After a delay of a few weeks, I’m back to work on Philosateleia’s 14 Cents: the American Indian Stamp. The latest addition is a cover carried on the SS Europa in 1936.
This particular cover has a letter inside, but its written in what appears to me to be German, and in a somewhat spidery hand. I would be interested to know what it says. If you can help translate, please let me know!
As we start the week, Philosateleian Post now has a revamped website! It’s my hope that this will make it easier for local post stamp collectors to learn about the “stamps” I’ve produced and the philatelic services Philosateleian Post offers to the public.
A full press release reviewing the changes to the site is available. I plan to keep working on the site as time permits so that it stays up to date.
2010 is almost over now, and winter temperatures are definitely sinking in in many places. If you’re hunkered down indoors, you’re probably working with your stamps—and now you can update your stamp album.
The Winter 2010 Supplement (112 KB, 2 files, 8 pages) for The Philosateleian U.S. Stamp Album is available for download. This update includes spaces for the final U.S. issues of 2010, as well as the stamps from the Hawaiian Rain Forest sheet.
If you like these pages, your support is appreciated. If you don’t like them, I’d like to know what you would change. Leave a comment or contact me and share your opinion.
In over 15 years of collecting stamps, I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of official mail stamps I’ve seen used on commercial mail. This example was delivered to my place of employment earlier this week.
The USPS sells official mail stamps directly to collectors, so they’re easy to come by in mint condition. On cover, however, they are far from common. I doubt most that are used ever reach the philatelic market.
As shown in the scan, this pair of stamps was canceled with a marker instead of a postmark, which would have made the piece far more desirable. Nevertheless, I strongly suspect this would qualify as an improper use of official mail stamps, as one would be hard pressed to argue the contents of the envelope involved government business.
Do you collect official mail stamps? If so, how do you acquire them?
More next week!