StampChat Archives

Archive:  January 1 - 15, 2004

• Last updated:  20 March 2004

information on selling stamp related items on eBay
By clicking the submit button, you are confirming that the item you are about to list is properly described and genuine.

 

January 15, 2004 prometheus

Printed matter rate
Un sealed evelope with Phamplets/tracts

1 1/2 ounce

Is this the "printed Matter " (media mail)
Rate HERE

January 15, 2004 20:16 Jim Watson

Ft. Myers Postcard Show
Pro,
Didn't even know there was a postcard show in Ft. Myers this past weekend. I wouldn't have gone anyway. There is a 'January Coin & Stamp Show' on the 31st. I won't make that one either. I've gone on occasion in the past. Stamps are very spotty and it's not much fun.

January 15, 2004 prometheus

Held. how about "returned for"
Here is example of "this is the Mail for which you sent postage.
Took 15 days to move this postcard out of file.
Stamps appear to be semi stuck on some kind of card piece, maybe one of the demand notices?

Returned4Postage

Neat Great example of 2 types of Raton on same card in 1947.

January 15, 2004 Matt Liebson

Prometheus: you could do better for your buck on that. German infla material need not be expensive (I pick a few up for my own amusement from time to time. I have an economics degree -- have thought about a thematic exhibit on "inflation" someday for fun).

January 15, 2004 prometheus

Reference material - or thrash
I paid a dollar or so for this .
THIS

Just to SEE real cancel on a Used piece from period .
1 9/10's stamp (s)
2 1/2 Readable,mesurable Cancels
The paper of the envelope is waxy.
It's Inflation period I think. USED.

 

January 15, 2004 Matt Liebson

Brian: I'm not sure how totally unrealistic that price actually is. The PSE "stamp market quarterly" for 4th quarter 2003 gives a value for a used #315 graded 90 as $1200. There is a published dealer buy price for 75% of that value, which theoretically should give some support just about any 90 value in that publication.

January 15, 2004 Chris

Fishing Lure Collectors
Fishing lure collecting is something I just don't grok.
They are cool, but at the $3 level. Paying thousands for
the box one came in sounds like the punchline to a bad dirty
joke.

Chris - to the Lure people, stamp folks must look equally insane

January 15, 2004 Brian R

the real thing
Well, for the first time since comming to ebay, there is a real, used, used #315 single in the listings. The asking price is a little out of touch with reality, but finally, I've seen a used single off cover with cert.

January 15, 2004 prometheus

Wa Bob
re: over there

Yes like stamps a Certificate had better be with a rare item .
For a while (and more than likely still) There were people Making old lures. The scam (major one anyway) was Popped using Xrays that proved the the inner wieght slot and a larger Nore Valueable Lure had been machined out Before internal weight was added
When in fact a real one would have shown chisel marks in side the inside .
Kinda like a Watermark.
Some are donne as often as the Speratti's were.

January 15, 2004 Prometheus

Thanks Ken
Here is one I really like

Should-have-cost-something

I have a couple more that have no stamps or indica of any kind.
 

January 15, 2004 Roger Heath

Thanks for Comments
Thanks to Pro, Jim and Rob for your comments.
I happen to have a 4 day weekend and will be compiling your suggestions. They are all excellent and most of them I've had to confront myself. Some of the solutions will be addressed later, some now. My greatest problem is relating a quite technical discussion about the advancement of hand cancelling stamps, where the benefit is not apparent on the actual examples!! I must resolve this dilema. Last nigth I was reviewing notes taken by a researcher when he was studying tyhe Swiss Postal Archives and I'll tell you the correspondence back and forth between DeCoppet and the various post offices is very incomplete. Use dates are very precise in some instances, but in other no mention of the cancels being sent for repair or returned, just a hole in the dates.
The second page was written as a synopsis, but obviously needs modification and improvment. Can one have a two page synopsis? And I think I can simplify the outline on the Title page leaving room for a little more "in use" after this date. I htink they sat in draws and were brought out once in a great while, but can't prove it.

Thanks again, Roger

Paolo - Great to see you back. I tried sending you an emal at Christmas but it bounced. Is the wanaloo address still valid?

January 15, 2004 Ken Lawrence

Held, Not Held

Pro,

Yes to both. When a post card was sent onward without postage, that was a mistake. In that case, the destination office rated it due and collected on delivery.
 

January 15, 2004 prometheus

Darm it
???HOPE

January 15, 2004 Prometheus

Not to be done Redux
here for

January 15, 2004 prometheus

January 15, 2004 Matt Liebson

Ebay news o' the day.

January 15, 2004 Michael Eastick <michael@michaeleastick.com>

US AUD dollar
Thanks Mauris, it helped sort a turkey out.

January 15, 2004 Jim Lawler

Jim L.

January 15, 2004 Marius

January 15, 2004 02:50 Jim Watson

My second item is a folded letter cover from Greece to Austria in 1872.
 

January 15, 2004 Michael Eastick <michael@michaeleastick.com>

Ebay rates
An urgent question for an ebay Australia seller.

Do you know if for an item listed in US$ and that sells has the approximate price in Australian $ as shown on the ebay.com.au site frozen using the exchange rate that was used at the point of time of the closing of the auction. Or does that fluctuate with whatever new exchange rate that is in play even after the close of auction.

January 15, 2004 Roger Heath

Interesting
I don't have the newest in hand yet, so had only double checked that the expo cancel was on the recent card before sniping. In posting the scans together I see they were both posted in the same mailing. One looks like an adult's hand, the other a child's, but at least they went to different addresses. I guess I'll keep looking for one posted on a different day!!! );>) In case anyone asks, I've not heard of any possible fakery of this cancel.

Roger

January 15, 2004 Roger Heath

Swiss Expo
Pro -
Thanks for continually looking and thinking of me. Tanks also for looking at my first few pages. I was hoping to get a little feedback, but you were the only person. I guess I'll keep going on my little short line track!

The cancel you showed is a machine cancel that was used for quite a ong time, and I'll be honest, I don't know of any Swiss colectors who collect these type of "advertising" cancels. Here are the two expo cancels I'm always looking for, Vevey 28 Jun -30 September 1901, and Basel 2 Jun - 15 October 1901. Both were designed by Mr DeCoppet. The Basel is reported to have been used later in 1921 18 Jun - 7 Jul, but I don't beieve that was official.

Here is a recent aquisition where I just had to ask for an email of the "wrong" side. As they say in the social hall - Bingo!

Roger

January 14, 2004 Anne

Good night to all and to all sweet dreams of snowy days, expo cancels, and pulling the plug on photorotorooter copy artists.

January 14, 2004 prometheus

Welcome back Paolo
Here's an Italian Expo
1906

Roger H heres an Expo for you
Suisse



 

January 14, 2004 1200 EST prometheus

Found an addition to my Expos Box
The expo cancel was hidden on the front of this old card. Had never noticd before.
Strasbourgh

better view of cancel ForeinExpo

January 14, 2004 David Benson

Duncan, thanks for your compliment. What I cannot understand is why no one from the APS, Ebay or the Stamp Watch Committee has said anything about the blatant use of the backstamping. They even allowed the seller back on after only giving him 3 days suspension even though he is listing replicas of US stamps. At least Ebay.UK have stated that the material is only allowed under the CINDERELLA category. With Ebay.US it is anything goes.

David B.

January 14, 2004 Duncan Doenitz

Hello Paolo

I will mention another example of a doctored scan, but first I must tell you that the main reason for this post is to compliment you for your command of the English language. Your writing is not only precise, but also entertaining. "Rotoprotophototurbo-copyprinter" indeed! There is a real danger that anyone reading those words and sipping a beverage could expel the drink up their nose and onto their keyboard.

The more obvious faked scan is here. It should be obvious to anyone that the imprints are certainly not actually on the stamps.

There seems to be a deceptive thread that begins with a sellers fascination with forged items, the interest in the act of deception just infects their sales approach, and makes these sellers' behaviors all alike.

Perhaps they think they are being clever. One just has to contrast their shadowy private auction sales to those of honest sellers like David Benson to see that they are really only fooling themselves. How sad.

Duncan D

"In the last week it only snowed here twice. First for four days, and then again for three."

January 14, 2004 Chris hot-italian-stamps.com
 

Welcome back Paolo
Paolo B. Welcome back! I hope you had a good holidays.
I had a great one and ate far too much wonderful food.

Chris - 100 lbs more than I weighed in high school

January 14, 2004 prometheus

Thanks Ken
as usual your info is enlightening and informative.

January 14, 2004 Terence Hines

I'll appreciate any comments and will try to reply from the road as I'm off tomorrow to Las Vegas for James (The Amazing) Randi's skeptical conference. Penn and Tell will be there and it promises to be a blast. But I promise not to gamble - a tax on the mathematically challenged as I always tell my statistics classes.
Terence Hines

January 14, 2004 Ken Lawrence

Held for Postage

Prometheus,

The 1927 post card rate was 2 cents (the postal card rate was 1 cent). So it did not have one full rate prepaid, so it could not be rated due, so it was held for postage, then mailed when the rest of the amount arrived from the addressee. (The amount could be remitted as cash or as a stamp, usually a stamp.) The 1915 item had the same service, except that the post card rate in 1915 was 1 cent.

The old postal guy is correct about the reason, but that was the rule, it was not discretionary.

 

January 14, 2004 Mike Ellingson

prometheus
re: Damaged by cancelling machine
I have about 50 or so varieties of these, but none with the 'damaged by conveyor' notation. If you wish to sell or trade, let me know. Thanks.

January 14, 2004 prometheus <Prometheus@1Internetdrive.com>

Bill W
No did not recieve
Have been having problems with them Guess it's time to find another free service.
Although the free pic at the picture host I'm using are nice
The free internet service I am getting is great (unlimited)
TRY AGAIN Bill W I did get a batch today and it is empty right now .
they only allow 100 megs of mail and that fills real rapidly with all the bots harveesting the boards.
That and my laziness in checking and deleting.

January 14, 2004 Bill Weiss

PROMO
I sent you an email a few days ago about that 1/2c postage due cover and it came back as being undeliverable - did you ever get it??

January 14, 2004 prometheus <Prometheus@1Internetdrive.com>

Matt L
I thought you were lookng for the Flag Like one.
eme

January 14, 2004 prometheus <Prometheus@1Internetdrive.com>

Held for postage redux
Thanks Ken .

Here are a couple that also intrique me.
The first was mailed short a penny -
It should have been due 1 cent.
It had no return address so if I understand correctly they sent out a notice from Aurora Ill to marshalltown Iowa, And got it back in 2 days.
1st cancel Mar 8 as is the "held and the held dater"
Out going cancel over both stamps Mar 10 1927
Quick turnaround and handling.
1927
So this card should have been sent on Postage Due. ?
I just finished a phone call with a gentleman who was a postal carrier for 40 years (he is 87 now)
he states that a lot of olde clerks would not "due" a postal card because the person would just refuse after seeing it.So they "held" em.

The next Card another from Cleveland
Shows it exactly the way you explained.
No postage no return address so on the 25th it came in
went into machine -
got grabbed out.
was attempted to resend on the 26th another machine feed
Got caught again
"held " on the 27th next day
a notice was sent and however it was done back then
DID they mail the money, a stamp, or just give to their carrier.

5 days later paid for
The "This is the item for which you sent postage" banged on
Postage applied and Killed with a handstamp (I wish it had gone thru the machine 3 times)
1915
Thanks again for your Information
I have others I am still looking for.

January 14, 2004 David B.

Paolo, agreed. The word REPRO is easy to tell it is a computer add on but useless to tell Ebay or the Stamp Watch Committee.

David B.

January 14, 2004 David Benson

sorry this is so long,

some interesting comments on the web page of Premier Philatelics, most of which I agree 100% with,

David B.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Among the several messages that I have been at pains to reinforce in this series is this pearl of wisdom: Not all auction houses are the same.

The areas of difference range from owner-operated or salaried staff; collector- or dealer-oriented; international client base or local; carefully describing material or blind to defects; and so on. Another point of distinction is the percentage of material owned by the auction house. It can range from nothing to a very high number.

This is an issue that many readers would not have considered as having a bearing on where they should buy or sell. At one level, it shouldn't really matter. From another perspective it can be highly relevant.

To my mind, the issue is not whether or not an auction house sells its own material, but whether the firm's clients are prejudiced in the process. Prejudicial conduct can be identified at firms that have a high percentage of house lots, right through to those that claim none of the material on offer is theirs.

The High Road & the Plague

Beware the auction house that won't sell its own stamps below a certain level, but is prepared to virtually give away items owned by its vendors. Be equally cautious of the "moral high-roaders" who disparage firms that offer their own gear, while at the same time screwing their own vendors at every turn.

Two well-known British firms illustrate these points well.

Back in early 1999, one of these companies held a major auction in Melbourne. Most of the material was clearly reserved at their standard 75% of estimate but in the stand-out section of the sale virtually every lot was reserved at 90% of estimate, or higher! The word quickly spread that they owned this part of the auction. Note that this wouldn't have mattered to anybody if the firm had not sought to obtain what many perceived as an unfair advantage.

The other company, which has been successful in attracting a lot of consignments from this country, makes a big deal about not selling any of their own material and implies that this somehow means they will give their vendors a better level of service. While they are well known for this spiel, they also own the reputation for the highest add-on charges in the English-speaking philatelic world. In addition, they inhibit the upper end of the market by rarely having estimates above £500, regardless of how good an item is. Many vendors have paid the inevitable price for this miserable and gutless policy.

Faced with this reality, I believe vendors should avoid this firm like the proverbial plague, ignoring the moralistic "we don't own anything in our auctions" smokescreen. (I hasten to add that these comments are only slightly coloured by my disdain for the generations of collectors who have crippled the local market by sending Australasian material out of the country for sale overseas.)

I contend that there is nothing inherently wrong, or even undesirable, in an auction house owning some of the lots - or even all of them - in an auction. What I have a problem with is the firm that has one rule for vendors and another for itself.

If the lotting staff apply the same criteria to breaking down a vendor consignment or a "house" property then there is no room for valid criticism. If the auctioneer will sell his own items at the same price levels as he will sell his clients' lots then ownership is not an issue.

It is a matter of taking an even-handed approach.

Right from 1982 when I began my own auction business, up to the present day, most of my auctions have included some material that I owned. But my policy has always been to treat the company's stamps and covers exactly the same as if they were owned by a private person. If my item is defective, it is a matter of principle that I must say so. If I have paid too much for an item - and, yes, it has happened! - good business principles demand that I sell at a loss rather than refuse to accept a "low" bid that is otherwise acceptable under the terms of sale.

Just as ethical firms don't disclose the identity of a vendor (except where that is an agreed component of the marketing of a major collection), I don't believe it should be necessary to nominate those items owned by the company.

Pre-GST, anonymity was easily maintained. Today, the requirement to identify taxed lots has muddied the waters. Many bidders wrongly think that all identified lots are owned by the auction house. The truth is that items submitted by any GST-registered dealer, and everything imported from another country, must be assigned a "T" (or similar designation) in the catalogue. To push this point, Premier Philately has conducted four auctions in which every lot was taxed, and not a single item was owned by the company.

Advantages for Clients

There are significant advantages for the clients of a firm that is a responsible vendor in its own auctions.

Firstly, sales tend to be better balanced, making them attractive to a wider body of prospective bidders. Secondly, the firm can strengthen a vendor property by adding key items to the mix.

Some leading auctioneers have had a major impact on developing particular market segments by aggressively sourcing material through other auctions and by private acquisition. Having recognised areas of demand, they put their own money on the line to help meet that demand. No question that they are motivated at least partly by self-interest (name one businessman who isn't) but the market is stronger and more vibrant for their investment.

This leads into what is sometimes a highly contentious issue, especially with some private auction bidders. There are some people who object to auction houses wearing the bidder's hat. They imagine that the market is their exclusive playground and are offended when competition from a dealer, and especially an auction company, forces them to pay more to secure an item.

If one were to pursue that line of reasoning, only collectors could participate at auctions. Not only is this an absurd notion, it would also take auctions back to the Dark Ages of the 1960s and do irreparable harm to the market.

[And if you don't think it could happen, consider this. Some years ago a notable study group for the issues of a certain State was given the opportunity to sell outstanding material from the collection of a deceased member. Not only were dealers excluded from bidding, this bunch of amateurs were so determined to divvy the material up among themselves that every bidder had to be resident in that State! This egregious opportunism didn't cost the club's vendor anything because he was dead, but pity the poor old widow and children.]

Dealer participation is a vital part of the auction scene, and the lifeblood of some auction firms. Dealers are major buyers and major underbidders (just as important) at most auctions, and major vendors at many. Without their involvement, prices would be lower and vendors would get paid less. This would inevitably result in less vendor consignments, then fewer auctions. The whole market would suffer.

If you are serious about having a healthy, vibrant, philatelic market - and you need to be - you should welcome and encourage dealer participation at auctions, and that includes representatives of other auction firms.

Here's an important point. The fact that a dealer is buying at auction should give the collector great confidence in the underlying strength of the market.

Don't get bent out of shape by a dealer bidding against you. Recognise that he has a right to do so. Recognise also that it's in everyone's best interest - including yours - for prices to be higher rather than lower.

Free Valuations

Never lose sight of the fact that you as a collector should always be prepared to pay more than a dealer - and a lot more than an auctioneer - to secure a particular item. The traders actually help you value material by disclosing what they are willing to pay for it!

This point often doesn't seem to sink in. If a dealer, whether retailer or auctioneer, is bidding for something, it is because he believes he can make a profit from reselling it. He believes he has a client who will give him a fair margin…or he hopes that is the case!

Obviously, knowledge and experience play a big part here. The expert dealer can often divine value in a collection, and sometimes in a single stamp, to which the collector is oblivious. [Expert collectors, of course, can do this too.] Often the dealer in the room is backing his knowledge, his judgment, and his client list against the auction firm.

This is where many of the best dealers show what they are made of.

Most of them, being retailers of one type or another, will achieve their successes, maximise their return on an acquisition, behind closed doors, at a trade stand, or through the mail. Of course, the auction house that buys material to be re-offered through its own sales lacks any benefit that flows from such anonymity. The whole world gets to see many of its wins, and its occasional losses.

This can be a two-edged sword. On the one hand, the reseller chalks up his victories publicly, which is obviously good for business. On the other, it becomes increasingly difficult for him to do the same thing again.

Allow me the indulgence of illustrating this point.

Cutting Off One's Nose

Earlier this year I travelled to an interstate auction where I made some of my best purchases in recent memory. It was clear from the prices paid that much of the material on offer was simply too good, too valuable, or too sophisticated for that firm's limited client base.

The vendors that day didn't do particularly well (OK, they got creamed!) but they should have been grateful for the participation of the three Melbourne dealers up the back, without whose contribution their results would have been woeful.

Recently, after selling many of the lots from that auction for a very tidy profit, I received letters from two clients of mine who admitted to having been the previous owners. Both these gentlemen, expressing different levels of disgust, commented upon the much higher prices achieved at Premier Philately. They both also advised that in future they would send all their duplicate material to me for auction.



This Harry Butler postcard cost Gary Watson $346 at an interstate auction in June 2003. It was resold by Gary's firm, Premier Philately, in September for $896.

That's good in the sense that I have gained a couple more useful vendors. But it's "bad" in that my success at the other auction house is likely to be diminished on future occasions. Que sera, sera.

Now here's what could be seen as the real irony. I get offered a lot of material for direct purchase. But I rarely buy it. Why? Because I believe my rôle as auctioneer is to maximise the return to a vendor.

I can't do that if I purchase the material directly because I then need to make a profit from the transaction. I'm always telling people "I would much rather put that profit in your pocket".

You might ask how I can be so magnanimous on the one hand, but on the other happily buy a collector's material at another auction and take what is sometimes an obscene profit myself. The answer should be self-evident: one can only maximise the return to those people who entrust you with their material.

Just in case you thought I had gone off on a tangent, let me now bring this full-circle. An auction house that obtains material through other auctions to on-sell can do so only because vendors prefer to consign elsewhere in the first instance.

It's a classic case of horses for courses. Auction vendors need to make informed, quality decisions about where to sell their material, a responsibility that should be felt even more heavily by executors of estates. If they do their homework, chances are most of them will go directly to those firms that are known to be resellers of material bought from other auctions, and that have a reputation for treating vendors' lots as professionally as their own.

Everyone knows the Latin expression caveat emptor: let the buyer beware. When it comes to deciding where to sell at auction, one is well advised to focus very clearly on caveat venditor: let the seller beware.

At least until all vendors, or their executors, make informed decisions about where to sell their collections you can expect that the more entrepreneurial auction firms will continue to offer their own material in their own auctions. More power to them.


 

January 14, 2004 Paolo B.

David B. -- Thank you.
I recently found out a number of strange (unknown to me, therefore sounding strange) names on the back of Italian stamps (- re-reading my post, it isn't without distress I notice my English has become a bit more rusty and even more impenetrable than usual, let alone my Italian -).
Actually I only have three defective, but genuine, 1851 Sardinia 5c. used in my "reference collection". I would desperately like to have a "block without mortgage". I too would suggest to stay away from those, unless one knows what's doing; as a matter of fact there's even a first day cover of the Issue of 1851 franked with the 20c. blue which has been manipulated over the years (stamp rotated clockwise of 90 deg, if I recall correctly, thus put straight up and a tieing part of the cross pen cancel was added on top right, summarily citing from the Vaccari magazine in which a photo also appear of how the item looked like before) and bears expertise of re-known real (or sounding like royal) experts. Tis an example of a very expensive item to stay away from.

I'm not sure you'll receive a reply from that seller. You will remember what Jay C. said regarding getting attention from that part. Personally I never sent him an e-mail, even though I would have had the reasons for doing it, either for informed corrections and, much more seldomly, for customer questions. Maybe, this is one of my mistakes because things can change.

Regarding those forgeries from the rotoprotophototurbo-copyprinter, at the same time the hero and the executioner of poor collectors, the Mozart of circumvention and the master of purported high fidelity reproductions, with "repro" pseudo-handstamps: I agree with Duncan D. that those handstamps seem just to be the result of a 'doctored photo', using his words. This is an easy world for a forger, especially for one with those qualifications.
Good continuation, Paolo
 

January 14, 2004 Charles L. Williams <cwilliam@joplin.com>

Charles L. Williams
 

January 14, 2004 Matt Liebson

Prometheus: I've been away for a few hours, but I really like that Cleveland circuit RPO card -- for sale by chance?

January 14, 2004 David Benson

Paolo, my wife got her critique from the last Exhibition. It said she should improve her Sardinian Post Office in Tunis. One cover with the POSTE SARDO cds. and a Sardinia 40c. with the POSTE ITALIANE, TUNIS which was used provisionally whilst awaiting Italian stamps. What else do they want.

David B.

January 14, 2004 Ken Lawrence

Held for Postage
Prometheus,

Held articles were marked and filed. A post card was mailed to the sender requesting postage in the shortpaid amount, or to the addressee. The recipient of the card returned the card and the postage. The postage was affixed and canceled, and the piece was marked This is the Item for Which You Sent Postage.

Postal employees were pretty faithful in applying these rules. The exception concerns soldier's letters (endorsed thus), which could be mailed without postage, rated due and collected on delivery. But other mail required at least one rate of postage to be sent onward for delivery.

January 14, 2004 David Benson

Paolo, found the item listed. It definitely states it has a certificate. I will write to the seller and ask what it is.

David B.

January 14, 2004 David Benson

Paolo, thanks. I just presume that is a name handstamped on the reverse and not a certificate. Bonincontro with an R appears to be a common Italian name with 1300 hits on Google.

re. the Sardinia, I did make a comment at the time that these would most probably be the most heavily forged stamps of all time and then there are the reprints and repaired to worry about. A good issue to stay away from.

David B.

January 14, 2004 Jim Lawler

Bookmark

January 14, 2004 David Benson

The roro rooter is getting more brazen, listed this lot with a block of 4 1869 90c.

When is Ebay, Stamp Watch Committee/APS going to do something about it. At least Ebay.UK have stated that these must be placed in the Cinderella category whilst Ebay.US have their head in the sand,

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=696&item=2979939347#ebayphotohosting

David B.

January 14, 2004 11:25 CET Paolo B.

Back
I am back.
I catched up on this board. Interesting discussions on perforation gauges types, quality and durability and, in general, about everything else.
David B. Thank you for your kind mention, my friend. I must confirm what you already know, that of Sardinia #1 to #9 there are many counterfeits or reprints often purported to be the original Issues. Most, if not all, reveal to be more or less sitting ducks at closer exam, though. Many have been seen offered as genuine or as "I dunno, it's out of my collecting field therefore sold as is" or even as "useful reference material" . This last is a disturbing demonstration of the unethical behaviour consisting in "having purchased something for a buck and trying to sell it for 1000" in the case of sellers who supposedly know better than that. I have an acquaintance of mine here in Holland, a pro stamp dealer that not long ago who bought an expensive collection at auction in Belgium because he detected what he thought was of a Sardinia #8 mint (the 20 blue with the white oval in the middle). He called me, I went over to his place to envision this collection in the flesh and had to be the bearer of very bad news (not only about that stamp, alas); whether or not he took those into consideration. Anyhow I acted as a client, therefore didn't buy it. I cannot exclude it migh pop up as a "rarity" in one auction catalogue or even on eBay.

Out of topic, I want to call your attention about this auction (only the pic, of course) here titled as "Italy Stamps # 23a Signed VF MLH"
> the postage stamp appears to be type II, for several typical characteristic of the printing. That is the cheapest type.
Then goes on: "Mint, original gum, lightly hinged, Very Fine. Signed Bonincortro with a Certificate. 2003 Scott Catalog Value 350.00."
> it looks like it is without gum from the scan. Who is "Bonincortro" and who made the certificate?
The stamp could be worth about Euro 1,00 IMO, but I wouldn't buy it for this amount as I have hundreds of it.
Kind regards, Paolo




 

January 14, 2004 Dave P

Knud-Erik' s cover from Prague
Lars
I don't think there was an inland postage charge at that time on items addressed to London. My reference gives a rate of 1/4 for mail from Germany, Bavaria etc sent Via France, so I think that probably applied. Interestingly the rate to/from Switzerland via France at that time was 1/2 so distance travelled is no guide to postage rate.

January 14, 2004 1:39 pm Bob in WA

7¢ lot
Bjorn -- Interesting that the minimum acceptable bid was a potential dangit!

January 14, 2004 Rob Faux

99
Jim (jaywild) I can't say for sure because there's too much glare on the screen right now (and I'm not willing to close the shades....). But, my first impression of the color/paper from the scan is that it is an earlier color/paper. But, it is only a scan & I can't see it very well. I also wonder about the color differentiation in the grill points.

January 14, 2004 prometheus

Held for postage
Ken L = Give me an hour or so and I'll find my examples that show the oppisite of what you just posted.
I'm sure the regulations were one thing but I have (in my piles) some "helds" that from your explanation that should have been dues.
In this case If I understand correctly you are saying the RPO clerk "held" this postcard for his regular? fare . george and cancelled it after george paid him.
is there some kind of form or notice they would send to a writer/sender
that stated we are holding for postage, item X .
Or in this case did he just keep it on the car until he saw george again.

I guess the part that is confusing me is the Circuit RPO part.
I did not know that they would have held mail on the Circuit.

January 14, 2004 Ken Lawrence

Held for Postage
Prometheus,

When a shortpaid mailpiece was sent with less than one rate of postage, and if the sender was known, the piece was marked and held for postage requested from the sender. If a shortpaid mailpiece had at least one rate of postage affixed, or if the sender was not known, it was rated due and sent onward for collection on delivery. If postage wasn't received for a piece held and the piece had no value, it was treated as waste according to regulations (sold for scrap, the source of much wonderful postal history). If it had value, it was forwarded to the dead letter office for further processing and collection.

January 14, 2004 prometheus

Mike E
Finally found where I put damaged-by-cancelling

January 14, 2004 prometheus

Brian M
He told me that it was a precancelled stamp, when I asked why it was so different than other cancels.
I bought ten or twelve items from him before i learned enuf.
He sits in his little antique shop all day long, I guess he has lots of time to make things. I often go by his place and mention things I am looking for just to give him something to do.
Lately he is using up his old Xmas cards ,the dross of the postcard collection in most cases, by adding Xmas seals to the corner, all untied . Next time I go I am going to say I only by seals tied by the cancel and see what he does with them.
I imagine a bunch of pencil tied RFD's. We'll see.
stuff in most cases,

January 14, 2004 12:30 Bjorn Munch

Don't start at one cent...
because you item might sell. :-) I gave up on this one though.
 

January 14, 2004 Brian McInturff

Promo
Boy, that one just jumps right out at you. I can see how someone starting out would be attracted to it. Stamp overlaps seal just a little. Must've been on there then, not thinking the cancellation is just on the stamp. It's a shame some guys go to the trouble. It would be nice if the stamp was a coil!

January 14, 2004 Christo van Zyl

Roger H: Your posting on Surf's Up made me think about the movie Escape from LA (?) where Kurt Russell and another surfer are waiting to catch the tsunami barreling down in the canal/canyon?!!
Anyway, I would like to formally apply for admission to the Razor Recognizer's Club. Please send application forms along.

Paul L: If you have to many of the Bavaria stamps with full cancels on them (or you don't know what to do with them, please keep me in mind!

January 14, 2004 prometheus

Brian M
Here is Scan I-Know-better -now

Never buy cards with seals from a guy who also sells loose seals.

January 14, 2004 prometheus

Brian M
Here is a seal on a card I purchased before I learned what I was doing.
This is just one of the many wonky cards i have found from two dealers here in my local area. They have the uncanny ability to provide almost any Special use one might be looking for.
 

January 14, 2004 Lars <alpha2 at pt dot lu>

SFL from Prague
Knud-Erik

No, it is clearly a 1/4d. I have just checked my collection, there is a very similar cover, Trebitsch to London, November 1839, via Forbach. Taxation 1/4d, gave the wrong explanation below, it was 1/2d for transit via France + 2d Inland as it arrived at the place of delivery. At least I wrote that on my exhibit page...

Best regards,

Lars

January 14, 2004 prometheus

Held For Postage Question
This Card Cleveland
Is three demensional , the posterior portions of the lady are stuffed fabric.
Would that explain the held for Postage , in that the card was more than a penny to mail because of the thickness, I have seen this on squeaky cards and cards with bags of salt, dirt etc.
Or am I working too hard and it was just mailed without postage and hence no Dues. The Held
ClevelandCircuitRPO

January 14, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

Getting book auction titles revised seems to be more rapid than stamp auctions.
Kudos to eBay and seller.

January 14, 2004 Roger Heath

Weather Report - Surf's Up
I though the sccientifically inclined might be interested in this graphic. And for those of you who need to read a description and can't tell anything from an image, here's a surf forecast. I will be safely enconced in a classroom - );>o =/

Roger




 

January 14, 2004 08.23 Knud-Erik Andersen

January 14, 2004 paul laniosz

BAVARIA VARIATIONS
BJORN-----thanks for the information , i think i reach some kind of mental limit to how detail i want to go . this morning after newspaper and coffee ,started to work on sorting the blue 20 pfennig . again many variations ,just can t take the items i worked on last night and sort again for perf s ,working on thousands of bavaria sorted into glassines years ago ,which i purchased in a dealer inventory from a auction house .many many nice cancels full city and time stamped,saving those also . ....paul

January 14, 2004 Lars <alpha2@pt.lu>

Markings on SFL
Knud-Erik

On the back you see 14 Kreuzer, that is what the sender prepaid. On the front 1/4d, that is the English charge. My best guess is that the 14 Kreuzer to the French border, the 1/4d is sort of inexplainable as that was the charge to or from Belgium - Netherlands. The correct charge for letters from France would have been 1/2d. (no inland charges as the letter arrived in London at the FPO). Unfortunatly the sender made no indication of the way the letter should travel. Hope that helped, I'm just making some guesses here as the charges through Europe are tricky.

Best regards,

Lars

January 14, 2004 06.59 Knud-Erik Andersen

January 14, 2004 Jim (jaywild)

Jim

January 14, 2004 Lars Boettger <alpha2 at pt dot lu>

Rumelange
Anne

Rumelange Front: Wurttemberg-Luxembourg Front and
Rumelange Back: Wurttemberg-Luxembourg Back

Although my main collecting interes isn't Luxembourg, I have two Caritas FDCs in my collection, de- and signed by Rob Thill, in special folders created by him.

Best regards from the Petit Suisse Luxembourgoise,

Lars

January 14, 2004 03:46 Jim Watson

My second cover is a registered cover sent from the Solomon Islands to England in 1938. It was franked with the Coronation issue albeit late to be a first day cover.

January 14, 2004 Jim Lawler

Jim L.

January 14, 2004 David Benson

Just had an interesting reply to a letter I sent to Safeharbor.UK about a replica that was being sold.

Thank you for your report, we have reviewed the listing(s) you have
brought to our attention and taken the appropriate action. Under our
current policy, reproductions of stamps are allowed under the
"Cinderella" category.

At least it is a start, I wish that Ebay.Com and the Stamp Watch Committee/APS would at least do something like that instead of allowing them in general Stamp categories,

David B.

January 14, 2004 12:21 (palindrome) Bob in WA

Alert
Maarten, here's a PALINDROME for you!

January 14, 2004 23:17 Bjorn Munch

Bavaria variants
Paul: The ones on toned (reddish) paper also exist with smaller perf holes, though this is not listed in Scott or even the standard Michel. The 10pf is priced at 45 DM in my Michel Spezial 1996.

January 13, 2004 Brian R

BTW-- Your kind words about how it happens with women too, sent a lot of funny looking guys to sleep, with smiles and happy dreams. :o)

January 13, 2004 Anne

Bavaria variations
Paul I have to laugh--you sound like me with more experience and more patience. I usually just end up hinging a whole bunch of what normal people would call "duplicates" into the album in hopes of figuring it all out later.

Goodnight again to all, this time for real.

January 13, 2004 paul

BAVARIA VARIATIONS
NOIP----why i ll never finish ----scott catalog has three variations of this stamp ,.i just spent two hours but i got these as clear color differences and types ,the scan doesn t show as well as it should on color of both the ink and paper ...BAVARIA...paul

January 13, 2004 Anne <abt1950 at 2 vowel 1 consonant.dot com>

Good night to all and to all sweet dreams of Rumelange postal history, fun in The Big Easy, and enough stamps to get through the winter.

January 13, 2004 Frank

Authors and good reads
Eric Dyck: Thanks Eric for remembering James Lee Burke as the New Iberia author. I couldn't believe my recent luck in finding another one in the same genre. If you don't know him already James Crumley is a wonderful author. I'm presently reading his "The Mexican Tree Duck" and enjoying it hugely. Here's a passage from the book that gives an idea of the writer's ability to sum up a life. The protagonist, C.W.Sughrue, is hunting for a missing woman and is in Aspen talking to a barmaid (they're in his hotel room) "Okay," she said, trusting her bartender's instinct, long honed in ski lodges around the West. Or so I learned after the second martini. Copper Mountain, Vail, Angelfire, Red River, and half a dozen others. She'd come north from Telluride in her late thirties, looking for easier slopes and more polite customers. But the Canadians were about to drive her insane, and she was considering marriage, again, perhaps children, maybe college down in Missoula, looking like a woman facing forty with no place to go, a woman who had chosen the fantasy of powdered fun over the middle-class fantasy of security. It's all an illusion, though. The bear of real life is waiting for everybody. She'd had her time in the sun, on the slopes, around the bars, and now she'd probably make some decent man a terrific partner, a man who could see past the frivolity to the hard, lovely core of her character."

January 13, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

Shucks, I currently have six books and one stamp on my watch page.

January 13, 2004 Jim Lawler

Jim L.

January 13, 2004 18:13 Eric Dyck http://www.KansasFolks.net
 

Beer and Burke

Beer is good for you

I remember seeing that series of photos, in reverse, several years ago on a website warning about the dangers of drugs, etc. I think it was a series of police photos of the same prostitute at the time of her arrests over the years. Ah, I found the link by Googling, but it's a dead link. From the Hollywood, FL police dept. How about some stamps with the photos to warn our country's youth? The progression on a coil would be interesting.

New Iberia and Montana

James Lee Burke, one of my favorite authors. Dave Robicheaux, et al. White Doves at Morning was a good Civil War tale.

Eric
 

January 13, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

Yes Nomad,
let me get back to you when I'm back in Texas on Friday if all goes well.

January 13, 2004 nomad55

Jim W-S...any interest in that Vesuvius card?

January 13, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

I thought stamp auction descriptions were bad, but a book auction I just read took the cake.
Auction title is something like 1st US Edition, Jules Verne Adventure Volcanoes.
I think anybody with a remote knowledge of Verne's work would naturally assume, Journey to the Center of the Earth.
But no, the book is "The Fur Country", something about travelling in northern Canada.

January 13, 2004 nomad55

Pro....cye for an incoming.

January 13, 2004 Bill Weiss

Sexist Joke & New Orleans
BOB; You were right - it is funny! Thanks for sharing. NEW ORLEANS; We had a teriffic lunch at the PALACE CAFE, right next to the Mariott on Canal Street and a respectful dinner at (I think) the RED FISH or some such name on Bourbon a half block off Canal, and a very good steak dinner at the resturant/steak house in the Harrah's Casino - which was our home base basically. I managed to briefly attend a small stamp show and met with a few posters on this and Frajola's board - Steve Crippe and Kevin LaFrance - both also eBay sellers under "Sheetguy", and dropped a few dinaros with Steve. As I've said, I would definately go back again.


 

January 13, 2004 4:08 pm Bob in WA

HERE it is!
 

January 13, 2004 David Benson

Bob, I have never heard of it before either but it is listed in the latest Gibbons. It may have been listed in error if the editor accepted a Postal Forgery as genuine. It happened with the NSW 2d. Emu Postal Forgery which is perf. 11 and they had a perf. 11 listed for about 30 years until someone woke up and realised that all the perf. 11's were the Tanaka Postal Forgeries.

David B.

January 13, 2004 4 pm + Bob in WA

Brian -- The wording is almost identical, overinvoicing or plane wreck, need to get a gazillion dollars out of the country before the deadline, I know I can trust to help me in this criminal enterprise, and though you are a total stranger will give you 30% of millions, etc. It's amazing that anybody could fall for this stuff, but this is the country that found a jury to acquit O.J. I'll have to do some digging, but I'll try to scare up an enclosure to share.

January 13, 2004 Brian R

By chance, do any of your covers have the enclosures still? If so, do you mind sharing?

January 13, 2004 prometheus

Wa BOB
On your question of When did they prune the photos .
My question is when did they start with all being shown.
My 1936 shows only portions of each type.

January 13, 2004 David Benson

Bob, s.g. 525d. for the 1986 watermarked and s.g. 525da for 1997? unwatermarked which is unpriced. The watermarked cats. at 2.75 Pounds.

David B.

January 13, 2004 prometheus

NOIP
Did I waste 50 cents on this 1937
Being a FDC and the Monarchy and all I thought I's take the chance.
 

January 13, 2004 3:33 pm Bob in WA

Special handling
Prometheus -- Hmmm, both stamps upside down! I'll bet that had some juicy contents!

January 13, 2004 David Benson

Bob, you can always try Gibbons, they might have some blocks in stock. Try asking them online.

David B.

January 13, 2004 3:30 pm Bob in WA

Now my big question is, what is the last year of Scott catalogs that had all the pictures, before they did the pruning? Or was it gradual over many years? There could be an old set akin to the whichever one it is of Encyclopedia Britannica before they trimmed out all the wonderful articles by the likes of Sir Donald Francis Tovey.

January 13, 2004 prometheus

Here is something kinda different
I have seen lots of this kinda cacheted caver this is the one I saw with the extra handling SpecDelHPO

January 13, 2004 3:23 pm Bob in WA

Nigerian Forgeries
Wow! I have a pile of a couple of dozen of THESE, which I bought for $35 for the whole pile at a stamp show about 10 years ago. Looks like it was a good investment. I made decent scans of all the varieties of the stamp (a bridge stamp, natch) which you can see on Claghorn's site. A very interesting modern forgery, now superceded by email versions of the scam. I also have an original enclosure, and I have one cover with a genuine stamp. I would still like to find a good mint block or part sheet of the genuine stamp. Anybody know where I should look?

January 13, 2004 Bob Hohertz

Thanks

John Gordon.. Thanks! I haven't gotten my copy yet - but I imagine I'm grinning...

January 13, 2004 14:34 Jim Watson

Today in Postal History
Bob in WA,
Let me try that again.
There were six designs in the 500th Anniversary of the Swedish Parliament series. Initially Scott assigned A29 to the 5 ö design, A30 to the 10 ö, A31 to the 15 ö, A32 to the 25 ö, A33 to the 35 ö, and A34 to the 60 ö. The time came when catalog space had to be reclaimed. The solution was to eliminate images which were generally the same and to add text describing the differences to be seen in the values of stamps in series having a family design. In this case, Scott's editors decided that two images could adequately portray the featires of that particular design family for collectors trying to identify a stamp. Why they picked the 60 ö rather than the 15 ö is a matter of speculation but the 60 ö is a higher value and is the only people-based design in the series.

January 13, 2004 01.38 pm Colin Judd UK http://mysite.freeserve.com/xzephyr_GB_Machins/
 

Colin

January 13, 2004 1:16 pm Bob in WA

Oops
I meant, the 15 o should be A34...

January 13, 2004 1:15 pm Bob in WA

Sweden set
Jim W -- That's exactly how I reasoned, but then the 15 o should also be A29, as the denomination is centered as in the 60 o. On the other board, it was suggested that the first 5 show buildings, while the high value is a crest and human figures. I guess that's as good a reason as any. I'd like to see some old catalogs with all the missing type numbers illustrated. Do such exist?

January 13, 2004 prometheus

A couple of replies and a note
Lars Have no special needs from lux was just commenting on the lack of postcards from there - Here
After viewing Annes latest find.

wa bob If he had then I would not have found it in a pile I bought.

Roger H Saw the first few pages of your exhibit Up there .
Please make sure you post it all when Done.
I am in no position to critic your display But found it Very Interesting and informative.
By the way the covers you seabiscuited they had No razors.

Duncan They more things change the more they remain the same.

 

January 13, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

Oops,

found a worm on my hard drive.

Anyone who has received email from me recently may want to do a virus scan.

January 13, 2004 Jim Watson

As far as the Scott image designator is concerned, I think Scott originally assigned each of the different denominations a number, as in A29, A30, . . .A34. As time went one it became difficult to fit them all into the catalog space allotment. They chose to use only the A29 and A34 under the belief that the collector could identify the intermediate values using A29 as a type reference but that A34 was needed as it didn't necessarily look like the other stamps because of the different placement of the denomination.

January 13, 2004 11:40 Bob in WA

prexie cover
Prometheus -- Too bad he didn't insure for a bit more and just throw a $5 Coolidge on it, huh?

January 13, 2004 11:37 Bob in WA

I have another question about this set I'd like to throw out. Scott lists the high value as Type A34 and the other five as Type A29. I can find no substantial difference except the 60 o has the denomination in the center instead of at left. But that is also true of the 15 o, which lists as an A29! Can someone enlighten me?

 

January 13, 2004 Christo van Zyl

Roger H: Bruce Marsden's name sounded very familiar, so I googled him before I posted the link to that cover!

Lars: Thank you for the info

January 13, 2004 Duncan Doenitz

Doctored photo

This is strange...

The scan shown here is obviously doctored. The items when originally scanned did not have the overprints, they were added later to the photo. You can see that they are not in the same focus as the original, and they are all on the same horizontal plane. that is, those items that are tipped left or fight in the picture don't have the overprint tilted to match.

More importantly, some of the items, which of course are crude forgeries, are multiple blocks and each block is marked only once, so the blocks can be broken up by a buyer to obtain unmarked modern forgeries. that of course defeats the requirement by eBay that each item must be marked.

"Genuine stamp with probable bogus overprint of SG.087 1/- BOE Official (L7) Overprint."

Regarding our other Bad Boy, hopefully eBay UK will notice that considering the sellers documented bad past history, the recent changes in his ads look like a blatant intentional return to his previous misleading descriptions.

Supposedly, eBay is concentrating enforcement on those sellers who are repeat violators. We'll see.

Dunc

January 13, 2004 Chris

New Orleans
Bill W. N.O is a way cool place to visit.
Did you eat at Mother's? (A small place a block off Canal near the Marriot.)
The problem with visiting is that it is only possible to eat 5 meals a day,
and there are so many good restaurants.
The French Quarter and the tourist areas are pretty safe, but don't go to Desire (a notorious slum)
with anything less than a belt fed weapon.

Chris - begnets and coffee with chickory at Cafe Du Monde early in the morning rules

January 13, 2004 Lars Boettger <alpha2 at pt dot lu>

France USA 1871 - Rumelange/Luxembourg
Christo

Not to my knowledge. German troops focused on Paris, the South of France was never occupied.

Anne

Searched my collection yesterday, found a nice cover from Stuttgart/Wurttemberg to Rumelange (1891). If you like scans, just post it.

prometheus

Luxembourg postcards aren't that scarce... at least not if you live here. Are you looking for anything special? If yes, either post it or send my a e-mail.

Best regards from Luxembourg,

Lars

 

January 13, 2004 03:05 Jim Watson

I also have a very interesting registered cover from the Swedish contingent serving in the Saar during the 1935 plebiscite. It is all Swedish but was used abroad.

January 13, 2004 03:05 Jim Watson

I also have a very interesting registered cover from the Swedish contingent serving in the Saar during the 1935 plebiscite. It is all Swedish but was used abroad.

January 13, 2004 2 am Bob in WA

Bridges
DROOL!

January 13, 2004 01.19 Knud-Erik Andersen

January 13, 2004 Roger Heath

Christo's cover
Nice - The seller is a member of the American Helvetia Society and I met him at Pac97. He has been very active in Society activities for many years. He has exhibited a "Swiss Fondue" collection of the different stamps of Switzerland. He is also involved in the maintainance of the Society web site. Check out his site for introduction to Swiss stamps.

http://www.swiss-stamps.org/Fonduedir/default.htm

Roger

January 13, 2004 Christo van Zyl

French _ USA Cover 1871
I won this French_USA Cover cover last night. First one I have with the Bordeaux Issues on it, paying a 70 centimes rate to the USA from Nice to Philadelphia via London. At this stage to me the date is of interest, i.e. 4 May 1871. Was this area (Nice) affected by any of the wars in this part of the world during that time? Any comments will be appreciated.

January 12, 2004 Bill Weiss

New Orleans
FRANK; Thanks for the comments. Yes, I've heard lots of people say negative things, yet we walked around Bourbon Street, Royal Street, etc. in the French Quarter at 6:30PM and saw no trouble. Ate in a place a block off Canal, on Bourbon and it was filled with decent folks. I don't know. What I saw looked pretty safe to me. On the other hand, natives say when Mardi Gras starts the place becomes a zoo! They try to get out of the city if they can. I would go back again.

January 12, 2004 11:11 EST prometheus

My Bad Bob Wa
A.S.D.A.Stampshowstation
Guess I should pay more attention to the modern stuff.

I'll just put that one in my Prexie uses Box like this mess FRONTREG
and $4.26?

January 12, 2004 Frank

New Orleans - let the good times roll
Bill Weiss- I've never visited New Orleans. Hope to some day. Glad your trip went safely. I just finished reading a mystery by an author who grew up near there, currently lives in New Iberia, La. and Montana, and he has one of his detective characters say of the city,"New Orleans is an insane asylum on top of a giant sponge." For some reason that stuck in my mind. Also a cop friend of mine here on Long Island, New York, started his career as a beat cop in New Orleans and told me it's one crazy town. I think a lot of tourists do OK but it is one dangerous city.
 

January 12, 2004 7:26 pm Bob in WA

1¢ card
prometheus -- Postcard rate was still 1¢ in 1945. Unless that was adderssed abroad, no dues should have been expected. It is an interesting way to make the rate, though.

January 12, 2004 David Benson

It looks like the Ebay NARU only lasted a few days,


David B.

January 12, 2004 prometheus

Interesting Usage
No dues on this went on through
1pennyworth
 

January 12, 2004 Jim (jaywild)

National Defense Issues
Hi Jeff,

Your stamp was manufactured (and used) by the gazillion. Unfortunately this makes it worth very little. However, if the stamp is unused, you can stick in on a letter and dress up an otherwise drab modern mailing.
Jim
 

January 12, 2004 John Gordon <johnr@castlemoyle.com>

Congrats to Bob!
Received my BIA magazine and who did I see peering out from inside but Bob Hohertz. He won the USSS (formerly Bureau Issues Association) Southgate Award for his 19th century Revenues.

 

January 12, 2004 5:09 jeff scales <scales857@aol.com>

1940 national defence libertys torch 3 cent
would like some info on this stamp value?

January 12, 2004 Jim (jaywild)

1994
Another hard non-philatelic cover from the 1990s
down, 5 to go.
 

January 12, 2004 Bill Weiss

Back To Work!
We have just returned from a too-brief mini-vacation trip to New Orleans. Our first time there was a combined visit as tourists and as a poker player, where I played in by far the biggest (540 entries) one I've been in. Can't report that I did well, but overall not horrible (180 out of 540 = top 1/3!). As for New Orleans, well, I've heard some pretty bad stories about the town, but I must say that I disagree with them mostly, and I think the town is well worth a visit. While portions of the famed French Quarter are considered somewhat "dirty and dangerous" (especially at night), I think that every big city has some portions which are less-than-perfect. I think the city has lots of charm not to mention a fairly nice climate compared to here in PA in January (today it was 65 degrees at flight-time and 28 degrees here in PA!).
In trying to catch up with the posts for the last few days, I feel that the most important one was from GEORGE K. (good to hear from you again) and I am somewhat shocked that no-one really commented on that post in any depth, and am curious why? I must say that I tend to agree with his post nearly 100% except for the small portion where he knocks APS in connection with the SCADS case, and my only small objection to that is that I don't believe we ever heard the details from APS about why they could not be more help, so I don't think it's completely fair without knowing the full story. Other than that, George's post is IMO right on target.
 

January 12, 2004 prometheus

David B
Those read pretty tasty. I like minty things (not stamps tho)

January 12, 2004 David Benson

Promo, not really into Tim Tams, prefer these,

http://www.arnotts.com/Biscuits/OurBiscuitsS.asp?BID=10#

David B.

January 12, 2004 David Benson

Promo,

they're fattening,

http://www.arnotts.com/Biscuits/OurBiscuitsP.asp?BID=79

David B.

January 12, 2004 Bob Hohertz

change

Pro, in some cases the PO stuck a half-cent stamp to the envelope by its selvage or verly lightly along one edge to make change - covers with those still attached are quite desirable items. I have one, and have been underbidder on several others...

January 12, 2004 Prometheus

Various Replies.
K.E. will show you later in week - I had emptied those to loan all My WW2 used germany to a friend for a display. He wil return them Friday.

Matt Could you explain how they would be used as change.

NOIP Isn't always the little thing you pick out that becomes the "why didn't I buy all of those (3) "

David B The travelers have returned from OZ and They explained that the root beer you can get is real root beer if you consider american beer real beer. NOT.
They did bring me some neat little cookie things that were great (tim-tams?) and of course a little Koala Bear doll.
They Loved your country and will more than likely figure a way to go there forever.

Ken L I purchased the card for the Precanceled Due on It. I don't know why but Precanceled and perfins Used always attract my money.

Bob Wa I saw a couple of those Bisected (not due tho) covers in a dealers box . I see his stuff once a month or so. Guess I'll dig a little deeper and see if any were PD's. He has lots of Made for the collector (old but made up) type Stuff.

January 12, 2004 Roger Heath

Racing News
Scratch the third race, here was the interesting fourth race.

Roger
 

January 12, 2004 Roger Heath

Snipes
I'm introducing a new category of auction ending in honor of the book I'm reading. Henceforth, photo finishes will be called a SEABISCUIT. Anyone may participate, but there must be at least 3 bidders at the wire! The second and third races were for high stakes bidders.

My ticket's on the ground, back to the Daily Eracing Form.

Roger



 

January 12, 2004 Rin tin tin

Fake Iraqi occupation stamps( seldom offered on ebay):
http://www.cifr.it/Irakcoalizione.html

explanation must be translated:-))

ciao

RinTinTin

January 12, 2004 Ken Lawrence

Half-cent due
Prometheus,

That's really an unusual usage. If the sender had enclosed the card in an unsealed envelope, the 1-1/2 cents third-class postage permitted for holiday greeting cards would have been sufficient. But a post card required full two cents postage, hence the due rating.

January 12, 2004 David Benson

not really, internet auctions have to be kept clean and the scumbags booted. The problem is the vast quantity of material and the lack of staff to check every query. The Stamp Watch Committee/APS is a good step but has had very little input into getting rid of non US items.

I sent a note to Ebay.UK about the repro that was sold and I received a reply that they are looking into it but the item was sold before I sent my note. If he lists another one I will send a note while the item is live and see what happens.

David B.

January 12, 2004 Dave P

David
Makes you wonder why you bother, doesn't it.

January 12, 2004 David Benson

Dave, he also has a short memory, listed one with this description,

Not much known about this item, so has to be sold as seen. It looks like some type of Essay or Reproduction maybe?. Does not appear to have a watermark, and does not have any gum. Very good condition with good centering and good perforations.

He must have forgotten that he acquired it from the recently NARUED replicator,

David B.

January 12, 2004 Dave P

Oh Dear........
Seems that a "visiter" to this board is reverting to his old ways, I am not allowed to name him or the auction, but here is a line from the description
"Genuine stamp with probable bogus overprint of SG.087 1/- BOE Official (L7) Overprint. This stamp is in good used condition with no hidden faults (see scan)."
Note how the word probable has crept back in.

January 12, 2004 Matt Liebson

Brian: my understanding is that 1/2 cent stamps were issued as "change."

January 12, 2004 David Benson

3 Cheers to Yahoo Stamp Auctions, one email explaining Replicas and mentioning the NARU from Ebay and all of the lots zapped within a day. Wonder where next.

David B.

January 12, 2004 Brian R

I'd like to know just how the postman collected 1/2 cent due....

January 12, 2004 1:37 pm Bob in WA

Prometheus -- No, it was just going cheap in an obscure mail auction and I couldn't pass it up. Got it 15-20 years ago.

January 12, 2004 Mauro Mowszowicz

1917 Service Suspended
Hello Guys, think some of you will like this 1917 US to Russia service suspended im listing now on eBay
Regards
Mauro

January 12, 2004 13.24 Knud-Erik Andersen http://sudeten.bizland.com/postal_history.htm
 

January 12, 2004 prometheus

Three fresh Pointy Hands
Not all the addresses in grandmothers card list were good.

pointy

and Ponity2

bUT i GUESS ONE WAY TO PURGE THE LIST IS TO SEND THEM OUT AND SEE WHAT COMES BACK.

January 12, 2004 Prometheus

Neat Little Brochures
Found a few ( different ones) of these Theater
In a war time envelope .
I guess even in the height of a world war the Show must go on.

January 12, 2004 prometheus <Prometheus@1Internetdrive.com>

Nomad and Wa Bob
Nomad send info - i paid a bit more than I normally due for this one it is from a dealer who rreally breaks down his stuff, DPO's, Doanes, RPO, Expo etc. But he has two more to and fron same folks
all new years and christmas 1925 , I took the cheapest one .

Bob Wa = I have some of those big consolitdated ones too.
Is there a bridge at the Geysers ??

ITHINKPHILATELIC

January 12, 2004 12:34:56 ? Bob in WA

Half Cent Due
Actually, I do have a half cent due cover which you can see HERE. It looks a bit philatelic, but you gotta admit it's interesting.

January 12, 2004 12:28 pm Bob in WA

Postage Dues
I have THIS one. Oh, wait, it's more than a half cent...

January 12, 2004 nomad55

half cent PD
Pro....really nice card. Clyde Jennings collects 1/2 cent postage dues - has a great exhibit of uses. He might be interested.
I can provide you his address.

January 12, 2004 prometheus

Here is a neat little Postage Due
Only one I have that is due 1/2cent

January 12, 2004 prometheus

Thanks Guys
I'm sure the Harvesters have been busy here

I got the ebay security check email - I do Not ebay.
I got the Pay-Pal Security email - I do Not Pay -pal
and of course all those fine folks in Africa have millions for me from over 15 different scources.
I do like the one that says because we got ripped off when we trusted some one we require you to go first.

January 12, 2004 11:05 Clark Frazier

Spoof Secruity Update Messages
For more than you probably wanted to know, see http://www.microsoft.com/security/antivirus/authenticate_mail.asp.

January 12, 2004 Mauro Mowszowicz

Prom
You can read more about
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/trojan.xombe.html
As usual it is a good policy to ignore alerts and request of downloads or similar activities by email.
Usually Microsoft will never email you ....
Regards
Mauro

January 12, 2004 prometheus

maybe a warning
A new Swen-style Trojan horse posing as a critical update from Microsoft
has been detected on the Internet, and users who open the E-mail message
may find their machines loaded with a back-door Trojan that can steal
passwords or be used in conjunction with other systems to conduct major
denial-of-service attacks.

got this warning this AM anyone techie enuf to know if this is something for XP users to fear.
 

January 12, 2004 Brian McInturff

Christmas Seals
Nomad That's Randall Kirsch, He's President of the Christmas Seal Society. I've bought some of my exhibit pieces from him in the past. He keeps me updated on anything rare he might get in. Thanks for keeping me in mind.

January 12, 2004 nomad55

Christmas Seals
For Brian....it may be worth searching through this seller's listings.

January 12, 2004 05.40 Knud-Erik Andersen

January 12, 2004 05:04 Jim Watson

Today in Postal History
Now, let's get that right:

Today's dated postal history is a registered cover from Japan to England in 1894.

January 12, 2004 04:47 Jim Watson

I also am showing an O.H.M.S. cover from Malto to France in 1927. It was sent without a stamp.

January 12, 2004 04:32 Bjorn Munch

Error cancels
Bob, Christo, yes that was me. Thanks for the alert, looks interesting. I would have found it in my regular search this evening (I check every three days). I was going to ask about that batch, but there's no hurry.
 

January 12, 2004 Christo van Zyl

Bob in Wa: If I remember correctly it is Bjorn Munch (bjornmu) who collects the upside down slugs etc

January 12, 2004 2 am Bob in WA <rcl.wa@verizon.net>

Inverted Numbers
Let's see, who was collecting cancels with upside down numeral slugs in them? Looks like a sterling example HERE. By the way, I still have a big batch of them for you, but they are on the other side of mountain passes that I don't go over in the winter. Should be able to get them about March, and haven't forgotten, except I lost all my contact info on my crashed hard drive, so get back in touch with me.

January 12, 2004 Michael Eastick <michael@michaeleastick.com> http://www.michaeleastick.com
 

Victoria Stamp Duty Surcharge
Any of the collectors of Australian Revenues seen an example of the 1950's 3d on 2d Victoria Stamp Duty with inverted surcharge ?

January 11, 2004 Alan Payne <alan_payne at bigpond dot com>

I give up

http://www.geocities.com/stamppna/Gilbert.jpg

http://www.geocities.com/stamppna/Sarawak.jpg

Alan

January 11, 2004 Alan Payne <alan_payne at bigpond dot com>

A couple of new items to the collection This and That

Alan
 

January 11, 2004 Anne

Good night to all and to all sweet dreams of Yemeni tape, iranian albums (and enough printer cartridges) and the (yuck) first day of classes.

January 11, 2004 Chris

Iran collections
Bill C Nice pages on Iran.
Could you put a paragraph at the top giving
the story of the stamps? I haven't done an Iranian
album yet, so don't know what the Paris Reprints are.

Chris - so many albums, so few printer cartridges
(Apologies if this is a repost, it didn't seem to take the first time.)
 

January 11, 2004 Andrew Gondocz http://groups.yahoo.com/group/arabgulfandyemenstampgroup
 

Yemeni tape
Hi,

This is the infomration I received from the above Yahoo group:

To read the tape you must rotate it 90 degrees counter-clockwise.

The top line of the tape reads (al Jamhuriyah al arabiah al Yamaniah) which is "YEMEN ARAB REPUBLIC" in Arabic.

The bottom line says literally ...
"Opened with the knowledge of the censor", but a more free translation would be ... "opened under the authority of the censor."

So we have an early YAR civil war censor tape, from around late 1963 or early 1964.

The cover went fron Sanaa to Aden by surface (6B rate).

Because the British supported (or at least tolerated) the Royalists at this time, the cover was censored by the YAR authorities.

Best wishes,
Andrew
 

January 11, 2004 Anne

Luxembourg cards

January 11, 2004 Anne

Prometheus: Luxembourg has an area of just under 1000 square miles. Need I say more? Outside my family, I've only met a couple of people of Lux. ancestry, although there are sizable communities in Chicago and several other places in the US. To most Americans, Luxembourg is familiar for the battles fought there during the two wars. One of the most common types of Lux postcards you'll see is of US troops from WWI. That and views of Luxembourg-Ville, the capital, and home of one of Bob's favorite bridges (Pont Adolphe)

January 11, 2004 7:02 pm Bob in WA

Some of you may recall THIS cover I have showed before. I collect bridge-name cancels as an adjunct to my bridge stamp collection, and this is annotated by Stanley Ashbrook. So I couldn't resist, on 3 levels, when the perfect companion showed up on eBay. Besides being another lovely Bridgewater cover, it is annotated this time by Carrol Chase, and the clincher is, the date is my BIRTHDAY! I don't chase after them as exhaustively as a certain October 5 collector here, but this cover seemed to call out to me!
 

January 11, 2004 prometheus

Anne ?
I look at thousands of Postcards in any given month
How come so FEW are from LUX??
any thoughts.

January 11, 2004 prometheus

Anne + Bill
Anne = nice addition to your family related things

Bill - Are the Paris reprints stamps Or ??
were the iranian stamps printed in France.?

January 11, 2004 Anne

oops
(Always refresh before you post. Always refresh before you post)

January 11, 2004 Anne

This place is dead. Is there a party somewhere that no one told Bill & me about?

January 11, 2004 prometheus <Prometheus@1Internetdrive.com>

Brian M
Mine too
same-Place
 

January 11, 2004 17:13 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Iran 1902 issues

January 11, 2004 Brian McInturff

carrier handstamp
I would guess this is a government carrier? It's on the back like a recieved.
carrier

January 11, 2004 Chris

Dalwick Escapes Me
Anne I bid my true max, so wasn't going to win it
in any case. I will wait until I see a copy at a price
I like.

I just got done gluing a new bookcase together, so I will
actually have some place to put some of my philatelic books.

Chris - taking over the library is a shelf by shelf process

January 11, 2004 prometheus

Thanks Bill L
Why both the Roller type and the normal CDS any thoughts.
neat message on this card "funniest little place ,sitting all by it's lonesome, no telephone, no train only connection by boat, wish we could stay forever"
Nice real Picture PC of RAT Lake.

January 11, 2004 Bill Longley

Pro That is a Little Current, Ontario roller cancel. A pretty small town. Value about $10.

January 11, 2004 Anne

My daily treasure Rumelange is the town my grandparents were from. It was sent from there to nearby Esch-sur-Alzette. Now all I gotta do is figure out how it got the Bettembourg CDS (Bettembourg is close to both, but at the top of a triangle. Societe anonyme translates as "joint stock company" so it's some sort of financial card.

January 11, 2004 Anne

and I paid all of twenty bucks for my copy of Dalwick--half of what it sold for on ebay.

January 11, 2004 Anne

Class begins tomorrow, so I'm doing my ritual pre-semester evening procrastinatory semi-panic.

January 11, 2004 David Benson

Chuck, no problem identifying them as the cancel ink and the overprinting ink will show some variances of color. Difficult with a scan.

David B.
 

January 11, 2004 prometheus

More scans
Any Canadian Knowledge available
Why the odd shaped obliterator on this littlecurrent

Here is a new one for me National-stockyardsFlag

A double Indian Territory Duncan
these used to go into my Indiana piles (i learned better)

Brian M Heres a newer Cinderella 1954

January 11, 2004 Chuck Harm

Dave

I thought the 2c did look like a FPO postmark although somewhat vague. Also in the SG website there is a mint block of four that shows an underinked overprint on one stamp with a wider opening. Can you really tell whether the postmark or the overprint is applied first if they are both black?
In any case I will wait for more certain examples.

Chuck

January 11, 2004 Richard W

Chuck
Meant to say - it's 11pm here, and I'm off to bed, so don't be offended at no further response today.

January 11, 2004 Richard Warren

If you want me to go into more detail on what's wrong with some of those peacocks, let me know, and I'll take a look again. I did save the scans. Cheers for now ...

January 11, 2004 David Benson

It was the letter C that I noted. The most important thing with those is that the cancels MUST be 100% identifiable, without that, just classified as an Indian stamp with a fake overprint. Mint is another problem.

David B.

January 11, 2004 Chuck

Dave,

Comparing them closely with my inexpensive overprints, it looks like in both cases the opening on the C is wider and less crisp than in every one of my other examples. Is that what you see? The E and F look correct to me.

Chuck

January 11, 2004 Chris

Not A Dangit!, but still ...
After Anne said she already had a copy, I decided to go after that Egyptian stamp book.
Unfortunately, I had to bid at about 12 minutes due to a prior commitment.
It turns out it would not have made any difference, as two bidders snipped it for at least
$32 more than I was willing to spend. Oh well, maybe next time.

Chris - ambitious, but cheap

January 11, 2004 David Benson

Chuck, 2 things, the shape of the letters and I cannot ascertain that the overprint is under the cancellations. That can only be determined by actual examination but they appear to be over the cancels.

David B.

January 11, 2004 Chuck

Dave

Thanks. What specifically doesn't look right about the overprints?

Chuck

January 11, 2004 David Benson

Chuck, those 2 would never get a Royal or BPA certificate as the cancels are not identifiable and the overprints don't look right.

David B.

January 11, 2004 Chuck Harm

India CEF Overprints
Dave Benson or others
I'm looking at two CEF overprint auctions #2977737838 and #2978417352 and wondered whether you though they would have a chance of getting a good cert? Is there enough cancellation visible?

Thanks

January 11, 2004 Chuck Harm <macalusoharm@sprintmail.com>

Burma Peacocks
Richard - The Burma peacocks arrived - I've read through three years. Some miscellaneous material, too. I've rad 1979, 1980 and 1981 so far. Still haven't seen you listed as a member. Apparently they were originally owned by a Morris Goodman and it includes his corrspondance with William Bennett. Are you familair with these Burmese collectors?
Also I see you have bid on two lots of peacocks. Do you have hope that they are genuine? There are several additional used lots. I'm still looking at them - several appear to be misidentified and several have the Henzada Type II that should only be on stationary. I am curious if you think any of them are genuine. Please send me email if you are not confortable commenting on a public board.

January 11, 2004 Mauro Mowszowicz

Terence H
Your Italian stamp is a revenue one for retail sales (literally meaning Income tax per retail sale)
Regards

Mauro

P.S. if you post a picture i can try to provide more information

January 11, 2004 Richard warren

Big kudos to SCADS.

January 11, 2004 Terence Hines

Terence Hines

January 11, 2004 Roger Heath

David -
And it certainly wouldn't be acceptable to discuss bad stamps as "dogs". I heard some pig hunters here placed a call to Sandringham and made an offer for the "tough bitch" they read about in the papers. Needless to say there was total confusion on the other end of the line!

Roger

January 11, 2004 David Benson

Roger, talking about Earee, things have changed since the books were written. I doubt if comparing the effigy of the Queens Head looking like an Irish washerwoman would be allowed today.

David B.

January 11, 2004 John Forsyth

George K
Amen!!

January 11, 2004 Roger Heath

Scads
I'm sort of glad I don't collect US "classics". There are going to be many, many disappointed sellers and collectors in the future. Can you imagine any member of that group getting on an expertizing committee? Slowly but surely expertizing services are going to be inundated with modified stamps from the upstate New York group. Too bad it all had to happen, and it was all unnecessary. An ignorant corporation buried its head in the "venue" creating a toxic dump that will take many years to clean up. Everything I've ever read or heard about going into business with partners has recommended one fully understand the consequences of the relationship going sour. "Ebay was spraying perfume when it should have been using weed killer!" he said in an emphatic Earee manner.

Roger

January 11, 2004 Brian R

scads
True that there hasn't been an update in a while, but that site is still of value, for exactly what duncan described. The NY scammer was/is so prolific, that virtually ANY alterations that would be attempted on a particular US classic issue, are displayed there. A great place to send a newbie, to alert them to what sort of goofy things, can be done to a particular issue of interest.

January 11, 2004 paul

CHICAGO
KEN L and DAVID P. ----the photo is of the CHICAGO COLISEUM which was around 15th and wabash , i attended a MARX-SOCIALIST rally their as part of the S.D.S group from colorado around 1970 . i believe the hall was in the final days at that time . the CHICAGO AMPHITHEATER is at 35th and halstead st. in the stockyards area, it was nock down just a few years ago ....paul

January 11, 2004 Duncan Doenitz

I'm with George

There has been a great deal of thankless hard work done by the folks at SCADS and although there is a lack of recent activity there, it still stands as a testament to what abuses have taken place in the hobby and at eBay.

When I recently returned to stamp collecting the SCADS site was, and still is, a very valuable place to learn how to recognize the common frauds perpetrated on unsuspecting collectors.

The biggest reason that SCADS required such considerable effort in the first place was the ridiculous attitude of eBay ("you can't prove anything from a scan") and the need to provide way more documentation than should have been necessary to demonstrate the abuses. However, that documentation has proved to be incredibly valuable in the long run, since the fraudulent techniques apply to many bad sellers, not just those mentioned at SCADS.

For any newbies out there...

Use the link at the top of this forum to find SCADS, and follow some of the many links John mentions. There is an amazing wealth of information there.

Oh, and hi George! Nice to see you! Thanks again.

Dunc

January 11, 2004 George K

I stayed off your case, despite your constant attacks, but no more. Why the hell can't you just keep your big mouth shut when you obviously have no clue as to what will come out of it? You say our site is a joke; I say YOU are the joke.

January 11, 2004 Ken Lawrence

Chicago Coliseum
Dave P,

I was born in Chicago in 1942. I believe the Coliseum was torn down shortly before that blessed event. Before I left Chicago in 1971, the biggest enclosed arenas were the Chicago Amphitheater and the Chicago Stadium. Today the United Center, across the street from the old Stadium, is the biggest. Your postcard view is the standard image of the Coliseum in most coffee-table picture books of old Chicago.

January 11, 2004 Ken Lawrence

Chicago Coliseum
Dave P,

I was born in Chicago in 1942. I believe the Coliseum was torn down shortly before that blessed event. Before I left Chicago in 1971, the biggest enclosed arenas were the Chicago Amphitheater and the Chicago Stadium. Today the United Center, across the street from the old Stadium, is the biggest. Your postcard view is the standard image of the Coliseum in most coffee-table picture books of old Chicago.

January 11, 2004 prometheus

Mauro
I think the Cancel should have looked like this one
Rockford

Dave P - The Glitter cards are an interesting subject, I have them Just Normally sent on thru, added PD, and a few that were handstamped this Item Must be sebt ib an envelope.
I always figured it was just which clerk/PO.
It seems in my pile the ones from Small towns went thru with no probelems and the ones from Large Cities had enforcers of the rules.

China usage ?
Did the backstamp on this Junkfront
mean that it had to go thru Shaghai to leave the country.
Backhere

January 11, 2004 Chris

Czecho
Bill C Thanks for the info the mystery stamps.
This is about the 20th thing you've helped me on and I am very much in your debt.

Chris

January 11, 2004 Mike Ellingson

Dave P
My hunch is that Chicago just missed it. Postage Due or UNMAILABLE because of glitter are relatively common here as well.. The glitter didn't do much for high speed cancelling machines..

January 11, 2004 Dave P

Chicago query
I have a 1906 postcard from Chicago to UK on which I have a couple of questions. Firstly can anybody tell me anything about the building pictured? Was it permanent or an exhibition stand, and does it still exist?

The second question is on the postage rate. It was posted with a 2 cent adhesive (I assume the postcard rate to UK at the time) which received a Chicago machine cancel. There are no other US marks at all, but despite this the delivery office (Maidstone) raised a 3d postage due. The card has a small amount of glitter attached, and I presume this is why the charge was raised. Such surcharges are common on domestic cards of the period, but I have never before seen one on a card from abroad which had been accepted at postcard rate by the overseas posting office. Did Chicago just miss this one, or were they generally more flexible about such things in the US?

January 11, 2004 Mike Ellingson

Mauro
(oops, hit enter a little soon)
Usually impressions like that are the result of skips or overlaps, where another card was partially overlapping the one you have and it ended up with the dial, and your card ended up with the rest. In the EFO world, I guess this would be an oddity, with no extra value (IMO).
The strikes on front are probably from whatever handstamper was handy.

 

January 11, 2004 Mike E

Mauro
re: machine cancel

January 11, 2004 Mauro Mowszowicz

Machine Cancel
Matt, thanks for the reply, im quite puzzled by it too!
strangest thing is that front got 2 strikes of the dial ....
 

January 11, 2004 Matt Liebson

Mauro: that's the killer part of a Time-Cummins machine (several hundred varieties used in Chicago 1907-1913 or so). Weird item -- don't know where the dial got off too.

January 11, 2004 Mauro Mowszowicz

US MACHINE CANCEL ID
Hi, need some help to ID this machine cancel ...
1 and 2
Thanks!
Mauro

January 11, 2004 05:16 Jim Watson

I've also updated the domestic usage cover from Lithuania in 1934. It shows an airmail stamp on a letter carried about 75 km!
 

January 11, 2004 John@MagnoliaStamps

Roger Heath
I guess the reason we think so highly of you is your whit.By the way Sher wants to go to the big island to visit a friend that she went to school with,and I guess I'll have to tag along, How about so company.I'de love to go Fisssssssssssshing...

John

January 11, 2004 Richard Warren

A few years ago, the postal authorities of Myanmar (Burma) trawled through their archives, and dug out all the old stamps they could find (a few demonetised, but mostly still valid), which they proceeded to sell to local philatelists at prices way above face value. Some local collectors considered complaining to the UPU, but were worried about ending up in jail (seriously). Sales by postal authorities of valid stamps at above face value have to be illegal under UPU regulations, surely? Otherwise, all kinds of abuses would occur, far worse than what we already have to endure. I guess similar restrictions on revenue stamps would have to be a matter of US law. But I'd be surprised if what's proposed is actually legal.

January 11, 2004 Jim Lawler

Jim L.

January 11, 2004 Anne <abt1950 at CNN's parent company>

Good night to all and to all sweet dreams of staked vampires, safe driving, and a saner sleep cycle (it's 5 AM here).

January 11, 2004 Roger Heath

Quick comment
John - In most situations an 80% or better success rate is a landslide. I'd say the people who created that site were instrumental in getting things changed on Ebay, even if progress is slow. It took a long time to find Saddam and put him out of action, now we only need to identify the WMD's (Wimpy Meddling Dilettantes) who use rubber stamps and copy machines. );>)

Roger

January 11, 2004 23:17 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Czecho mystery stamps
Chris I think they are radio license tax stamps.

January 10, 2004 Chris

Czecho mystery stamps
I'm still slogging through Czecho, and have found some
that have me stumped. They are are solid backgound color, with
large numerals that take up most of the area. They are the size
of horizontal defins. In the numerals is a stylized drawing of
something high tech. The red 50 haleru has a satellite antenna.
The brown 1 Koruna has a printed circuit card. The red brown 3 Koruny
has a paper tape. The cancels looks like 1985. I would say they are
postage due, but they aren't in the dues sections. I also can't find
them in officals, newpaper stamps, or the regular issues. The only
letters printed on them say "CESKOSLOVENSLO".

Any ideas?

Chris - finished soaking the last of the FDC partial covers tonight

January 10, 2004 John@MagnoliaStamps

Mike T.
And just for your information Wackeywood has 9340 FB's with 46 negs and 36 neutrals thats a total of 90 poor fb's now when I went to school that was about 1%. So whats the problem? Not that I approve of some of their methods but this is a really old subject that got alot of play a few years ago,there was and still is a elite group that spent to much time worring about them spent many hours building a web site with pages and pages of information that always led back to the same place.Oh yes they were so proud of it!From the looks of it THAT SITE HAS BECOME NOTHING MORE THAN A JOKE.It looks like it has not been touched in over a year.

January 10, 2004 John@MagnoliaStamps

Mike T.
tyo start with,schylerac or what ever it was hardly ever left negative FB's so if you got one from him you more than likely deserved it,as he did not want the hassle.And as for Wackeywood he has not sold anything on e-bay since July of 2002.So lets try to get the facts straight..As for removing a negative FB forget it they won't remove it just because he has been NARU'ed.

January 10, 2004 8:20 PM Mike Tancredi <auto3976@aol.com>

Schuyleric changes name to Wackeywood
Schuyleric who was part of a group of stamp sellers from New York area who were defrauding collectors by changing, bleaching stamps. Ebay removed the group of sellers after almost two years ago, however, when I went back to check the auction in which I bought stamp from him, I noticed he chaged his name to Wackeywood and is still selling on ebay. BEWARE!!!Ebay must have have missed it. Does anybody know how to remove "negative feedback" on ebay for an item that was sold by this seller. Since ebay removed him from selling under Schuyleric, I think the negative feedback should also be removed.

January 10, 2004 Chris holy-water-sprinklers-are-us.com
 

Holy Water
Paul She kept a vial of Holy Oil in her car at all times, so she believed in it.
The Episcopalians (I are one) use Holy Water, so why would other Protestants denominations
be different?

Chris - used to be an altar boy, if you can believe that

January 10, 2004 David Benson

Bill, I apologise, I didn't see the 2 perfins., make that 50c. the lot, ( I valued the perfins at 25c. each, the rest at, what is that word, starts with a worth and ends with a less. )

David B.

January 10, 2004 David Benson

Bill, thanks, has anyone bid more than 1c. for them, if so, then they are wasting their money.


David B.

January 10, 2004 19:48 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

D2 When I saw this lot I thought of you.

January 10, 2004 David Benson

Interesting description,

We sell only replicas of the most valuable classic stamps. Our sole purpose is to fulfill the necessity of the great majority in the Philatelic Community.

David B.

 

January 10, 2004 David Benson

Just checked, roto rooter is now listing on Yahoo all the lots that were zapped on Ebay. They still include some Replicas of US 1869's. Looks like I have to send a note to Yahoo.



David B.

January 10, 2004 David Benson

Dana, $ 22.50 10 seconds to go, 3 snipees. If the seller had spelt the name of the country correctly, spelt the name of cancel correctly it would have been bid on by half of France. Extremely scarce cancel on cover yet. Pity not in perfect condition, should have bid higher but who knows how much the winner bid.

David B.

January 10, 2004 18:50 Dana Krueger <dkrueger at kfl dot com>

Dana

January 10, 2004 Matt Liebson

Jim: I have multiple things going. I had originally been working towards a general Ohio topical, but before I got it together I started running off on my "mail carriage" tangent and that is the one that came together first (and, as you note, I don't have to deal with those pesky stamps).

January 10, 2004 Jim Griffith <griffith@dweeb.org> http://album.dweeb.org
 

Jim

January 10, 2004 David Benson

Almost a dangit, 3 snipers,

http://offer.ebay.com/ws3/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=2977221079

David B.

January 10, 2004 Matt Liebson

Jim: I hardly have a problem with it (to the exent I have been accumulating stamps for my Ohio thematic, if I ever start organizing it, I usually buy MNH except where prohibitive). We each have our own particular strain of this disease known as "philately". :)

January 10, 2004 Jim Griffith <griffith@dweeb.org> http://album.dweeb.org
 

Jim

January 10, 2004 John@MagnoliaStamps

spelling correction
Should be--- Wrapped !

January 10, 2004 paul

BAPTIST FAITH
CHRIS-=-=there is no such thing as holy water to the BAPTIST . the CATHOLIC and eastern CHRISTIAN faiths have holy water ......paul

January 10, 2004 John@Magnoliastamps

Ken Lawrence
You're right! I forgot abouth the guide lines,but on the other hand that one is so off center and the perfs seem so ragged compaired to others that I've seen.and since he does not show the PF cert and just mentions it,Well I just could'nt help myself. Maybe I should reconsider the 314a that I've been sitting on for many years and send it off just for the heck of it.As my former partner always said it was a genuine example.

Jim Whitford-Stark

I intend on being rapped up real good.I have 21 stops this week starting south of Pittsburg Pa an ending on Long Island.Sounds like fun.A.

John in Ms.

January 10, 2004 Chris

Anti-Vampire Force
Anne Three jobs ago, I worked with a woman who is an ordained minister in the Baptist faith.
One day I asked if it would be difficult for her to bless some water. She said not at all, and asked what
it was needed for. I told her that I wanted to get a SuperSoaker, load it up with Holy Water and soak down
upper management. I was betting that some of them would start fizzing and smoking and then turn into ashes.

For serious anti-vampire work, a pistol grip pump shotgun is best, load with the Miskatonic load (ten silver dimes instead
of shot) and used at close range. Then use the super soaker to torch the bodies.

Chris - Agents Cooper and Mulder should have known about that one

January 10, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

My suspected Paypal spoof of last night was indeed a spoof and they are following up on it. Beware.

January 10, 2004 Chris

Island composition
J W-S The Herge islands are made of Tin.

Chris -Yes, that was a bad one

January 10, 2004 Anne

David: So that's where all the warm air has been hiding...quit hogging it. I will glady exchange a little ice for some milder weather.

January 10, 2004 David Benson

Jim, I found this on Google,

MANUAE - A small uninhabited atoll containing two islands and a lagoon. Named originally by Captain Cook as Harvey's Isle and to this day is still referred to as Hervey's Island by locals.

David B.

January 10, 2004 Ken Lawrence

John Magnolia
If the 4¢ Grant were trimmed from a lower right corner, it would have guide lines along the right and bottom edges, intersecting at the corner.

KL, past president, Jackson Philatelic Society

January 10, 2004 Anne

Jim's letter
Jim: I saw the letter too. The only part that I found at all inflammatory was the last paragraph, and even that I didn't find especially so. (Maybe I've seen too many flame wars on these boards). The rest of the letter was a very cogent explanation of why you collect what you collect.

January 10, 2004 Matt Liebson

Jim: Ken beat me to the punch. I also received the new Linn's today (we're spoiled here in Ohio) and I did see your letter, which is accurately described as inflammatory. :)

January 10, 2004 David Benson

Anne, I have been having dreams of colder weather, it is only just past 8AM. and the Air Conditioner is on already. The forecast is for 36C. and it must be getting close to 30C. already.

David B.

January 10, 2004 Anne

General question: how long does media mail take these days? I'm waiting on a book that I ordered pre-Xmas. New catalog of Egyptian stamps with lots more info on early plate varieties, essays, etc etc.

January 10, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

I found it David.
Its a coral atoll with two inlets, represented by island of Manuae and Teau O'Tu.

January 10, 2004 David Benson

Jim, My wife has a friend who comes from Aitutaki, the next time I see her I will ask.

Don't tell anyone but she claims to be part Jewish. She says her Great Grandmother was impregnated in the late 19th. Century. He happened to be the son of the NZ Chief Rabbi.

David B.

January 10, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

David
Although Hervey Islands was an alternative name for Cook Islands, there are actually Hervey Islands in the Cook Islands.

At least according to my map.
They are between Aitutaki and Takutea.

January 10, 2004 nomad55

The infamous and dreaded plaque of NARU has been awarded?

January 10, 2004 David Benson

Jim, Hervey Islands is just an alternate name for the Cook Islands group,

David B.

January 10, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

Cook Islands question.
Raratonga I know is volcanic.
Niue is a limestone plateau.
Aitutaki is three coral reefs.
What are Hervey islands - more coral reefs?

January 10, 2004 Jim Griffith <griffith@dweeb.org> http://album.dweeb.org
 

Jim

January 10, 2004 Brian R

dang!
He still hasn't delivered those tete-beche Columbians I ordered.

January 10, 2004 David Benson

NOIP, The official order of NARU has been attained by our esteemed colleague, friend and roto rooter specialist, may he continue to hold that office for many years to come,

David B.

January 10, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

Officially, with wind chill -22 Centigrade.

January 10, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

John
Make sure you wrap up, thermometer just broke into double digits, fahrenheit.

January 10, 2004 Brian R

John
The PF thinks its real. Juuuust a wee bit out of my price range. Another question would be what is the logic, of a $22,000 reserve, coupled with a $22,500 BIN?

January 10, 2004 John@magnoliastamps

Check this out
A great 40k stamp? Does anyone think this is genuine.To me it looks more like a off centered lower right hand corner copy with the perfs cut off.The Shermack perf look irregular to me.Any thouhgts on this one.

Brian
Many years ago dealers would pin the stamps on cork boards for display!Using small pins.This is why many of the early stamps will have these small pin holes.Whats bad is the dealers that didn't have enough since to stick the pin through the margin as you discribed,and just stuck it through the center or the face.Thus these are considered faulty to some extent..

Now everyone have a wonderful day what there is left of it.As I will soon be headed back to N.Y. oh how wonderful !

January 10, 2004 Brian R

prometheous
Remember the topic, of finding old southern cancels in weird places, like the cover of that book Siegel's auctioned? Here is a great illustration, of why partial ones, sometimes show up on old newspapers. An origional wrapper from a newspaper, postally "dropped", at the 2c rate.

January 10, 2004 prometheus

pin Holes
I have a bunch of earlies that were in a 1900 Album that had pin holes all in the upper right corner.
They were all in the album with paper hinges (the ones with pin holes ) so I always figured they were put in book at same time .
The later stamps were put in using strips from stamps as hinges. and selvage too.

January 10, 2004 Frank

Pinholes in stamps
Brian R & Paul- One explanation for pinholes in very early stamps is that resulted from the way they were displayed for sale. Pinned on large wood boards in or outside stamp dealers' shops. Shops along Nassau Street,New York City, and by City Hall in the time of Scott routinely did that I've read. Your CSA #9 hails from that time. Enjoy the stamp and let your heirs worry about selling it.

January 10, 2004 Brian R

Actually, that thought would make a great thread. What is the most shocking thing, that others have seen, used for face value on a modern mailing?

January 10, 2004 paul laniosz

lost and found
NOIP--- found this item last night ,have not seen it in over ten years ,filed in the wrong place ,but it was nice to find it.POLAND ....paul

January 10, 2004 paul laniosz

PIN HOLES
BRIAN-----your harding block is too new , but my collection contains a page of early french stamps which have pin holes in them. this page has no value to others . the first stamp mounts at the time when this hobby was getting started was for dealers to use pins to post the stamps for display. i find these in older collections and mixtures and keep them as a oddity . too easy for anyone to make there own ....paul

January 10, 2004 Jim Lawler

Jim L.

January 10, 2004 04:08 Jim Watson

The reprise cover is a folded letter from France to England in 1803. It's 201 years old today!
 

January 10, 2004 2 am - ish Bob in WA

Egypt book
Anne -- I assume you have a copy?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2977420287&category=701

January 09, 2004 Brian R

fianlly some answers
You know, I have a block of unused Harding memorial stamps (#611). The top left stamp has a pair of pin holes in it. I always assumed, it was due to an idiot with a staple gun, sometime in the past 80 years. Now I know it was vampires :o)

January 09, 2004 David Benson

Just would like to mention an honorable seller.

This item was listed this morning

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2977913383

I contacted the seller and informed him that the overpint and the cancel were forged and he immediately withdrew the item.

David B.

January 09, 2004 prometheus

Marius
Thanks for the Info , I knew that was just postage
the info on the Health stamps was what I wanted.
I like to know about the slogans I collect.

January 09, 2004 Bill Longley

Nomad Of course that website is the Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency, so it must be true.

January 09, 2004 Bill Longley

Nomad That guy took the story verbatim from here.

January 09, 2004 Jim (jaywild)

January 09, 2004 Marius

Health Stamps
Promo Health stamps were sold to raise money and awareness of the health camps in New Zealand. They were proper postage stamps where one would pay ie..3d for a stamp of which 1d covered postage and 2d was a donation to the health fund. The stamp in your link is not a health stamp.

January 09, 2004 prometheus

Nomad guess I better print that out
I have an Item mailed from the ship he was on ( the Henderson i think ) That will add to the cachet/provenance of my Franked/penalty cover.

January 09, 2004 prometheus

Seeing the Commonwealth is So fully on board tonite.
a few questions.
Did the British Army Use lots of Machines to cancel mail in WW1
PO3

Nice Victoria machine

1908

Were Health Stamps Like a semi postal or the = of xmas seals

helthstamps

Nice little cape of Good Hope 1908

Why was this one Taggged Three Times LONDON

 

January 09, 2004 Brian R

Hilarious!
I completely agree nomad! That one really should be illustrated in a How to Ebay 101 class. LOL Al Capone's vampires doing in the president, White House burlesque shows gone wrong, the truth ending with two mopes in a Chicago mob hit......It just doesn't get any better than that.

January 09, 2004 Brian R

"surplus" stamps
There is a link to a Washington Post story, which mentioned the looming Smithsonian sales, on the Frajola board. It's two or three days back. The way I read the story, all of the to be sold hyper-rare revenues were donations from the BEP, when they cleaned out their files years ago. The money raised, is to be used to buy some 70 other issues (not necessarily revenues), that are still needed to make the national collection complete. Unfortunately, they didn't detail just what those 70 issues are. The only certainty, is they won't be calling me, when they go looking for them :o(

January 09, 2004 nomad55

A really good laugh here....
Not philatelic related, but this guy should win a pulitzer prize for short story fiction.

here

January 09, 2004 prometheus

Olde Stamp thought
Maybe no one ever thought they would be interesting enuf to save for folks in the far far future to drool over.

Marius = The idea of destroying must be a thought toward increasing the Value of what they are going to sell. Thus they raise they value to those with deep pockets to buy what they can get.
I forget the exact example I should be citing but ( too many beers tonight) Was Not there recently an auction of something Important and it came with a guarantee that the Others like it would be Shredded. Art Maybe.
More beer might help me remember.

January 09, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

Thanks Terry,
She is now three days into an estimated 6 weeks, assuming nothing untoward happens.

January 09, 2004 Terence Hines

Terry

January 09, 2004 Marius

revenues
Jim....I think because in those early days revenues were not thought of as having to be kept for posterity unlike postal stamps

January 09, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

This may seems like a dumb question, but why did not the postal service put by copies of stamps at time they were issued?
Or were the copies that the museum is missing unusual examples that would not have been recognized at the time of issue?

January 09, 2004 Marius

Museum
Terrence...How can the museum even contemplate destroying surplus rare stamps?

January 09, 2004 David Benson

NOIP, sent 4 emails this morning asking for better scans. So far got 1 back.

David B.

January 09, 2004 Terence Hines

Terence Hines

January 09, 2004 David Benson

Anyone ever got a reply from Ebay whether the Stamp Watch Commitee looks at Ebay.Com or overseas sites as well. I am still waiting for a reply,

David Benson

January 09, 2004 Jim Griffith <griffith@dweeb.org> http://album.dweeb.org
 

Jim

January 09, 2004 prometheus

Jim
Is that your version of "Out damned spot"

January 09, 2004 Jim Griffith <griffith@dweeb.org> http://album.dweeb.org
 

Jim

January 09, 2004 prometheus

Another new Aux mark too
Here is an interesting Aux marking .
NO-RECORD

January 09, 2004 prometheus

another
Wish this was a clearer strike Centennial

January 09, 2004 prometheus

Jay
I'll keep an Eye out for Cards from the 90's with the oct 5 .
i look at all dates. Out of habit.

more new CDS Here is a nice streetcar
Flag

January 09, 2004 Jim (jaywild)

The 1831 makes my collection complete back to 1823. (Those really early ones are also the devil to find…)

January 09, 2004 Frank

re Tristan stone stamp
Jim, Here's the response from the seller. Sounds more legit:
Frank,
No, I've never been to Tristan it's too much of a lottery you get there BUT there's no guarantee that you'll land. Have spent a pleasant week though walking around St Helena.
The stone came from an Islander who also sent me some of the Volcanic eruption material from 1961.
Regards GerryB.

At 02:38 09/01/2004, you wrote:


Hi,
Wondered if you brought this stone back with you from Tristan da Cuna and how you liked your visit or how you came to have it? Thanks and Happy New Year.
Best regards,
Frank
--------------------

January 09, 2004 Frank

Who is the quote from
The archaeologist quoted is Louis Leakey.

January 09, 2004 Frank

Stamp Chat is a value added site
Jim and Anne, Just amazing the knowledge that bubbles up here. As the renowned British archaeologist reminded some of us years ago:"Theories on prehistory and early man constantly change as new evidence comes to light." Did you know that the boomerang was a cromagnon postman's tool? As part of the outback free delivery service a cave dweller could hand off a message for delivery. The postman would check to see that the correct rate was affixed. If not he would attach the item to his boomerang while standing in front of said postal patron, let it fly and step smartly to the side.Postal patron would recieve the item squarely in his forehead gently reminding him to get it right in the future. That's why postage due covers are scarce from this place and time.

January 09, 2004 Brian R

Michael W
Start a thread? Not sure the CSA has that much of a following with general collectors. First, be aware that I'm weak on the lithographs, and have fits trying to plate something. However, I'd be thrilled with taking a crack at IDing anything someone has. What better way to live vicariously on a small budget! One thing I'm getting pretty good at is possitively IDing partial CDS strikes. After a while, you start to recognize the types of dials, colors used, and even the rim flaws on some.

January 09, 2004 prometheus <Prometheus@1Internetdrive.com>

paul
other side picture of highway done with their fine product
Here

January 09, 2004 paul laniosz

post card
BRIAN------thats a nice post card ,really like it, whats on the other side . there s a unemployed collector in chicago who could use that card if you find it in your heart to let it go.....paul

January 09, 2004 paul laniosz

SPELLING
BRIAN -----thanks i also fix it, i can blame my spelling on the chicago public schools that was 35 years ago . years ago i wrote a financial weekly maket opinion letter , when the big bosses at PEAVEY CO. of minnespolis seen it ,they threw a fit and wanted to stop it. but the branch managers at 42 grain terminals around the country supported and wanted it . so they hired a college grad. and a sectary to clean up my letters ,but i don t need someone now that i fix potholes to spell for me .....thanks again .....paul

January 09, 2004 Bob Hohertz

Music

Bob in WA - yes, the jigsaw puzzle is Beethoven. The puzzle was made by Piatnik, of Austria - you might be able to find it online.

January 09, 2004 Brian McInturff

tidiness
I only wish my desk at work, let alone at home could look like that.

January 09, 2004 Brian McInturff

Pauls desk
Paul I've linked to your pic. You hit an e instead of the w in your url for the pic.
desknow

January 09, 2004 prometheus

Paul
Did you catch this when I pasted it
asphaltperfin

January 09, 2004 paul laniosz

try again
TRY AGAIN----DESK...paul

January 09, 2004 prometheus

Paul no pix
bad link

January 09, 2004 paul laniosz

STAMP DESK
ANNE-----trying to clean off a stamp desk is a never ending task, my desk only looks like this twice a year the day i start in november and the end in march....lol...DESK FOR STAMPS....paul

January 09, 2004 prometheus <Prometheus@1Internetdrive.com>

Oct 5 neat cancel
for Jay? here is a nice Oct 5
LewisandClark

January 09, 2004 prometheus

Heres another waste of a penny
It would have been better to add a one then Two=three

January 09, 2004 prometheus

More from my new box of carp
This little goody mailed in my Home town July 4 1913
392or412coil8.5perf
and then this little 388?perf12
from Jamestown

January 09, 2004 Duncan Doenitz

Paleolithic post

Anne

Cro Magnons were literate. The reason postal artifacts are associated with Neanderthals is, they were probably postal employees.

I'm just saying...

Dunc

"Even today theres not much difference between going postal and getting Neanderthal."

January 09, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

Anne
Of course the use of petrological postage is determined by both size and finish.
The earliest known example is Stonehenge, originally designed, a little before its time, for interstellar postage. This consisted of saracen stones, neatly trimmed (some would say cut perfs), and arranged in the symbolic circular pattern consistent with that of the West Eurasian Interstellar Postal Union (WEIPU). One can trace the development of such sites throughout western Eurasia up to a 3,000 or so, before present.

Volcanic rocks became a standard unit of postage throughout the Mediterranean, largely because of their durability. However, it was quickly found that obsidian far surpassed all other rock types in terms of durability and ease of fashioning an advanced morphological entity.

Fortunately the Mediterranean is also the location of several active and recently deceased volcanoes which were the producers of obsidian. With later maritime expansion into the Atlantic, new sites, such as the Canary Islands became available as sources of raw materials.

Little beknownst to the earlier forgers of such artefacts, each volcanic eruption is characterized by a unique geochemical signature, particularly among the Rare Earth Elements (REE). Thus the extent of the WEIPU and WEPU can be determined with some certainty.

As an addendum, petrological circles have been found in Florida. There has been some discussion among petrophilatelists as to whether these are true examples of WEIPU or a modern copy created to increase the tourist value of otherwise worthless real estate.
 

January 09, 2004 Brian McInturff <philatelist@stampclassics.com>

postmarks
If you can't afford the entire then here is a way to collect.
postmarks

January 09, 2004 Dave P

The UK FLD brought out the usual suspects. There is one particular seller who has listed over 1000 lots. However this consists of upwards of 30 sales for the same items (mostly GB prestige books and miniature sheets) - what happened to the limit of 10 identical auctions? In addition he has a collection of free fronts at a BIN of £499. But this collection is not for sale - it is a puff for the individual item lots, and this appears forty times! Why does it matter? - because other seller's material just gets lost in this mess.

January 09, 2004 04:16 Jim Watson

There is also another cover from Palestine to Egypt in 1922 during the British administration following World War I.
 

January 09, 2004 Jim Lawler

Jim L.

January 09, 2004 Anne

and also sweet dreams of tied-up seals.

January 09, 2004 Anne <abt1950 at a Time-Warner company>

Good night to all and to all sweet dreams of mending knees, paleophilately, and TGIF rapidly approaching.

January 09, 2004 Anne

One final aspect of this fascinating piece deserves notice. The seller refers to it as being of volcanic origin. If this is true, then we are facing a major reevluation of postal history. It has long been presumed that Volcano Post originated in Italy around the time of Pliny and was the direct precursor of the later Italian Pneumatic Post. If this Tristan da Cunha piece can be certified as being a true Volcano Post, then the door is open to many different possibilities--including a possible early link between Tristan da Cunha and Italy.

January 08, 2004 10:27 Bob in WA

quartet
First impulse is Beethoven, though I can't say why. I'm not even sure whether it's in B minor or D major yet. I'd do better with a keyboard handy.

January 08, 2004 10:17 pm Bob in WA

Wow, I LOVE that jigsaw puzzle. It's obviously a string quartet, but I'll have to turn off the TV and concentrate to see if I recognize it. I don't have perfect pitch, so I can't just glance at a printed note and hear it in my head. Guess I'll post this, catch up the board, then look at that quartet. That is about my favorite musical form, and I'll give 100-1 odds I have a recording of it.
 

January 08, 2004 prometheus

No Toke Frank
Am famaliar with the Dear Dr.'s
This Batch panama, Helsinki, Monaco,Suid Afrika, mexico,Curcaco,
Had a link to the Dr Doctor site But can not locate it right now.

Also in the Box a neat law suit kinda paper thing one guy suing another in 1907 west Virginia over t election fraud.
Lists all the names of illegal voters in each district . all the shenanigans that were carried on. and the threat to leave this list and Noticed posted on a public door for all to read unless the plantiff gets satisfaction.

January 08, 2004 Roger Heath

Two thoughts
Jim - Please pass on my "get well" thoughts to your wife. Breaking anything hurts, but knees must be very debilitating.

Do you think mailing "Tristan de Cuna", or lava rock represented to be from other exotic locations would look suspicious being mailed from Hawaii? I'm thinking all sorts of naughty thoughts these days seeing how there seems to be little if any policing of deception and fraud these days. Small and "ungreedy" seems to be a viable business plan!

Roger

January 08, 2004 Frank

Prometheus- the Dear card was one of many directed to busy doctors by a pretty clever ad guy. He would have the cards made up with the message in what looks like a person's handwriting and send them to exotic locales to be franked, postmarked and mailed. The doc thought he was getting a card from a friend on vacation until he read the message and then it was too late. The lot your valuing I would guess came from a doctor or his receptionist. I often see the cards in the .50-$1 boxes. Anything from Tokelau?

January 08, 2004 Frank

Tristan da Cuhna stone
I'm told you should never buy one of these unless they've been expertised. Actually this is a stamp created by a cro-magnon resident on the island. Note the early attempts at rouletting so you could break off a stamprock easily.

January 08, 2004 Brian McInturff <philatelist@earthlink.net>

More seals tied
That 1907 type 1 is located
1907 type1 here

January 08, 2004 prometheus

More stuff to see
so I'm digging thru the new box of stuff (got to figure a offer )
and I see an interesting ,modern, but interesting cancel .

Articcircle
Tourist thing I think.
throw it in the neato pile and keep moving .
9 cards later realize that the Non US cards all have something in common.
Dear

Postal History ?
also in the box 12 little covers mailed from Franlkin Michigan to fenton Michigan all seemed to go thru Birmingham, all of them leaving Franklin have just Cork/ or target type Obliterators except this one Unknown
It is very small circle ( all of these letters franked with same stamp) with some thing I can not read adv......

January 08, 2004 Jim Lawler

Jim L.

January 08, 2004 Brian McInturff <philatelist@earthlink.net>

More seals tied
Here's a few more seals to keep an eye out for. If you have any of these tied please email me. You'll be happy you did.
1907type1
1907type2
1907 as postage
1911 type 4

January 08, 2004 Chris

Owww
Jim W-S Sorry to hear about Setra's knee injury. Those
are no fun, you don't realize how much you use your knees until
they stop working.

Chris - all physical therapists are sadists

January 08, 2004 Chris

Two Off Topic Topics
I spent yesterday listening to the CD of the Angelo Badalmante score to "Twin Peaks".
It was really windy last night. This was not a good combination. Fortunately no owls showed up.

Re Battleships, BB10 was 12,000 gross tons. The Nimitz class are about 110,000 tons.
The new ocean liner, the Queen Mary 2 is 150,000 tons. This means you could remove BB10
from the QM2 and it would still be bigger than the Nimitz.

Chris - thinks the Log Lady is hot

January 08, 2004 Frank

broken knee vs wounded knee OR higher they sleep harder they fall
Hi, Jim W.-S., Sorry to hear about your wife's misfortune. Try this one sometime. Our apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side is in a classic brownstone walkup near Central Park and has 12 foot ceilings. I decided to put in a loft in the bedroom and free up floor space for a desk, file cabiets and stamps! The bedroom by the way is narrow -nine feet wide. The loft worked out very well and had been using it for almost ten years when one night I forgot where I was and instead of climbing down the ladder to take a leak I stepped out of the bed. WHAM, plumeted seven feet down caroomed off a day bed and landed on the left knee with all 200 pounds of me. Between the day bed and carpeting I only hair-line cracked the kneecap but it was quite painful and put me out of commission for awhile. My story should cheer her up. And, yes, their is a guard rail in place now.

January 08, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

Why did I not think of this before, it would really do something for my volcanoes web pages.

January 08, 2004 Michael Walter http://groups.ebay.com/forum.jspa?forumID=100001909
 

Brian R.
I have been working really hard on the group. Thank you for your comments. Any chance of you starting a CSA identification workshop in one of the threads?
 

January 08, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

Got a nasty new scam in email today.
It thanked me for paying $120 by credit card via paypal.
If I hadn't, then to follow the following link.
Naturally, the first question the link asks you is for your password.
As it turns out, I was checking my Paypal account at the time and knew I hadn't charged anything.
Keeping spoof@paypal.com busy.

January 08, 2004 prometheus

WA Bob
for contest lovers
Proverbs

1911 Copyright I guess if you wanted to play the picture puzzle games htey published in the newspapers you needed the guide to find All the right answers.

January 08, 2004 prometheus

BB-10
Nice link here if any one interested
BB-10

January 08, 2004 prometheus

Wa Bob
Yes also a battleship BB-10
keel laid 1901 scraped in 1922
Traveled the world saw the sites,
Decommisioned , Recomissioned through the WW1 Then destroyed as part of the limits on naval armaments Due to treaty.


The second USS Maine (BB-10) was the lead ship of her class of battleships. She participated in the voyage of the Great White Fleet
Four ships of the United States Navy have borne the name USS Maine, named for the 23rd state.

 

January 08, 2004 Bob Hohertz

Puzzles

Sorta like this one - not stamp related and a big file - my kids gave me this puzzle several years ago - a bear to work, and the box did NOT tell me what the music was - had to figure that out myself and then go find a score to check to see if I was correct. Managed to do that. Anybody?

January 08, 2004 Bob H.

Puzzles
Bob - without a score to Peter Grimes how does one have the foggiest notion what the time signature to "Old Joe Has Gone Fishing" is - other than pretty irregular? One reason I don't work those puzzles....

January 08, 2004 Bob in WA

Oops
Last was addressed to Prometheus, which somehow disappeared.

January 08, 2004 4:34 pm Bob in WA <rcl.wa-at-verizon-dot-net>

Remember the __ __ __ __ __
-- Was that one also a battleship? It seems appropriate to item I (eye) on this PAGE of my GAMES puzzle. By rights I shouldn't discuss it until after the Feb 2 deadline, but I'd be interested in seeing if anyone here can come up with the right answer.

January 08, 2004 prometheus

Nomad Neat
How about this one
Had one of the dealers I do business with bring me some material.
Remember the
Wrong ship right name.
The excitement died quickly when I pointed out they often use the Names Over and Over He thought the Spanish American war was in 1911

January 08, 2004 nomad55

Learn something new every day
At the Columbian expo of 1893 in Chicago, there was a display of belly buttons.

January 08, 2004 Christo van Zyl

Greg Ioannou: If you are perhaps lurking, could you please let me know if you have received my email messages?

January 08, 2004 Jim (jaywild)

And thanks Matt for that clarification.

January 08, 2004 Matt Liebson

Jim: the corner card does refer to the PO Dept.; presumably it's the auditor who was in charge of that department. You can tell it's a Treasury department offical stamp because although it's a Washington portrait (and therefore must be a 3 cent stamp), the color is brown. US Officals had different colors for different departments rather than different denominations. (The PO department used a separate design and is immediately distinguishable).

January 08, 2004 10:35 am Bob in WA

I realize it has a nice strip of bridges on the back, too, but I already have that stamp on the front of some covers. I believe that airmail "arrow" is also a nice feature.

January 08, 2004 Jim (jaywild)

Thanks all for the takes on that cover lot. I’m not sure that’s a Treasury Department cover—looks like the corner card says something-something-Treasury, but below that it says FOR THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT. Am I wrong?

January 08, 2004 Matt Liebson

Bill: it was the precancel that caught my attention, though after consultation with Richard F I seem to have overestimated it. I do agree that the lot is rather pricey based on what's shown. I would speculate there may still be 2 things driving the price: the fact that many pieces still have content and people are hoping for good content or letterheads, and that there are 30 stampless covers included that are not scanned. Perhaps the bidders have additional information or are just hoping for something good. It does seem clear that it's not a particularly "picked over" grouping.

January 08, 2004 Bill Weiss

Reporting Fraud
ANNE; One last thought before I go; what I did was go into eBay "help" list and typed in "selling stamps", which brings up the page on which you can access the "report fraud" at the bottom of the page. I then put it in my "favorites" list and so can access it in a few seconds. Also, if I understand correctly, Dave has the same link to that page at the top of this page!

January 08, 2004 Bill Weiss

Cover Lot
MATT; On second thought, if you didn't see the 3c Official, then you must be thinking of the precancelled 1c Banknote? The lot is still going for full retail IMO. ANNE; I guess neither of us got a visit from Dave? Turned out he was awful busy. Think I may see him on the way back. I am now off for a few days to play poker (tough life!).


 

January 08, 2004 Anne

US lot
Bill & Matt: Both of you have better eyes (not to mention more knowledge than me). All I see are a couple of nice cancels but notihng unusual and something that looks like a wavy banner/slogany type of cancel. Educate me please! (thanks)

January 08, 2004 Anne

Made my first fraud report yesterday. Ebay does NOT make it easy to find the link. Compare this to the position of the snitch button on the chat boards.

January 08, 2004 Matt Liebson

Bill: you have sharper eyes than I do, or a bigger monitor. I didn't see that official -- but that wasn't the cover I was thinking about.

January 08, 2004 Bill Weiss

Cover Lot
MATT & JIM; Even with that 3c Treasury Dept cover, this lot has been bid to it's full retail value, or higher, in my opinion.

January 08, 2004 Matt Liebson

Jim: the "gem" is hiding in the middle scan in the left column. See if you can spot it. Even without that, there is some quantity to the lot (more than the scans may ultimately suggest), and the scans that are there do show some fairly elaborate corner cards and a few advertising covers so people may be bidding on the hope that there is more of the same.

January 08, 2004 Jim (jaywild)

Jim

January 08, 2004 Dave P

Feedback
I usually give feedback to a buyer as soon as I receive payment. Today I shall make an exception, not because he was slow paying (which he was), but because I happened to notice that despite being a member for over four years, and having a feedback over 200, he has never left feedback himself. Am I just being petty?

January 08, 2004 06:54 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

IOmoon At least grandma is there to dispense attention. Best wishes to your family.

January 08, 2004 nomad55

Jim W-S
Sorry to hear about Mrs W-S.
Take care of your S.O. and reply to the email when convenient.

January 08, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

Thanks Jimbo, she doesn't seem to understand the meaning of keep immobile.
Chris
The astronaut was John Young, but I think he was forgiven.

January 08, 2004 04:09 Jim Watson

Jim W-S,
Sorry to hear about your wife's accident. I surely hope everything goes well.


 

January 08, 2004 just past midnite Bob in WA

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2977940548&category=689

January 07, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

Wife fell and broke knee tonight.
Nomad got email, will look at tomorrow.
Chris, astronaut tripped over cord for heat flow expeiment, rendering it inoperable.

January 07, 2004 Bill Weiss

NARU
DAVID M; I believe you hit the nail on the head. I don't want to say more because I like the person, and without knowing any details it is not appropriate. I'm glad you say that person is well.

January 07, 2004 Brian R

I couldn't find it because I kept looking in "groups" instead of collectors clubs.

January 07, 2004 prometheus

David B
Thanks Much.
 

January 07, 2004 Chris

What Are You Refering To?
Jim W-S Over on the eBay chat board you alluded to
an astronaut that uckfuped on the moon. I haven't heard this
story, what happened?

Chris - F1 engines are almost as cool as stamps

January 07, 2004 Michael Walter http://groups.ebay.com/forum.jspa?forumID=100001909
 

Brian R Use the above link.

January 07, 2004 David Benson

promo, that is the cancel, hooded type with PATIALA at the top and large P in centre.

David B.

January 07, 2004 prometheus

David Benson
So it is normal for all three Overprints to be there
The "Service" in black
and the red" Patialla State" in the red I found those listed
in that form but could not find the
reason for

the "Patialla" in the Black oval

Thanks
 

January 07, 2004 David Benson

Promo, it is the 1884 Official overprint of Patiala. The word SERVICE in Red was overprinted on the ordinary 1a. Brown Purple. It is s.g 04 and it has a very heavy cancel. It has a minimal cat. value of 10p. with a light cancel.

David B.

January 07, 2004 prometheus

Overprinted India ID Help
which one would this be
and do all of the Overprints belong
1884
OR is this a bogus Overprint job.
Trying to sort the 4 albums of stamps I bought.

January 07, 2004 David Moser <stamphick@dospalos.org>

David

January 07, 2004 Duncan Doenitz

Reporting bad sellers

Well it appears that ebay is suddenly more willing to do something about bad sellers. After Bill mentioned that a seller now shows as "Not A Registered User", I looked to see if there was any response to a couple reports I made. The sellers items are gone!

I rarely file reports any more, since eBay has seemed quite unresponsive in the past, and there have been repeated "cookie" problems that makes filing reports impossible at times anyway. But this latest news is encouraging. Maybe eBay has made a New Years resolution, eh? And for now, the cookies difficulty has gone away too.

US 1928 Special Printings on booklet paper

Ken, with 16 power magnification I really can't see any apparent grain on mint examples of the stamps, especially since much of the detail is hidden by printing on one side and gum on the reverse side. I've examined a used example of a #563 on booklet paper and even on that stamp the grain is difficult to see, since some of the horizontal engraved design carries through onto the back. But I've found an easy way to examine a scan to identify such a stamp when it is shown in an online auction.

Dunc

January 07, 2004 Brian R

Michael W
If you're lurking about, please post how it is you get to your new Ebay group. I can't seem to find it.

January 07, 2004 16:22 Bjorn Munch

NARU
My first thought was: Oh no, not again! But apparently you were not talking about knuden. Phew!
 

January 07, 2004 David Benson

Bill, I think he was selling those about a year ago,

David B.

January 07, 2004 15:54 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

NARU
Bill Weiss

If a seller lists post cards which happen to have a swastica or other hate item, they can be NARU even though swasticas are permmitted to be listed if on stamps or cancellations. The permission to list swasitcas on cancellations is a new enlightenment for eBay censors.

January 07, 2004 Bill Weiss

NARU
JIM W-S; Thanks very much. I was curious mostly because I noticed that one of our former chatboard regulars is now listed that way, so I thought I should know more about it than I do.

January 07, 2004 15:31 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Not so Spooky, spooky
Jim (jaywild)

If you look at the actual listings you will find they are advertising items, fans and trivets.

January 07, 2004 Jim (jaywild)

Morticia Addams

January 07, 2004 15:17 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

France not Phloridian
D2

I do think that These are not Phloridian

January 07, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

Sorry, that should have been three NPB's from different sellers.

January 07, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

A seller convicted of a crime in the law courts related to eBay activity is inevitably Naru'd.
A person who manages (I think) three NPB's from different buyers is Naru'd.
If you fail to pay your eBay fees within a satisfactory (whatever that is) time frame, one can be temporarily Naru'd.
A negative feedback of -5 is an automatic Naru.
There are probably others.

January 07, 2004 Bill Weiss

Not A Registered User
I would like to know from some of the more experienced buyers/sellers on eBay, what type of circumstances causes eBay to rate a seller or buyer as "Not A Registered User" - which is what you oldtimers refer to as "NARU" I guess? Can some of you explain?

January 07, 2004 Jim (jaywild)

Sighin’ Jim

January 07, 2004 David Benson

Bill, I didn't know you collected Phrench Phloridian Phantasies,

David B.

January 07, 2004 Bill Weiss

Wasting Money
PROMO; The only way it is justified (in my opinion) to buy such damaged things, is that you have a strong desire to own that particular town's marking, say as part of a Registry marking collection, or a specialized State or County collection. Otherwise, you are wasting your money.

January 07, 2004 prometheus

Any Opinions
am I wasting 1 dollar bills when i buy things like this
Beaverdam

January 07, 2004 paul laniosz

useful stamps
CHRIS-----yes they were useful , i put them in a stockbook to be worked on later. there are many variations in those issues both printer and ink ,color differences . one of the northern rhodesian has a blue green postal cancel which is unusal but plan to take it to a friends house for a check in his reference library. ....paul

January 07, 2004 07:07 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Se-Tenant
D2

This se-tenant stamp causes all kinds of synapes to fire in my brain.

January 07, 2004 Christo van Zyl

Paul: Good to hear. Any use for the other I have sent you? (e.g. the colour varieties in the more recent Nigerian stamps).

Jim W-S: Gives me ideas on how to make up items for sale on ebay. Quite a lot of money for that collection.

January 07, 2004 paul laniosz

just a note ,i have finish three volumes of mounted stamps approx. 600 pages since i quit work for the season.thats means i mounted and add about 3,000 stamps to my collection . still a long way to go......paul

January 07, 2004 Ken Lawrence

1928 Special Printing

Dunc,

Yes, that is the variety printed on vertically grained booklet stamp paper. Now that you have an example, you should be able to see the differences in the lie of the grain between the two stamps.

 

January 07, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

Christo
BTW, you might want to look at this one from a geological perspective.
I'm interested to see how high it goes.

January 07, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

Christo
Neat maps, but too far west for me.
And the Texas ones I already have access to.
Usually in that time frame, red=volcanic, blue=sedimentary, green=metamorphic.
The artwork is worth more than the information.

January 07, 2004 03:28 Jim Watson

There is also an update of a cover from United States to Switzerland in 1907.

January 06, 2004 Christo van Zyl

Jim W-S: Might be of interest to you. Guy has listed three 1853 USA Geology Maps

January 06, 2004 Lavar Taylor

David M -- Uncle John's Bathroom Reader???!! C'mon, you need to upgrade your bathroom library to something that has real social significance, like Dilbert.(Today's Dilbert was hilarious.) You won't catch me reading the Tax Code on the plane. More likely Le Carre's new novel. Just found out he has a new novel by glancing at Time. When Le Carre's at his best, he is one of the best fiction writers of the modern era.

January 06, 2004 Jim Griffith <griffith@dweeb.org> http://abum.dweeb.org
 

Jim

January 06, 2004 Duncan Doenitz

Okay, all fixed

Ya gotta love credit cards. The link should work now. Check out the color difference between the two #563's, too. I have another pair that show even more extreme differences, which is what attracted me to these stamps in the first place.

Dunc

January 06, 2004 Dunc

Aaaargh!

Okay, I'll have to sign up and pay for the service I guess. No big deal really except for the delay. Until then the link should still work each day until a certain download limit is reached.

Dunc

January 06, 2004 Brian McInturff

Duncan
Ducan, your pics are unaccessible.States you exceeded dailly usage limit.

January 06, 2004 Duncan Doenitz

1928 Special printing on booklet paper

Okay, Ken, I guess this would be a copy of #563 printed on booklet paper, since it is not as tall as the example beneath it, and is also wider by a similar margin.

The stamp does have a noticeable more square look to it, even without making a comparison to another #563.

Jim G, are you looking for these varieties as well?

Dunc

PS hope the link works, changes have been made at Village Photos and I doubt that free hosting will continue there much longer.

January 06, 2004 David Moser <stamphick@dospalos.org>

David

January 06, 2004 Lavar Taylor

Getting ready for my trip to DC for the oral argument in the Supreme Court case, which is next Monday morning, the first case argued in 2004. Won't be around the board much til I get back. To make this philatelic, I was very happy with the results of free listing day. Everything sold. Will be royally pissed if ebay stays broken as I have some decent HK closing tonight. Seems to be working ok now.

January 06, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

Nomad
You have been ee'd.

January 06, 2004 nomad55

Jim W-S
Please 'e' me.
I have a vesuvius eruption postcard.

January 06, 2004 16:26 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Zero Feedback Bidding War
IOmoon Here is what happens when two zero feedback buyers both want something.

January 06, 2004 16:21 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Somebody Goofed
IOmoon Somebody in the eBay server room tripped over the power cord.

January 06, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

Bill
That is true.
Their clock also changed.
I zeroed my clock in an hour ago, went out and when I came back it was 17 seconds off.
I had to guess a snipe but was outbid.
I bid my max though.
eBay is totally screwed up at the moment.

January 06, 2004 16:01 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Iomoon I thought that eBay was only bloody slow when accessing from the UK or OZ site? Here is is Gosh Darned slow, right?

January 06, 2004 15:59 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

FLV credits
IOmoon Remember the good old days when you had to access ebay through AOL or UK sites?

January 06, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

Bill
It's not down, just bloody slow.
Besides which, ebay never goes down anymore. :-Þ

January 06, 2004 15:52 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

FLV Credits
IOmoon Does eBay still give refunds of FLV and other billing if the system is unavailable for over 20 minutes? They have been down for over an hour!

January 06, 2004 Bob Hohertz

did eBay die?
I think it's just sick... takes a loooong time to load a page.

January 06, 2004 Roger Heath

Ebay
Bill -
I cant' access the various site from Hawaii at 15:10 PST.

Roger

January 06, 2004 14:58 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Is eBay down?
IOmoon Is it just me or did eBay die?

January 06, 2004 David K.

No one is deceived; if the stamp has been tampered with; full refund has been warranted. A blurred picture cannot verify such a condition. Such an imbroglio will be resolved one way or the other. The above trough shows no guideline; hence it never had perfs, the recessive border is in proportion. The date is amusing to say the least. A jumbo, this is not. Platitudes are to be expected where a current resolve is lacking. So much for tree decorating.

Having pictured a France #6 on hard paper here before with similar results; it has been orally verified that such a stamp was produced. And, a full report will be forthcoming from Europe within weeks.

Further news: (eBay foreign sites)
CHINA: the sixth title from the right column is for stamps.
Hong Kong: the fourth center title is for stamps.

January 06, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

Thanks Chip
Now to do some serious thinking on Harmer-Schau auction.
Which unfortunately comes at a bad time moneywise.
City taxes are due this month.

January 06, 2004 Ken Lawrence

1928 Special Printings
Dunc,

Plates numbered 17617, 17618, 17619, and 17620 of the 11-cent Hayes were printed on the special paper. (Flat-bed Hoe presses at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing accommodated four-plate sets at a time, each having its print pulled in rotation, while the pulled print was delivered from the second, the third inked, and the fourth wiped.) From those four plates, at press from August 13 to September 24, 1928, 58 percent of prints were on special paper and 42 percent on regular paper according to Wallace Cleland's calculation.

January 06, 2004 Jim Griffith <griffith@dweeb.org> http://album.dweeb.org
 

Jim

January 06, 2004 Bruce Campbell

I'm thinking Canada was on the cutting edge of this new style, probably experimenting around 1920? That's my current hypothesis, unless I hear of anything certain earlier...There's an Iran Shah Ali set (higher engraved values) of 1907 with different sizes that closely resemble a wet/dry change, but I think that's too early, is it not? I would tend to guess a different cause for these (grain, plate changes, etc...), unless I'm off-target by about 15 years here (which is possible).

January 06, 2004 Chip G

Bankers Boxes Redux
see here

January 06, 2004 Chip G

Banker's Boxes
Jim W-S: Banker's boxes are what those cardboard boxes used to store documents are called. You can buy them at Staples/Office Depot for about a buck or so each. They are designed to hold letter sized file folders running in one direction, and legal sized one running the other directions. Therefore, they would be about 12" wide, 15" long, and 10" tall.

Chip

January 06, 2004 Richard W

Umm, sorry, Dave. The last bit just slipped out. Please delete if required !

January 06, 2004 Richard Warren

I make no comment, particularly regarding the APS membership.
 

January 06, 2004 Duncan Doenitz

1928 Special Printings
Thanks Ken!

It is not surprising to see that the stamp values up to 10c did not make the list, since those values were printed as recently as 1927.

However I'm glad to see #563 11c Rutherford Hayes perf 11 made the list since it's an issue I'm pursuing due to its interesting color varieties. Suddenly the search becomes much more interesting!

Dunc

January 06, 2004 Jim Whitford-Stark

NOIP
How big is a bankers box ?
Having my own safe, I've never seen one.

January 06, 2004 Christo van Zyl

Knud-Erik: happy birthday! Hope there are many more. Had a look at your ME page. Didn't realise you were still that young!
 

January 06, 2004 Ken Lawrence

Bruce Campbell
In the February 1994 American Philatelist I published the first dates to press of all the dry printed United Stated Liberty Series stamps that had earlier appeared as wet prints. The dates are also easily retrieved from Wallace Cleland's plate activity checklists for first dry printings of U.S. postage due, air mail, and special handling, savings, playing card tax, and Canal Zone stamps.

In the Collectors Club Philatelist, Louis Repeta published a speculative article about the switch from wet to dry printing of Nicaraguan definitive stamps.

January 06, 2004 Ken Lawrence

1928 Special Paper Printings
Duncan,

Sheet stamps printed on reversed grain booklet paper are the 11¢, 12¢, 15¢, 20¢, 25¢ and 30¢ ordinary stamps of the 1922 Series, the 15¢ Special Delivery stamp, and the 5¢ bicolor Beacon air mail stamp. In an old Congress Book article, H.M. Southgate published a list of all the plate numbers. In the September 2000 United States Specialist, Wallace Cleland revisited the list, illustrated the size differences, and provided a checklist of the reported plates (only blue plates for the Beacon, but Southgate listed them all), challenging readers to find the rest. They will be listed separately in the next edition of the Durland catalog. Truly rare are the Special Delivery stamps, only 6 or 7 percent of all stamps printed from plates 16833, 16834, 16835, and 16836. Everywhere I shop for stamps, I take reference examples to compare with those in dealer stocks, hoping to find these elusive varieties.

January 06, 2004 Ken Lawrence

David K
What do you want us to say? It's a fake, perfs trimmed off Scott 300 at the top for sure, possibly the bottom also. Pat Herst used to amuse his readers periodically by illustrating this type of fake in his articles, and explaining how easy it is to deceive naifs by trimming a stamp that's tied on three sides.

January 06, 2004 David K.

What? No comments on my 318 Coil? WOW...

January 06, 2004 10AM Bruce Campbell

Wet & Dry Printing Dates
Does anyone know when "dry" style intaglio-printing was first seriously used for postage printing (I mean, aside from experimental tests)? My earliest "definite" dry-printing date is taken from the Canadian Admirals, which is of course circa 1922. I have a whole slew of reference books, but not a single one has any dates for wet-to-dry changeovers for any printers/countries, outside of Canada and the Admirals...

January 06, 2004 Duncan Doenitz

"New" old varieties of US stamps

Clark and Ken, the information about horizontal grain paper stock and its use for stamps other than booklets is extremely interesting!

How much is really known about those issues? Do we know exactly which definitives were printed on that paper and is there a sense of the quantities printed and their value? It is interesting to note that even the low-end Scott Minuteman supplements for stamps issued in 2002 includes new pages added for stamps issued in 1914 and 1918 (and added to the Scott catalog listings), so it would seem possible that the stamps printed on remaining horizontal grain paper could some day be added as well.

Are these stamps being quietly sought out by specialists today and is a market for them developing? It would seem logical that if enough paper stock existed to warrant its use, there might be just enough of these stamps available to create some serious collector interest.

To Eric Dyck...

Thanks for all the excellent work on the analysis of perf gauges! The site was immediately added to my Favorites bookmarks. Well done!

Magnolia John

Jeez!

Duncan Doenitz

"Too old to pump iron, I'm pumping rust."

January 06, 2004 06.57 Knud-Erik Andersen

Good morning/afternoon/evening to you all.
Had a nice birthday yesterday - got some nice presents from my wife and even a Othello layer cake.

K.E.   
 

January 06, 2004 Jim Lawler

Jim L.

January 06, 2004 03:16 Jim Watson