PhilosateleiaStamp collecting forum offers great info, but acidic personalities too
Sunday, November 1, 2009 (posted by Philatelius at 11:21 am)
You’ll find plenty of bulletin boards on the Internet that are dedicated to stamp collecting, but it takes a lot of participants to keep a forum alive and well. Stampboards.com has achieved that critical mass.
Operated by Australian stamp dealer Glen Stephens, Stampboards at last count has several thousand registered users from some 80 different countries.
The good
With members from so many different countries, many of whom have years if not decades of experience, it’s hard to find anything even remotely related to stamp collecting that they can’t identify. I’ve seen a number of obscure cinderellas identified on the forum, information not available elsewhere on the Internet.
Several of the regular participants also have highly specialized collections, and can identify the plates or printings of early British or Australian stamps, identifying scarce varieties of otherwise common items. This sort of information is typically available only in expensive and hard-to-find reference books, but you get it for free on Stampboards.
The bad
Even though Stampboards has members from so many different countries, many of the registered members live in Australia, and the forum tends to be very Australia-centric. That doesn’t mean you can’t get help with stamps from other countries, just that you’re likely to get more information more quickly if your stamps are Australian stamps.
The ugly
As is the case with many Internet forums, seemingly simple questions tend to blow up into extended arguments over issues that really don’t matter. Such debates would be better taken offline—or at least off Stampboards—to make it easier to find information there. Unfortunately, the moderators seem to be just as quick to jump into knockdown, drag-out arguments as anyone else.
In addition, some of the moderators seem to be prone to verbally boxing individuals about the ears if they ask questions without posting scans of the stamps about which they’re asking. One of the forum’s rules is that you post scans so people can see the item in question, but new members could probably be treated a bit more gently if they miss that bit of information.
Conclusion
If you have thin skin or a short temper, you may want to steer clear of Stampboards. On the other hand, I recommend joining Stampboards if you don't mind an occasional tussle in the online mud. You’ll learn a great deal by reading existing posts, and you just might be able to help someone else answer a question about his or her own collection. That’s an excellent way to give back to the hobby.
Have you participated in other online forums? How do you think Stampboards stacks up against the competition?
Book review: Scott 2010 Specialized Catalogue
Sunday, October 25, 2009 (posted by Philatelius at 9:56 pm)
This post contains Amazon.com affiliate links. I personally bought and own the book mentioned here, but I may also earn a commission if you purchase the book through Amazon.com.
It’s no secret that the Scott Specialized Catalogue is the only game in town where U.S. stamps are concerned. There are other catalogues, and certainly other reference books that go into far more detail, but none attempt to cover the same breadth of material.
The Scott 2010 Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps & Covers lists the most recent U.S. postage stamps, with the regular postage section ending with the Anna Julia Cooper stamp issued in June. There are updates to listings for the “Forever” stamps introduced in 2007, as well as other ongoing series.
The catalogue covers everything from postmaster provisionals to revenue stamps to proofs and essays, and even stamps issued by Cuba, the Panama Canal, and other entities while they were under U.S. control.
The 2010 edition of the catalogue contains more than 1,000 pages. It’s probably not surprising, then—although it is somewhat disappointing—that a number of errors have crept in or gone uncorrected from previous editions.
One example of this is on page 206, where the footnote following the Columbian issue souvenir sheets references known proofs, but inexplicably lists the wrong Scott numbers for the designs used on those proofs.
There are also spots where perforation or die cut measurements are off. I would say this is not a huge issue, but a) this is a specialized work, and b) the editors of the Scott catalogue list perf. measurements in tenths. I have no problem with them making such fine measurements, but if they want to do that then I would prefer that the measurements they state be accurate!
Despite all of that, the catalogue really is a beautiful work. The vast majority of the listed stamps are pictured in color, which is certainly a marked improvement over the older editions where one was faced with page after page of black and white illustrations. In addition, much of the information simply is not readily available elsewhere to the average collector.
Editor’s recommendation
In general, the catalogue values of most U.S. stamps have not changed that radically over the past couple of years. If you have a recent edition of the catalogue—or if you don’t collect recent U.S. issues, which is what the bulk of the new information covers—my advice would be don’t bother spending the $80 to upgrade.
On the other hand, if you’re working with an older copy of the catalogue, or if you need information about all the varieties the USPS has issued over the past few years, then the Scott 2010 Specialized Catalogue is a worthwhile investment.
Book review: Standard Handbook of Stamp Collecting
Sunday, September 20, 2009 (posted by Philatelius at 5:05 pm)
This post contains Amazon.com affiliate links. I personally bought and own the book reviewed here, but I may also earn a commission if you purchase the book through Amazon.com.
It’s not often that you find a new review for a book written more than 50 years ago. It’s also not often that you find a book containing as much valuable information as the Standard Handbook of Stamp Collecting, which is why I felt a need to review it.
Written by the late American philatelist Richard McPherren Cabeen, the Standard Handbook of Stamp Collecting was first released in 1957, but it was revised and reprinted several times. This review specifically covers the 1965 edition, which is part of my personal library.
Cabeen split his work into five parts: introduction to stamp collecting; postal history and cover collecting; miscellaneous subjects; technical matters; and classification and identification.
Beginning with an explanation of how to begin collecting stamps, Cabeen proceeded to explain how a collector should store stamps, use accessories related to the hobby, and even focus his or her collection on a specialized area. He then moved on to more esoteric areas of philately, such as collecting postal history and unusual uses for stamps.
The fourth part of the book—technical matters—may be the most valuable section. With the relatively recent widespread adoption of self-adhesive stamps and the use of less expensive printing methods than were previously used, some of the information presented in Cabeen’s work is arguably incomplete. Nevertheless, his detailed descriptions of various printing and perforation methods make the book an invaluable reference tool for anyone who collects stamps issued before 1960.
Other chapters in the book make for enjoyable leisure reading. The author presents a broad overview of the developments that led to the introduction of postage stamps. He also lists several phantom and bogus stamp issues occasionally encountered in older collections and accumulations.
If you’re looking for pictures, this book is not for you. Cabeen went heavy on descriptive text and very light on illustrations, which is not necessarily a bad choice. In addition, it is not a particularly specialized work, but is rather an overview that will benefit the new collector and prove to be a handy reference for the more advanced philatelist.
The Standard Handbook of Stamp Collecting has long been out of print, but you can still find used copies for sale at Amazon.com, often discarded from public library collections.
Do you own this book? What’s your opinion? Would you advise another collector to buy it?
