A few days ago, someone gave me a common, run-of-the-mill United States definitive stamp picturing a flower. At least, it will be a common, run-of-the-mill definitive stamp beginning later this week. For now, it’s something unattainable.
The stamp, as you can see, is from the new Water Lilies booklet. Floral designs tend to be popular with stamp-buying mailers, so it’s no surprise to see this one used. What did surprise me, however, was to see a copy used more than a week before the stamp’s official first day of issue, March 20!
Water Lily stamp
Unfortunately, the stamp had been clipped from its envelope, so I was able to determine only that it was postmarked somewhere in Florida.
It’s not exactly unheard of for stamps to be sold ahead of their official issue date, but I can’t say that it’s a common occurrence, either. And naturally, once March 20 rolls around, this will be just another stamp, but for now, it’s something that few if any other collectors own.
Do you have any examples of stamps used too early in your collection?
Stamp time (or why Philosateleia doesn’t have a trading section)
If you followed Philosateleia in its earlier days, you may remember the site at one time had a trading section. It was a place where I listed duplicate stamps that I had available for trade, and anyone who wanted could request to exchange material with me.
A recent posting in another blog reminded me of that trading section—and of why I ultimately discontinued it.
Daniel Ptashny’s March 3 post was innocent enough. “I was considering having a section on Philavilla which would allow you to trade stamps with me,” Daniel wrote. “Would you be interested in a trading section? How would you want to trade with me?” It got me thinking about how I used to do trades, and why I quit doing them that way.
The biggest factor was time. It took time to list what I had available, time to pull the stamps that potential traders indicated they wanted, and time to update my aforementioned list so it accurately reflected what was left. It got to the point where it felt like all I was doing with my stamps or my website was trading, and I wanted to be able to enjoy my collection and write new content!
I still do some trades from time to time, but it’s on a much smaller scale than it used to be—and, quite frankly, it’s a lot more enjoyable than it was when I was trying to maintain a listing of my “stock.”
I don’t usually promote the sale of something I don’t even own, but there’s something located about an hour south of Chicago that I want you to know about: an antique pinhole perforator!
I suspect this Monitor Perforator (by Latham) probably belonged to the late Jim Czyl; don’t know it for a fact, but based on the location, it makes sense. And from the couple of photos in the estate sale listing, it really appears to be in fine condition.
Monitor Perforator (image from EstateSales.NET)
This is far too big and heavy and far away for me to have any serious interest, but it would be a shame to see this piece end up in a dusty corner of some antique store—or worse yet, at a scrap yard! The estate sale is being held March 12–13, and the asking price for the perforator is $500, so if you’re in the market for a perforator and within a few hours’ drive of Chicago, check out the listing for contact information.
Traffic was jammed up on the Interstate this evening, so I was late getting home and don’t have time for a full post. Instead, I’ll wish you a good weekend with this bit of philatelic foolishness.
Big-eyed George
(In case you’re wondering, the eyes are from one of the “Bright Eyes” stamps issued in 1998.)
