French Stamps of La Belle Epoque

February 6, 2010

Some collectors call these French stamps the Sage series.  Others call them the Peace and Commerce series. The two names refer to the same stamps, a fascinating series issued by France during the last quarter of the 19th century.  During these remarkable Belle Epoque years, the stamps designed by the winner of a contest represented [...]

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Collecting Stamps From the 1950s

January 23, 2010

The 1950s are a decade wedged into obscurity by many stamp collectors. The fans of big, bright, colorful stamps don’t find fifties stamps sufficiently attractive.  Topical stamp collectors, for the most part, find the subject matter somewhat limited.  And other collectors see an outpouring of dull, commonplace and poorly produced stamps from Latin America and [...]

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Collecting St. Pierre Miquelon Stamps

January 5, 2010

St. Pierre Miquelon… for stamp collectors it offers a heritage of bootleggers, Nazi sympathizers and fascinating postage stamps. Virtually all of the whiskey that bootleggers smuggled into America’s east coast ports from “Rumrunner’s Row” spent time in warehouses on a small group of islands located off Newfoundland.  A little known outpost of the French Empire [...]

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A Historic Stamp Auction in Cairo

January 3, 2010

In February, 1954 many of the world’s stamp dealers converged on Cairo.  The military government which had ousted King Farouk two years earlier had retained the London firm of H.R. Harmer to auction off his extensive postage stamp holdings. While the frequently ill-mannered Farouk caroused in Europe, his massive holdings of stamps were put on [...]

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The Stamp Dealer Who Broke the Mold

January 3, 2010

By all accounts this giant of a stamp dealer should have been serious and dour.   After all, there probably wasn’t anyone stamp collectors could better expect to answer a question or give a good piece of advice. But Robson Lowe was jovial, genuine with his friendship, and delighted to share his considerable knowledge.   When he [...]

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Understanding U.S. Postage Stamp Prices

January 2, 2010

As with all stamps, the value of U.S. postage stamps is determined by supply, demand, and condition. Almost every stamp dealer in the United States has had something like this happen.   There is a phone call from somebody who has inherited a collection of US stamps.   These stamps are in full sheets, well protected, and [...]

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A Stamp Dealer’s Reflections

January 2, 2010

The first stamp dealer’s store I ever spent any time in is wrapped in memories that gild reality with a richness that is probably lacking.   But sitting on that swiveling stool at the counter of the stamp store in Brockton, Massachusetts was akin to sitting on a throne. That was where I saw a compact [...]

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Stamp Dealers and Stamp Collectors Basked in Golden Days

January 2, 2010

In 1947, when stamp collectors and stamp dealers commemorated the 100th anniversary of America’s first postage stamp, the city was New York, the show was CIPEX,  and our world was obviously a much different place. When you walked along Fifth Avenue, men wearing hats were commonplace.   So were stamp dealers and their shops. Each was [...]

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Are You New To Stamp Collecting?

January 1, 2010

Welcome… stamp collecting has been called “the hobby of kings and the king of hobbies.”   If you’re interested in learning a bit about stamp collecting for beginners, a good place to start is with this thought. You collect whatever stamps you want.   Stamp collecting for beginners starts off as whatever you want. If you want [...]

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The “Klaipeda” Overprint

January 1, 2010

You may have a tough time identifying this stamp.  Don’t feel badly,  because following World War I the Allied Powers had a tough time figuring out what to do with the country it comes from. The stamp is from Memel, originally part of Prussia but heavily Lithuanian. Following the war,  Memel was detached from Germany [...]

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