that point forward, transatlantic mail was dominated by contract vessels. The existence of postal contracts meant that letters carried in this manner were not subject to a ship letter fee and are therefore not classified as such.

So the key to understanding ship mail, particularly after the rise of transatlantic steamship mail in the 1840s, is the fact that it was carried on non-contract vessels. Steamship letters, on the other hand, typically originated in the Caribbean, Central America, South America, or the West Coast of the United States. In contrast with ship mail, steamship mail was carried by vessels with mail contracts, and these letters were assessed at special rates higher than those charged for ship letters. The first steamship rates were laid out by the Post Office Department in the mid-1840s, and the first steamship

markings appeared in 1849.

The 1848 steamship rates between Charleston, South Carolina, and various ports are instructive: Caribbean islands other than Havana, 10 cents; Havana, 12½ cents; Chagres, New Grenada (east coast of Panama), 20 cents; Panama City (west coast of Panama), 30 cents; and San Francisco and other Pacific ports, 40 cents. Cities such as Charleston, New Orleans, New York, and others produced handstamps for these various rates. Steamship mail is seen through the General Postal Union period of the 1870s.

Now we come to the last of our three terms: steamboat mail. Like ship mail, steamboat mail was carried by non-contract vessels. The difference is that steamboats operated on inland waterways: rivers, lakes, streams, bays, sounds, and canals. Steamboat mail was collected by a captain or clerk along a particular route and carried to the post office at the end of his run. Beginning in 1825, the captain would receive 2 cents for each letter carried (with rates generally mirroring ship letter rates in later decades).

Various markings were used on steamboat mail, including post office markings that read both “Steamboat” and “Steam” to properly identify steamboat mail. Practically, there is no difference between these two terms, but one must be careful not to let a “Steam” handstamp trick you into picturing the aforementioned steamship mail. There are also private “name-ofboat” markings that include the name of the ship that carried a particular letter, which is a sprawling topic that has filled entire volumes in and of itself.

To recap:

Ship letters were carried on an oceangoing vessel without a post office contract to a United States port of entry.

Steamship letters were carried on an oceangoing vessel with a post office contract and rated based on their point of origin.

Steamboat letters were carried over inland waterways by a vessel without a post office contract.

And with that, I will see you all again next month as we continue to make heads and tails of the various ways to interpret these fascinating pieces of our postal past.

Figure 6. The terms “Steam” and “Steamboat” were used interchangeably, as can be seen when comparing this 1858 cover with the cover in Figure 5.

Figure 4. This 1850 folded letter originated in Panama City on the west coast of Panama. When it arrived in New Orleans it received red “Steam” and “30” handstamps. The black datestamp erroneously reads “Panama N.Y.” when it was supposed to read “Panama N.G.” (New Granada).

Figure 5. This 1848 folded letter was carried on the steamboat Homer from Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, to New Orleans. The red “Homer” handstamp would have been applied onboard, while the black “Steam” and “10” handstamps were applied upon arrival in New Orleans.

The Marketplace

THE MARKETPLACE THE MARKETPLACE

BY MATT LIEBSON

Finding Fresh Material – Tips and Tricks

This month’s column responds to a specific question: “My area of collecting is pretty sparse and inactive, and I’m having trouble finding fresh material. What are some tips/tricks?”

There are several ways to approach this problem that many of us encounter as collectors, depending on what routes a collector has already pursued in trying to find material.

Shows: One easy way to try to find new material is to ask dealers. Many dealers don’t bring all of their material to every show, and many dealers have material that they don’t work up because it is out of their primary area or they may not understand it fully. Ask all of the dealers at a show (if you can get to one) if they have anything, or if they know who does. Many dealers can give referrals to others who might have material for sale.

Dealer directories: If there is no local show available to you, make sure you check the APS and dealer organization directories. Many dealers will list specialties, and you may find a dealer you haven’t worked with before who may be able to help.

Specialty societies and collector referrals: Is there a specialty society that focuses on your collecting area? Contact

dealers, authors, or prominent collectors in the society. They may have fresh material for you, or know where it can be found. While it is of course true that sometimes these collectors are also your competitors for material, most collectors are happy to collaborate with like-minded people.

Online marketplaces: The emergence of online marketplaces has made it easier to search large quantities of material. If you are not using eBay, HipStamp, Delcampe, or the like to search for material in your area, you should be.

If you are already using online marketplaces as part of your acquisition strategy, consider modifying your searches to draw in more material, or think about whether there may be other categories where material could be listed. For example, if a collector seeks revenue stamps on documents, it makes sense to search not just in the stamps category, but also in historical documents and related categories.

Public Auction: Similarly, if you haven’t been buying at public auction, look around and see if auctioneers might offer material in your area from time to time. There are many smaller auction houses, and they can be fruitful sources of unexpected material. The website stampauctionnetwork. com has made finding auction listings easier than in the past.

European-based Delcampe (https://www.delcampe.net/) sometimes has material that’s difficult to find among U.S.-based dealers.

Search online: Harness the power of the internet more generally. Rather than focusing on stamp sites, a general search using Google or another search engine might turn up something unexpected on a non-philatelic site or on a platform you may not previously have spotted.

Expand your collecting horizon: If other methods fail,

•

think about ways of expanding your collecting area, or developing a new one. If you collect the stamps of a country and can’t find new material or the remaining material is too expensive, consider adding postal stationery, or revenues, or cancels, or postal history, and so forth. There are always new areas to collect and ways to expand an existing collection.

wnkelly@earthlink.net www.congostamps.com

Dutch Country Auctions

Books & Catalogs

BY Guest Reviewers

The Postal History of the Ottoman Post in the Holy Land: Rates, Routes & Postmarks by Zvi Aloni and Joseph Hackmey. 431 pages; hardcover with dustjacket. Published by The Royal Philatelic Society London, 2021. £50 (approximately $61), plus postage, available via the RPSL, https://members.rpsl.org.uk/Shop/product/233.

Stamp collectors with an interest in postal history generally have one or more specializations: a country, a time period, a mode of transportation, a route, a thematic topic, or the like. But by their nature, postal historians are a curious lot, always interested in reading and learning about subjects outside of their own collecting areas.

I am driven to understand all aspects of the posts. Knowledge about postal operations in all lands helps me to better understand the postal history of what I do collect. Myopia, the narrow study of only one’s own specialization, stifles intellectual growth. Worse, it leads to collections that neglect obscure but important covers.

Thus it was that I was drawn to The Postal History of the Ottoman Post in the Holy Land: Rates, Routes & Postmarks (Figure 1). This visually attractive book by Zvi Aloni and Joseph Hackmey offers a comprehensive philatelic look at an important region of the western world. Since the Middle Ages, Europe has had a love-hate relationship with the Ottoman Empire. Geopolitical enmities were frequently countervailed by shared commercial and trade interests. Trade required postal communications. Postal communications are what we collect.

chapters speak to the entire Ottoman Empire spanning three continents, even though the Holy Land represents a very limited portion. The author is effective in contextualizing Holy Land postal operations within the broader Empire.

The year 1840 was a propitious one in the annals of the posts. In addition to the issuance of the Penny Black, there was also the October 14 proclamation by the Ottoman Empire of the establishment of postal services available to the public. Previously, only royalty and their bureaucracies could avail themselves of mail communications.

The second chapter, Foreign Post Offices in the Ottoman Empire & the Ottoman Contentions, discusses the numerous nations that established foreign post offices in the Empire (known as the “Levant Posts”). Beginning with the Austrians in 1718, more than a century before the Ottoman postal service was created, nine European and Middle Eastern countries established foreign post offices. These offices continued to be necessary, even after 1840, to supplement the rather inefficient domestic postal operations.

Aloni clearly has an interest in ensuring that readers know how to use the book. His preface is a two-page description of how the book is organized, what it includes and what is excluded. The table of contents is helpfully detailed and clearly organized. Following the table is an Explanation of the Illustrated Pages. Importantly, the pages throughout the book follow this structure consistently.

Ottoman Post follows the classic postal history framework of rates, routes, and postmarks. Because the subject matter will be new to many readers, Aloni opens with an introduction to the history of the region. The beginning

The Ottomans finally recognized the importance of reliable domestic and international postal services; in 1874, they were one of the 22 original signatories to the Treaty of Bern, which created the General Postal Union (the predecessor, one year later, of the UPU). By 1876, the Empire contracted with the Austrian Lloyd shipping firm for the carriage of international mail. The Ottoman Empire was now more fully integrated in the international postal community.

The General Information chapter provides additional context about Ottoman currency, weights and measures, the numerals in the region, and the Ottoman telegraph.

The next chapter documents and illustrates Ottoman Postal Rates 1840-1918, including domestic and foreign letter rates, registered mail and AR services, official mail, and postage dues. The 80-page chapter offers helpful tables and high quality, on-point cover illustrations. I do wish that there were figure numbers associated with each of the captions.

The balance of the book details the postmarks and cover examples for each of the Holy Land post and telegraph offices (Figure 2, top). There are some 25 such offices plus 35 suboffices, as well as the travelling post offices. Some of the

Figure 1. The cover of The Postal History of the Ottoman Post in the Holy Land.

About The Middle East Philatelic Bulletin

The Middle East Philatelic Bulletin is a quarterly journal that offers content about the countries of the Middle East: Arabian Peninsula and Gulf States, Ottoman Empire and Turkey (including foreign posts), Syria and Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Israel, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, and Sudan.

The journal includes all aspects of philately as well as deltiology and numismatics. Content includes original research, new findings, survey articles, extensive book reviews, letters to the editor, author and collector inquiries, auction notes, and relevant article citations from other philatelic journals.

The journal runs more than 200 pages per issue. A recent issue included 11 articles, such as “The Wing of Islam – The Postal Service in Egypt and Syria in the Umayyad, Abbasid, and Mamluk Periods,” “The 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War and the Sea Post Office,” “Once upon a Time there were three Rabbis … ROPiT Jerusalem 14.12.1906,” “Ottoman Military Mail & Censorship in WWI” and “Taxed Mail of the Gaza Strip under Egyptian Rule.”

Viewed one way, this is an ideal publication for specialists in Middle Eastern philately. But the diverse articles are a treasure chest of unique references for many other philatelists. For example, postal historians concerned with censorship, ship mail, TPOs, post offices abroad, or deltiology will all want to keep an eye on this valuable journal.

cities named are easily recognized: Beirut, Gaza, Haifa, Jaffa, and Jerusalem. Others are small locations, familiar only to specialists. The illustrations selected by the author are from the widely respected collections of Hackmey, Zvi Alexander, and Itamar Karpovsky. Better source material one could not ask for. From this standpoint alone, the book is a very worthwhile reference.

Photographs and maps (Figure 2, bottom) are helpful as-

A subscription to this digital publication is available to all interested collectors free of charge by sending an email to editor Tobias Zywietz (mep-bulletin@zobbel.de). The complete run of all 24 issues can be found and downloaded at https://www.zobbel.de/mepb/mepbulletin.htm.

I recommend you have a look at the website. It is worth more than a quick look.

– Gary Wayne Loew

Figure 2. The book includes a map of Jerusalem, showing locations of the main post office, sub-offices, and other key locations.

sists to readers just beginning their exploration of this truly interesting philatelic region. Since this is a book about postal history, there is little emphasis on the stamps in use, but the illustrated covers provide a rich sampling of such stamps. (Indeed, literature focusing on Ottoman Empire stamps is extremely limited. Catalogs such as the Turkiye Posta Katalogu by Osmanli Donemi have not been updated in many years. Nine appendices provide a variety of supplemental information. In particular, the extensive glossary will help non-philatelists exploring postal history for the first time. The one-page Turkish Postal Terms writeup is essential for any postal historian seeking to better understand a cover or other postal artifact.

One thing I have learned from past experience in writing reviews of philatelic books outside of my own expertise is to research beyond the book itself. How, for example, am I to know whether statements by an author are correct, or complete for that matter? Checking notes and references offers one indication of analytical rigor. Sadly, Ottoman Post contains neither footnotes, endnotes, nor references. The bibliography appears sparce to this non-specialist. So, I sought out an expert.

I had an email exchange with Tobias Zywietz, the hardworking editor and primary author of The Middle East Philatelic Bulletin. Zywietz had previously reviewed the book in the Winter 2021 issue of his bulletin. His review offers the insight that only an experienced expert can bring to interested readers.

Zywietz’s concurs with my observation regarding the sparseness of the bibliography and the lack of notes. His review is critical of the lack of new research.

In my view, his most important criticism focuses on the individual town writeups. He observes “… I’ve taken a closer look at [the post office listings for] Bon Samaritain, Souk el-Tudjar, and Grand New Hotel and concluded that there’s essential research missing.” His overall conclusion is that the book really isn’t a contribution to the literature. Ottoman scholars and advanced postal historians will need to look elsewhere to expand their expertise. He disdainfully labels it “a nice-to-have coffee-table book.”

In my own book reviews, I try to answer the questions “Who should read this book?” and “Who should purchase this book?”

Clearly, Zywietz and I agree that this is not a must-have book for intermediate or advanced collectors. Where our views might diverge is that I think the book is indeed valuable for any philatelist considering adding this fascinating region to their collecting interests. Aloni brings together a well-organized and extensive set of information and postal artifacts that can serve as an excellent starting point for beginning collectors and others with an interest in the area.

I found the book of sufficient merit that I’ve added a copy to my personal philatelic library. Oh, and when I have guests visiting, I leave the book on my coffee table. I’ve started some interesting conversations as a result.

– Gary Wayne Loew

Focus on Fakes – The Washington/ Franklins Series 1908-1923, first edition (2022), by Robbin S. Dick. 96 pages, paperback, independently published, Middletown, Delaware. $40 plus handling on Amazon.

This is the latest in a line of handbooks examining the 1908-23 United States regular series of postage stamps featuring the profiles of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin (Scott 331-547). This handbook is an exceptional addition to that group.

Divided into six sections, the Introduction provides a guide to authentication plus the tools to create a handy Stamp Kit. It suggests inexpensive stamps you can purchase for less than $5 total to check the various perforation gauges printing methods.

The following sections provide information on the flat plate printings, rotary printings, and offset printings. Each section includes step-by-step instructions for checking the perforations, gum, and alterations of genuine stamp to resemble more valuation ones. Expertizing services in the U.S. and additional published references are listed.

Except for vintage photographs, all images are in color and well produced. The clear and enlarged photos of the engraved and offset printing types are of great assistance. Older handbooks on this topic are out of print so Focus on Fakes will be especially useful for dealers and collectors of U.S. stamps.

– Mercer Bristow

Philatelic Happenings

BY Ken Martin APS Director of Expertizing kpmartin@stamps.org

Shows Bring Awards; Loss of Contributors, Dealers

The annual MILCOPEX show, held September 22-23 at a new venue in Brookfield, Wisconsin, included participation by the Wisconsin Federation of Stamp Clubs and the Wisconsin Postal History Society.

Alan Moll received the multiframe grand award for “U.S. Vended Postal Insurance (1965-1985).” Bill DiPaolo’s “The Prexie Coils” received the reserve grand. The best single frame award went to Robert Benninghoff for “The Collection of Postage Due Fees in Ireland 1914 to 1925.” Laurelei Fox received the youth grand and the show’s most popular exhibit awards for her exhibit, “The Life of Saint Patrick.”

The MILCOPEX website, milcopex.org, includes 17 videos of show presentations from this and previous years as well an exhibit on the first 50 years of the show.

The United Nations Philatelists International held a special World Series of Philately qualifying show October 20-21 at the American Philatelic Center in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. Anthony F. Dewey qualified for the 2024 Champion of Champions competition at the 2024 Hartford Great American Stamp Show with his multiframe grand of “The United Nations Precancel, 1952-1958.” Greg Galletti received the multiframe reserve grand for the “League of Nations and International Labor Organization (1922-1945).” Blanton Clement Jr. took home the single frame grand for “Ninth Universal Postal Congress, London 1929.”

APS members Benninghoff and Brian Callan, of APS affiliate the Eire Philatelic Association, participated in the Irish national show STAMPA 2023, held October 6-8 in Dublin. They were joined by several other members of the “Irish Brigade,” which is known for bringing 15 to 25 frames of exhibits to more than 10 shows each year to enhance Irish philately in the United States.

The INDYPEX show was held October 6-8 outside of Indianapolis in Noblesville. Stephen McGill’s “Britain’s Marvelous Machins” achieved the rare combination of being selected as the multi-frame KS Philatelics Grand Award and also receiving the show’s most popular award. The “AQ Lettersheets of the Republic of Venice and their Watermarks, 1608-1797,” by Art Bunce, received the multiframe reserve grand. The Bonnie and Rich Drews single frame grand award went to Doug Weisz for “New Orleans 5 Cent Provisional.” The show also had a single frame most popular

award which went to Rich Drews for “The Three Cent Value of 1861 and Associated Pink Shades.”

INDYPEX also sponsored a team competition for which each exhibit from the team had to be a different number of frames. First place in this competition was received by the Canal Zone Study Group Tres Amigos consisting of Bunce, Kurt Streepy, and Bradley Wilde. The Other Guys – John Becker, Mike Ley, McGill, Ross Towle, and Gal Safron –won second place and The Home Team, consisting of Drews, Becker, and Chuck Jordan, third.

I’m sorry to share that two longtime APS members who were significant figures in Chicagoland philately have recently passed.

Frank Bachenheimer, who became an APS member in 1974, and lived the past few years in Sarasota, Florida, passed in August. A longtime member of the Chicago Philatelic Society and the Collectors Club of Chicago, Frank was a collector, exhibitor, and dealer who also worked for Sears Roebuck for 30 years. He started collecting at the age of 7 and, following college, specialized in the United States, the German Empire,and Palestine. He began as a dealer in 1975 and had tables at Chicagopex from 1991 through 2015 as well as at several APS shows. He was also known for signs at the shows such as “My wife said that if I don’t get rid of all these stamps, she’s going to leave me. Boy, I’m gonna miss her.”

Robert Benninghoff signs the Role of Distinguished Philatelists of Ireland. This award is the highest honor given for service to Irish philately.

Paul Larsen started collecting at the age of 9 and joined the APS in 1957. He joined a local stamp club and several specialty societies during the 1960s when he also began his exhibiting career. Interest in the polar areas evolved into extensive travel in Antarctica (six times, including circumnavigation of that continent), the Arctic, Spitzbergen, Iceland, Norway, Chile, the Falkland Islands, Botswana, Namibia, and Australia.

A professional engineer, Paul collected and created exhibits of Ubangi-Shari-Chad, French Sudan and Niger, Barbados Sea Horses, German Togo, Caroline Islands Spanish and German periods to 1914, and Federal Issues of the Leeward Islands. He also collected German New Guinea, Denmark Wavy Lines, French Equatorial Africa, and Inini. He was an accredited national and international judge who wrote articles for several specialty journals.

Paul served on the planning committee and prepared exhibit frame and floor plan layouts for the AMERIPEX 86 International and as the Midwest commissioner for the Pacific 97 International Exhibition. He served on the APS Expert Committee, received the Saul Newbury Award for Service to Chicago Philately, and was awarded a Carter Volunteer award from the APS.

The Pacific Northwest also recently lost two valuable volunteers – Ruth and Lyman Caswell

Lyman became an APS member in 1978 and introduced Ruth to philately, after which Ruth joined the APS in 2002. An interest in exhibiting took them to different parts of the country and interactions with many interesting people. Ruth, along with two other women, founded Women Exhibitors, which she chaired for several years, and at the time of her death was a board member at large.

Ruth also was a founder of SEAPEX, a national exhibition in the Seattle area. Ruth served as president for the first few years, and remained on the board for several years. Ruth and Lyman were both named as Northwest Philatelists of the Year for 2013 by the Northwest Federation of Stamp Clubs for their philatelic contributions. Ruth was honored in 2018 with the SEAPEX Distinguished Service Award.

Lyman was a past president of the Hungarian Philatelic Society and specialized in Hungarian postage due stamps. He taught chemistry at multiple colleges throughout his career and blended his career with his hobby publishing research articles, such as analyzing the color of the Szeged overprints. Lyman passed away in January and Ruth in August.

Dr. Anthony S. Wawrukiewicz (Portland, Oregon), known to many as “Tony W.,” passed away July 11. Tony joined the APS in 1969 and was a life member of both the American Philatelic Society and American Philatelic Research Library.

In 2002 Tony received the APS Luff Award for Distinguished Philatelic Research. Prior to winning the Luff Award, Tony co-authored with Henry Beecher books on U.S. domestic postal rates (1872-1999) and U.S. international postal rates (1872-1996). Of his many specialties, Tony was best known for his books on U.S. postal history: Forwarding of Mail by the U.S. Post Office Department, 1792-2001; Insights into U.S. Postal History, 1855-2016; Further Insights into U.S. Postal History, 1794-2019; and as the modern mail columnist for Linn’s Stamp News from 2004 until his passing.

Laurelei Fox receives her medal at STAMPA 2023.

Dr. Brian Callan (center) receives the Éire Philatelic Association’s 2023 Thomas Edwin Field award, presented by Robert Benninghoff (left) and Michael O’Reilly.

Lyman Caswell.

Recognitions for Tony by other organizations are too numerous to fully list, but included the Diane Boehret Award from the American Philatelic Congress; the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society Elliot Perry Club, the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society Stanley Ashbrook Cup, the APS Writers Unit Hall of Fame, and the Charles J. Peterson Philatelic Literature Life Achievement Award.

Tony was one of the best friends of the American Philatelic Research Library, donating many copies of his books, with their proceeds going to support the library. He was also one of the major funders of the Liberty Series reading room in the APRL. He will be much missed.

Arthur Morowitz has also left our philatelic world. Arthur owned Champion Stamp Company in Manhattan, New York. Morowitz established himself as the founder of the Video Shack chain of video rental stores, which he launched in 1979 just as consumers were beginning to catch on to the novelty of renting their favorite movies on video cassette.

He served as president and board member of the American Stamp Dealers Association and purchased the American Banknote Company archives in the 1990s, which included tens of thousands of world specimens, proofs, and vignettes.

Obituary

In Memoriam: Dr. Herbert Allen Trenchard (1931-2023)

The American Philatelic Society and American Philatelic Research Library are saddened to announce the passing of Dr. Herbert “Herb” Trenchard, the dean of U.S. philatelic history on October 21, 2023. Herb Trenchard came to stamp collecting in 1944. During these formative years, he began buying stamps from local New Orleans dealers. In 1955, Herb attended his first philatelic auction, the sale of the Caspary collection at H.R. Harmer, Inc. in New York City. While the items were beyond his budget, it stirred in him the idea of obtaining every U.S. stamp auction catalog ever printed. He soon began requesting catalogs from every philatelic auction house he could find, from the biggest firms to the most obscure.

Exploring every avenue in his quest to build his collection, Herb next reached out to prominent philatelic editor and publisher Harry Lindquist, securing from him every auction catalog that he had received in the course of his career. No longer satisfied with only U.S. catalogs, Herb then turned his attention to acquiring British and European auction catalogs as well.

In 1961, following time in the Army, Herb moved his family to University Park, Maryland which led to one of the most important turns in his philatelic life: a close relationship with U.S. philatelic bibliophile George Turner. Through this close and lifelong relationship, Turner encouraged Herb to become more involved in organized philately, beginning lifelong passion for documenting organized philatelic his-

tory, specifically U.S. philatelic history.

As of 1975, Herb’s catalog holdings totaled over 75,000 items. Then in 1984, Herb started a new collection. This collection contained materials related to the history of stamp collecting, or as he described it “anything connected with stamp collecting except stamps.” Those items of philatelic ephemera included items like business cards, cinderellas, show programs, postcards, and photographs.

By the early 2000s, Herb’s collection totaled over 90,000 items, and in 2018, Herb and his family reached out to the APRL to begin the process of donating his vast holdings for inclusion in the library’s collection. This enormous and unique collection of catalogs and other ephemera is an invaluable resource for collectors, dealers, expertizers, and researchers interested in provenance, values, and condition of philatelic auction items over time.

“It was a genuine pleasure and honor getting to know Dr. Trenchard on the visits we made to pick up his extraordinary collection of literature as a donation to the library,” said Scott Tiffney, APRL librarian and APS Director of Information Services. “During these visits he often spoke of his love for the library and the importance of it as a research treasure for the APS and the worldwide philatelic community.”

As a prolific writer, Herb’s articles have appeared in nearly every major U.S. philatelic journal including  The American Philatelist, the  U.S. Chronicle, Penny Post, Philatelic Literature Review, Collectors Club Philatelist, Postal His-

Arthur Morowitz.

Tony Wawrukiewicz.

tory Journal, Linn’s Stamp News and First Days. Herb was also actively involved in a number of philatelic organizations over his lifetime.

Herb joined the American Philatelic Society in 1970 and eventually became a life member of the Society. He was appointed to the APRL Board of Trustees in 1986 and also served as the board’s vice president. His unique qualifications as a philatelic historian were put to good use in serving as historian and archivist for various organizations such as the Baltimore Philatelic Society, the Washington Philatelic Society and the Wisconsin Federation of Stamp Clubs, culminating in his notable appointment as APS Historian in 1993.

Herb’s philatelic work also included being an active volunteer at the National Postal Museum, serving for a time as an advisor and assistant to the NPM branch of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries.

Dr. Trenchard’s contributions to philately have been recognized by the many awards and honors he received over his lifetime, the most significant of which included his designation as a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London; the Smithsonian Philatelic Achievement Award in 2006; the Luff Award in 1992 for Outstanding Service to the APS; and election to the Hall of Fame of the APS Writers Unit.

Memories of Herb Trenchard

By Alan Warren

Herb Trenchard was a walking encyclopedia of the byways of philately. While most of us were collecting stamps and postal history, Herb was accumulating auction catalogs, seals and labels, corner card envelopes, letterheads, and countless other ephemera of our hobby. Some years ago he was invited to a meeting of the Philadelphia Stamp Club to discuss its history. He brought several notebooks filled with materials related to the club.

In addition to describing the club’s founding in 1909, Herb spoke of its predecessor organizations including the Quaker City Philatelic Society (1885), the Philatelic Society of Philadelphia (1893), the Collectors Club of Philadelphia (1897), and the Philatelic Exchange Society of Philadelphia (1907) among others. He profiled some of the club’s luminaries such as editor Percy McGraw Mann and the well-known dealer Eugene Klein.

The APS, the APRL, and we collectors are indebted to Herb and his extensive research and documentation of the hobby.

APS and APRL Holiday Schedule

The holiday season is rapidly approaching. When you are planning your travels please note the American Philatelic Center in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania will be closed:

• Dec. 15 afternoon - Staff Holiday Party

• Dec. 25, 2023 - Jan. 1, 2024: Christmas & New Year’s

The APS and APRL will otherwise maintain normal hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays.

APRL Notes

BY Scott Tiffney Librarian & Director of Information Services stiffney@stamps.org

A Year of Progress, Much of It in Digital Realm

“The

challenges of the past and the opportunities of the present form the foundation of the future.” - Dr. Edgar Broomhall

Library progress 2023

As 2023 draws to a close, the challenges and opportunities that the year brought to the APRL led to significant growth in many aspects of the library.

• For example, through the continuing generosity of patron donations and the cataloging efforts of Technical Services Manager Marian Mills, the library collection grew to more than 96,000 items.

• Through the hard work of digital assistants Betsy Gamble and Geoff Hobart, the Digital Library more than doubled its content.

• And, finally, through the dedication of Library Assistant Alicia Leathers and Reference Assistant Marsha Garman, the library continued to serve the worldwide philatelic community as it received and answered a steady number of research requests throughout the year.

The greatest growth in the library collection came in the form of the auction catalogs and name sales still being processed from the Herbert Trenchard donation. The Trenchard donation, originally received back in 2021 on 24 pallets, is now down to seven pallets of unprocessed material.

Much of the material from the donation was added to the library’s auction catalog and name sale collection. Still to be processed are the books and journals that make up a much smaller portion of the original donation.

Digital library progress

As for the Robert A. Mason Digital Library (RMDL), the growth has been significant over the past year.

With a focus of uploading journals that are in digital form only since the start of Phase I in March 2022, the RMDL has grown by 5,500 journal issues, bringing the total number of issues in the database to more than 8,300. In 2023 alone, nearly 3,000 issues have been uploaded to the database. Journal titles in the RMDL have increased, with 38 titles added since the start of Phase I, with 23 of those added this past year alone.

As the RMDL has grown, so too has its use. At the start of the year, the database was accessed on by 752 unique users in January. Steadily throughout the year, the RMDL is now

being accessed by more than 950 unique users each month on average. In terms of how many times the database is being accessed, the monthly average has grown from 761 access events in January to currently more than 1,250 access events per month.

For 2024, the goal of the project is to hire a digital librarian to oversee the RMDL and to continue to grow – not only the size of the database, but also the format scope, to include other types of philatelic research material (i.e. books, maps, photographs, catalogs, and exhibits).

The cover and a page from the Philatelic Literature Review.

Library use data

As the Robert A. Mason Digital Library has continued to grow and patrons have become more comfortable with its use, requests received in the library have reflected this change.

Before the pandemic, on average the library received 190 to 200 requests a month. This past year, the library received on average 100 to 120 requests per month.

At first, that might seem a surprising trend, but the library staff report that the types of requests that the library currently receives have changed as well. More often than in the past, patrons are contacting the library for assistance with more advanced and detailed requests. In a nutshell, patrons are increasingly conducting their own research remotely via the digital library. When those resources fail to fully answer their inquiries, they then contact the library. To further substantiate this trend, the staff also is receiving a greater number of requests seeking instruction on how best to use the database in order get the most out of their RMDL searches.

Your subscription shows support

Besides monetary and literature donations, another way to the support the library and assist us in our mission of growing the collection and the digital library is by subscrib-

Rocky Mountain Philatelic Library

Our campus hosts over 6,500 sq. ft of building space including a 1,000 sq. ft. AV capable meeting room.

• 50,000+ books, periodicals, auction catalogs & maps

• 3 large annual auctions (see our ad)

• 400,000+ philatelic items for sale to members 2038 S. Pontiac Way, Denver, CO 80224 (303) 759-9921

ing or renewing your subscription to the library’s quarterly journal, the Philatelic Literature Review.

For only $21 for U.S. residents, $26 for Canadian, and $33 for non-North American residents, you will receive four issues of the PLR and support the library in the process. Each issue contains information about the library and other philatelic libraries, research articles, new philatelic publications, and so much more.

Before 2023 draws to close, consider subscribing or renewing your subscription by adding it to your APS membership online or contacting the library at library@stamps.org.

Remembering Dr. Herbert Trenchard

Back in October came the sad news of the passing of Herbert “Herb” Trenchard, a philatelic giant particularly remembered as a historian of the hobby, whose aforementioned donation to the APRL was a true testament of his commitment and love for the library.

On three separate occasions I had the opportunity to visit with Herb at his home when transporting various sections of his extensive literature collection to the library.

His history with the APS and the APRL went far beyond that of a nearly 50-year APS membership. Herb also served on the APRL Board as vice president and for many years was the APS historian.

Besides our shared love of jazz, which we both spoke of often during our visits (we both celebrated Miles Davis being honored on a U.S. stamp), our main topic of discussion was his deep passion for the library which he described as “the greatest single research collection for the hobby in the world.”

His donation and legacy to both the APS and APRL go far beyond a donation and will be remembered forever.

1847–1945

Quality U.S. Stamps

Singles (mint and used), Plate Blocks, Booklet Panes plus Complete Booklets, Price lists $2 each category or free online. We also buy quality U.S. & foreign stamps. Mountainside Stamps, Coins and Currency

P.O. Box 1116 • Mountainside, NJ 07092

Tel: 908-419-9751 or 908-232-0539

E-mail: tjacks@verizon.net • www.mountainsidestamps.com

Please visit our web site at: www.rmpldenver.org

Please visit our web site at:www.rockymountainphilateliclibrary.org

Tom Jacks, owner; member APS, ASDA

The U.S. Miles Davis stamp of 2012 (Scott 4693).

Dr. Herbert Trenchard.

Membership Report

No. 10, October 2023

NEW APPLICANTS

The following applications were received during October 2023. If no objections are received by the Executive Director (814-933-3803) prior to December 31, 2023, these applicants will be admitted to membership and notice to this effect will appear in the February 2024 issue.

Adams, Bonnie Stunkel (237459) Stamford, CT Hawaii-Vietnam-Ryukyus-Guam-Gone With The Wind; 61; Retired Police

Adams, Colleen A. (237456) Stamford, CT British Commonwealth-Rocks-National Parks; 27; Environmental Scientist

Alfonso, Caroline (237357) North Palm Beach, FL Aden-19th Century-British Empire-French Colonies; 61

Anderson, Benjamin L. (237362) New York, NY US-British Colonies-Air Mails-RPO/HPO/TPO/ Streetcar Cancels-First Day Covers-Railroads; 76; Financial Analyst

Andes, Glenn (237492) Gratiot, WI Covers-US Postal History; Pastor

Archer, Michael D. (237374) Arvada, CO Newspapers & Periodicals-Covers-NewfoundlandChess-Nassau Street Dealer Covers-Philatelic Labels; 73; Writer

Armstrong, Rose-Marie (237432) Pompton Plains, NJ First Day Covers-Canada-General

Barbish, John R. (237397) Wickliffe, OH 19th Century-Air Mails-Postal Cards-Confederate States-Errors, Freaks, Oddities-Commemoratives; 65; Retired

Bareria, Jyotirmay (237367) McKinney, TX IndiaPatriotic Covers-World War II-War Covers/ Stamps-Ephemera-WWII Propaganda-Propaganda Leaflets; 45

Bayer, Jeremy E. (237461) Carroll, OH US-Ohio-19th Century-20th Century-Commemoratives-Liberty Series-Scouting-Red Cross-Medical-CausesImportant People; 43

Beckham, Robert C. (237489) Maricopa, AZ Used US-Air Mails-Duck/Hunting/Fishing Stamps

Ben-Horsfall, Maibi (237440) Los Angeles, CA Space Covers; 35

Bista, Suraj (237452) Fort Myers, FL Nepal-19th Century-Classics (US & Foreign)-Worldwide Pre-1970

Bozarth, Jim (237378) Blue Springs, MO Commemoratives

Brannin, Anna (237430) Columbia, SC Authors-Literature-Libraries-Official Post Office Seals-BirdsStamps On Stamps-Triangles-Odd ShapesEphemera; 39; Copyeditor

Breazeale, William S. IV (237468) Washington, GA US; 73; Retired Railroad Conductor

Bridgeford, Tori (237368) Bristow, OK Air MailsClassics-Commemoratives-Errors, Freaks, Oddities-US; 46

Butler, Hollie (237383) Springfield, OR Postal Cards-Amateur/Ham Radio-Space-Science Fiction-Horses-Fairy Tales/Folklore; 49

Cammer, Garet J. (237396) Pembroke Pines, FL Aland-Europe-Brazil-Foreign Classics; 79; Retired

Canessa, Carlos A. (237416) McKinney, TX Peru-Foreign Air Mails-Used US-Foreign Naval Covers; 62 Carson, William C. (237400) Spokane, WA US; 71; Retired

Cichon, Robert P. (237445) Millstowe Twp., NJ US; 76 Clark, Richard (237386) Beavercreek, OH 19th Century-20th Century-Air Mails-Commemoratives-Definitives-Booklets/Panes-Mint; 58

Cote, Tim (237387) Santa Maria, CA; 63

Crepeau, Claudia J. (237449) The Villages, FL Worldwide; 88

Daly, John (237399) Austin, TX

NEW MEMBERS

Applications 237063-237255 (less 237085, 237086, 237099) as previously published have been accepted for membership by the Board of Vice Presidents.

SUMMARY

Total Membership, September 30, 2023 25,205

New Members 190 Reinstated 27

Deceased 27

Resignations 5

Total Membership, October 31, 2023 25,390 (Total Membership, October 31, 2022 was 26,231 a difference of -841).

Daubert, David B. (237484) Watertown, MN US; 78; Retired

Davis, April (237411) Hillsboro, OR Air Mails-Commemoratives-Booklets/Panes-Classics-US-US Postal History

Deliyannides, Timothy S. (237366) Pittsburgh, PA Greece-Maximum Cards-Pennsylvania-Gays/ Lesbians-Cats-Mushrooms; 62

Diehl, Kim (237446) Coral Springs, FL Inida-Covers

Dishuk, Gary (237453) Oakland, NJ; 63

Dolph, Cyrus A. IV (237481) Williamsburg, VA; 76

Donahower, Kelly (237373) Juneau, AK Postal Cards-Oregon-Arkansas-Art; 25

Drewery, Mark A. (237464) Searcy, AR 19th Century-Plate Blocks

Easthom, Christopher Paul (237405) Ravenswood, WV US; 77; Bartender/Owner

Edwards, James (237395) Santa Clarita, CA Inauguration Covers-19th Century-20th Century-Civil War Covers-US-Patriotic Covers; 57; Police Detective Emerson, Richard (237391) Cornelius, NC US; 71

Escobar, Luis F. (237413) Zionsville, IN Guatemala; 66; Geneticist

Faynblat, Michail (237470) Brooklyn, NY USPrecancels (Bureau); 59; Retired Fleming, Gary N. (237462) Punta Gorda, FL USWorldwide; 77; Retired Ford, Colvin (237424) Dungog, Australia AustraliaAustralian States-Great Britain

Frame, Susan A. (237458) Calhan, CO WorldwideHorses-Animals-Imprints/Embossed; 70; Retired Friedenthal, Roger P. (237389) San Francisco, CA Holograms-Zeppelin Covers/Stamps-Luminescent/Tagged-Sheets/Small Panes-AustriaAstronomy; Physician

Gentry, Donald (237403) Gering, NE US; 81; Retired Gomes, Michael S. (237365) San Francisco, CA 19th Century-Blocks/Guideline Blocks-Covers; 59 Goodwin, Robert (237419) Saint Charles, IL Classics-Commemoratives-Definitives-Coils-Air Mails-Postage Dues; 82 Grant, Bill (237381) Knoxville, TN

Greenberg, Lee S. (237377) Middle River, MD USTaiwan; 73; Retired Guttman, Glenn (237409) Long Grove, IL Blocks/ Guideline Blocks-Civil War Covers-Classics-First Day Covers-Newspapers & Periodicals-Illinois

Harvey, Russell L. (237486) Clinton Township, MI US-Cuba-Canada; 79; Retired

Hatfield-Green, Sue (237376) Venice, FL Plate Blocks-First Day Covers-US Singles; 80; Freelance Copy Editor

Hayes, Adrian E. (237415) Jacksonville, FL DisneyClassics-Postal Notes/Orders/Money OrdersCivil War Covers-20th Century-Mobile Post Office; 46; Self-Employed Hill, Charles (237490) Kennett Square, PA USCanada-United Nations-Ships/Boats; Retired

Holben, Diane M. (237435) New Tripoli, PA ChinaItaly-Japan-Wine-Freedom From Hunger; 58 Horton, Leigh (237433) Denver, CO; 32

Jackson, Kenneth L. (237428) Chicago, IL; 36

Jaeckel, Etienne (237401) Kings Park, NY GermanyNorway; 75; Retired

Jagodinsky, Gregory (237372) Hernando, FL USConfederate States-Early UN-Eastern Europe; 79; Retired

Johnson, Albert (237393) Cimarron, KS Commemoratives-Definitives-US; 75; Retired

Johnson, Eric (237359) Selah, WA Commemoratives-Air Mails-First Day Covers-British EuropeCanada-Worldwide; 60

Jones, Richard L. (237455) Olympia, WA US-Canada-Great Britain-Australia-Austria-New Zealand; 72; Retired

Kim, Jason A. (237480) Skokie, IL 20th Century-Used Worldwide-War Covers/Stamps-Former/Dead Countries-World War II-Sheets/Small Panes; 17

Kmetz, Tommy M. (237448) Oakland, NJ GeneralCanada-Channel Islands-St. Pierre-MiquelonJersey-Guernsey-Alderney

Kneib, Mark C. (237363) Kansas City, MO CanadaNew Zealand-Australia-Great Britain; 67; Retired Koepcke, William D. (237478) Stoughton, WI Used US-Covers-Used Worldwide-Bicycles

Krugel, Terry D. (237431) Milton, WA General-New Zealand-German States; 80

Laird, Thomas S. (237485) Tyndall, SD Mint US; 76; Retired

Langer, Fred H. (237404) West Allis, WI Early USAustralia-New Zealand-United Kingdom; 79; Retired Engineering Director

LaRue, J. William (237457) Albuquerque, NM USCanada-Canadian Provinces-Great Britain; Retired

Leguizamo, Alberto (237407) Aventura, FL Commemoratives-US-Israel-Automobiles-SemiPostals-Butterflies; 87; Real Estate Managing Lewis-Lusso, Michelle (237369) Blue Lake, CA Medicine/Drugs/Health-Nurses-Christmas Seals-Commemoratives-Errors, Freaks, OdditiesSouvenir Cards; 59

Liano Carrera, Francisco (237358) 05264 Alvarado, Mexico Mexico; 56; Architect

Lidrbauch, Kenneth J. (237475) Fayetteville, GA Commemoratives-Air Mails-Confederate StatesDefinitives-Commemorative Panels-Coils; 66 Lockridge, William (237436) Phoenix, AZ United Nations-UN First Day Covers-UN Imprint BlocksUS Commemoratives

Maccarone, Eric (237488) New Bedford, MA

Mackay, Rene B. (237370) Watkinsville, GA Blocks/ Guideline Blocks-20th Century-19th CenturyAdvertising Covers-Air Mails; 58

Martin, James P. (237406) Williamsburg, VA US Telegraphs-Savings-Ireland-Austria; 67; Retired Maurya, Dharmdev (237442) 560094, AL India India-India States-Zeppelin Covers-Air Mail19th Century-War Covers

McJimsey, Gary (237375) Fresno, CA Commemoratives-Air Mails-Coil Line Pairs-Duck/Hunting/ Fishing Stamps-US; 81; Retired

Miller, Anthony (237441) Matthews, NC First Day Covers-Coil Line Pairs-Bureau Issues-ClassicsCommemoratives-Errors Freaks Oddities

Minton, Elizabeth T. (237476) Charleston, SC 20th Century; Retired

Mitchell, Jim M. (237479) Danville, AR First Day Covers-Cats-Composers-Disney-Canada-Paintings; 51 Ogier, Paul (237420) St. Louis, MO Commemoratives-19th Century-20th Century-Revenues Tax Paids-Air Mails-Definitives; 67

Olson, Stephen P. (237474) Kalamazoo, MI MichiganIndiana-Duck/Hunting/Fishing Stamps-Patriotic Covers-Plate Varieties-Commemoratives; 73; Retired Ott, Nancy (237444) Sheboygan, WI US-United Nations

Parker, Warren (237491) San Diego, CA South Africa/ Enclaves; 61

Passaro, Joseph L. (237463) Silver Spring, MD 19th Century-20th Century-Plate Blocks-Commemoratives

Patterson, Robert J. (237418) Melvin Village, NH US-Canada-United Kingdom; 64; Retired FedEx Courier

Peck, William (237434) Ellenton, FL 20th Century19th Century-Civil War Covers

Pesquera, Rafael (237477) New Brunswick, NJ; 48

Peterlick, Randall S. (237443) Sheboygan, WI Germany-WWII-Royalty-Confederate States; 67

Pierce, Leroy M. III (237380) Saint Petersburg, FL US; 74; Retired

Poplawski, Joseph (237414) Odenton, MD; 66

Proenza, Bill (237438) Colleyville, TX 20th Century19th Century

Quinn, David J. (237483) Philadelphia, PA 19th Century-Blocks/Guideline Blocks-Booklets/ Panes-Classics-US-Civil War Covers; 52

Rai, M.S.M.A., SUI IURIS, Alexander K. (237422) Tamuning, GU British Empire-19th CenturyGerman 3rd Reich-French Colonies-British Colonies-Europe; 38

Rector, Dale (237421) Bowling Green, KY North America-Australia-19th Century-Guideline Blocks-Plate Blocks-Chess; 53

Reina, Louis R. (237451) Trophy Club, TX Sheets/ Small Panes-Plate Blocks

Richard, Allen J. (237472) Metairie, LA; 77; Retired

Robel, David W. (237460) Brier, WA US (New & Used); 80; Retired Bus Driver

Robeson, Christian M. (237392) Yucca Valley, CA Used US-Air Mails-First Day Covers-ArgentinaCuba-German 3rd Reich/Occupations

Saarikko, Larry (237360) East Setauket, NY 19th Century (US & Foreign)-20th Century-Finland Retired Sarik, Gerald (237465) Wake Forest, NC First Day Covers-Advertising Covers-Naval Covers-Flight Covers-Inauguration Covers-Special Event Covers/Cancels; Retired

Schwalbe, P. Mark (237402) Madison, WI Worldwide Pre-1970; Chemistry Instructor

Scudiero, John J. (237394) Wheaton, IL Air MailsSheets/Small Panes-Plate Blocks-Booklets/PanesFlight Covers; 68; Retired

Sharkey, William O. (237425) Quincy, MA German Colonies-Canada-Hawaii; 80; Shockett, Howard P. (237487) Baltimore, MD US; 72; Retired Surgeon

Silverman, Dan (237371) Wakefield, MA; 69 Siuda, Ken (237467) Batavia, IL

Smith, Glenn C. (237417) Ohope 3161, New Zealand Australasia-French Polynesia-New ZealandSt. Helena/Ascension/Tristan Da Cunha-Foreign Covers-Foreign Postal History; 73

Stancu, Serban (237423) Lehi, UT Russia-France-Austria-Germany-Greenland-German 3rd Reich; 41

Starratt, Scott W. (237398) Albany, CA US-First Day Covers-Precancels (City)-Revenues/Tax Paids (Federal)Christmas Seals-Hawaii; Research Geologist

Stephan, Don (237429) Monticello, AR US; 78

Stritzel, Kurt (237437) Middle Village, NY

Stubblefield, Neta (237412) Georgetown, TX USCivil War

Tagas, Bryan (237361) Santa Fe, NM

Talley, Wes (237382) Cleveland, TN; 39 Tardy, Annamae (237410) East Brunswick, NJ

Thayer, William (237473) Springfield, OH US-Great Britain-Greenland; 76

Thompson, Jim (237364) Loveland, CO Locals & Carriers-Commemoratives; 75; Retired

Toth, Jeffrey M. (237447) Muskego, WI British Colonies-Great Britain-French Africa-French ColoniesBritish Empire-British Commonwealth; 57

Tourville, Gerald R. (237388) Moultonborough, NH US-Worldwide-New & Used; 71

Tutterow, Robin (237390) Fairview, NC Astronomy; 63 Welch, Kai (237482) Minneapolis, MN; 34 Whiting, David W. (237426) Phillipsburg, NJ 19th Century-20th Century-Plate Blocks-First Day Covers-Souvenir Sheets-Music-Instruments; 66 Whitney, Jerry E. (237450) Burien, WA Air MailsCancels-Flight Covers-Booklets/Panes-US-Space; 87; Retired

Williams, Debby (237466) Seattle, WA 20th CenturyUS-British Royal Family; 53

Williams, Keith (237379) Phoenix, AZ

Wirtz, Ethan R. (237454) Traverse City, MI 19th Century-20th Century-Souvenir Cards-Commemoratives-Liberty Series-Classics; 11

Wood, Julie T. (237408) Annapolis, MD Air Mails (US & Foreign)-Ireland-Postage Dues; 57

Yakes, Jamie (237469) Allentown, NJ Savings (Postal/Treasury/War)-US-US Postal History; 48

Yamanoor, Srihari (237427) Vallejo, CA India-Official Post Office Seals-Science Fiction-Philatelic History-California Postal History-Cancels

Yost, Robin (237384) Bellefonte, PA; 62

Zahora, Philip (237471) Chetek, WI; 71; Construction

Zajac, Irene M. (237439) Terryville, CT GeneralBritish Europe-Canada-Poland-Dogs-Used Worldwide; 66

Zeitzer, Scott (237385) New Orleans, LA United Nations-Air Mails; 61

Allen, David (5838-168021), Orlando, FL

Blanchard, Ronald B. (12331-042146), Mission Viejo, CA

Bock, Rosalie M. (218971), Sedona, AZ

Brunt, Michael A. (086351), Bellingham, WA

Caughie, Robert S. (163005), Novato, CA

Cohen, Norman Alan (7079-045187), Dallas, TX

Collins, Shelby R. (12248-070079), Beaumont, TX

Davidson, Larry R. (7732-042361), Marietta, GA

Ellis, Harry V. (170107), Chicago, IL

Fraser, Jeanette (12659-075045), Canyon Country, CA

Glatfelter, Ralph E. (190339), Logan, UT

Henry, Noah W. (124924), Ellicott City, MD

Hodges, Doyle R. (178014), Rockwall, TX

Hoose, James W. (10539-072950), Houston, TX

Iversen, Tarvis (198071), Lansing, IL

Kraus, Roger F. (135430), Brockton, MA

Larsen, Paul A. (6417-035908), Park Forest, IL

Lewis, H. Nelson (198780), Salado, TX

Longenberger, Donald W. (9579-077553), Silsbee, TX

Morowitz, Arthur (5659-165943), New York, NY

Munoz, Lazaro (168148), Basking Ridge, NJ

Ortega, Paul (167245), San Mateo, CA

Rossiter, Gary M. (10425-073081), Pocatello, ID

Schon, Carl (216444), Mena, AR

Skinner, Charlie F. (083305), Round Rock, TX

Taubenkibel, Lawrence (11090-069348), Washington, DC

Trenchard, Herbert A. (8631-059417), Silver Spring, MD

Classified Ads

UNITED STATES

20-33% OF SCOTT $1,000,000 WW inventory. Lots of US & cols. Catalog avail. www.BillsStamps. com Many finer sets & singles up to $1,000 Unconditional money-back guarantee doctoryes007@aol.com 214-213-8066 (1475)

ebay.com/str/littlearttreasures (1476)

FANCY CANCEL APPROVALS, Nice Stamps, low cost. D. Wilson, 808 Demasters Ave NW, Huntsville, AL 35801 (1478)

FREE 83 PAGE PRICELIST.. Call, write or email. Includes 19th century to Forever issues, Air Mail, Ducks and other BOB. Or, visit my website and shop my online store. Enter www.thenorthwoodsstamps. com into your address bar at the top of the page. Major credit cards and paypal accepted. John Brown. Northwoods Stamps. PO Box 823 Rochester, MN 55903. brown55902@aol.com. ( 507 ) 2525956 (1479)

USED/MINT PNCs. Google Himes PNCs (1479)

BARNEY’S STAMPS has Mint & Used Commemoratives, Airmails, 20th Century, BOB, and much more. Please visit at www.barneysstamps. com (1481)

FREE 40-PAGE U.S. U.N. PRICELIST (412)-431-3800 or view online www.fortpittstamps.com Fort Pitt Philatelics PO Box 6009 Pittsburgh PA 15211 (1483)

www.USatFACE.com (1484)

US MINT/USED 1840-1940 singles and plate blocks send on approval. See it before you buy it. Philatelic Friends, PO Box 187, Carlisle, PA 17013 (1487) stampsforseriouscollectors.com (1488)

BRITISH COMMONWEALTH

20-33% OF SCOTT $1,000,000 WW inventory. Lots of GB & cols. Catalog avail. www.BillsStamps. com Many finer sets & singles up to $1,000 Unconditional money-back guarantee doctoryes007@aol.com 214-213-8066 (1475)

www.forpostalhistory.com British Commonwealth and Worldwide Postal Incidents (1479) stampsforcollectors.net (1481)

LIKE APPROVALS? Try APS Circuit Books for British Commonwealth! We can build your collection. Email CircuitBooks@stamps.org (1488)

CANADA

ebay.com/str/littlearttreasures (1476)

stampsforseriouscollectors.com (1481)

CLASSIC CANADA ON APPROVAL. See it before you buy it. Philatelic Friends, PO Box 187, Carlisle, PA 17013 (1485)

AFRICA

stampsforseriouscollectors.com (1481)

LIKE APPROVALS? Try APS Circuit Books for Africa! We can build your collection. Email CircuitBooks@ stamps.org (1488)

ARMENIA

www.StampsOfEasternEurope. com WANT LISTS FILLED New Issues. Year Sets available. HSE POB 4028, Vineyard Haven, MA. 02568. Phone (888) 868-8293. (1481) www.ArmenianStamps.com (1484)

AUSTRIA

www.StampsAustria.com (1480) stampsforseriouscollectors.com (1485)

BALKANS

www.StampsOfEasternEurope. com WANT LISTS FILLED. New issues. Year sets avail. HSE, POB 4028 Vineyard Haven, MA 02568 Phone - (888) 868-8293 (1481)

stampsforseriouscollectors.com (1485)

BALTICS

www.StampsOfEasternEurope. com WANT LISTS FILLED. New issues. Year sets avail. HSE, POB 4028 Vineyard Haven, MA 02568 Phone - (888) 868-8293 (1481)

stampsforseriouscollectors.com (1485)

BELGIUM

www.StampsBelgium.com (1480)

CANAL ZONE

stampsforcollectors.net (1481) www.canalzonestamps.com (1482)

CHINA

CHINESE STAMP BUYER Pays top $ jon@chinesestampbuyer.com www.chinesestampbuyer.com (1478)

BUY STAMPS at www. ChinaStampSociety.org (1483)

LIKE APPROVALS? Try APS Circuit Books for China! We can build your collection. Email CircuitBooks@ stamps.org (1488)

CZECH

www.StampsOfCzech.com WANT LISTS FILLED. New issues. Year sets avail. HSE, POB 4028 Vineyard Haven, MA 02568 Phone - (888) 868-8293 (1481)

EASTERN EUROPE

ThePhilately.com (1479)

www.StampsOfEasternEurope. com WANT LISTS FILLED. New issues. Year sets avail. HSE, POB 4028 Vineyard Haven, MA 02568 Phone - (888) 868-8293 (1481)

EGYPT

stampsforseriouscollectors.com (1485)

ETHIOPA

EMAIL glencampman@yahoo.com or write Campman Stamps at 5621 Tahoe Dr, Las Vegas, NV, 89142 for free Ethiopia Price List. (1476)

FRANCE

FrenchPhilately.com (1479) www.StampsFrance.com (1480) stampsforseriouscollectors.com (1485)

LIKE APPROVALS? Try APS Circuit Books for France! We can build your collection. Email CircuitBooks@ stamps.org (1488)

FRENCH COLONIES

20-33% OF SCOTT $1,000,000 WW inventory. Lots of France & cols. Catalog avail. www.BillsStamps. com Many finer sets & singles up to $1,000 Unconditional money-back guarantee doctoryes007@aol.com 214-213-8066 (1475)

GET NOTICED WITH CLASSIFIED ADS

Classified advertising in The American Philatelist is a cost-effective way to get the attention of over 27,000 American Philatelic Society members around the world. Call or email Chad today for more details (CCowder@stamps.org).

To calculate the number of lines for your ad, count all letters, numerals, punctuation and blank spaces between words. Divide the total by 34 and round up to the next whole number. Advertising is restricted to current APS members; please include your APS number. All classified ads must be prepaid. The best way to submit classified ads is online at www.stamps.org/ Classified-Ads. Classified ads are also

accepted via mail by sending your ad text and payment to AP Advertising, 100 Match Factory Place, Bellefonte, PA 16823. When submitting your ad, please include your card number (VISA, MasterCard or Discover only) and expiration date. Checks must be drawn on a U.S. bank.

Renewal Notice: If (1476) appears after your ad, it expires after this issue. Deadline for the February 2024 issue is December 23.

Interested in display advertising in The American Philatelist or online with Stamps.org?

Contact Advertising Director Steve Schwanz for more information Fox Associates, Inc. 800-440-0231 • adinfo.theamericanphilatelist@foxrep.com

GERMANY

www.Stamps-Germany.com (1480)

GERMAN AREA ON APPROVAL. See it before you buy it. Philatelic Friends, PO Box 187, Carlisle, PA 17013 (1485)

stampsforseriouscollectors.com (1485)

LIKE APPROVALS? Try APS Circuit Books for Germany! We can build your collection. Email CircuitBooks@stamps.org (1488)

HUNGARY

www.HungarianStamps.com WANT LISTS FILLED. New issues. Year sets avail. HSE, POB 4028 Vineyard Haven, MA 02568 Phone(888) 868-8293 (1481)

IRAN

www.stampsofIRAN.com (1484)

ITALIAN COLONIES

20-33% OF SCOTT $1,000,000 WW inventory. Lots of ltaly & cols. Catalog avail. www.BillsStamps. com Many finer sets & singles up to $1,000 Unconditional money-back guarantee doctoryes007@aol.com 214-213-8066 (1475)

ITALY

www.StampsItaly.com (1480)

LIKE APPROVALS? Try APS Circuit Books for Italy! We can build your collection. Email CircuitBooks@ stamps.org (1488)

JAPAN

www.Stamps-Japan.com (1480)

MIDDLE EAST

stampsforseriouscollectors.com (1481)

POLAND

POLAND SPECIALIZED: Classics to New Issues, Year Sets, Back of Book. Lubelski Philatelic LLC 111 Helen Drive, Rossford, Ohio 43460 Ph: 419-410-9115, Web: www. Lubelskistamps.com Email: Dan@ Lubelskistamps.com (1479)

www.StampsOfEasternEurope. com WANT LISTS FILLED. New issues. Year sets avail. HSE, POB 4028 Vineyard Haven, MA 02568 Phone - (888) 868-8293 (1481)

PORTUGAL

www.StampsPortugal.com (1480)

ROMANIA

www.StampsOfEasternEurope. com WANT LISTS FILLED. New issues. Year sets avail. HSE, POB 4028 Vineyard Haven, MA 02568 Phone - (888) 868-8293 (1481)

RUSSIA

EMAIL glencampman@yahoo.com or write Campman Stamps at 5621 Tahoe Dr, Las Vegas, NV, 89142 for free Russia Price List. (1476)

RussianPhilately.com (1479)

www.StampsRussia.com (1480)

www.StampsOfEasternEurope. com WANT LISTS FILLED. New issues. Year sets avail. HSE, POB 4028 Vineyard Haven, MA 02568 Phone - (888) 868-8293 (1481)

SCANDINAVIA

LIKE APPROVALS? Try APS Circuit Books for Scandinavia! We can build your collection. Email CircuitBooks@stamps.org (1488)

SWITZERLAND

LIKE APPROVALS? Try APS Circuit Books for Switzerland! We can build your collection. Email CircuitBooks@stamps.org (1488)

UKRAINE

www.StampsOfEasternEurope. com WANT LISTS FILLED. New issues. Year sets avail. HSE, POB 4028 Vineyard Haven, MA 02568 Phone - (888) 868-8293 (1481)

UNITED NATIONS

U.N. PRICE LIST, Wm. Henry Stamps, POB 150010, Kew Gardens, NY 11415 www.allunstamps.com (1477)

WORLDWIDE

SELLER ID 534232: US, Polynesia (1475)

20-33% OF SCOTT $1,000,000 WW inventory. Lots of France & cols. Catalog avail. www.BillsStamps. com Many finer sets & singles up to $1,000 Unconditional money-back guarantee doctoryes007@aol.com 214-213-8066 (1475)

QUALITY SURPLUS STAMPS. British & French Colonies, W.Europe, US, BOB at 25-30% catalogue. Muriel Rowan, 17160 Kinzie St., Northridge CA 91325 Email: merkrow@aol.com (1476) stampsforseriouscollectors.com (1476)

FREE NEW 200-PAGE WORLDWIDE PRICE LIST Find out why most collectors place orders when they receive our lists. We have the stamps you need at the prices you like. Martin Winter 800 W. Willis Rd., Apt.1045, Chandler, AZ 85286 E-mail: winter310@aol.com (1477)

ebay.com/str/jerryderrstamps 1c NR auction & Net 33-66% cv ASDA IPDA (1479) stampsforcollectors.net (1481)

PRE 1955 Sets, Singles, NH/H/@ Less Used, UP To 80% Off Scott. US, Canada/Newfounland, GB/Col. Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Danzig, France/Saar, Germany, Greece, Italy, Liechtenstein, Netherland, Russia, Turkey. S. Cal. CP 864 SUCC B Montreal, Que, H3B-35K Canada. (1483)

LIKE APPROVALS? Try APS Circuit Books for Worldwide! We can build your collection. Email CircuitBooks@stamps.org (1488)

APPRAISALS

WORLD WIDE STAMP APPRAISALS Valuation and written report provided. Sellers Agent Services info@hungarianstamps.com (888)868-8293 HSE POB 4028, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568 (1481)

APPROVALS

WORLDWIDE APPROVALS DISCOUNT 66 2/3% from Current Scott. Send APS# to Robert Ducharme, C.P. 592, St. Jerome, QC J7Z 5V3, Canada (1475)

WORLDWIDE. GREAT PRICES BEGINNER TO ADVANCED. Sets and Singles. State interest. Larry Serenari, 766 Nestle Quarry Rd., Falling Waters, WV 25419 (1484) US AND WORLDWIDE. See it before you buy it. Philatelic Friends, PO Box 187, Carlisle, PA 17013 (1487)

AUCTIONS

MAIL AUCTIONS with a difference. US & foreign stamps, covers, revenues, documents, ephemera, contact us for next catalog; HJW Daugherty, Box 1146, Eastham MA, 02642, 508-255-7488 or online; hjwdonline.com, hjwdonline@ gmail.com (1482)

COVERS

www.autographs.online (1478) www.dickkeiser.com

DONATIONS

Make a difference in children’s lives and send Boys Town your philatelic donations. Leon Myers Stamp Center PO Box 1 Boys Town, NE 68010 531-355-1143 Help. Kids@boystown.org (1482)

EXCHANGE CLUBS

ADVANCED WORLDWIDE

EXCHANGE: fast turnaround, CV booklet swaps, old or recent mint & used stamps. Pete’s Exchange, 4470 Chippewa, Boulder CO 80303 peterbialick@comcast.net (1480)

INTERNET

www.dickkeiser.com (1479)

LITERATURE

www.pbbooks.com Leonard H. Hartmann (1477)

POSTAL HISTORY

www.dickkeiser.com (1479)

www.forpostalhistory.com British Commonwealth and Worldwide Postal Incidents (1479)

REVENUES

www.dickkeiser.com (1479)

STAMP SHOPS

www.dickkeiser.com (1479)

SUPPLIES

PHILATELIC SUPPLIES All major brands. B and G Sales $50+ order gets free U.S. shipping. www. bandgstamps.com or call 317-6275242 (1478)

www.dickkeiser.com (1479)

US FIRST DAY COVERS

LIKE APPROVALS? Try APS Circuit Books for U.S. First Day Covers! We can build your collection. Email CircuitBooks@stamps.org (1488)

WANTED

CHINESE STAMP BUYER Pays top $ jon@chinesestampbuyer.com www.chinesestampbuyer.com (1478)

But

Try

847-524-1392

Fax 847-301-7320 kapstamps@kapstamps.com A

Index of Advertisers

Amos Media — www.linns.com

— www.amosadvantage.com 1161

APS Digital Subscription

— stamps.org/join 1091

APS Dues — stamps.org/renew-now 1142

APS Holiday Hours — stamps.org 1142

APS Estate Advice

— www.stamps.org/Estate-Advice 1152

Argyll Etkin Limited 1084

Auktionshaus Christoph Gärtner GmbH & Co.

KG — www.auktionen-gaertner.de C3

Chevy Chase Collectibles

— www.chevychasecollectibles.com 1135

CK Stamps — www.CKstamps.com 1151

Colonial Stamp Company — www.colonialstamps.com 1152

Congo Stamps 1135

Cornerstamp, Inc., Paradise Valley Stamp Company — www.stamp-one.com 1160

D&P Stamps — www.dpstamps.com 1156

Daniel F. Kelleher Auctions — www.kelleherauctions.com C4

David Torre Co.

— https://waterfowlstampsandmore.com 1127

Davidson’s Stamp Service — www.newstampissues.com 1151

Delcampe — www.delcampe.net 1085

Don S. Cal — www.DonSCal.com 1156

Downeast Stamps — www.destamps.com 1090

Dr. Robert Friedman & Sons — www.drbobfriedmanstamps.com 1083

Dutch Country Auctions — www.DutchCountryAuctions.com 1135

E.S.J. van Dam, Ltd. — www.canadarevenuestamps.com 1151

Eric Jackson — www.ericjackson.com 1148

Gary J. Lyon (Philatelist) Ltd. —www.garylyon.com 1131

Gary Posner, Inc. — www.garyposnerinc.com 1081

Gregg Nelson Stamps — www.greggnelsonstamps.com 1152

HB Philatelics — www.hbphilatelics.com 1160

Henry Gitner Philatelists, Inc. — www.hgitner.com 1118

HipStamp — www.hipstamp.com 1075

Hugh Wood Inc. Insurance — www.hughwood.com 1147

Hungaria Stamp Exchange — www.hungarianstamps.com 1126

iHobb — www.ihobb.com 1148

Jersey Stamps & Collectibles — www.jerseystamps.com 1073

J.R. Mowbray, Ltd. — www.mowbrays.co.nz 1152

K.A.P. Stamps — www.kapstamps.com 1152

Kelleher & Rogers, Ltd. — www.kelleherasia.com C4

Markest Stamps — www.markest.com 1087

Michael Eastick & Associates Pty. Ltd. — www.michaeleastick.com 1152

Miller’s Stamp Company — www.millerstamps.com 1152

Mountainside Stamps, Coins & Currency — www.mountainsidestamps.com 1144

Mystic Stamp Company — www.mysticstamp.com C2, 1076

Nieser Stamp and Coin — www.kennieser.com 1118

On the Ridge Stamps — ontheridgestamps.com 1135

ORCOEXPO — stampshowsteve.com 1152,1157

About the Index of Advertisers

This index is included to help readers find advertisers included in this edition of The American Philatelist. The support of these dealers and services is very important to the APS and to The AP. Advertising is a privilege of membership and each business represented here is a member in good standing of the Society. Some postal organizations, like the U.S. Postal Service, are not directly members, but are afforded the opportunity to advertise because of their standing, reputation and impact on the hobby. Advertising is open to any member of the American Philatelic Society.

Palo Albums Inc. — www.paloalbums.com 1145

Patricia A. Kaufmann — www.trishkaufmann.com 1156

Penny Black Stamp Company — www.pennyblackstamp.com 1152

Philasearch.com — www.philasearch.com 1157

Quality Stamps

—BuyingQualityStamps.com 1126

Randy Scholl Stamp Co. Have Tongs Will Travel — www.randyschollstampcompany.com/havetongs-will-travel.asp 1079

Rasdale Stamp Company — www.rasdalestamps.com 1148

Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, Inc. — www.siegelauctions.com 1152

Rocky Mountain Philatelic Library — http://rmplauctions.org 1084,1144 Scott A. Shaulis

www.shaulisstamps.com 1152

Southwest Stamps

www.ebay.com/str/southweststamps 1155 Sparks Auctions

www.sparks-auctions.com 1119 Stampbay, Inc. — www.stampbay.com 1151 Sterling Stamps

auctions.sterlingstamps.com 1156 Steve Crippe 1151 Steve Malack Stamps

www.malack.com 1084 Suburban Stamp Inc. 1151

Stamps, Inc.

www.tropicalstamps.com 1151 Universal Philatelic Auctions — upastampauctions.co.uk 1089

Vance Auctions Ltd

www.vanceauctions.com 1149 Vogt Stamps — www.vogtstamps.com 1151

For any advertiser that maintains a website, that web address is listed with their information above. Additionally, the online version of the journal includes clickable links for each of these companies and individuals. These links make visiting the advertisers’ websites easy and avoids the possibility of mistyping the web address from these listings.

As you interact with these advertisers, please tell them you saw their ad in The American Philatelist and let them know that you appreciate their support of the journal and the hobby in general.

Show Time stampshow@stamps.org

The “Show Time” Calendar features a list of upcoming shows and APS events. To obtain a listing, please submit a “Show Time” form, available online at www.stamps.org/Show-Calendar or by mail from APS headquarters. Information must be received 60 days before desired publication time. The listings are free to World Series of Philately and other shows that are sponsored by an APS chapter or affiliate. Other shows/bourses may purchase listings for the month of the show/ bourse and the month prior only. The listing fee is $25 per show per issue. Shows designated *B* are bourse only.

Grand award winners from *WSP* shows are eligible for the annual APS World Series of Philately Champion of Champions competition. Note that CofC eligibility may be affected if WSP criteria are not achieved for an individual show. Visit aps.buzz/Calendar for a complete listing of shows and APS events.

Florida December 1-2

FLOREX -- Florida State Stamp Show, Florida Stamp Dealers Association, Tommy Lawrence Arena, 3150 E. New York Ave, Deland. *WSP*

Contact: Michael Schumacher

Email: mikes.florexchair@gmail.com

Website: http://www.florexstampshow.com/

Arizona December 2

First Saturday Stamp Show, , Burgess Hall at the Scottsdale United Methodist Church, 4140 N. Miller Road, Scottsdale. *B*

Contact: Steve Gross

Email: gross.steve@gmail.com

New Jersey December 2

MSC Monthly Bourse, Merchantville Stamp Club, Martin Luther Chapel School Gym, 4100 Terrace Ave, Pennsauken. *B*

Contact: James Natale

Email: jnatale3307@comcast.net

Website: www.merchantvillestampclub.org/

Pennsylvania December 2

Erie Stamp Show, Erie Stamp Club, New Hope Presbyterian Church, 5440 Washington Ave, Erie. *B*

Contact: Gary Diley

Email: hingerem@gmail.com

California December 2-3

PENPEX, Sequioa Stamp Club, Community Activities Building, 1400 Roosevelt Avenue, Redwood City.

Contact: Kristin Patterson

Email: penpexredwoodcity@yahoo.com

Website: https://www.penpex.org/

Ohio December 8-9

Worthington Stamp Show 2023, Worthington Stamp Club, Doubletree Hilton Worthington, 175 Hutchinson Ave, Columbus.

Contact: Guy Purington

Email: gpurington@homesteadcos.com

Website: http://worthingtonstampclub.com/

Nevada December 14-16

Las Vegas Stamp Show, National Stamp Dealers Association and Southern Nevada Stamp Club., Orleans Hotel, Spa and Casino, 4500 West Tropicana, Las Vegas. *B*

Contact: Caj Brejtfus

Email: caj@gradingmatters.com

Website: LasVegasStampShow.com

Pennsylvania December 30

Gettypex 2023, Blue and Gray Stamp Club, Gettysburg Fire Company, 35 North Stratton Street, Gettysburg.

Contact: Dwight L. Monn

Email: dmonn@pa.net

Louisiana January 5-6

New Orleans Stamp Fest, Crescent City Stamp Club, The Landing Ballroom, 3310 Florida Ave, Kenner.

Contact: Michael Moran

Email: m.morandds@cox.net

Wisconsin January 5-6

MSDA WI-IL Stateline Stamp Show, Midwest Stamp Dealers Association, First Christian Church, 13022 Wilmot Rd, Kenosha. *B*

Contact: Michael Mules

Email: msdastampshow@gmail.com

Website: www.msdastamp.com

Massachusetts January 12-13

New England Stamp Expo, EBW Promotions LLC, The Verve Hotel by Hilton, 360 Worcester St, Natick.

Contact: Ernest Bottle

Email: www.ebwpromotions.com

Website: https://ebwpromotions.com/

Indiana January 13-14

MSDA Indianapolis Stamp Show, Midwest Stamp Dealers Association, Lawrence Park District Center, 5301 N. Franklin Road, Lawrence. *B*

Contact: Michael Mules

Email: msdastampshow@gmail.com

Website: https://msdastamp.com/

Florida January 19-21

Sarasota National Stamp Exhibition, Sarasota Philatelic Club, Inc, Municipal Auditorium, 801 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. *WSP*

Contact: Liz Hisey

Email: lizhisey@comcast.net

Website: https://www.sarasotastampclub.com/ show.html

Florida January 24-27

Precancel Bourse & Perfins Exchange, Florida Precancel Club, St. Catherine’s Episcopcal Church, 502 Druid Hills Road, Temple Terrace.

Contact: Stan Trim

Email: stanetrim@verizon.net

Georgia January 26-28

Southeastern Stamp Expo, Southeast Federation of Stamp Clubs, The Hilton Atlanta Northeast, 5993 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, Peachtree. *WSP*

Contact: Scott Mark

Email: sestampexpo@gmail.com

Website: www.sefsc.org

Illinois February 2-3

MSDA Joliet Stamp Show, Midwest Stamp Dealers Association and Will County Stamp Club, Messiah Lutheran Church, 40 Houbolt Road, Joliet. *B*

Contact: Michael Mules

Email: msdastampshow@gmail.com

Website: https://msdastamp.com/

Arizona

Mesa.

Contact: Kevin Lesk

Email: aripex2024@gmail.com

Website: http://www.aripex.org/

Kentucky

February 9-11

ARIPEX, Arizona Federation of Stamp Clubs, Mesa Convention Center, 263 N Center Street,

February 9-10

MSDA Louisville Stamp Show, Midwest Stamp Dealers Association, Triple Crown Pavilion, 1780 Plantside Drive, Louisville. *B*

Contact: Michael Mules

Email: msdastampshow@gmail.com

Website: https://msdastamp.com/

Wisconsin February 10

Janesville Stamp Club’s 65th Annual Exhibition & Bourse, Janesville Stamp Club, Holiday Inn Express - Janesville Conference Center, 3100 Wellington Place, Janesville.

Contact: Jane Redenius

Email: jaanred@hotmail.com

Michigan

February 16-17

Ferndale Stamp Show, Birmingham Stamp Club, Sokol Cultural Center, 23600 W. Warren Ave, Dearborn Heights. *B*

Contact: Fred Como

Email: karate1dad@netscape.net

Website: https://birminghamstamp.club/

Arizona

February 16-18

Arizona National Stamp Show, Phoenix Philatelic Association, Holiday Inn, Mesa, 1600 South Country Club Drive, Mesa.

Contact: Tom Reyman

Email: AZnationalstampshow@gmail.com

Indiana February 17-18

MSDA Fort Wayne Stamp Show, Midwest Stamp Dealers Association, Franke Park Pavillion (next to Children’s Zoo), 3411 Sherman Blvd, Fort Wayne. *B*

Contact: Michael Mules

Email: msdastampshow@gmail.com

Website: www.msdastamp.com

South Carolina February 17-18

Columbia SC Winter Stamp and Postcard Show, Columbia Philatelic Society, Spring Valley High School, 120 Sparkleberry Lane, Columbia.

Contact: Mark Postmus

Email: Columbiastamppostcardshow@yahoo. com

Website: https://classic.stamps.org/CPS

California February 23-25

San Diego Stamp Show, , Hilton San Diego Mission Valley, 901 Camino Del Rio South, San Diego. *WSP*

Contact: Mark Banchik

Email: mebanchik@aol.com

Website: https://sandiegostampshow.net/ Ohio February 23-24

Toledo Stamp Expo ‘100, Stamp Collectors Club of Toledo, Graystone Banquet Hall, 29101 Hufford Road, Perrysburg.

Contact: Charles Hablitzel Jr.

Email: webmaster@toledostampclub.org

Website: http://www.toledostampclub.org/ Florida February 24

Baypex 2024 Stamp, Coin and Postcard Show, Clearwater Stamp Club, Banquet Masters, 13355 49th Street North, Clearwater. *B*

Contact: Roger A. Waivio

Email: rogerwaivio@gmail.com

A Few Nice Items From Our Inventory

As of this date, all items shown below are

** You’re ready to sell your collection.

** You’re considering selling at auction in order to maximize return.

** You have some nice stamps but many of them wouldn’t reach the $100 - $200 minimum required by many auction houses. So, the collection would be offered as a larger lot where it would sell for far less than you’d like.

Well, this is where we come in. As one of the op Sellers on Ebay we have the buyers who are ready, willing and able to offer great prices for your stamps. And, the best part is that you don’t have to have a collection full of XF-SUPERB gems We have buyers for XF’s, Fine s and even stamps with a small defect. If it s one thing we have discovered in over 40 years in the philatelic business is that there is a buyer for just about anything.

As for references and testimonials just check out the over 99,000 comments from buyers we have dealt with on Ebay since 1996.

We can break your collection down for sale to a much finer degree that the major auction houses. To see the full details for consigning your collection to us, please head on over to our website at southweststamps.c There you will also find direct contact information if you have any questions. Or you can contact us by phone, email or direct mail using the information below.

Let ’s talk!

( Please

If the auction route is not for you, we also buy collections directly We can handle collections from virtually any country in the world.

We also maintain a nice selection of better singles and sets in our Ebay Store which are available for immediate purchase. Here are just a few of the items currently available. Just head on over to our Store for the full inventory listing at www.ebay.com/str/southweststamps

The UNIQUE C23c Sheet - with cert

Nebraska February 24-25

LINPEX 2024, Lincoln Stamp Club, Country Inn & Suites, 5353 North 27 Street, Lincoln.

Contact: Dale Niebuhr

Email: dale.niebuhr@gmail.com

Website: https://www.lincolnstampclub.org/

Wisconsin February 24-25

STAMPFEST 2024, Milwaukee Philatelic Society, Saint Francis Lions Center, 3476 E. Howard Ave, St. Francis. *B*

Contact: Keith Trischan

Email: keith.t@earthlink.net

Website: https://milwaukeephilatelic.org/

Florida March 2

West Volusia Stamp Show, West Volusia Stamp Club, American Legion Post 259, 470 Summerhaven Drive, Deltona.

Contact: John Reilly

Email: jreilly620@gmail.com

Website: http://floridacsp.com/wvstamp/ show2024.html

Ohio March 2-3

McKinley Stamp Show, McKinley Stamp Club of Canton, OH, St. George Serbian Orthodox Social Hall, 4667 Applegrove Street NW, North Canton.

Contact: Dave Pool

Email: lincolnway@sss.net

Website: https://mksc.webs.com/

Michigan March 8-9

MICHIPEX 2024, Michigan Stamp Club, Sokol Cultural Center, 23600 W Warren Ave, Dearborn Heights. *B*

Contact: John Bendzick

Email: arbor@provide.net

Connecticut

March 9

NORPEX 2024, Norwalk Stamp Club, Norwalk Senior Center, 11 Allen Road, Norwalk.

Contact: Mike Clark

Email: mclark577@gmail.com

Website: https://norwalkstampclub.com/

Maryland March 9

Tidewater Stamp Club Annual Show, Tidewater Stamp Club, Easton Volunteer Fire Department, 315 Leonard Rieck Drive, Easton.

Contact: Carol Armstrong

Email: cwarmstrong01@atlanticbb.net

New Mexico

March 9-10

Mesilla Valley Stamp & Coin Show, Mesilla Valley Stamp Club, Las Cruces Convention Center, 680 E. University Ave, Las Cruces.

Contact: Richard Hiss

Email: rhhhiss@comcast.net

Tennessee March 9-10

Nashville Stamp and Postcard Show 2024, Nashville Philatelic Society, Gallatin Civic Center, 210 Albert Gallatin Ave, Gallatin.

Contact: Tom Tribke

Email: show@nashvillephilatelic.org

Website: http://www.nashvillephilatelic.org/

Ohio March 15-17

Garfield-Perry March Party, Garfield-Perry Stamp Club, Best Western Plus, 15471 Royalton Rd., Strongsville. *WSP*

Contact: Rocco Caponi

Email: rocco.caponi@gmail.com

Website: http://www.garfieldperry.org

Missouri March 22-24

St. Louis Stamp Expo, Area Clubs, St. Louis Renaissance Airport Hotel, 9801 Natural Bridge Road, St. Louis. *WSP*

Contact: Fred Boatwright

Email: stampooh@centurylink.net

Website: https://www.stlouisstampexpo.com/ Alberta, Canada March 23-24

Edmonton Spring Stamp Show, Edmonton Stamp Club, Central Lions Recreation Centre, 11113 - 113 Street, Edmonton. *WSP*

Contact: Ed Dykstra

Email: eddykstra@shaw.ca

Website: https://www.edmontonstampclub.ca/

New York March 23-24

BUFPEX 2024, Buffalo Stamp Club, The Knights Event Center, 2735 Union Road, Cheektoaga.

Contact: Alan Davis

Email: ddavis504@roadrunner.com

Website: https://buffalostampclub.org/

Mississippi April 5-6

GULFPEX 2024, Gulf Coast Stamp Club, St. Martin Community Center, 15008 Lemoyne Blvd., Biloxi.

Contact: Robert O’Dell

Email: Robert7reo@yahoo.com

Website: https://www.gulfcoaststampclub.org/

Illinois April 6

PARFOREX 62, Park Forest Stamp Club, FCC Community House, 847 Hutchison Road, Flossmoor.

Contact: Edward Waterous

Email: ewwaterous@hotmail.com

Washington April 6

Roundup Stamp & Coin Show, Olympia Philatelic Society, Columbian Hall, 6794 Martin Way East, Lacey.

Contact: Dennis Gelvin

Email: dnjgelvin@comcast.net

Indiana April 6-7

Indy Spring Fair, Indiana Stamp Club, Lawrence Community Center, 5301 N. Franklin Street, Lawrence. *B*

Contact: Tom Chastang

Email: tchas5@sbcglobal.net

Website: https://indianastampclub.org/

Virginia April 6-7

SPRINGPEX 2024, Springfield Stamp Club, John R. Lewis High School, 6540 Franconia Road, Springfireld.

Contact: Kevin Hans

Email: sscvainfo@gmail.com

Website: https://www.springfieldstampclub.org/ New York April 7

Hilton Stamp Show & Philatelic Open House, Western Monroe Philatelic Society, Hilton Exempts Club, 137 South Ave, Hilton. *B*

Contact: Dave Bombard

Email: dbombar1@rochester.rr.com

Pennsylvania April 12-13

WILKPEX, Wilkinsburg Stamp Club, Holliday Park Fire Hall, 415 Old Abers Creek Road (Route 286), Pittsburgh / Plum.

Contact: Deborah Foltyn

Email: dlfoltyn@msn.com

Website: www.wilkinsburgstampclub.com/

Massachusetts April 12-14

Philatelic Show, Northeastern Fed. Of Stamp Clubs, Boxboro Regency Hotel & Conference Center, 242 Adams Place, Boxborough. *WSP*

Contact: David Ball and Mark Butterline

Email: david.ball@philatelicshow.org; mark. butterline@philatelicshow.org

Website: http://www.PhilatelicShow.org

California April 26-28

WESTPEX, WESTPEX, Inc., San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront Hotel, 1800 Old Bayshore Highway, Burlingame. *WSP*

Contact: Behruz Nassre

Email: behruz@gmail.com

Website: http://www.westpex.com

Oregon May 3-5

PIPEX 2024, Northwest Federation of Stamp Clubs, Monarch Hotel & Conference Center, 12566 SE 93rd Ave, Clackamas. *WSP*

Contact: Mark Loomis

Email: mmloomis1@gmail.com

Website: http://www.pipexstampshow.org/

Ontario, Canada

May 4-5

ORAPEX, Ottawa Philatelic Society, Nepean Sportsplex, 1701 Woodroffe Avenue, Ottawa. *WSP*

Contact: John Tooth

Email: info@orapex.ca

Website: https://www.orapex.ca/

Wisconsin

May 4-5

Wiscopex 2024, Wisconsin Federation of Stamp Clubs, Raddisson Hotel and Conference Center, 625 West Rolling Meadows Drive, Fond du Lac.

Contact: Jim Stollenwerk

Email: smallgasengine65@gmail.com

Website: https://www.wfscstamps.org/

Illinois May 18-19

MSDA Springtime Chicagoland Stamp Show, Midwest Stamp Dealers Association, Holiday Inn - Elk Grove Village, 100 Busse Rd, Elk Grove Village. *B*

Contact: Michael Mules

Email: msdastampshow@gmail.com

Website: www.msdastamp.com

Virginia June 7-9

NAPEX, National Phil. Exhibitions of Washington D.C., McLean Hilton at Tyson’s Corner, 7920 Jones Branch Dr., McLean. *WSP*

Contact: John Schorn

Email: jschorn@gmail.com

Website: http://www.napex.org

Oklahoma June 21-22

OKPEX 2024, Oklahoma City Stamp Club, Reed Center, 5800 Will Rogers Road, Midwest City. *WSP*

Contact: Joe Crosby

Email: joecrosby@cox.net

Website:

Pennsylvania June 22-23

SCOPEX 2024, Mount Nittany Philatelic Society, American Philatelic Center, 100 Match Factory Place, Bellefonte.

Contact: Don Heller

Email: dheller5720@yahoo.com

ORCOEXPO 2024

SOCAL’S Largest Stamp Show! January 12th-14th

ORCOEXPO 2024

ORCOEXPO 2024

Plenty of Dealers Buying & Selling Beautiful New Venue!!

SOCAL’S Largest Stamp Show! January 12th-14th

SOCAL’S Largest Stamp Show!

January 12th-14th

Plenty of Dealers Buying & Selling

Plenty of Dealers Buying & Selling

UFCW (Retail Clerks) Hall

Beautiful New Venue!!

Beautiful New Venue!!

8530 Stanton Ave., Buena Park, CA 90622

UFCW (Retail Clerks) Hall

Friday & Saturday 10-6, Sunday 10-4

UFCW (Retail Clerks) Hall

8530 Stanton Ave., Buena Park, CA 90622

8530 Stanton Ave., Buena Park, CA 90622

Friday & Saturday 10-6, Sunday 10-4

Friday & Saturday 10-6, Sunday 10-4

Free Parking • Free Appraisals

Free Parking • Free Appraisals

Free Parking • Free Appraisals

Free Admission with Registration, Or $3 Good All Three Days

Free Admission with Registration, Or $3 Good All Three Days

Free Admission with Registration, Or $3 Good All Three Days

Stephen Pattillo • Quality Stamp Shows

Stephen Pattillo • Quality Stamp Shows

714-397-0752 • PO Box 604 • Fullerton CA 92836 stampshowsteve.com • number1banana@hotmail.com

Stephen Pattillo • Quality Stamp Shows 714-397-0752 • PO Box 604 • Fullerton CA 92836 stampshowsteve.com • number1banana@hotmail.com

714-397-0752 • PO Box 604 • Fullerton CA 92836 stampshowsteve.com • number1banana@hotmail.com

Your areas of interest can be saved, and you receive notifications for newly listed items. www. philasearch.com

New U.S. Issues

BY Jeff Stage

Two releases wrap up 2023; new CSAC chair is a collector

Asingle stamp for a revered Supreme Court justice and a whimsical block of four stamps showing woodland animals wrap up the 2023 U.S. stamp program. All the stamps are self-stick, domestic first-class Forever stamps.

More news involving U.S. stamps took place far from first day ceremonies. First, new postal rates (not unexpected) were announced for early 2024. Also, a new head of the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee was announced, and guess what – he’s a stamp collector!

In news forthcoming, but not yet announced, the calendar for new stamps in 2024 was expected any day, but had not arrived in time for this issue of The American Philatelist

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a longtime ardent supporter and leader for women’s rights, appears on a Forever stamp issued October 2 at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Ginsburg (1933-2020), who started her career as an activist lawyer fighting gender discrimination, was the country’s 107th Supreme Court justice, being nominated in 1993 by President Bill Clinton.

Ginsburg became a respected jurist whose important majority opinions advancing equality and strong dissents on socially controversial rulings made her a passionate proponent of equal justice and an icon of American culture, the Postal Service said in a release about the stamp.

The stamp features an oil painting of Ginsburg facing the viewer in her black judicial robe with her iconic intricate white collar. Artist Michael J. Deas based his painting of Ginsburg on a photograph by Philip Bermingham. Art director Ethel Kessler designed the stamp.

The stamp was printed on Banknote Corporation of America’s Alprinta 74 press and is being sold in panes of 20.

ment in 1980, she led the fight in the courts for gender equality. When she began her legal crusade, women were treated, by law, differently from men. Hundreds of state and federal laws restricted what women could do, barring them from jobs, rights and even from jury service. By the time she donned judicial robes, however, Ginsburg had worked a revolution.” Totenburg noted one of Ginsburg’s earliest written opinons from the Supreme Court was in 1996 when she penned the court’s 7-1 majority opinion that the Virginia Military Institute could no longer remain an all-male institution. True, Ginsburg said, most women — indeed most men — would not want to meet the rigorous demands of VMI. But the state, she said, could not exclude women who could meet those demands.

“She was an unlikely pioneer,” Totenburg wrote, “a diminutive and shy woman, whose soft voice and large glasses hid an intellect and attitude that, as one colleague put it, was ‘tough as nails.’”

The Ruth Bader Ginsburg commemorative is available at https://aps.buzz/RBG.

The first day ceremony was hosted by USPS Board of Governors Chairman Roman Martinez IV and included Nina Totenberg, legal affairs correspondent at National Public Radio; Lori Dym, USPS procurement and property law managing counsel; Elizabeth Glazer, founder of the public safety nonprofit Vital City; and Ginsburg’s granddaughter Clara Spera, a lecturer at Harvard Law School and senior associate at WilmerHale.

Ginsburg was a “demure firebrand who in her 80s became a legal, cultural and feminist icon,” Totenburg wrote on the NPR website in September 2020 after the justice’s death. “She changed the way the world is for American women.

“For more than a decade, until her first judicial appoint-

In 2013, a popular blog created by a New York University law student elevated Ginsburg to the status of “Notorious R.B.G.” — a humorous play on words based on the name of late rapper the Notorious B.I.G. — and further enshrined her as an icon of American popular culture. In 2016, Ginsburg and two biographers published My Own Words, which became an immediate New York Times bestseller. The 2018 documentary RBG brought additional attention to her life and work, and another film released that year, On the Basis of Sex, dramatized Ginsburg and her husband arguing her first discrimination case in the 1970s.

Ginsburg was a lifelong fan of opera, and during her time on the bench she came to be seen as one of the country’s foremost promoters of the art form. In 2015, she attended the debut of a one-act operatic comedy that dramatized her friendship with fellow Supreme Court justice and opera lover Antonin Scalia, a conservative with whom she frequently

disagreed on legal matters.

During her Supreme Court years, Ginsburg battled cancer several times but always insisted on returning to the bench as quickly as possible after treatments. Even as she became more visibly frail, her determination to stick to her rigorous, muchpublicized daily workout routine and her regular, relentless schedule of work earned her ever greater admiration as she demonstrated her endurance and the strength of her commitment to causes she had championed for a lifetime.

Bermingham, a well-known portrait photographer, also was Ginsburg’s neighbor in the Watergate building in Washington, D.C., according to an article published by NPR.

“It is such a powerful photograph,” Bermingham, who has photographed royalty and other luminaries, told NPR. “I wish I knew how I could replicate this on every session.”

NPR offered the following about the photo shoot:

On the day of the photo shoot, Ginsburg, who was then 84, hosted Bermingham and his daughter in her office at the Supreme Court.

Bermingham had long anticipated the session, but in the early going of the shoot, things didn’t seem to be working out. Finally, he decided the angles were all wrong — and the 6-foot-4-inch photographer realized he should get on the ground, to let his lens peer up at Ginsburg, who stood around 5 feet tall.

“So I got down on the floor and I got her to lean over me,” he said. “So I’m looking right up at her” — and Ginsburg’s eyes connected with the camera in a way they hadn’t in the rest of the session.

“It’s like you feel a presence in the photograph,” Bermingham said.

Anyone who collects modern stamps knows the name of New Orleans-based artist Deas, who has provided artwork for 25 U.S. stamps. Among his stamps are those for Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, James Dean, Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Katherine Ann Porter, Stephen Vincent Benet, Thornton Wilder, Thomas Wolfe, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and Tennessee Williams.

For the new stamp, “Deas’ portrait is both somber and warm,” wrote Doug MacCash for NOLA.com. “Against a

shadowy background, Ginsburg seems to lean intimately toward the viewer, with a subtle smile rising at the corners of her lips and an unmistakable twinkle in her eyes.”

Deas told NOLA that the compelling tone of the painting was largely determined by Bermingham’s photo, which he used as a model.

“The most time-consuming part of the painting,” Deas said in the NOLA article, “was Ginsburg’s legendary ‘dissent’ collar. The Supreme Court justice “accessorized her robes with distinctive, decorative neckwear. She apparently saved the most striking designs to signal that she planned to disagree with the majority of her fellow justices.”

Winter Woodland Animals

A deer, a rabbit, an owl and a fox appear on a set of Winder Woodland Animals stamps issued October 10 and formally dedicated in a ceremony at the official first day location, the village of Woodland (pop. 425) in southwest Michigan.

Although no national first day ceremony was held, a local ceremony was organized by postal officials and collectors. Those on hand included USPS Michigan 2 District Manager Don Dombrow Jr. and Lake Odessa Postmaster Janette Bremer, plus Jay Bigalke, editor-in-chief for Linn’s Stamp News, who served as emcee, and guest speaker Denise Lazaroff, a cachetmaker who grew up in the Woodland area.

The four stamps are in booklets of 20 and feature graphic illustrations of the animals in different woodland settings in winter. Art director Antonio Alcalá designed the stamps with Katie Kirk, of California, who illustrated the stamps.

All four animals have appeared on previous U.S. stamps, of course. White-tailed deer are one of the most plentiful species of deer in North America and are admired for their classic beauty and agility. Rabbits often live near the forest’s edge so they can easily find food from gardens, yards and meadows. Foxes are resilient and adaptable and have learned to survive and flourish in almost every environment. Owls are fascinating birds of prey that prefer to nest in tree cavities or nests abandoned by other birds.

Kirk illustrated the creatures using geometric shapes of bold, solid color. Each animal appears with details of its hab-

The Winter Woodland Animals booklet is available from

itat in winter, such as a full or crescent moon, snow-covered trees, holly branches with berries, and delicate snowflakes. The illustrations were created digitally, and at the top of each stamp, the words “Forever/USA” appear in white.

Kirk, 35, is an artist living and working in Los Angeles. She received her Master of Fine Arts degree in painting and drawing from the School of The Art Institute of Chicago in 2016. In general, the painter and ceramicist says her work is a celebration of the body, difference, and materiality.

Looking at Kirk’s work on her website (https://www. katienicolekirk.com/), we could be surprised about the looks of these stamps. Kirk specializes in abstracts with a lot of bright, overlapping colors and odd shapes. The stamps, though bright and crisp, are sharp-edged and geometric.

New CSAC Chair

The U.S. Postal Service announced in October that Dr. Joseph L. Kelley – a stamp collector and member of the American Philatelic Society since 1995 – will be the new chair of the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee, also known as CSAC.

Created in 1957, CSAC selects subjects for recommendation as future stamp issues, keeping in mind the interests of all postal customers, including stamp collectors. Appointed by the postmaster general, committee members are knowledgeable about history, business, science and technology, fine art, education, performing arts, sports and other subjects of public interest.

Appointed to CSAC in 2021, Kelley brings a science background to the stamp development process, as well as a deep love for stamps and stamp history. He began his term October 20.

Kelley succeeds Bolivar Jose “BJ” Bueno, who completed his term as chairman.

Kelley’s stamp collecting areas include the United States, duck stamps, the United Nations, Ireland, Vatican City and the Antarctic territories, according to the Postal Service. He’s particularly interested in stamps related to the COVID-19 pandemic and honoring Mother Teresa. He recently became interested in stamps made of leather or other unusual materials. Aside from membership in the APS, he’s also a member of the Vatican Philatelic Society, American Topical Associa-

Proofs & Essays • Federal & State Hunting Permits

Guy Gasser

P.O. Box 2320 • Florissant, MO 63032 Phone 314-330-8684

E-mail: guy@hbphilatelics.com www.hbphilatelics.com

tion and the Wilkinsburg Stamp Club.

Kelley says he became a stamp collector at his wife’s suggestion as a way to relax from his work as a gynecologic oncologist. An accomplished clinician, surgeon, educator, researcher and administrator, Kelley recently retired from medicine. He is professor emeritus in obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at the University of Pittsburgh and serves on the board of directors of Magee-Women’s Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Kelley earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Colgate University, a masters in physiology from Rutgers University, and a medical degree from St. Louis University. He and his wife, Karen Dunn, have three children and reside in the Pittsburgh area.

Submitting stamp suggestions

Due to the time required for research and approval in the stamp selection process, ideas for stamp subjects should be received at least three years prior to the proposed issuance. Each submission should include pertinent historical information and important dates associated with the subject. Proposals must be in writing and submitted by U.S. Mail. No in-person appeals, phone calls or e-mails are accepted. Mail your suggestion (one topic per letter) to this address: Stamp Development; Attn: Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee; 475 L’Enfant Plaza SW, Room 3300, Washington, DC 20260-3501

Postal rates rising

The new year will again bring new prices for several postal services.

The first-class domestic 1-ounce rate (standard cards and letters) will rise from 66 cents to 68 cents. First-class meter mail will rise from 63 to 64 cents. Domestic postcards and postal card will rise from 51 cents to 53 cents.

The additional ounce rate of 24 cents will remain the same.

The international postcard and 1-ounce letter rate will jump from $1.50 to $1.55.

The new rates are due to go into effect on January 21. If past USPS practices hold up, it’s likely there will be some new stamps issued around that time, even though most services today are served by Forever stamps, which increase in value as the postage rates rise.

Graded Stamps from 80–100

New World Issues

BY William Silvester

ARMENIA – History of Aviation

A History of Aviation stamp was issued September 27 by Armenia. Depicted in the foreground is the old building and control tower of Zvartnots International Airport, which opened in 1961, and, flying above, four types of aircraft symbolizing the evolution of aviation flying. The artwork of the busiest airport in the country was designed by David Dovlatyan and printed by Cartor, France.

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA – Ethnological Treasure

A single stamp issued October 9 by Croatian Post Mostar is part of an Ethnological Treasures definitive set with a stamp issued annually. This entity was designed by Božana Bošnjak and features a person with a handmade wooden crib. The purpose of the set is to “preserve the material, social and spiritual treasures of the Croatian people,” showing significant events such as the birth of a child. Often, the cradle was a family treasure in the shape of a trough or chest with semicircular ends to aid in rocking that was kept and used by several generations.

CANADA – National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

The second issue in the annual series for the future of truth and reconciliation was issued September 28 by Canada Post with four stamps “that shed some light on the truth and legacy of residential schools,” Canada Post said. The booklet of eight Permanent domestic rate stamps features stark archival images from various parts of Canada and include the residential schools in Kamloops, British Columbia, Île-à-la-Crosse, Saskatchewan, and Sept-Îles, Quebec, as well as Grollier Hall in Inuvik, Northwest Territories. In addition, the cachet on the official first day cover shows the first school in Canada’s residential school system at the Mohawk Institute, in Brantford, Ontario.

FRANCE – The Orient Express

France on October 2 issued a miniature sheet with one stamp to mark the 140th anniversary of the inaugural journey of the Orient-Express Paris-Constantinople. The railway line was founded by Belgian engineer Georges Nagelmackers (1845-1905) under the name of Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, which over the years expanded its luxury trains, travel agencies and hotels all over Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The world of transport was revolutionized in terms of comfort, safety, and speed in the golden age of rail travel. The sheet features a scene from Paris on the left and Constantinople on the right with the steam train centered in the stamp. The operation lasted until December of 2009 with its rebirth now underway to offer the ultimate experience of railway luxury in 2025, according to La Poste France.

GUERNSEY – King Charles III Definitive

The Channel Island of Guernsey replaced its £10 definitive of Queen Elizabeth II with one of King Charles III in early October. The photographic image taken by Max Mumby, of Indigo/Getty Images and designed by Bridget Yabsley, shows the new king wearing the Imperial State Crown and coronation cloak as he stands on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the coronation service on May 6. The solemn ceremony has remained largely unchanged for more than 1,000 years, being conducted by the archbishop of Canterbury in Westminster Abbey and broadcast around the world.

GUINEA – Big Cats

Big cats from various parts of the world are shown on a sheetlet of four and a souvenir sheet issued by Republic of Guinea. Featured on the stamps are the tiger, the largest of the cat species; leopard, one of eight subspecies in Africa and Asia; clouded leopard, which resides mainly in Southeast Asia; and the snow leopard, found mainly in Alpine and sub-Alpine habitats with a cougar, also known as puma or mountain lion, in the center selvage. The souvenir sheet shows a male lion and other big cats in the selvage. The stamps are available in perforated and imperforate varieties.

NETHERLANDS – Disney 100 Years

The Walt Disney Company celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2023 with stamps from a number of countries, including Netherlands. In addition to the Disney 100 Years souvenir sheet, PostNL released a Mickey Mouse stamp in 24-karat gold, in a limited-edition of 1,000 pieces, packed in a luxury storage box and sold with a certificate of authenticity. The design of the stamps was made by the creative team of Disney Benelux, under the guidance of Van der Wijk. Issued with an image of Mickey Mouse and the Disney 100 logo, the stamp was made available on September 7 with a retail price of €50.

NORWAY – Ferries

Four stamps, maxicards, first day covers, and a stamp booklet make up the Norwegian issue celebrating its ferry system. Issued on October 7, designed by Jørn O. Jøntvedt and printed by Joh. Enschedé Security Print, the four domestic rate stamps depict ferries against a picturesque Norwegian shore background. The stamps depict MF Ampere, the world’s first large-size battery-powered ferry when built in 2014; MF Svelvik, a hybrid ferry that makes the shortest crossing (5 minutes) of the fleet; MF Værøy, serving the longest and most-exposed route in Norway; and MS Angvik, one of the ferries serving the town of Kristiansund, which is spread across five large islands and a numerous smaller ones. The ferries are essential to Norway’s transportation network with 40 million passengers and 20 million cars being carried by 130 services annually.

PORTUGAL – 100 Years of Research, Innovation and Care

The Portuguese Oncology Institute Francisco Gentil is a public hospital in Lisbon run by the Portuguese National Health Service and named after its founder, the surgeon Francisco Gentil. The institute states it has celebrated 100 years of “excellence and experience in research, study, and cancer treatment.” Two €0.60 and €0.80 stamps were issued September 29 and designed by Unidesign / Hélder Soares. The stamps show various stages of the institute’s specialized care.

SPAIN – Leisure and Hobbies: Astronomy

The newest in Spain’s Leisure and Hobbies series was issued September 29 and is dedicated to astronomy illustrated by a night photograph of a mysterious sky where the dome of the Madrid Planetarium appears. A portion of the planetarium is uniquely outlined with a perforation to the left on the souvenir sheet. More than 7 million visitors have attended the structure since it opened in September 1986 and since it expanded to include full-dome films, courses in astronomy, concerts, telescope observations, children’s workshops, and other activities. People all over the world have access to online activities, making the planetarium an international cultural and scientific reference point.

New worldwide stamps images are presented for information and are not necessarily shown at the correct scale. The quality of images available at the time of release varies widely and we resize to achieve the best possible reproduction.

The American Philatelist Index

January 2023-December 2023  Vol 137 Whole Numbers 1,464-1,475

INDEX: Authors and columnists are listed alphabetically by last name. Relevant letters to the editor are listed chronologically after each article or column. Letters appearing in 2023 that refer to articles published in 2022 also are annotated.

Author Index

Author, Article Title Month Page APS Staff.

“Obituary: Kenneth Grant” May 394

“Obituary: Janet Klug” Aug 690

“Obituary: Herb Trenchard” Dec 1139

“Thank You: Philately and Philanthropy” Apr 333

“Step on the GASS: The Road to Cleveland” Jul 602

“2023 APS Awards and Honors” Jul 638

--Halperin, Edward C. Letters. “Captain Tim’s son had a distinguished career” Oct 899

“2023 APRL Awards” Jul 645

APS Staff and Authors. A Social Stamp Community special issue October

Flannery, David E. “Building a New Club” Oct 911

Hällström, Jonas. “STOCKHOLMIA 2019: A Retrospective” Oct 925

Hans, Kevin. “The Digital Age for Springfield Stamp Club” Oct 916

--Baron, David. Letters. Update regarding ‘The Digital Age for Springfield Stamp Club’ Dec 1090

Mills, Susanna. “Rise and Shine, Local Clubs!” Oct 910

Wheeler, Frank. “A Century of Collecting with Friends” Oct. 913

Bahnsen, Steven J. Letters. “Status quo on dues something to crow about” Jan 14

Letters. “GASS proved to be great fuel for hobby of philately” Oct 898

Bard, Anthony. “Korea, Early Empire, North or South: Tips to Determine Which Korea Your Stamp Comes From” Jun 520

“Korean War POW Mail 70 Years Since the Armistice” Jun 526

--Leathers, Bonnie. Letters. “American POWs in Korea had long, interesting lives” Aug 692

Barth, Howard. Letters. “Membership numbers concerning but collecting will go on” Jul 596 Barrett, John. Letters. “Would APEX consider using UV light to ID Swiss forgeries? May 398 Barrett, Rick. “William B. Hale: A World Class Swindler” Feb 130

Beam, Dr. Carla. Letters. “Quest to attract young collectors must include parents” Oct 896

Beatty, Millard F. Author’s Inquiry. “How did color oddity occur?” Sep 791

Bieniosek, Thomas. “Condition is Everything” May 402

--Giavedoni, Sarah. Letters. “Kudos to Bieniosek’s article on importance of condition” Jul 600

--Juell, Rodney. Letters. “ ‘Defects’ not always the right word” Jul 600

Bloom, Michael. “Bringing Philatelic Handbooks Back from the Dead” Jan 32

Bowman, John D. Author’s Inquiry. “Was this relief ‘stamp’ legal?” 790

Besso, Michele M. “How to Build, Research and Grow a Topical Collection” Jan 38

Bravo, René H. Letters. “What can be done to stop flood of fake forever stamps?” Sep 788

--Butterline, Mark A. Letters. “Easy solution to fake forever stamps” Nov 988

Breitkopf, Stephen. “A Journey That Ends with a Stumbling Block” Aug 741

--LaVey, A.M. Letters. “Article of remembrance brought reader to tears” Oct 892

-- Turner, Robert. “Wonder what linked letter writer and Holocaust victim” Nov 988

Bressett, Kenneth. “A Match Made in Heaven” Nov 996

Brown, Kristine. Letters. “Philately filled with feelings of comfy nostalgia” Jun 498

Bucker, James A. “Why Collect Czechoslovakia?” Dec 1112

Bryson, Ken. “Japan – A Philatelist’s Perspective” Jun 504

--Guadagno, Lou. Letters. “Anniversary stamps show images of first Japan stamps” Jul 599

Buechner, Gary. Letters. “What happens after collection is sold?” Dec 1086

Bunce, Art. “Cavallini Lettersheets of Sardinia” Mar 220

Sidebar. “Were the Cavallini Lettersheets a Precursor to Britain’s Mulready’s?” Mar 224

Cahoon, Ed. Author’s Inquiry. “Wants a new proof from an old die” Nov 990

Connolly, Steve. Letters. “Deborah Samson deserves a stamp” Feb 110

Crossman, Bob. “I Lived on the Butterfield Mail Route for Decades and Didn’t Know It” Jan 17 --Crossman, Bob. Letters. “Author notes adjustments for his Butterfield route article” Mar 206 --Pettway, Jim. Letters. “Overland mail article delivered great research and derails” Mar 208 --Koozer, Mark. Letters. “Reader enjoyed visits to other Butterfield sites” Mar 208 --Roehrig, Glenn. Letters. “Butterfield, Billy the Kid appeared in Mesilla, N.M.” Mar 208

Crumbley, Tony L. “North Carolina Covers: A Primer in Postal History Collecting” Jan 44 D’Alessandris, David. “Across the Northern Border – A Primer on Mail Traveling to and from the U.S. with Canada and Other Provinces” Aug 711 Day, John. Letters. “Handling original material is important” Jul 598

Debney, Richard. “Expertizing Alterations – Great Britain / British Commonwealth” May 425 De Vries, Lloyd. “Collecting U.S. First Day Covers” May 437

Doyle, Al. “Holiday Gifts: Launch Someone’s Numismatic Journey This Season” Nov 1022

Dragone, Robert. Letters. “Hobby needs firmer direction to attract newer collectors” Oct 898

Easingwood, Richard. Letters. “Who can share tale about design error on 1902 stamp?” Jul 594

--Coney, Jeffrey. Letters. “Martha Washington birthdate explained” Sep 793

English, Scott. Our Story (column)

“Protecting Your Privacy is Our Critical Mission” Jan 6

“Update: An Outline of Plans for Board Action: APS/ ASDA Merger Not Our Best Option” Feb 102

“We Asked, You Answered” Mar 198

“Your Hobby, Your Society, Your Impact” Apr 294

“Changes in Board Leadership at APS” May 390

“News from the APRL” Jun 494

“Bringing the Philatelic World to Cleveland” Jul 590

“We’re All Rock Stars: Philately Says Farewell to a True Believer” Aug 686

“Building for the Future: Our New Capital Campaign Launched in Cleveland” Sep 782

“Every Month is Stamp Collecting Month” Oct 886

“Finding Our Common Ground” Nov 982

“End of Year News for the APS” Dec 1078

Epting, Charles. The Letter Opener (column)

“An Introduction” May 435

--Britton, Philip S. Letters. “Questions about cover in The Letter Opener” Jul 596

“What are Freight Money Letters?” Jun 554

“Ship Routes Star in Coast to Coast Mailings” Jul 635

“A Look at John Butterfield’s Overland Mail Company” Sep 828

“Of Ships, Steamships, and Steamboats” Dec 1132

Falcon Crack, Timothy. Letters. “Don’t put much stock in Herst’s ticker-tape covers” Aug 696

Faszold, Ladd. “A Hidden Treasure – Specially Created Old Ironsides Tour Card Holds a Surprise” Nov 1030

Finder, Robert. “Japanese-occupied Korea, 1905-1945: The Posta; Activities of Two Methodist Missionaries.” Jun 513

“Korea, Early Empire, North or South: Tips to Determine Which Korea Your Stamp Comes From” Jun 520

Fisher, Lawrence. “The Search for Gold, the Quest of a Thematic Exhibitor” Apr 316

--Hardy, Dr. Suzanne. Letters. “Reader appreciates collector recounting his quest for gold” Jul 598

Fleming, Derek. Letters. “Read it, cover to cover” Oct 896

Fox, Tony. Letters. “Learning hobby’s business helps you collect what you like” Feb 109

Fredenthal, Ralph. Letters. “2024 Scott catalogs disappointing” Aug 695

Ganz, Cheryl. “An Icon of the Chicago World’s Fair” Jul 616

President’s Column (column)

“Proud to be Your President” May 389

“Collect Like a Crime Scene Investigator” Jun 197

“A Philatelic World’s Fair, Well Worth the Visit” Jul 589

“Rediscover Your Family Tree” Aug 685

“Details of Design” Sep 781

“Find Your People” Oct 885

“A Common Goal” Nov 981

“Special Care from USPS Cancelers” Dec 1077

Gilbert, Kenneth. “Reflections on IBRA 23 – A Personal Memoir” Dec 1128

Gill, Alex. “A ‘Pretty’ Fair Captured by Postcards” Jul 622

--Scafetta Jr., Joseph. Letters. “Confusion over whether fair’s logo was copyrighted” Sep 786

--Haggblom, Kris. Letters. “Seattle expo prompted protest labor parade” Sep 786

--Lowther, Kevin. Letters. “Private companies created perforations for Seward stamp” Sep 786

--Groten, Arthur. Letters. “Another early 20th century stamp with private perforations” Oct 899

Gill, Stephen. Letters. “Is Joltin’ Joe swinging awkwardly on stamp?” Jul 594

Giacalone, Joseph A. Letters. “Digital is the way to stay vital” Dec 1085

Glickstein, Don. Letters. “January issue had something for everyone” Mar 206

Golin, Paul. My Stamp Story (column)

“How to Spark the Next Generation of Philatelists” Sep 844

Grabowski, Edward. “Philately and International Mail Order Fraud, Elvard L. Moses and the Oxypathor Company” Feb 112

Gray, Roland. Author’s Inquiry. “Are there U.S. CTOs?” Sep 790

--Lawrence, Ken. Letters. “U.S. stamps not CTOs, but likely used as receipts” Oct 894

--Helgeson, Neil. Letters. “Mailer’s postmark likely used for gummed stamps” Oct 896

--Crooks, Mike. Letters. “More on canceled U.S. gummed stamps” Oct 896

Hannam, Ben. Letters. “Resources needed to fund latest technology for collecting” Oct 892

Hannan, Michael. Letters. “Philatelic material displayed in local historic site” Jun 500

Harper, Bob. My Stamp Story (column)

“Stop at Random Gas Station Led to Lifetime Passion” Oct 945

Hart, Keith. “Why Collect Czechoslovakia?” Dec 1112

Healey, Matthew. “Art and Mastery: Pierre Gandon, Hero of French Stamp Design” Sep 807

Hester, Jim. Letters. “American Air Mail Society has longpublished journal” Mar 210

Hines, Terence. “Special Delivery Stamps: Rarely Seen and Special Uses” Dec 1102

Hodnik, Joseph E. Letters. “Perhaps there is a solution to create a proper 9/11 stamp” Mar 104

Haimann, Alex. “Clash of the Empires – The 1879 AngloZulu Wars” Oct 901

-- Trichilo, Benjamin J. Letters. “Haimann showed how innovation can move hobby forward” Dec 1085

Hirschhorn, Michael. Author’s Inquiry. “Two interesting postcards” Aug 694

--Drew, Rebecca. Letters. “Mystery message solved” Sep 792

--Bomberger, Douglas. Letters. “And a second interpretation” Sep 792

Hoffman, Carol. Buy and Sell (column)

“APS Stampstore and HipStamp Partnership” Feb 170

“Hip, Hip Hooray” Mar 252

“Circuit Books are a Mini Stamp Store” May 448

“Hinged or Never Hinged” Sep 845

“Circuits Can Enhance a Club Meeting” Oct 946

Hunter, Bethany. “My Collecting Journey” Aug 724

Holland, Paul. “Printed on Both Sides: Latvian Stamps on Banknote Paper” Nov 1002

Iacovino, John. Letters. “Philatelic Journals need more articles for newer collectors” May 396

--Day, John. Letters. “Collections can drive interests; hobby needs more promotion” Aug 692

Jehan Jr., Henry I. Letters. “Marketing of new U.S. stamps cuts chances of attracting youth” Feb 109

--Zimmer, Scott. Letters. “Attracting new collectors” Apr 302

Korr, Fred. Letters. “How do you explode modern U.S. booklets” May 400

Kouri Jr., Yamil H. The Road to Boston (column) “Reserve Booths and Meeting Space at the Show” Feb 160

“Countdown to Boston: A Primer on Exhibiting” May 463

“Introducing Team Boston 2026” Aug 740

“Exhibits, Sponsors and Participation in the Next International Show” Nov 1047

Lamb, Bob. Worldwide in a Nutshell (column)

Lebanon Jan 96

Tunisia Feb 203

Mayotte Mar 288

Great Britain Apr 384

--Van Someren, R. Letters. “Clarifying early British history” Jun 498

Central Lithuania May 488

Bhutan June 584

Bulgaria July 680

Jamaica Aug 776

Burundi Sep 872

Ethiopia Oct 976

Rwanda Nov 1072

Kurdistan Dec 1168

Lawrence, Hugh. “The Non-Denominated Domestic Air Letter Sheets of China (1948-1956) Jun 532

Leigh, Ron. “Canada’s Stampless Era. A Glimpse into Canada’s Early Postal History” Aug 698

Lesher, Ronald. The Collector of Revenue (column)

“The First Revenue Denominated in United States Currency” Mar 240

“A Walk Through Revenue Basics” May 431

“A Revenue Stamp and Its APS Connection” Jul 628

Leathers, Alicia. “A Librarian’s Guide to Basic Preservation” Mar 230

--Warren, Alan. Letters. “APS website includes info on preservation, conservation” May 398

Liebson, Matt. The Marketplace (column)

“Into the Philatelic Marketplace” Jun 550

--Morris, Gary. Letters. “Marketplace column could offer

more” Aug 692

“eBay, an Immediate Market” Jul 632

--Brown, Kristine. Letters. “Difficulties with buyers led to halt of sales” Sep 793

--Held, Jonathan. Letters. “How to sell stamps on eBay” Nov 988

“Buying at Public Auction” Sep 825

“Third Party and Numerical Grading” Oct 941

--Dodd, Michael. Letters. “Looking closer at third party and numerical grading” Dec 1086

“Finding Fresh Material – Tricks and Tips” Dec 1xxx

Loew, Gary Wayne. Books & Catalogs (column) “Award Winning Philatelic Treatment and Presentation” Feb 162

“North Atlantic Non-Contract Steamship Sailings, 18381875” Mar 244

“The Postal History of the Ottoman Post in the Holy Land: Rates, Routes & Postmarks” Dec 1136 Lundberg, C. “Expertizing Alterations – Italy” May 428

McGill, Steve. “Getting Started with Philatelic Exhibiting” Oct 928

Mahler, Michael. “Philatelic Shangri-La: Discovery of a Spectacular Philatelic Field Hidden for a Century” Apr 305

Marousky, Bob and Cathy. Letters. “Spicing up your stamp club meetings” Aug 696

Martin, Ken. Adventures in Expertizing (column) “Evidence Decides the Legitimacy of a Stamp’s Identity” Jan 60

“Answers to Members’ Expertizing Questions” Jun 559

Philatelic Happenings (column) “Chicagopex, FLOREX, and GASS 2023 Updates” Jan 63

“Clubs Creatively Promote Hobby” Mar 251 “News from WESTPEX; Sad Losses for Hobby” Jun 562

“Krupnick, Knowles Take Honors; Indy Preps for Team Event” Sep 850 “Shows Bring Awards; Loss of Contributors, Dealers” Dec 1139

Martin, Peter. Books & Catalogs (column) “Stamp Taxes in Nevada” Jan 56 Matteri, Ron. Letters. “Stamps’ messaging provide meaningful insights” Jul 596 Marulli, Al. Letters. “Society could pursue members from AARP and the like” May 398 Masorti, Wendy. In Touch (column) “2022 Membership Recap” Feb 172 “March Membership Madness” Mar 256 Maxwell, Jim. “About the China Stamp Society” Jun 540

McCarthy, David. “Top Five U.S. Coins” Nov 1026 Mead, Lawrence R. “Stampless Covers from the Hanseatic City of Hamburg” Mar 226 Bristow, Mercer. Books & Catalogs (column) “Focus on Fakes – The Washington/Franklins Series 1908-1923” Dec 1138

Milgram, James. “Tracing the Beginnings of Genuine Vaccination” Dec 1120

Miller, Nick. “Young Philatelic Leaders Fellowship Returns to Offer Mentorship” Feb 166 Mills, Susanna. Editing Philately (column) “Fond Farewells and New Beginnings” Jan 8 “Philatelic Hustlers of the World; the Hustle and Bustle of the APS” Feb 105

“It Just Takes an Invitation” Mar 201 “Short and Sweet” Apr 296 “Back Again to Basics” May 393 “Leaves, Trees, Forests – Details Matter” Jun 496

“All’s Fair in Philately” Jul 592

“Happy New Year, In a Sense” Aug 688

“Interviews All Around” Sep 784

“This Column Stays Positive” Oct 888

“Livin’ Like the Other Half” Nov 984

“A Buffet Spread of Interesting Topics Dec 1080

--Schilling, Don. Letters. “A new collecting label” Dec 1088

Mitton, Dennis. Letters. “A lesson learned from dealings

with a modern-day huckster” Apr 298

Noel, Caleb. Guest Editor. “Now Introducing … the ANA!” Nov 984

Özdinç, Armağan. “Martin Mörck Reaches a Historic Milestone: Stamp No. 1,000” Jul 612

“Scandinavia’s Guardian of a Dying Art: Martin Mörck” Sep 794

Sidebar. “Creation of a Proof” Sep 799

Pandey, Rajeev. Letters. “An easy way to connect stamps with community” Nov 992

Patterson, Bill. Author’s Inquiry. “Canceled with no stamps mystery” Jan 12

Pendleton, Steve. Letters. “Warning: Beware of scammers” Mar 206

Perry, Ray D. Letters. “Wisconsin postal history society has roots dating to 1942” Mar 210

Phillips, Louis. Letters. “Actor Joseph Cotton had real workout delivering mail May 398

Letters. “W.C. Fields movie took shot at former PMG” Oct 899

Piazza, Daniel. NPM Notebook (column)

“Digital Highlights Bloom at National Postal Museum” Apr 354

Piggott, Jeff. My Stamp Story (column) “Support Makes All the Difference” Aug 750

Portch, Garfield. “An Unusual Three-Currency Franking” Aug 715

--Mahler, Michael. Letters. “Stampless letter reveals important Black history ties” Nov 988

--Campbell, Kathleen. Letters. “Another translation for stampless letter” Nov 992

--Kuehn, Jacquelyn. Letters. “And a final translation” Nov 992

Posner, Charles. Cataloging U.S. Stamps (column)

“3-Cent Bicentenary of the Birth of Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette” Feb 152

--Marek, Richard. Letters. “Vermont also had an early locale named for Lafayette” Apr 298

“3-Cent Wildlife Conservation Issue: The Whooping Crane” Aug 732

--Howell, David. Letters. “Article stirred memory of first collecting moment” Sep 792

Roth, Jim. “A Small Step for a Moon … and a Giant Leap for Stamp Collectors” Dec 1092

Quine, Douglas. Letters. “Will today’s preservation technology hold up tomorrow?” May 39

--Letters. “Digital updates present challenges” Jun 498

--Michels, Jerry. Letters. “Software and diligence needed during digitization” Aug 695

Author’s Inquiry. “Puzzling shortened intelligent mail barcodes” Nov 990

Salter, Nick. Books & Catalogs (column)

“The Postage Stamps & Postal Stationery of Guatemala” Apr 358

Sampson, Russell D. “The Botanist and a Common Perfin” Aug 706

Bothwell, Bruce. Letters. “Author offered entrancing tale” Oct 894

Sanders, Mitch.“Endless Opportunity: Coin Collecting is Whatever You Make It” Nov 1018

Schick, Phil. Letters. “Should catalog change valuations?” Oct 896

-- Gyori, John. Letters. “No sense in raising minimum values in catalogs” Dec 1092

--Hines, Terence. Letters. “Minimum catalog value should be lowered, not raised” Dec 1086

Schilling, Don. Letters. “Hobby basics articles could balance journal content” Oct 892

Schultz, Bill. “Research as a Key Element of Philatelic Exhibiting” Jan 52

--Swanson, Bob. Letters. “Article reminds of online source of stereoscopic images” Mar 210 Letters. “Is first class mail service still unaffordable” Aug 697

Schwartz, Mark. “Vignettes of Boston Postal History” Mar 214

Scott, Cynthia. Letters. “Research issue brought AP readers a Fab Four” Mar 212

Schenkman, David. “War & Finance” Nov 1020

Setaro, Enrique. Letters. “A later illegal use of 1990 Sea

Creatures joint issue” Jun 500

Letters. “Royal Mail adds barcodes to its regular postage stamps” July 594

Sgro, Vincent. “Solved! A Cocos Islands Souvenir Sheet Mystery” Feb 140

Sharpe, William. Letters. “Long-held cover helps writer track down old family home” Sep 788

Silvester, William. New World Issues (column)

Jan 94

Feb 190

Mar 286

Apr 382

May 486

Jun 582

Jul 678

Aug 774

Sep 870

Oct 976

Nov 1070

Dec 1162

Sloan, Victor. “Stamps Worldwide Spread Peace Corps’ Mission” Mar 234

--Lowther, Kevin. Letters. “Article evoked memories of Peace Corps mission” May 398

Smith, Allan D. Books & Catalogs (column)

“Large Hermes Heads, Printings and Shades” Aug 747

Smith, David. Books & Catalogs (column)

“Natural Disasters on Postage Stamps, a Guide for Collectors” Aug 746

Snook, Maurice. Letters. “Reaching out in public places” Dec 1088

Spielvogel, Eric. Bridges (column)

“Turning the Page in 2023” Feb 168 Stage, Jeff. “Many Fairs Commemorated on U.S. Stamps” Jul 621

“Dollars to Doughnuts, the New York State Fair” Aug 718

“Jersey: Small But Mighty” Sep 813

“Another Day, Another Coin on a Stamp” Nov 1014

“Ethel Kessler: ‘Honored and Awed’” Sep 819 New U.S. Issues (column)

Jan 92

Mar 282

Apr 380

May 482

Jun 579

Jul 675

Aug 770

Sep 868

Oct 969

Nov 1066

Dec 1158

--Scafetta Jr., Joseph. Letters. “Maritime Sanctuaries stamps missed the mark with design” Aug 698

Stier, William J. “With Sabre and Inkwell” Apr 321

Swagerty, Benjamin. “World-Class Athletes” Nov 1024

Swenson, John. Letters. “A sonnet for our hobby” Dec 1xxx

Telep, Daniel. “Was Rebel Stamp Used in 1867 a Political Statement?” Nov 1028

Tiffney, Scott. APRL Notes (column)

“Digital and Physical Collections Should Be More Accessible” Jan 61

“A Brief Intro Into One of Philately’s Miscreants” Feb 164

“Piecing Together Our History Through Archives” Mar 248

“Your Questions Answered Here” Apr 360

“Al Kugel Donation Grows APRL’s Military Holdings” Aug 752

“A Bit of Postal History Research” Sep 847

“Digital Library Keeps Growing and Growing” Oct 947

“Banknotes and Stamps: The American Bank Note Company Files” Nov 1050

“A Year of Progress, Much of it in Digital Realm” Dec 1143

Uram, Thomas. Guest, President’s Column (column) “A Common Goal” Nov 981

Valente, A.J. “Postal History of Papermaking in America, 1801-1850” May 414

Shoemaker, Randy. “Expertizing Alterations – United States” May 422

Sok Yi, Yong. “Korea, Early Empire, North or South: Tips to Determine Which Korea Your Stamp Comes From” Jun 520

Vaughn, Noel L. “The Case of the Curious Ink Spot” Jun 543

Warren, Alan. Books & Catalogs (column)

“New York City Auxiliary Markings, 1798-2022” Jun 558

White, Barry. World Class (column)

“A Penny for Your Thoughts” Jan 77

--McKenna, Ralph. Letters. “World Class addition appreciated” Feb 108

“What a Scam!” Mar 254

“What’s There, Not What’s Not” Jun 556

“The Faux Philatelist” Aug 751

“187,000 and Counting” Oct 944

Youngblood, Wayne. Collecting Coast to Coast (column) “Mailing Memories” Feb 144

--Neff, Laura. Letters. “Recording tells other side of WWII-era recordings” Apr 300

“A Celebration of the Sesquicentennial of the First U.S. Postal Card” Apr 327

“The Ongoing Problem of ‘Certitis’ ” Jun 442

--Armstrong, Randy. Letters. “Does expertization penalize sellers?” Jul 598

--Leverant, Gerald. Letters. “Collector finds inconsistencies with stamp certificates”Jul 599

--Saks, David. Letters. “Numerical grading of stamps carries many dangers” Jul 599

--Trichilo, Benjamin. Letters. “Could some sort of slabbing successfully battle ‘certitis’? ” Jul 599

“Keatskotoos, Nebraska: Internet Resources Bring 40Year Search Full Circle” Aug 728

“Getting There is Half the Fun” Oct 936 Zahm, Bob. Letters. “Time to fight ads for fake stamps” Mar 204

Zalesch, Saul. Author’s Inquiry. “Ink Stamp Identity” Jun 500

Letters. “Readers answer inquiry about rubber stamp on covers” Jul 599

Letters. “Pondering the criteria for selecting U.S. stamp subjects” Dec 1090

Zeigler, Robert. President’s Column (column) “Let’s Get Together in 2023” Feb 101 “In-Person Contact Vitally Important to Our Hobby”

Mar 197

“Become a Happier Collector” Apr 293

Zimmer, Scott. Letters. “Collectors need to know market” Oct 894

Responses to Articles Published in 2022, Sorted Alphabetically by Original Author APS Staff. “Special Issue: Auctions” November --Smith, Milton. Letters. “Enjoyed latest auction issue” Mar 204

Bommarito, Carol. “New South Wales Cover with Sydney Views Stamps and Historically Important Content.” Sep 818

--Durbin, Dick. Letters. “Research fills in the details on brother’s life in the U.S.” Jan 14

--Hirschhorn, Mike. Letters. “Letter from 1800s

Australia leads down interesting road” Jan 16

English, Scott. “Show News is Good News, and Rationale of a Proposed ASDA Merger” Dec 1094

--Agatstein, Zachary. Letters. “Concern about potential shift in interests if merger occurs” Feb 108

--Meulenbroek, Betty Jane. Letters. “Dealers, collectors cross paths, but have different destinations” Feb 108

--Trichilo, Benjamin. Letters. “Could merger benefit both groups and benefit our hobby?” Feb 108

Gilbert, Ken. “The Miracle of Bern: West Germany and the 1954 World Cup” Dec 1144

--Pasternak, Derick P. Letters. “Hungary nearly had a 1954 soccer stamp” Feb 109

Lamb, Bob. “Worldwide in a Nutshell: Namibia” Nov 1080

--Sloan, Victor S. Letters. “Nutshell column failed to explain genocide in Namibia” Jan 12

--Lamb, Bob. Letters. “Columnist offers a further look at repression in Namibia” Jan 12

--Klaas, Bob. Letters. “Stamping in Namibia” Jan 13

Sanders, Christine. “Extra Trimmings for Christmas” Dec 1108

--Kershen, Drew. Letters. “Why do old Christmas Day cancellations seem common?” Feb 111

--Sanders, Christine. Letters. “Author’s response to Christmas Day cancellations query” Feb 111

--Nelson, Larry. Letters. “POW camp dates of use shed light on date of card” Feb 111

Sente, Marjory. “The Censored Mail of the Ogontz School for Young Ladies” Feb (2022) 152

--Gilbert, Ken. Letters. “More on Ogontz cancels”` Mar 212

Stage, Jeff. New U.S. Issues (column) Aug 778

--Scafetta Jr., Joseph. Letters. “Maritime Sanctuaries stamps missed the mark with design” Aug 698

Zeigler, Robert. “Hurricanes and Disasters Demand Precaution” Nov 988

--Kowalski, Joe. Letters. “Putting a label on preparedness” Mar 204

Index for 2023 U.S. New Issues

This index includes only the stamps that were reported in The American Philatelist in 2023. It is not intended to be a complete listing of all stamps and postal stationery issued in 2023 by the U.S. Postal Service. Scott catalog numbers reported are those available at time of publication and courtesy of Amos Media Inc., Sidney, Ohio. Unless noted, all stamps are domestic first-class, 1-ounce postage forever stamps (60 cents before January 22; 63 cents, January 22-July 8; 66 cents July 9 and after) released in panes.

BY BOB LAMB • AP Columnist

in a Nutshell KURDISTAN

Status: Autonomous Region of Iraq

Population: 5,200,000 (2009 est.)

Area: 15,692 sq. miles

Currency: Iraqi Dinar

Exchange Rate: 1310 Dinar = U.S.$1

For 4,000 years, the Kurds have maintained their language and culture in the mountainous regions of western Asia. At the outbreak of World War I, most Kurds lived in the Ottoman Empire. When President Wilson announced his Fourteen Points in 1920, many Kurds saw the promise of a national state.

But the Lausanne Treaty left the Kurds dispersed among Turkey, Persia, Iraq, and Syria. About 20 percent of the people in the nascent state of Iraq were Kurds – virtually all in the rugged northern mountains.

Initially, many Kurds welcomed the British occupation of Iraq and one Kurdish administrator in Kirkuk – anticipating British support – declared his province’s independence. The British, who were struggling to create a unitary state out of Iraq’s disparate population, stepped in quickly to forestall the action.

In 1922, further unrest in the Kurdish areas led the British to recognize limited autonomy for Kurdistan “within the Iraqi state.” This status was affirmed in 1925 by the League of Nations. For years, the Kurds were able – through diplomacy and military prowess – to maintain a degree of self-government despite Baghdad’s unrelenting efforts to undermine it.

Saddam Hussein’s administration (1979-2003) brought new assaults against the Kurds. When the U.S.-led coalition drove Iraq from Kuwait in February 1991, there was a popular uprising by the Kurds. Saddam’s ruthless response created a major humanitarian crisis.

Within days, more than 2 million Kurds were moving to seek protection from neighboring countries. One source estimates that 80 percent of Kurdish homes were destroyed by the violence. The crisis led the U.N. to declare Kurdistan a no-fly zone, and the U.S. to launch Operation Provide Comfort. A democratic, semi-autonomous regional government was established in Erbil. A Kurdish National Assembly was elected. Iraq responded by ceasing government services to the region, including postal communications. To maintain postal services, stamps were issued for local, internal use. The Kurds arranged with foreign airlines for the transport of their mail. Iraq responded by having the UPU brand Kurdistan’s stamps as “illegal.” In late 2007, the UPU recognized some postal rights for Kurdistan, but many countries, including the United States, continue to route their mail through Baghdad despite long delivery delays.

Today, Kurdistan continues to build its postal system and apparently now has a system for direct home delivery. But the post is little used. There are 158 post offices in Iraq, but they appear to be underutilized. Post offices send international letter mail through Baghdad franked with Iraqi stamps. For example, one of the 10 post offices in Erbil in late 2023 had an inventory of 12 Iraqi stamps and two Kurdish stamps. Commercial carriers, like DHL and FedEx, are used for international packages and even letter mail. Kurdistan issues a modest number of stamps for local use. Under international protection, Kurdistan Regional Government has developed into a relatively peaceful and prosperous oasis in a very troubled part of the world.

A 2009 stamp shows a native flower.

Fish stamp, year 1998.

Mountain gorge on stamp, 1999.

A 2010 stamp notes that Kurdistan was recognized in 2007 by the Universal Postal Union.

Kondiki Mountain stamp, 2018.

A 2010 stamp honors the first Kurdish language newspaper published in 1898.

A 2003 stamp shows a Kurdish fighter.

AUCTIONS

Merry Christmas

AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Consign or sell now!

ALL BENEFITS AT A GLANCE

• Discreet and high-quality advice from our experts

• Free Valuation

• Fast and reliable handling

• Consignments & Outright Purchase

• Excellent consignment conditions, free of any additional costs (‘flat fee all-inclusive’)

• Send us your material free of charge as a parcel with DHL or Fedex

• Very strong international client network (over 179,000 potential clients all over the world)

• International auctions 3 times a year

• Reasonable commissions for the Brokerage of consignments

Direct sale for cash or consignment to our auctions. THE CHOICE IS YOURS!

Our Auc� ons –YOUR CHANCE!

58th AUCTION

19 - 23 FEBRUARY 2024 ! Philately, Banknotes & Coins

59th AUCTION

3 - 7 JUNE 2024

Philately, Banknotes & Coins

60th AUCTION

14 - 18 OCTOBER 2024

Philately, Banknotes & Coins

Closing date for consignments: Single lots 8 weeks and collection lots 7 weeks before auction

GET IN TOUCH WITH US: + 4 9 - (0) 7142 - 789 400 info@auktionen-gaertner.de

We wish you time to relax, time to reflect on the really important things in life and many happy moments in the upcoming year.

Christoph Gärtner & Team CHRISTOPH GÄRTNER

www.auktionen-gaertner.de | www.cg-collectors-world.com

Auk� onshaus Christoph Gärtner GmbH & Co. KG

Steinbeisstr. 6+8 │ 74321 Bie�gheim-Bissingen, Germany │ Tel. +49-(0)7142-789400 Fax. +49-(0)7142-789410 │ info@auk�onen-gaertner.de │ www.auk�onen-gaertner.de