The past three months have absolutely flown past, and it’s time once again to print new stamp album pages. The Fall 2013 Supplement (266 KB, 5 files, 13 pages) for The Philosateleian U.S. Stamp Album is available for you to download and print.
Naturally, this update is completely free. Nevertheless, I do appreciate your support, and there are several ways you can help.
Happy collecting!
“Real life” has been keeping me pretty busy recently, but here’s what’s new with Philosateleia:
On October 7, one of the prettiest and most peaceful spots along the Southeast’s Atlantic coast will get its very own local post stamp.
Philosateleian Post is issuing a stamp picturing a beach scene from Jekyll Island, Georgia—“Georgia’s Jewel.”
Interested collectors are invited to request a free copy of the new stamp; see the press release for details.
From time to time, I receive inquiries from users asking why I don’t include Scott numbers on the pages in The Philosateleian U.S. Stamp Album.
The answer is simple: the company that publishes the Scott catalogues won’t let me.
I recently wrote to Amos Publishing asking for permission to include Scott numbers on my album pages, and I received a brief but polite reply from Dave Akin, Amos’s rights & permissions manager, declining my request.
“We have only issued two licenses for this type of use,” writes Mr. Akin. “One is for thematic pages we do not produce and the other pays a significant license fee.”
As Mr. Akin notes, I give away The Philosateleian for free, and thus have no means of paying a “significant license fee.” And I can’t deny that there would be no obvious financial benefit to Amos to give me permission to use Scott numbers on my pages when they publish and sell album pages of their own.
You can, of course, download the editable ODT versions of my album pages and add whatever information you choose, including numbers from the catalogue of your choice; that would seem to me to be reasonable personal use. I just can’t do it for you.
In the July issue of the Philosateleian Post Horn, I asked if collectors were keeping up with their stamps during the summer, or if warmer weather had folks focusing on non-philatelic pursuits. Several readers responded.
“We have been having spring weather (rain, rain, and more rain),” writes Tom M. “This has allowed me time to plow into my collection and add many more stamps to the pages. I am still, however, behind in my goal to be all put away by year’s end, but will press on during these rainy hot days.” Dan S. is also “still collecting even though the temperature is in the 90s and dew point in the 70s.” (The weather in both cases obviously lends itself to keeping the stamps indoors.)
Other readers are taking a little bit of a break. Debbie J. says her grandchildren are on summer break, and she is spending extra time with them. And Dave N. has done little with his stamps for a couple of weeks, but he has ordered some stock pages with an eye toward organizing some stamps for sale.
Speaking of selling stamps, Dave asked about my eBay activities. I list items from time to time using the handle “philosateleian,” and you can find my items listed on my eBay My World page.
How are you spending your summer? Is there any time for stamps?