Stamp Insider

Journal of the Federation of New York Philatelic Societies

StampInsiderwww.nystampclubs.org January/February2009

StampExpo400.orgHUDSON • FULTON • CHAMPLAIN

1 A Primer for Precancels — Part II1 StampExpo 400 Granted National Status1 Cover Mania Show Dates Changed

ALLSYTEBY WHITE ACEPHILATELY’SFIRST FAMILYOF COVERALBUMS

ALLSYTE GIVES YOU A GRAND SELECTION OF ALBUMSAND SIZES TO CHOOSE FROM …

Look how the Allsyte album family has grown. First there was the Standard, philately’s best-selling cover album for years. Now there are eight distinctive Allsytes to meet a variety of collecting needs. And all of them, be assured, have the same premium qualities that hobbyists have come to expect from every White Ace product.

For example, Allsyte clear plastic pockets eliminate mounting prob-lems: just slide in the covers, and your job is done … with every cover fully visible while totally protected. What more can you ask for? All seven Allsytes have sturdy binder assemblies covered in durable leatherette. When you open your album, it lies flat, and it closes without bulging (even when filled to capacity) for space-saving bookshelf storage.

It really makes good collecting sense to turn to Allsyte, philately’s first family of cover albums . . . by White Ace, of course.

BY THE MAKERS OF FAMOUS ARTCRAFT ENGRAVINGS

Ask for Allsyte Albums at your dealeror order online at: www.washpress.com

ON MAIL SHIPMENTS - Visa, MasterCard, Discover & AMEX Accepted Please add $6.50 for shipping (foreign, by weight)

STANDARDAs many as 100 of your standard-size covers can be displayed in this popular album. The black leatherette binder has gold titling on the cover and spine … a nice finishing touch. Accommodates covers to 3 3/4 x 6 5/8".

$49.50Black dustcase — $15.60

MONARCHAs stamps increase in size, so do first day cover envelopes. In recent years, the “monarch” size envelope, measur-ing approximately 4 x 7 1/2", has often been used. This Allsyte, with 100 cover capacity, was designed just for monarch size covers.

$55.25

JUMBONo problem displaying your extra-long commercial size (#10) covers, for here’s an Allsyte created expressly for them. There’s room in it for 50 of these big ones, fully protected under clear plastic. Accommodates covers to 4 5/16 x 9 5/8".

$46.25

POSTCARDSPicture postcards your specialty? Consider the Postcard Allsyte, made to hold as many as 100 of 3 1/2 x 5 1/2" collectibles; or the Jumbo Postcard Allsyte designed to hold up to 100 of the popular 4 x 6" cards.

Postcard Allsyte — $49.50Jumbo Postcard — $53.75

ISRAELIsraeli first days, special events, and first flights have a handsome home in this Allsyte produced by White Ace, who was a pioneer in albums for Israeli stamps. Its capacity is 100 covers. Accommo-dates covers to 4 1/8 x 71/16".

$50.50

UNITED NATIONSUnited Nations cover collector? Then choose this “U.N. Blue” Allsyte, which will hold up to 100 of your standard-size UN covers. The UN’s official emblem graces the cover and spine. Accommo-dates covers to 3 x 6 5/8".

$49.50Black dustcase — $15.60

CANADA OFFICIALCanada’s “Official” first day covers are a special size, so here’s a special Allsyte designed just for them. It has the same fine construction as the others; its size is distinctive. Accommodates covers to 4 9/16 x 7 5/8".

$53.50THE WASHINGTON PRESSFLORHAM PARK, NEW JERSEY 07932

TOLL FREE: 877-966-0001 FAX: 973-966-0888

Subscriptions,Copyright,AdvertisingRates,DeadlinesStamp Insider™ is published six times per year by the Federation of New York Philatelic Societies for the Federation of Central New York Philatelic Societies, Inc., a non-profit organization, at 1105 Union St., Schenectady, NY 12308-2805. Subscriptions: $7.50 per year; inquire of Subscriptions. Content ©2009 Federation of Central New York Philatelic Societies Inc.; Design ©2009 Albert W. Starkweather / Design on Demand. Stamp Insider and the magnifying glass logo are trademarks of the Federation. Any portion of this publication may be reproduced without prior consent, provided credit is given. Written expression or opinions of the writers are their own and not necessarily those of the Stamp Insider or Federation. Some product names and images may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation, without intent to infringe. Every effort is taken to ensure accuracy, but validity is not guaranteed. Articles by readers are encouraged. Manuscripts cannot be returned without a large SASE. Electronic submissions are preferred.

Dimensions (In inches) Per Insertion Contract Per Year SaveSmall Business Card (2 1/5 × 1) One-Year Contract Only $ 85.00 —Super Business Card (3 × 2 1/4) One-Year Contract Only $170.00 —1⁄2 Page (4 1⁄2 × 3 7⁄16) $ 65.00 $330.00 ($ 55.00) $60.00Full Page (4 1⁄2 × 7 1⁄2) $ 90.00 $480.00 ($ 80.00) $60.00Full Page Inside Front or Back Cover $100.00 $540.00 ($ 90.00) $60.00Full Page Outside Back (4 1⁄2 × 7 1⁄2) $150.00 $800.00 ($133.33) $100.00Centerfold (two full pages) $190.00 $960.00 ($160.00) $180.00Editorial & ad deadlines for the two months following are Feb. 1, April 1, June 1, Aug. 1, Oct. 1, Dec. 1

January/February2009Vol.25No.3

StampInsider

www.nystampclubs.orgEditor

Albert W. Starkweather5520 Gunn Hwy. Apt. 1406, Tampa, FL 33624-2847813-962-7964; [email protected]

AssociateEditorHeather Sweeting

14329 Victory St., Sterling NY 13156-3172315-947-6761; [email protected]

ContributingEditorGeorge T. Fekete

111 Dale Road, Rochester NY 14625-2009585-381-6233; [email protected]

AdvertisingManagerGeorge McGowan

P. O. Box 482, East Schodack, NY 12063-0482518-479-4396; [email protected]

WebmasterThomas M. Fortunato

28 Amberwood Place, Rochester, NY 14626-4166585-225-6822; [email protected]

FinancialJohn J. Nunes

80 Fredericks Road. Scotia, NY 12302-5727518-399-8395; [email protected]

Subscriptions/SecretaryRonald K. Ratchford

1105 Union St.. Schenectady, NY 12308-2805518-374-3776 ; [email protected]

ContentsJohn J. Nunes’ President’s Viewpoint ......... 4Editor’s Perspective...................................... 6George Fekete’s Pondering Philately: The USPS Value Proposition ..................... 8George McGowan’s Collecting: Saving Postage by Bootlegging ...............10Alfred Carroccia’s Seen at Auction: Finding Free Franks on eBay .................... 12Albert W. Starkweather: Transforming the Wilderness ................16

AbouttheCoverSeneca Ray Stoddard opened the Adirondacks to the public through his photographs and guidebooks beginning in the early 1870s.

David Smith: A Precancel Primer — II .... 22Countdown To StampExpo 400 ................... 32Stepex 2008 Award Winners ......................... 34Daniel A. Piazza: NYS@NPM FDR & Farley’s Design Agenda ............... 38Ruth L. Sabo’s Exploring Deltiology: From Lincoln To Obama .......................... 42Jim Hannah the Frugal Philatelist: All You Need Is Love ................................ 43Robert Finnegan’s Youth & Philately: Tongs — An Essential Philatelic Tool ...44By Kids for Kids ..........................................45Glenn A. Estus’ First Day Coverage: A Banner Philatelic Year ........................ 46Communications .......................................... 47Club Pages .............................................. 48–73Shows & Bourses ................................... 74–75Stan Burdick: Philateli-Calamity ............76Heather Sweeting’s The Last Words: Stationery Market Isn’t Stationary .....78AdvertiserIndex............76

Fede

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4 StampInsider—25Years!

President’sViewpointJohn J. Nunes

80 Fredericks RoadScotia, NY 12302-5727

518-399-8395; [email protected]


StampExpo400BallKeepsRolling

The StampExpo 400 ball keeps rolling and gathering up societies, participants, dealers, exhibitors, and volun-

teers. It is gratifying to start to see the glue starting to set. APS recognition of the event as a national show is signifi-cant for attendees and exhibitors.

The show’s current online advertising banner is shown at the bottom of this column.

Much needs to get done, but the building blocks are being arranged to support this mammoth event even in the face of the current economic meltdown. I look forward to the pro-jected economic upturn in the summer of 2009, which bodes well for expected attendance.

Easy and affordable travel and schedules to the Empire State Plaza are being arranged for our out-of-town guests. These include travel from the Amtrak train station, bus ter-minals, and Albany International Airport. Hotels and motels are being approached for discounted rates. All of the information will be made available at the StampExpo 400 Web site — www.stampexpo400.org, when it is finalized.

I am looking to have a full complement of stamp, cover, postcard, coin, and ephemera dealers at the show.

In addition to Friday being Henry Hudson Day, Saturday being Robert Fulton Day, and Sunday being Samuel de Champlain Day, I have set bourse theme days to encour-age specific customer attendance. Friday will have a Post Card and Cachet Makers focus. Saturday will be a Postal History and Coin focus. Sunday will have a Stamp and Ephem-era focus.

There currently are more than 70 confirmed dealers, along with 15 booths for societies. Dealers from the U.S., Canada, England, and France are confirmed. School choral and band groups in the concourse will complement the Friday and Saturday entertainment along with that afforded by Pete Seeger and Steve Suffett.

Saturday will feature the Pete Seeger concert following the bourse and the awards din-ner. Please make plans to assist us in this endeavor in any small way either before or dur-ing the event.


Hudson–Fulton–Champlain Quadricentennial Stamp ExpositionEmpire State Plaza, Albany, NY — September 25–27, 2009

Please Visit Our Web Site www.StampExpo400.org

Fede

ration of New York

Ph

ilatelic Societies,

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You’re Invited:

TWO GREAT SHOWS

Show Hours: Fri 10-6, Sat 10-6, Sun 10-4(Dealers-only Wholesale Bourse Friday 10 to 12 in NY)

PLENTY OF ACTION! 40 dealers wheeling and dealing $Millions in US & worldwide stamps, covers & collections from 10¢ to $Thousands!

February 6-8, 2009 - METROEXPO NYMidtown Holiday Inn 440 W. 57th St.

Between 9th & 10th Avenues, just a few min. from West Side Highway, 57th St. Exit

METROEXPO DC - January 23-25, 2009Hilton Washington at Dulles Airport13869 Park Center Road. McLearen Road at Route 28

DEALER SPACE IS STILL AVAILABLE... CALL TODAY TO RESERVE YOUR SPACE!

Dick Murphy: 508-393-9732 • [email protected] Nunes: 518-399-8395 • [email protected]

For Show Information: Elaine Dunn: 800-635-3351 • [email protected]


Editor’sPerspectiveAlbert W. Starkweather 5520 Gunn Hwy 1406

Tampa, FL 33624-2847 813-962-7964; [email protected]

AResidentEditorialCartoonist

I’d like to introduce our readers to Stan Bur-dick of Ticonderoga, a long-time editorial

cartoonist and a member of the Adirondack Stamp, Post Card & Ephemera Club. His first contribution appears on page 76.

Burdick confesses that he got his start a long, long time ago by winning several cartoon contests in an early boys’ magazine, Open Road for Boys. Later he co-edited and co-published American Squaredance magazine. His interest in editorial cartooning began with several works published by the Sandusky Register in Ohio, as well as in other journals.

Retirement to New York State in the early 1990s offered him the opportunity to do seri-ous editorial cartoon work for three northeastern New York papers, resulting in 118 car-toons in the Post-Star of Glens Falls, 124 cartoons in the Press-Republican of Plattsburgh, and currently more than 400 cartoons in the Lake Champlain Weekly of Plattsburgh as staff cartoonist of each. He also does gag cartoons for Country Mile magazine.

Burdick founded and directs the Ticonderoga Cartoon Museum, which formerly was located in Hague, NY. More than 700 comic and editorial cartoons are on public display. (www.ticonderogacartoonmuseum.net)

His honors for cartoon work include one-man art shows in six area galleries, an Ad-irondack Park Outstanding Communicator award in 2000, and inclusion in Best Editorial Cartoons every year from 2003 to 2008. This national publication is available annually at most bookstores and through Amazon.PeerReviewMany thanks go to Arnold Selengut for his peer reviews of David Smith’s continuing se-ries, A Precancel Primer. Both David and I appreciate his input in making a great series even better. Smith’s second installment begins on page 22.CenturyofProgressBookA new book, The 1933 Chicago World’s Fair: A Century of Progress, by Cheryl R. Ganz, chief curator of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum, has been published by the Univer-sity of Chicago Press. The book, which examines the social and cultural history of the event, is an expansion of her doctoral thesis.

The book is available from the University of Illinois Press (www.press.uillinois.edu)for $39.95. A review of the volume will appear in the March–April Stamp Insider.

Great Venuesby John J. Nunes

Stamps • Post Cards • Covers • EphemeraSupplies • Free Admission & Parking

RS Stamp Show10 a.m.–4 p.m. Sunday, January 4

March 8, August 2 & November 1Diplomat Banquet Center & Hotel, 1956 Lyell Ave., Gates, New YorkThruway Exits 45 or 47; take I-490 to I-390 north to Route 31 (Lyell

Avenue). From the east go right onto Lyell. From the west take Mount Read Boulevard north. Turn left onto Lyell.

Capital District Stamp Show10 a.m.–4 p.m. Sunday, January 18

March 15, April 19, May 17, June 21, July 19, August 16,September 20, October 18 & December 20

Ramada Latham (formerly Holiday Inn Express), 946 New Loudon Road, U.S. 9, Latham, New York — Same Location as Before!

Northway (I-87) Exit 7; go east to Route 9; 1/4 mile north on left.

Mania ShowsCover Mania 11

NEW DATES!10 a.m.–6 p.m. Saturday, February 14

9 a.m.–4 p.m. Sunday, February 15Clarion Hotel, 3 Watervliet Ave., Albany, New York

Post Card Mania 10 No 2009 show due to StampExpo 400

in Albany on September 25–27

NunesNook80 Fredericks Road, Scotia, NY 12302-5727518•399•8395 ★ E-mail [email protected]


PonderingPhilately George T. Fekete

111 Dale RoadRochester NY 14625-2009


TheUSPSValueProposition

I admit it: my copy of Linn’s Stamp News occasionally arrives late. It’s been established that the USPS — not Linn’s — is usually the cause of delayed delivery. If you listen to

the mindless criticism of the USPS by people who should know better or, worse yet, do know better, you would think the USPS can’t do one thing right. Truly uninformed, but well-meaning, criticism is understandable. The interesting thing about the whiners is they often are unencumbered by facts or consistency.

You can hear their refrain at stamp shows, club meetings, and especially on-line chats and message boards. Few things have worked up the malcontents more than USPS sponsorship of Lance Armstrong in the Tour de France (How dare the USPS squander money that way!)and their own FDC sales (How dare the USPS compete with my FDC business?). Paradoxi-cally these self-proclaimed captains of industry want the USPS to be run like a business. The irony is that some of these folks brag about how they use new USPS Priority Mail packag-ing for purposes other than its intended use in violation of postal regulations, negatively impacting the USPS bottom line (some would call this stealing).

Among the most common complaints are delayed or damaged delivery of an item, botched FDC cancellations, USPS advertising, unacceptable stamp subjects, too many stamp issues, design, political choices, lack of availability of stamps at local post offices, uninformed post office staff, and performance of The Cave. Apparently the nay-sayers believe it is their duty to complain because they are railing against the federal government, blissfully unaware that the claim that USPS operations are funded by taxpayer dollars is a myth. Created in 1971, the USPS is a self-supporting governmental agency that gets revenue from the sale of postage and products to pay expenses, and does not receive tax dollars for its operations.

These hypocrites who are neither shareholders nor pay taxes to run postal operations ought to take a deep breath and consider the consistency of their logic. If they want the USPS to be run as a business, they shouldn’t complain when it uses standard business practices, such as marketing and up-selling, to maximize profits.

I sympathize with those who receive their periodicals late or damaged, or have their FDCs botched. The USPS will correct most of these problems when contacted, just as any reputable business does. When you consider that first class domestic postal rates, when adjusted for the consumer price index, are the same as in 1971in spite of lost market share to competitors like FedEx, product value and customer service is pretty good.

Interesting information regarding the USPS value proposition can be found on their Web site www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/postalfacts.htm.

OK, I feel better now …

January/February2009 9

Engravings, Varieties,Topicals, Worldwide

Items forAward-Winning

Collections

WRITE FOR CURRENTLISTS AND BID SHEETS

ORVIEW ON OUR WEB SITE

MAIL SALES

E. JOSEPH McCONNELL, INC.P. O. Box 683 • Monroe, NY 10949-0035Phone 845-783-9791 • Fax [email protected] • www.ejmcconnell.com

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SPACEC. Africa 1966 Scott C61 Surveyor 50F Dble. Black surcharge

on 130F, Perf w/selvage, pos. #9 from a sheet of 20, initialsof S. Serebrakian on gum .................................................... $195.00

Comoro 1979 Scott 473 ITU, St. on St., ONU, Perf Error! Dble.Black ovpt., pos. #15 from a sheet of 30 ................................$80.00

Djibouti 1981 Scott C144–146 Vostok 1, Freedom 7, Viking 1on Imperf vert. prs. w/selvage ...............................................$36.00

Eq. Guinea 1972 Scott 7203 Apollo 15, 5pts. Imperf progressiveproof set on 8 diff. Color sequences, Moon Buggy, Mi. 20 ........$75.00

France 1985 Scott 1122 ITU engraved Deluxe sheet, 95 euro .....$140.00

France 1980 Scott 1693 Eurovision engraved Deluxe sheet,60 euro ................................................................................. $90.00

Laos 1975 Scott 267/267E Apollo-Soyuz Mi. 315/20, Imperf. pro-gressive proofs in 7 diff. Color sequences, 42 essay proofs .....$201.00

DISCOUNTS: 10% YOUR CHOICE — 15% $300.00 OR MORE

Syracuse Stamp, Coin& Collectibles Show

Central New York’s largest philatelic show.Dealers to buy, sell, trade stamps, coins, covers,

post cards, paper collectibles.

10 a.m.– 5 p.m. Sunday, February 8Holiday Inn

Thruway Exit 35 — Carrier CircleApril 19, September 13, and

Syrapex 2009 on November 7 & 8Contact Ed Bailey

P. O. Box 2338, Syracuse, NY 13220-2338Phone 315-452-0593


CollectingGeorge McGowan

P. O. Box 482East Schodack, NY 12063-0482


SavingPostagebyBootlegging

Robert Fulton's 1807 in-vention of the steamboat

opened a new era in passen-ger, freight, and mail trans-portation in America.

It didn't take long be-fore the Post Office Depart-ment became aware of ship captains and passengers carrying letters outside the official posts. This led to Congress declaring all navi-gable waters inside the United States to be post roads on February 23, 1813.

Before the American revolution, Hugh Finley, deputy postmaster of Canada, noted in his journal: “The colonists took particular delight in giving their letters and payment to the post rider, ignoring the monopoly claimed for the post …” Post riders and stage driv-ers supplemented their income by carrying all matter of items leaving the official post out of the transaction.

In the early 1840s, a contemporary of Sir Roland Hill estimated that more than half of all letters were transmitted outside postal agencies.

Today we call these letters bootleg — meaning they traveled totally or partially in private hands. Illustrated is a February 6, 1827 folded letter sheet (FLS) from Henry Thomas of New York City to Enoch Silsby of Boston. Traveling through the postal system by post road, this letter would have been charged 18#/¢ cents. However, it is marked one cent, a significant savings. Someone carried the letter from New York to Boston where it was mailed at the one-cent drop rate as indicated by the dark red slash across the front.

Editor’s note: An online consumer price index (CPI) calculator shows that the one-cent rate in 1827 is equivalent to 20 cents today, while the 18#/¢-cent rate would be $3.75 (www.austintxgensoc.org/calculatecpi.php).

Many references found in philatelic literature similar to this incident indicate that the public found it great sport to subvert the system. Sir Roland Hill’s penny post in Great Britain0 and subsequent rate reductions in the United States slowed the need, and desire for this practice.

Henry Gitner Philatelists, Inc.Philately — The Quiet Excitement!

P.O. Box 3077 / 53 Highland Ave.Middletown, New York 10940-0800

www.hgitner.com e-mail [email protected]–800–947–8267 845–343–5151 Fax 845–343–0068

We accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover, Amex

Buy & Sell With ConfidenceWhether you're looking to start a new collection, find

a unique specialized item for your exhibit, or just save some money

on postage, you've come to the right place!

Henry Gitner Philatelists offers three convenient ways to buy —

mail order, online from our Web site, and at our eBay store:

http://stores.ebay.com/Henry-Gitner-Philatelists.

Contact us today with your specific needs …

and when it comes time to sell your collection, accumulation,

or dealer stock, you can be assured we pay top dollar.

Buying United States and the World

No one pays more for collections, lots, and accumulations

of lots and covers!

You are always welcome to visit us, but please call first so that we

can devote our time to you. We have 6,500 square feet of stamps!


SeenatAuction Alfred Carroccia

152 Windmill Road West Seneca, NY 14218-3776


FindingFreeFranksoneBay

In this issue I will examine two free franked covers offered on eBay. The free franking privi-lege has its origins during the colonial era with its adoption by the Continental Congress

in 1775. Congress enacted it into law in 1789 and over the years this unique privilege has been granted to and taken away from a myriad of government and military officials.

Presidential free franks are most desirable followed by members of Congress. A cover bearing the free frank of Congressman Elisha Whittlesey of Ohio, above left, opened with a bid of $9.99 and sold for $26.20. Whittlesey served in Congress from 1823 to 1838, when he resigned. He served in various committees that related to banking.

This particular cover has a November 21 circular date stamp and is addressed to a land company in New York City. The lot description gives no details as to the contents, al-though it may be that Whittlesey may have been in Rochester on personal rather than congressional matters. The folded letter sheet is in good condition with a crisp circular date stamp and Whittlesey‘s free frank indicating he was a member of Congress. It would make an interesting addition to a Rochester postal history exhibit or to a free frank collection.

The second cover, upper right, is also a folded letter sheet with a August 3, 1843 Fort Covington circular date stamp with a red free handstamp. It is addressed to Pastors Jour-nal Office, New York and contains the free frank of J. Parker, postmaster. This cover also opened with a bid of $9.99 and sold for $20.70. This cover is unusual because it is a per-fect example of the abuse free franking endured during this period. Postmasters were the biggest abusers of this privilege even applying the free frank to the mail of other people, which seems the case with this particular cover.

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For inquiries contact:Steve Crippe, Director, 800-872-6467, ext. 1777 or [email protected]

USA Scott# 244 PSE Graded 90 usedUSA Scott# 243 PSE Graded 90 used

USA Scott# 242 PSE Graded 90 usedUSA Scott#241 PSE Graded 90 used

TX licenses: Samuel Foose 11727; Robert Korver 13754; Andrea Voss 16406; This auction is subject to a 19.5% buyer’s premium. 16270

HappyLighthouse Ultra-Violet Lamps

Buy both the LH-L80 and LH-L85 UV Lamps and save . . . L8/85 $51.00

Long Wave:For detection of fluorescence on stamps of Canada, P.R., China,France, Germany, Hong Kong, Mexico, Norway, Russia *

L80 $17.95, SSS Price $14.36Short Wave:For detection phosphorescence on stamps of United States, Finland,Great Britain, Israel, etc., and some older issues of Canada and Mex-ico *

L85 49.95, SSS Price $39.96Filter For L85 LampAllows unadulterated viewing using short wave lampsPrimarily used for U.S. PNC’s

FL85 99.95, SSS Price $79.96

ZLH-LAMT____ (Fill in Code)

Safe Signoscope Optik-Electronic WatermarkDetectorThe Signoscope reveals water-marks without chemicals. Detects grills, thin spots, re-pairs, phosphor bands, graphite strips, reperfs, re-gumming.

Uses 5 “A” batteries or an AC Transformer (not included)

SA-9886 $395.00 SSS Price $316.00

Transformer (110v) SA-9887SP 12.00 10.80Transformer (220v) SA-9887 22.00 19.80Replacement bulbs SA-9890 4.50

Signoscope Portable T2As above in a smaller unit you can carry anywhere. Uses 2 “AA” batteries oran AC Transformer (see above) SA-9875 160.00 $128.00Replacement bulbs SA-9890SP 3.50

Holidays

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SHIPPING CHARGESBy MAIL/UPS *: $6.50 Min. Orders over $54 ADD 12%, Over $100 ADD 10%, Over $250 ADD 8%

* Some Remote Areas Carry Higher Shipping charges.PA Residents: ADD 6% Sales Tax

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Perfo-Tronic Optic-Electronic PerforationGauge The Safe Perfotronic measures stamp perforationswithin seconds without touching the stamp. Measures in1/4” increments, 1/10 and 1/100 increments. Size71/2x51/2x21/2” high. Operates on a 12-volt adapter (in-cluded).Available in both a 110v Model SA-9850SP or a 220vModel SA-9850

$495.00 SSS Price $396.00

Safe Perfometer28 different perforation tracts, measurements to 1⁄4” teeth. Detachable7” wheel for stamps on cover

SA-9820 $37.00, SSS Price $29.60

Safe Drying Press87/8x71/4”, heavy fiberglass, reinforced plastic. Press with 20blotting sheets, 3 acetate sheets for gumside of stamps

SA-1040 $37.00Extra: Blotting sheets (20) SA-1042 $9.25Acetate sheets (20) SA-1044 8.00

Electric Stamp Drying PressBuilt with special heating element and blower to help dry your stamps unbelievably fast and press them flat at the same time.110V Model SA-DRYT5SP

$445.00, SSS Price $356.00220V Model SA-DRYT95

385.00, SSS Price $308.00Replacement Drying Cloth SA-DRYT96 SSS Price $11.00


Transforming the WildernessHow Seneca Ray Stoddard Reinvented

Himself and the AdirondacksBy Albert W. Starkweather

A one-time ornamental painter of railroad cars in Troy reinvented himself in the late

1860s as a photographer and landscape artist, a career change to which he eventually would add cartographer, writer, publisher, poet, lecturer, traveler, and conservationist. In the process, Seneca Ray Stoddard opened the Ad-irondack Mountains to the outside world and was largely responsible for its designation as a park by the State of New York.

Although he is not as well known as a con-temporary, John Muir, Stoddard did for the Adirondacks what Muir and others did for the Sierra Nevada in fulfilling Henry David Thoreau’s mantra: “In wildness is the preser-vation of the world.” This movement came at a juncture when the Christian concept of wil-derness as a state of evil was being supplant-ed by the view that it offered a refuge from corrupt society. This was being underscored by painters of the Hudson River School, such as Frederic Church, whose landscapes lav-ishly embellished the actual locales.

Stoddard’s approach was decidedly dif-ferent. He captured natural, often gritty scenes over a period of nearly 40 years in black and white, at first on wet glass plates coated in the field and processed immedi-ately and later on ready-made dry plates. At the same time he brought art to the masses. While only the very wealthy and well con-nected could own a Church mural, nearly anyone could have a Stoddard image which

Continued on Page 18

Lake George IdyllStoddard’s Lake George postcards were popular with the public. He began photo-graphing the region in the early 1870s.

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Azusa

Saratoga County’s Most InterestingCollectibles Headquarters

Azusa Stamps and Collectibles

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A Man for All SeasonsStoddard hand tinted selected images, including what then was called flashlight photography. The card players were cap-tured around 1889. An 1876 invoice was in the letter on the cover offers his guide-books and a wide variety of photographs. Stoddard also offered maps of the Adiron-dacks, such as the one forming the back-drop. The Stoddard corner card and the invoice are part of a collection formed by Gerald Wiley.

Stoddard — Cont’d. from Page 16

were readily available in his guidebooks or as cartes d’visite, stereographs, silver prints, and even as lowly postcards.

The story of Seneca Ray Stoddard came to mind when I discovered an 1876 cover with his corner card and an enclosed invoice in the Gerald Wiley Collection, which has been preserved on a CD. (The corner card is shown on the front cover and the invoice at the right.) A pair of postally used cards of Lake George from another collection are shown on page 16.

Stoddard was born on May 11, 1843 in Saratoga County’s Town of Wilton. When he turned to photography, he perfected his craft in the Lake George area after relocat-ing to Glens Falls when he left the railroad painting position. This led his first excursion in 1870 into the Central Adirondacks, which at that time were largely unmapped and inac-cessible to anyone but the most determined traveler. He helped resolve part of that prob-lem by producing the first of his regularly updated guidebooks in 1872. To his growing list of photographs and guidebooks, he soon added maps and sketchbooks.

The tipping point in educating the public about the Adirondacks came when Stoddard took to the lecture circuit with magic lantern slides of the region. He hand tinted some of his best images. Stoddard, who was increasingly con-cerned about encroaching civilization, rapidly growing tourism, and the rav-ages caused by logging and dams, urged that the state turn the region into a park. His remarkable views of the vast wild region being made more accessible by rail during the post-war economic boom



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In the WildernessIn addition to his camera, Stoddard had to carry a heavy load of glass plates, chemicals and other photographic gear as well as camping equipment to capture his remarkable images. He photographed Lake Tear of the Clouds, one of the most inaccessible places in the Adirondacks in the 1880s.

Stoddard — Continued from Page 18

helped convince the New York State Assembly to create the Adirondack Park in 1892,when it passed the forever wild legislation that was signed into law by Governor David B. Hill. To-day the park is the largest publicly protected area in the contiguous United States, greater in size than Yellowstone, the Everglades, Glacier, and Grand Canyon National Park com-bined. The boundary of the park encompasses approximately 6 million acres.

Stoddard continued to be productive until shortly before his death on April 26, 1917. During that time he perfected the use of flash for night photography, made a transconti-nental journey; visited Alaska and the South; and made a memorable canoe journey from Glens Falls to St. John, New Brunswick via the Hudson River, Long Island Sound, and the Atlantic coast. His Adirondack excursions were among the most grueling, where he and his travelling companions dealt with previously uncharted lands, long treks with heavy photographic and camping gear, and undoubtedly the ubiquitous black fly.

There are two main repositories of Stoddard’s legacy — the Chapman Museum in Glens Falls (www.chapmanmuseum.org/seneca_ray_stoddard.htm) and the Adiron-dack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake (www.adkmuseum.org).

Stoddard photographed the grand hotels. Often his images were converted into steel engravings that were used on advertising covers.


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A Precancel PrimerPart II — 20th Century Changes in a Growing USPOD

By David Smith

Shortly before the beginning of the 1900s, cities began to use precancels with the name of the city on them. The first major city to do so was Boston in 1896, where

the Perry Mason Company mailed Youth’s Companion and its promotionals (Figure 1). This was the most popular magazine of its day for youth. The famous fictional at-torney of later years took his name from this company.

There was no specific format for the can-celling device, so some postmasters and the local printers they used came up with a vari-ety of cancels (Figure 2). Northampton, MA featured the product of a local casket maker. Lansing, MI featured its sta-tus as the state capitol along with all its connecting rail-roads. Sherman, NY used mysterious leaflike designs.

Some postmasters were worried that the stamps would be reused. Begin-ning in 1901 several cities began adding month dates to the precan-cels (Figure 3). By late 1903 all but a few towns stopped using dates. The most nota-ble exception was Binghamton, where Dr. Kilmer of patent medicine fame continued using dated precancels until 1915. These are considered Classic Dateds. Beginning in 1938 The U.S. Post Offfice Department required dates on heavier mail. These dat-eds will be discussed later.

Most large post offices were using local printers so the type was hand set and some towns have several errors. Lockport had a major advertising and magazine subscrip-tion agency that used precancels (Figure 4). The stamp at the left shows a b for a p.


Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

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Precancels — Continued from Page 22

The one at the right shows the use of a Y where there should have been an N in New.

Towns with small volume like Deposit used rubber handstamps (Figure 5). They can be hard to distinguish from normal package cancels.

In 1903 the USPOD began to standardize rules by requiring a precancel user to have a certain volume of mail in order to use precancels. It also extended use to third and fourth class mail. The big mail order houses quickly picked up on this ruling. Initially they needed to mail at least 25,000 pieces of mail per month or 5,000 in one day. In 1909 this was lowered to 2,000 per day. A standard was established for precancels having the city and state in two lines between two black lines or bars.

During this period the mails were heav-ily used by businesses. The example in Figure 6 shows an envelope from the International Acheson Graphite Company in Niagara Falls to a foreman at the Maxwell Motor Company in Dayton, OH.

Most users needed only low value de-nominations, but some needed dollar and up denominations (Figure 7). Most notable in New York were Endicott, Groton, and Roch-ester, where such stamps were needed to mail cartons containing quantities of shoes, typewriters, and photographic equipment. Philadelphia, PA used quantities of the $1 stamps from the 1902 through the 1917 se-ries to mail the Saturday Evening Post in bulk to Canada for newsstands. A collector there must have saved every stamp that came in.


Figure 4 Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7


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Figure 8

Figure 9


In late 1916 the Post Of-fice noticed the cost of print-ing precancels was climbing. IT asked the BEP to bid on contracts being let to printers in several cities. The BEP won the contract for New Orleans, Augusta, ME, and Springfield, MA. They printed several de-nominatons that included postage dues in New Orleans. Augusta, Maine only needed the one cent. All were printed using perf. 10 stamps. These are called the Experimentals (Figure 8).

No further effort by the government was made until May 1923, when the Stickney rotary press was adapted to print precancels. The first bureau precancel off the press was for New York City. The local postmaster was still responsible for making smaller quan-tities. Generally moderate quantities were produced by a local printer using a govern-ment provided plate. Smaller quantities were cancelled with a hand held device by a postal clerk during slack time in the mail room. Examples of Bureau precancels are shown in Figure 9. The first Bureau pre-cancels used large letters. Subsequent printings used smaller letters.

In 1978 the use of city names on Bureau Precancels ceased. At first only solid black lines were used. In 1980 lines this first was changed to lines with the type of precancel use identified; then the lines were deleted and the type of use was set in bold type. Currently the type of precancel use is a design feature of the stamp. On all of these it is no longer possible to tell the city of origin off cover (Figure 10).


Figure 10


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Nearly all local and bureau precancel devices were designed so that the complete town name fit on one stamp. Most devices were sized for definitive stamps. Some cit-ies had special devices made to cancel larger stamps (Figure 11).

The first hand devices were rubber and cancelled one or two rows of five stamps. They were designed to fit ver-tically on the stamp. This was too slow so a 5 × 5 subject device was created. It was designed to fit horizontally on each stamp (Figure 12).

The rubber devices wore out quickly. Beginning In 1932 metal devices were used for the handstamps. Occasionally a Postmaster would still ob-tain a device to precancel or order a rush print job lo-cally. These did not always meet Postal Regulations. Some examples of locally ordered precancels are shown in Figure 13. Note the redundant NY in the Staten Island mimeograph precancel.

The 25-subject metal de-vice proved to be harder to apply the ink evenly so the device was shrunk to a 5 × 2 10-subject device.

In 1938, when the Post Office Department directed that all mail with more than six cents postage must include the user’s initials and date, the distance between the lines was shrunk to accommodate the change. In the late 1950s vinyl devices came into use. Examples of all three types are shown in Figure 14. In the summer of 2007 the Post Office issued a directive that local precancelling was to be stopped and all local devices were to be retired.


Figure 11

Figure 12

Figure 13

Figure 14


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Sometimes postmasters directed that postage dues be cancelled in the sheet us-ing pen, pencil, chalk, or crayon as a time-saving measure. Those only can be identi-fied on cover as many postmasters used the same technique (Figure 15).

A total of 1,159 post offices in New York have used a reported 2,604 different devices. A few post offices are known to have been is-sued a device, but to date no example of the device has been found on a stamp. Nationwide about one such stamp turns up each year.

My next article will be on the various categories of precancels: integrals, printed dat-eds, handstamp dateds, perfin precancels, precancel envelopes, precancel post cards, etc.

David “Precancel” Smith, a member of Ithaca Philatelic Society, has collected stamps since the age of 5 and is past president of the Precancel Stamp Society (www.precancels.com).

Figure 15

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—CountdownToStampExpo400—

APS Grants StampExpo 400National Exhibit Status

By Thomas M. Fortunato

The APS Board of Directors voted unanimously on Novem-ber 17 to declare the 2009 Hudson–Fulton–Champlain

Quadricentennial Stamp Exposition (StampExpo 400) an APS-recognized national show. Entrants winning vermeil or gold awards will be eligible for Fédération Internationale de Philatélie (FIP) international competition.

StampExpo 400 is sponsored by the Federation of New York Philatelic Societies in conjunction with the New York State Hudson–Fulton–Champlain Quadricentennial Commission. It takes place from September 25–27, 2009 on the Empire State Plaza Concourse beneath the legislative buildings in Albany.

Conflicting show dates with two other World Series of Philately (WSP) events in Wis-consin and Georgia was a concern. The Georgia show subsequently requested a bye in

2009 and a proposal went before the APS Board to grant StampExpo 400 one-time World Series of Philate-ly status, enabling the grand award winner to compete in the 2010 Champion of Champions competition. In the end it was decided that this designation should be left to shows meeting the multiyear criteria. Neverthe-less, the APS fully supports StampExpo 400, which will follow all WSP guidelines.

“We regret that the State of New York dictated the show dates before consult-ing with the Federation to avoid the overlap,” Thomas M. Fortunato, StampExpo 400 exhibits chairman, said.


Kicking Off the QuadAlbany County’s 2009 Hudson 400 celebration was kicked off on September 10 at a press conference given by the Al-bany County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. StampExpo 400 will culminate the festivities. Among the press event’s participants were, from left, Albany Mayor Gerald D. Jen-nings; F. Michael Tucker, president and CEO of the Cen-ter for Economic Growth; StampExpo 400 Chair Conrad Novick; and Michael G. Breslin, Albany County Executive. K

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He added that the organiz-ing committee is happy with the outcome of the APS Board action. “We thank the APS for their consideration in this matter and look for-ward to a great event.”

The dates of the 2009 exposition match the dates of the 1909 Hudson–Fulton Celebration and the Septem-ber 25 release of the two-cent Hudson–Fulton Stamp (Scott No. 372 and 373).

StampExpo 400 is poten-tially one of the largest phila-telic shows on the continent in 2009. In addition to the planned 200 frames of com-petitive philatelic exhibits, a national literature competi-tion and cachet competition also will be held. Court of Honor displays will feature items from the Smithsonian National Postal Museum and other notable collections.

More than 80 deal-ers from the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, and France are already confirmed, with space available for more than twice that number. The U.S. Postal Service and United Nations Postal Ad-ministration will be attend-ing, along with several other postal authorities. Regional and national societies are welcome to participate, with free booth space and meet-ing rooms provided.


Show Activity Dave Hackett (left front) and Gary Bernhardt (rear) take care of business at the club table while club member Sarah Halliday watches. From left, judges Thomas M. Fortu-nato and Norman Wright are joined by Wright’s wife, Florence, following the judging.

Dr. Kilmer Overprints Exhibit Takes Stepex ’08 Best in Show

Dr. Kilmer Overprints, a four-frame Display Class exhibit by Elmira Stamp Club member Sheldon Gosline of Ithaca took Best in Show and Gold at Stepex 2008, the 33rd consecu-

tive annual show sponsored by the club on October 17 and 18 at Arnot Mall, Horseheads.Gosline has made an extensive study of Binghamton’s Kilmer & Co. patent medicine

business, evident in the variety of late 19th and early 20th century newspaper and other print advertising featured in the exhibit along with the overprints made by Kilmer & Co on U.S. postage stamps of the period. The stamps with the overprints are often referred to as provisionals, indicating they were used in lieu of revenue stamps.

The show was originally planned for the American Legion Post in Big Flats, but a schedul-ing mixup there resulted in the event returning to its location for 31 years prior to 2007. The last-minute change in location did not appear to hurt attendance and interest throughout the two-day show. Space was adequate, lighting was good, dealers were happy, and the club table saw plenty of activity. Although the scheduled Stamp Camp USA session was cancelled for lack of particpants, there were many visiting youngsters on Saturday. Club members David Hackett and Joe Contento sold stamps and covers for Stamp Camp’s benefit.

Five gold, five silver, and one bronze medals were awarded to the adult competitors and three silvers were earned by the competing youth exhibits. The judges were Thomas Fortunato and apprentice Norman Wright, both of Rochester.GoldAwards— In addition to Gosline, gold medals were awarded to Judith Stewart of Elmira for her pipe organs exhibit, Pull Out the Stops! (three frames); Raymond M. Stone


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Stepex — Continued from Page 34of Rochester for his first day cover exhibit, 3-cent Handcar, Rochester’s First Transporta-tion Coil (eight frames); and Alan Parsons of Elmira for each of two exhibits, The Sullivan Commemorative of 1929 (five frames) and 19th Century Railroad Postal Markings Related to Steuben, Chemung, Schuyler and Tioga Counties (single frame).

Stone’s exhibit also received the AFDCS award for the best first day cover exhibit. Parsons’ Sullivan Commemorative exhibit received the ESPHS award for the best New York postal history exhibit. SilverAwards— Gordon Stratton of Corning for National Parks for Farley’s Follies Issue of March 15, 1935 (five frames), Edward Mendlowitz of East Brunswick, NJ for Commer-cially Used and Official First Day Covers (eight frames), Florence Wright of Rochester for Puzzling Postmarks and Other Postal Peculiarities (four frames), Gosline for Plate Varieties of the 1861 Issues (two frames), and David Robinson of Rochester for First Day Covers of U.S.“A” Stamp (three frames).BronzeAward— Florence Wright American Women on United States Stamps (single frame).Youth SilverAwards— The Beauties and Wonders of Asia by Shannon Madigan, 12, of Mansfield , PA (single frame); Animals Around the World by Lorah Wilson, 12, of Mansfield (two frames); and Health Care in Time by Melissa Stanton, 13, of Knoxville, PA (two frames).CourtofHonor— Not in competition and accorded court of honor status were Strat-ton’s two-frame Glenn Curtiss Commemorated cover and postcard exhibit; Essays of the 1963 Gettysburg Centennial Commemorative, a three-frame exhibit by Andrew McFarlane of Bartonsville, PA of entries submitted to a USPS contest to design the 1963 Battle of Gettysburg stamp; The Dispatcher, a two-frame display by Norman Wright of covers from the journal of the ATA’s Casey Jones Unit since he became editor; What Are Christmas Seals, a three-frame exhibit by Florence Wright of Rochester; and The Story of Mr. Zip, a single-frame exhibit by Alan Parsons.

An insufficient number of ballots were cast for the most popular exhibit to provide a meaningful result.ShowCoverStepex 2008 commemorated the 100th anniversary of the flight of the June Bug, the first pre-announced flight in America of a heavier-than-air flying machine, taking place in Hammondsport on July 4, 1908 with Glenn H. Curtiss piloting. The show cover depicting the flight and franked with the Curtiss airmail commemorative is-sued by the USPS December 30, 1980 may be ordered for $2 each plus sase from Rob-ert D. Barron, 147 W. Gray St., Apt. 812, Elmira, NY 14901.

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Brewster Harding & Bruce NelsonTom HarrisBill HattonBill JohnsonBruce JohnsonTerry KuzinskiPeter LesliePrestige Covers: Jim Littel & Paul ZippBarry MannGeorge McGowanDan McGuireNunesNook: Dr. John J. NunesBob PatkinPostal Stationary.com: Phil StevensSteve ResnickDoug RichardsLes RosenLarry SellUnited States Postal ServiceDoug WeiszRichard WestWhit’s Covers: Dave WhittleStafford WillisWorld Wide Classics: Joseph RudnickRon Yeager

New Show Dates!10 a.m.–6 p.m. Feb. 14 • 9 a.m.–4 p.m. Feb. 15

Clarion Hotel, 3 Watervliet Ave., Albany, NYJust Off I-90 Exit 5, 4 Miles East of Thruway Exit 24

CONTACT JOHN J. NUNES, 80 FREDERICKS ROAD, SCOTIA, NY 12302518•399•8395 • E-MAIL [email protected]


NYS@NPMDaniel A. Piazza, Assistant Curator of Philately

National Postal Museum, MRC 570, P. O. Box 37012, Washington, DC 20013-7012

202-633-4737; e-mail [email protected]

National Postal Museum

FDR&FarleyQuicklyAdoptedDesignAgenda

On June 8, 2009 the National Postal Museum will open FDR and Stamps of the Great De-pression. The exhibition explores the ways two New Yorkers — Franklin D. Roosevelt

and his Postmaster General, James A. Farley — changed the nation’s stamp design agenda to reflect progress and optimism during the economic crises of the 1930s. They also fre-quently used stamps to promote their personal interests.

A case in point is the first stamp of the Roosevelt administration, issued only six weeks after he took office in 1933 (Scott No. 727). It shows Washington’s headquarters at New-burgh, where the Continental Army was disbanded and a nascent rebellion by high-rank-ing officers defused — both in 1783. Why was that a personal interest? Newburgh is 20 miles from the birthplace of FDR in Hyde Park and that of Farley in Grassy Point.

A signed, uncut press sheet of 400 Newburgh stamps hung in Farley’s office at postal headquarters in Washington. It is dated April 11, 1933 — eight days before the stamps were issued. Farley visited the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on the day the Newburgh stamps went into production. He signed and dated the first several sheets off the press.

FDR and Stamps of the Great Depression will be drawn mainly from the NPM’s own col-lection with a few loans, most notably from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. It is scheduled to be on view through June 6, 2010.

Next time: National Air Mail Week crash-lands in Lowville. Smit

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Escape Winter’s HumdrumSarasota National

Philatelic ExhibitionAN APS WORLD SERIES OF PHILATELY SHOW

February 6 to 8, 200910 a.m.–6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Sunday

SARASOTA MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM801 NORTH TAMIANI TRAIL, SARASOTA, FLORIDA

More Than 40 Dealers • 3,000 Pages of Exhibits • USPS • UNPAHonoring Emmett Kelly, Jr.

Show ChairSy Bricker

[email protected]

www.sarasotastampclub.com/sarasotastampexhibition.htm

Calling All Writers & EditorsAPS Writer’s Unit #30 welcomes writers, editors, publishers, and anyone interested in philatelic writing. Whether you write in-depth research articles, prepare news releases, or edit a newsletter, a journal, or books. You’ll bene�t from a membership that includes:

✒ Quarterly issues of the award-winning The Philatelic Communicator featuring — ✎ Informative articles to improve your writing, editing, and design skills ✎ A critique service for your newsletter, journal or other publication ✎ Web site and software information and reviews ✎ Book, journals, and newsletter reviews, and much, much more!✒ Writing and literature exhibitions✒ Biannual breakfasts at APS StampShow and AmeriStamp Expo✒ Writers Unit #30 Hall of Fame

Join today and begin reaping the bene�ts!Dues are only $15 per year and include the journal. Contact:

WU #30 Secretary George B. Griffenhagen, 2501 Drexel St., Vienna, VA [email protected] • WWW.WU30.ORG

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ExploringDeltiologyRuth L. Sabo

51 Island View RoadCohoes, NY 12047-4929

518-785-1330; e-mail [email protected]

FromPresidentLincolnToPresidentObama

The year 1909 marked the 100th anni-versary of the birth of the man many

consider the most beloved U.S. president of all — Abraham Lincoln. It also coin-cided with the peak of the golden age of postcards in America, and thus there is an abundance of cards published that year commemorating his birth.

Lincoln, an unlikely future president born to uneducated farmers in a one-room cabin in Kentucky on February 12 — the same day Charles Darwin entered this world, became an incredible orator and as-tute politician and lawyer, and a founder of the new Republican party.

With the 200th year since Lincoln’s birth now upon us, it is fitting to examine one of the beautiful embossed postcards published in 1909 from my extensive Lincoln collec-tion. It was easy to single out this one de-picting Lincoln’s inauguration on the eve of the inauguration of another new president from Illinois, Barack Obama. It is one of a series of cards published by Raphael Tuck & Sons, this from Tuck’s Series No.155 — Lincoln’s Birthday. Most cards in the Tuck Lincoln Birthday set sell for $7–15.

Tuck, calling itself “Art Publishers to Their Majesties The King & Queen,” was a well-known and respected printer of greeting cards in England when it turned to postcards and quickly became a giant in the field. It had offices in London, Berlin, and New York, with the printing done in Germany, true of most high quality cards printed before World War I.

Tuck became famous for the huge competitions it sponsored, encouraging collectors to purchase as many Tuck cards as they could to win cash rewards. The company did not specialize in a particular topic as many publishers did, but was a prolific producer of views, famous people, animals, art, transportation, and political, among many other areas. It is a rare deltiologist who doesn’t have at least a few Tuck cards in his or her collection.


TheFrugalPhilatelistJim Hannah158 Fisher Ave.Staten Island NY 10307-1310718-984-5378; [email protected]

AllYouNeedIsLove!

If you’ve been reading my columns, you know of my interest in mini-collections of

inexpensive stamps. These (often) small— groupings can include all sorts of interest-ing variations. They can provide a collecting challenge that still leaves your bank account nicely intact.

The U.S. Love stamps are certainly no exception. The series began with the eight-cent Love stamp of January 26, 1973 (Scott No. 1475). It’s still going strong with such recent issues as the 39-cent Hershey Kiss stamp of January 13, 2007 (Scott No. 4122). To the best of my knowledge, all used Love stamps can be obtained for under $1.

Variations exist in full measure. Printing processes? There’s photogravure (most is-sues), litho, and engraving (Scott No. 2813). You’ll find various perforations along with straight-edged and serpentine edged die-cut stamps. You can even find stamps with irregular outlines dictated by the design itself (Scott 3274–3275). There are booklet stamps with gum adhesive as well as booklet panes of self adhesive stamps.

The Love stamps were printed in reasonably large quantities. If you find them making up a goodly proportion of a kiloware mix, you can dig into the possibility of collecting all edge variations (straight and perforated or serpentine) of a particular stamp. In some instances there will be only one variety (Scott No. 1475 or 2535), though there may be per-foration gauge differences (Scott No. 2535 and 2535A). Stamps issued in large panes of self-adhesive serpentine die-cut stamps (Scott No. 3898) can have as many as nine distinct edge variations. Hint: These look nice on a page when arranged in a 3 × 3 format.

As with any self-defined mini-collection, you have the challenge of deciding how you wish to display them. Album page software certainly comes in handy here, though work-ing with pencil or pen and blank sheets can be just as satisfying.

Love These StampsThe United States has produced a large array of Love stamps, including this set of-fered by Champion Stamp Co. in New York.


Youth&Philately Robert Finnegan 10 O’Neill Drive

Oneonta, NY 13820-1154607-432-8141; [email protected]

Tongs—AnEssentialPhilatelicTool

I am often asked, other than stamps and a place to mount them, what other philatelic tool would be worth

purchasing. Having worked with children in grades 3–5 for many years as an educator and stamp club advisor, I simply state tongs.

Stamp tongs are very important tools for any collector, especially youngsters. Children very often will begin working on their collections with dirt and oils on their hands and fin-gers. The advanced collector can tell you that many a pretty stamp has been ruined with mishandling.

Unlike tweezers that have sharp tips, stamp tongs have flattened ends that allow the collector to pick up stamps easily from a pile of stamps without damage. Fingerprints. dirt, grime, and oils do not become part of the stamp. While working with mint stamps, the tongs help keep the gum undisturbed.

Should one bother using tongs on used stamps? Abso-lutely! Postally used stamps soaked off their original en-velopes still can be damaged by probing fingers of young philatelists. I encourage the children to rummage through each other’s duplicates very often. Children can show respect for material they are exam-ining by using the tongs.

Dealers who allow youngsters to examine boxes of cheap material appreciate a gentler approach to their search by the use of tongs.

Stamp tongs can be purchased from some of the stamp advertisers in the Stamp Insider. Searching for stamp supplies on-line will return a long list of sources.

They are not expensive and serve as a vi-tal tool to collectors of all levels. Be sure to choose a style that is easy to use and match-es the hand size of the youngster. Some find angled tips are easier to use.


Stamp Camp USA Wishes YouHappy New Year!

Wacth for details about the Tioga County, PA, Adult Leader Workshop

and theNorthern Tioga School District Kid’s Camp!

e-mail, write or call for details:[email protected]

www.stampcampusa.org

117 Court St., Suite AElkland, PA 16920-1447

Phone / Fax: 814-258-5601

ByKidsforKidsIf you are under 16 years old, tell us about your hobby!Send to: Albert W. Starkweather 5520 Gunn Hwy 1406, Tampa, FL 33624–2847 e-mail [email protected]

WhyILikeStampCollecting

My name is Christian Kemp, I am 8 years old and I live in Knoxville, Pennsylvania. I got into stamp collecting because my grandma (Cheryl Edgcomb) is in charge

of Stamp Camp USA and she helped teach me that stamps are fun. I really like the 3-D exhibits and I also like that everything I enjoy is on a stamp. This

makes it so easy to find and create a 3D exhibit and write a paper story.

Philatelic ComputerChristian created a 3-D philatelic computer with a shoe box, an egg carton, and some technology stamps.

Pilot Program

Stamp Camp USA has created preschool lesson

plans for math, science, liter-ature, nutrition and technol-ogy. A pilot program is being instituted at the Millerton and Tioga Head Start and the Troy Pre-K of Bradford Tioga Head Start. Teachers are us-ing stamps to teach such top-ics as patterning, counting, and the alphabet.

Children have been taught how to remove the stamps from envelopes and to make collages, to iden-tify the alphabet, and to complete worksheets about their favorite animals. A flannel border activity was also introduced. Here the children are asked: “Which of these things doesn’t be-long?” and have to select the one stamp in the group that doesn’t match.


FirstDayCoverageGlenn A. EstusP. O. Box 451

Westport, NY 12993-0451 [email protected], 518-962-4558

FIRST DAY OF ISSUE

AnticipatingABannerPhilatelicYear

This year promises to be a major philatelic one in New York State. One of the high points will be the StampExpo

400 scheduled from September 27 to 29 at the Empire State Plaza Concourse in Albany.

By now we all know that the quadricentennial com-mem0orates the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Samuel de Champlain in the Champlain Valley in July 1609, as well as Henry Hudson’s exploration of the Hudson River in September 1609. The quad also celebrates the 200th anni-versary of what is called the first steamboat in the world. However, there had been many steamboats before Robert Fulton’s Clermont — the first successful commercial steamboat.

Since I live in the Champlain Valley, my collecting interests have naturally turned towards Samuel de Champlain. We remember that in 2006 both the United States and Canada issued stamps and souvenir sheets honoring Champlain’s exploration of the East Coast of North America. Champlain’s homeland issued a stamp honoring him many years ago. This is catalogued by Scott as France No. B305, a semi-postal benefiting the National Relief Fund with a denomination of 12fr + 3fr.

I have in my collection two French FDCs both of which supposedly show portraits of Champlain. According to most sources, there are no known contemporary drawings or paintings of Champlain. Most were done in the 18th and 19th Centuries.

One of the FD cancels is from Brouage, the birthplace of Champlain. Champlain died in New France (Quebec) on Christmas day 1635. The other cancellation comes from the Naval Museum in Paris. The cachet for this FDC notes that Champlain was born in 1567; however, current research indicates that he probably was born around 1580.

Both FDCs were underpaid when just the single stamp was affixed. On the reverse of each cover is an additional 3fr stamp cancelled by the same cancellation as on the front.



CommunicationsShare your opinions!Send to: Albert W. Starkweather 5520 Gunn Hwy 1406, Tampa, FL 33624–2847 e-mail [email protected]

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Howthe“H”DidIMissThis?In my Pondering Philately column in the November–De-cember 2008 issue of the Stamp Insider, eagle-eyed philat-elist Rick Kase noticed that I omitted the one-cent weather-vane “H” rate makeup stamp of 1998 in the caption below the table.

— George Fekete, Rochester, NY

Happy Valentine’s DayIn the heyday of picture postcards, those for special holidays, such as Valentine’s Day, were very popular. They now share the same popularity with collectors. Senders of sentiments such as these had to have worn their hearts on their sleeves, considering anyone in the post office could read them.


GlensFalls,NewYorkNEW NIGHT! Meets at 7 p.m. on the 2nd Wednesday at

Moreau Community Center, 144 Main St., South Glens Falls

Conrad Novick, 96 Feeder Dam Rd., S. Glens Falls, NY 12803-5419 [email protected], 518-636-3919

Directions — Call Joe Kopczak before 9 p.m. at 518-792-1659

Adirondack Stamp, Post Card &

Ephemera Club

ClubHasBusyFall

The past two months have been busy and we all continue to improve on our stamp collec-tions. Our show and tell sessions, which seem to come up at each of our meetings, give us

an opportunity to learn something about each other as well as the stamps being discussed. It is fascinating to see the different ways we collect and display our collections. As a part time dealer, this is what I find to be one of the most interesting aspects of this hobby.

In the older collections I have seen, the tendency was to buy a small album and fill in the blank spaces as best we could. Albums of various sizes were available and I have even seen several collections where the collector made his own pages. Of course, there weren’t as many stamps and this was a realistic approach.

Now the trend is toward specialized collections requiring unique ways to mount and display our treasures. I have only seen one collection where the collector saved the whole world in a total of 158 albums. No two collectors seem to collect the same way. When meeting a new collector friend, the first thing we want to know is what they collect. The answers can range from common to obscure countries, topics of all kinds, postal history of various kinds and locations, to selected time periods. This complicates the mission of the dealer who wants to be able to support this broad range of interests by the collectors.

One of the functions of all stamp clubs is to spread the word about this great hobby. This ranges from supporting national events such as the StampExpo 400 discussed in this and other publications to our individual support of our family and friends in getting start-ed in stamp collecting. If you can find a teacher who is willing and able to integrate stamps into their courses, this is ideal.

ASC has recently supported two local groups with contributions of stamps and education about philately. We had an opportunity to present our local Hyde Museum in Glens Falls with some stamps to expand on their exhibition on the works of Winslow Homer. We also pro-vided an album of world stamps (custom made) to support a program on Masks by the World Awareness Children’s Museum in Glens Falls. These are special opportunities for us to remind the public about the history and education behind the stamps most people take for granted.

We continue to plan for two meetings each month, on the second and fourth Wednes-day, the latter being a work meeting at Joe Kopczak’s home. This schedule was altered in November and December because of holidays but we plan to resume this schedule in the new year. We have an e-mail newsletter distributed after each meeting and this has helped us with our membership drive. Anyone, members and potential members, is invited to provide your e-mail address to Joe Kopczak (phone 518-792-1659) to get this newsletter.


NewYork,NewYorkMeets at 6 p.m. on the second Thursday, except July and August, at The Collectors Club, 22 East 35th St.

Caroline Scannell, 14 Dawn Drive, Smithtown, NY 11787-1761 [email protected]

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GettingIntotheHoliday(Philatelic)Spirit

Whew! All those Holiday Parties! Every stamp club has them. How many did you at-tend this season? I used to attend them all, but these days I limit it to six — two a

week is more than enough. Did you get philatelic gifts? Everyone in my clubs did. Where else can you spend $1

on a cover in someone’s specialty that they will appreciate as though it were a diamond? Most of our members got stamps of some kind or other. Some got new albums and some upgraded their computers and got new printers. Yep, computers and printers are part of philately these days.

Remember the days when it was thought that computers would be the death of phi-lately? That was before everyone started buying their stamps on line through auction houses like eBay and Delcampe (www.delcampe.com). New issue services abound on the Internet to keep abreast of the multitude of new stamps issued for every topic under the sun.

Collectors of particular countries now have easy access to the postal stores of the coun-tries of their choice. I recently purchased a half dozen items for friends who collect topics on stamps of countries I do not collect. I could never afford to do that if I had to buy this stamp from dealers as it retails for between $12–$19 each! It brought the order to $45 rather than $90, a much better deal. Today you get a look if you collect stamps and don’t use a computer!

I got enough stamps to keep me busy into the new year along with 200 brand new page protectors for my album. Since I make my own pages and house them in general loose leafs rather than specially made albums, the page protectors are a must to keep the stamps safe.ANewYearsResolutionMy New Years Resolution is to remount my Europa collection on custom pages. I am also working on a one frame exhibit that just has to be put onto pages and stuck up in the frame, which I hope to have entered into the spring Postage Stamp Mega-Event. Because I’m doing what would be considered a postal history item, topically it will fall under spe-cial studies for judging. It cannot be exhibited as a topic/thematic because it consists of only one philatelic element.

And on that note, I better finish up this column and get back to my stamps. I did so well at Christmas that I won’t be done until Easter.

Happy New Year to all from New York City.


Buffalo,NewYorkMeets at 7:30 p.m. twice monthly on Fridays except June, July,

and August at VFW Leonard Post, 2450 Walden Ave., Cheektowaga

Alfred Carroccia, 152 Windmill Road, West Seneca, NY 14218-3776 [email protected], 716-674-0302

AutumnFestivalAttracts10Dealers

The Autumn Stamp Festival was held on November 23 at the Leonard Post. Ten dealers participated in what has become the showcase Fall event for the club. Attendance was

brisk despite the last minute shift from the original November 15 date after the Leonard Post became unavailable.

The Thanksgiving holiday was beneficial for the bourse as most people were home and a larger than usual non-collector crowd brought in collections for appraisal. The dealers were happy and the club collected a $1,100 windfall from table rentals. It was decided to extend the Autumn Stamp Festival an additional three years as it fills an empty void in the fall show calendar.FakesandForgeriesThe November presentation focused on fakes and forgeries. Several members par-ticipated and many examples were passed around. George Gates led off the presenta-tion with an exciting discussion on Canal Zone overprints. Along with numerous ex-amples and tips on how to distinguish the spurious overprints George issued a caveat when purchasing theses stamps on eBay.

The roundtable discussion continued with Dave Smith talking about Kansas–Ne-braska overprints again showing a page of genuine issues. Alan Davis admitted he was not sure if his early Hungary were forged due to the lack of literature available.

The discussion turned to literature as Bill Witschard and Dan Sherwood passed around examples of philatelic literature. Everyone agreed that a collector should have a basic knowl-edge of their collecting area and to apply diligence when buying questionable material. Casey Kielbasa showed forged Polish expert marks and also indicated the lack of literature in this area. Everyone in attendance left with a basic knowledge of fakes and forgeries.Programs

Jan. 9 — Monthly auctionJan. 23 — Bob Meegan presentationFeb. 6 — Monthly auctionFeb. 20 — Tim Cary presentation

Geuine or forgery?Can you tell the difference?


Hamilton,NewYorkMeets at 7:45 p.m. on the 1st Monday March–December

at Hamilton Public Library on the Green, 13 Broad St.

Braden Houston, 2063 Spring St., Hamilton, NY 13346-2259 [email protected], 315-824-2237

Lesser-KnownDistinguishedAmericans

Our October program by Frank Lee cen-tered on the people appearing on the

Distinguished Americans series. He high-lighted the life of two of the perhaps lesser known people, Gen. Joseph W. (Vinegar Joe) Stilwell and Hattie Caraway.

Stilwell was born March 19, 1883 in Palatka, FL. He graduated from Yonkers High School and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Stilwell served in both WW I and II. Between wars he served three tours of duty in China and became fluent in Chinese, which later served him well in the Asian theater of the war in China and Burma. He died on October 12, 1946 in San Francisco of stomach cancer.

Hattie Caraway was born Hattie Wyatt near Bakerville, TN on February l, 1878. She married Thaddeus Caraway, who was a lawyer and a member of the U.S. House of Repre-sentatives from 1912–1921 and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1931. He died in Decem-ber 1931 and Hattie was appointed to fill his term in the Senate by Arkansas Governor Harvey Parnell.

Caraway was confirmed by a special election on January 12, 1932 and became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate. She served a total of 14 years in the Senate as a Demo-cratic Representative. After leaving office in 1945, she was appointed to the Federal Em-ployees Compensation Commission and the Employees Compensation Appeals Board by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. She died December 21, 1950 after suffering a stroke.

“One of the many pleasures of stamp collecting is exploring the people, places and events shown on stamps,” Lee said.ShibPixleyDiesIt is with sadness that we report the passing of our long-time member and friend Shib Pixley. Along with stamps, he had a strong interest in collecting worldwide license plates and was one of the original members of the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association. He also enjoyed researching, locating and visiting the grave sites of famous Americans and Canadians. He will be missed.


NewHaven,ConnecticutMeets at 9:30 a.m. on the 3rd Sunday

at the Super Stop and Shop, 112 Amity Road

Joseph Connolly, 571 Treat Lane, Orange, CT 06477-2739 [email protected], 203-795-3718

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NoahWebster250thBirthdayFestival

The Connecticut Cover Club, represented by President Richard Hoffman, Andy Do-

back, and Arnold A. Agnoli, created a special event cacheted cover honoring the 250th an-niversary of the birth of Noah Webster. The informative cover and pictorial postmark were issued on Webster’s birthday, October 16, 2008 and presented for sale during spe-cial Webster Birthday Celebrations in West Hartford, CT on October 18.

Doback, designer of the special event ca-chet and pictorial postmark, also created an 8!/™ × 11-inch card-stock souvenir page to honor the celebration. Both the cover and the page are available for sale from Agnoli, 70 Old Town Road, Vernon Rockville, CT 06066-6418. Postpaid price of the cover is $2.50 and the commemorative page is $4.50.

The club is also offering two additional Webster items of special interest to collec-tors of Connecticut philatelic history. The first is a limited edition of the October 16, 1958 Noah Webster first day cover cancelled at West Hartford, CT for $2.50 postpaid. The second is a locally produced October 16, 1958 Noah Webster first day cover with the unofficial city cancel at New Haven, CT for $ 3 postpaid while the supply lasts.ClubMemberDiesClub member Michael Laby, 68, of East Hartford, died on July 14, 2008. He was an avid coin and stamp collector, and was active in many coin and stamp collecting societies. Me-morial Donations may be made to the National Kidney Foundation, 2139 Silas Deane Highway, Suite 208, Rocky Hill, CT 06067.

— John S. Withers, Jr.


Poughkeepsie,NewYorkMeets at 7:30 p.m. on the 1st & 3rd Monday at the Friends

Meeting House, corner of Hooker Avenue & Whittier Boulevard

Cliff Foley, 3 Short Court, Wappingers Falls, NY 12590-3515 [email protected], 845-297-1875

A70thPresidentialInauguration

There have not been 70 presidents, but when Barack Obama takes the oath on January 20 there will have been 70 swearing in ceremonies. George Washington was sworn in on

April 30, 1789, in New York City. His second term began on March 4, 1793 in Philadelphia.March 4 remained Inauguration Day until Franklin D. Roosevelt’s second term began

on January 20, 1937. With a few exceptions, due to such things as resignation, the major-ity of U.S. presidents have taken the oath of office on these two dates,

It is fun to collect inauguration covers, but only in the early 1900s did we start to see cachets for the event. Shown here is a cover postmarked on March 4, 1929 in Boundbrook, NJ with a rubber stamped commemoration of the inaugural date of Herbert Hoover’s one term in office. The challenge for collectors is to find philatelic items postmarked on the dates of earlier inaugurations. Also shown is a cover postmarked on March 4, 1881 in Huntsville, OH. It carries no special mark of the event, but it does carry the date of the swearing in of President James A. Garfield.

Since most presidential terms begin with an event in Washington DC, the goal is to try to get a piece of mail dated there. Items with the correct date of cancellation in other cities, especially for early presidents, are also fun to hunt for.

The third cover is from FDR’s 1941 inauguration and is dated January 20, 1941 and postmarked in Washington, DC. One cachet for Obama’s inauguration is also shown.


Elmira Stamp Club

Elmira,NewYorkMeets at 7 p.m. (doors open at 6) the 3rd Tuesday at Steele

Memorial Library, 101 E. Church St. (New meeting place) Stamp Circuit Available

Alan Parsons, 809 Holley Road, Elmira, NY 14905-1212 [email protected], 607-732-0181

ClubHasNewMeetingPlace

After meeting for more than 40 years in the Five Star Bank community room (the bank’s name changed at least four times during this period), the club had to leave at the end of

2008. It has found a new location less than three blocks away in Steele Memorial Library’s large meeting room on the main floor just inside the entrance. It is more than adequate in size and furnishings for us. Because the library closes at 9 p.m., the room can be used only until 8:45. As many of our meetings at the bank lasted past 9, they will now begin an hour earlier. Programs

Jan. 20 — Auction Feb. 17 — APS slide program: The American Revolution Bicentennial on International

First Day CoversStepex2008ReportThanks to the volunteers who helped set up Stepex 2008, manned the club table, and broke down the show. Thanks also to our exhibitors and dealers, Carol Imhoff for publicity, Bob Barron for handling cover mail orders, and judge Tom Fortunato of Rochester and apprentice judge Norman Wright of Rochester. A full show report is on page 34, including ordering infor-mation for the show cover that also can be purchased at meetings. Stepex 2009 will be October 16 and 17 at the Big Flats American Legion Post, where the show was held in 2007. NewMembers— The club welcomes three new members — Raymond M.Stone and Dave Robinson of Rochester, who joined at Stepex where each exhibited, and Ralph Gestwicki of Elmira, a former president, who rejoined at the November meeting.2009Dues — Pay at meetings or send a check payable to Elmira Stamp Club ($10 for adults and $5 for juniors) to Harold von Hagn, 9 Cobbles Park W., Elmira, NY 14905.MeetingNotesOctober — 23 attended. Treasurer Don Dolan gave the third quarter financial statement. Fred Dykins did show and tell on South African Jipex show overprints. Al Parsons reported on Stepex 2008. He also reported on potential meeting places and led discussion prior to motion to use Steele Library. The APS slide show Slips on Ships on Stamps was shown.November — 27 attended, snowstorm notwithstanding. It was announced that the December meeting would be at the library. Al Parsons announced that all the club lots, about half those in the auction, were donated by Atty. Vinson Friedman of Bayside, whose father was club president in the late 1930s. Mike Breed and Don Dolan called the 31-lot super auction, selling all but six for a $171 total. Club lots brought $80.50 and non-club lots $90.50. Combination of its $9.05 commission on non-club lots and club lots proceeds added $89.55 to the treasury.


EMPIRE STATEPOSTAL HISTORY

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APSUnit28www.esphs.org

Meets twice annually

Membership info: George McGowan P. O. Box 482, E. Schodack, NY 12063-0482 [email protected], 518-479-4396

An1894TrainWreckonLakeChamplainBy Glenn A. Estus

On December 3, 1894, Delaware and Hudson Train Number 4 left Montreal, Quebec on its way to New York City. The train was composed of at least seven cars includ-

ing a mail car. The following was reported in the Plattsburgh Sentinel newspaper, which included a crude outline sketch of the event:

“A railroad accident … occurred at Cheever trestle two miles north of Port Henry (Note: 110 miles south of Montreal) about 1:30 o’clock Monday afternoon …

“Number four is the mail train bound south due at Port Henry at 1:24. The train was ten minutes late … Just as the train cleared the south end of the trestle the rails spread and the entire train except the Wagner and engine left the track … (Editor’s note: The Wagner Palace Car was a sleeper built in Buffalo in the era before Pullman dominated the rail industry and had a monopoly on sleeping cars.)

“The mail car turned over twice and landed in the lake right side up with water up to the roof. Imprisoned within was Thomas Rouse, the United States mail agent, the only oc-cupant. His struggle for life must have been short, for when he was found a fracture in the skull showed that death or unconsciousness was probably instant.”

The train was carrying mail from Canada to England via New York City. When the mail was recovered an explanatory purple handstamp was added to the letters by the U.S. Post Office Department. The red paid london handstamp was applied by the UK post office because the stamps had washed off in the wreck.


Geneva,NewYorkMeets at 8 p.m. on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays at the Sawdust

Café, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station

James Darnell, 136 Lock St., Clyde, NY 14433-1117 [email protected], 315-923-7355

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Club’sOfficersReëlected

We recently held elections for officers for 2009. Our current officers were all reëlected. They are Don Grover of Fairport, president; David Himes of Newark, vice president;

Jim Darnell of Clyde, secretary; and Shirley Stowell of Newark, treasurer.MemberCarlLarsonDiesThe club was saddened by the death of long-time member, Carl Larson, 83, of Newark on October 17, 2008.

He was born in Hartford, CT, and held a bachelor degree from the University of Con-necticut. Carl moved to Newark in 1958 and was the manager of the Sibley store there for 29 years. He was a member of the Newark VFW, Rotary, and Elks Lodge.

Memorial donations may be made to the Redeemer Lutheran Church, 100 Hope Avenue or to the Hospice of Wayne & Seneca County, Lifetime Care, 1120 S. Main St., Newark, NY 14513.BetteDavisFDCCoverIn September we produced an FDC for the September 18 issue of the Legends of Hol-lywood commemorative stamp honoring Bette Davis. A few are still available. To or-der one send a SASE and $2 to Jim Darnell, 136 Lock St., Clyde. NY 14433-1117.NewMemberThe club welcomed a new member, Mike Dickson of Geneva, in October.VeteransFieldofHonorIn November we participated in the second annual Veterans Field of Honor at Seneca Lake State Park. More than 2,000 flags were flown from November 7 to 12 in honor of veterans and present active duty military personnel. Each of the 3 × 5-foot flags was on an eight-foot pole. Each flag included a label with the name of the individual being honored.

Our club sponsored memorial flags for two of our members, both veterans who had passed away recently — the Rev. Gerald Harris and Leslie Morse. B

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Albany,NewYorkIncorporating Women’s Seal and Stamp Club

Meets at 7:30 p.m. on the 2nd & 4th Tuesday at Bethany Reformed Church Community Center, 760 New Scotland Ave.

Maris Tirums, P. O. Box 5475, Albany NY 12205-0475 [email protected], 518-438-1657

TheOneandOnlyUnitedNationsPrecancel

On October 28 the mem-bership welcomed

Tony Dewey of Hartford, CT, who spoke on the UN precancel on Scott No. 2. Tony, a computer analyst, has won 35 exhibiting gold medals. His wife, Martha, also exhibits.

This rarity was created for mass mailings where a meter permit was not allowed due to the mailings going out from a remote location (Co-lumbia Press). One and a half cents was the UPU rate for printed matter. The precan-cel was letterpress printed by the Dennison company of Long Island City.

By 1958 some forgeries began to appear, most poor quality or just having the wrong typography. Also, any inverts or doubling of the image are also fakes.

The members thank Dewey for traveling a good distance and for his very interesting and thorough talk.PanAmTransatlanticMailOn November 11 long-time member John Traver gave a very informative presentation on Pan Am transatlantic mail from 1939 to 1949. John described in detail the rates, first flights, and cancels used during this period. John also related the world history during those 10 years and how it affected the mail.ExplosivesOn November 25 John J. Nunes gave a fine talk on Explosives, their history, the people, and examples of philately relating to all matters of explosives. He began with their discovery in China and took us through the centuries to the present state of the industry.

A UN overprint page created by Tony Dewey.


Rome,NewYorkIncorporating Community Stamp Club

Meets at 7 p.m. on the 4th Thursday except July and August at Rome Municipal Building, Second Floor

Fort Stanwix Stamp Club, P. O. Box 734, Rome, NY 13442-0374 Patricia A. Hash, 315-339-1019

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AGoodYearfortheClub

The year 2008 was a good one for the club. During our last formal meeting in November, our members enjoyed an informative APS slide show presentation titled Stamps of the

Trans-Mississippi. The club gained two new members during this meeting.Our annual sale of the Fort Stanwix Day event covers went exceptionally well, thanks

to the hard work of Joe Occhipinti and Patricia Hash.MisperfedDucksPresident Don Luczak shared his duck decoy stamp find with us. The misperfed Scott No. 2138–2141 issued in 1985 are from his plate number blocks collection. Notice the duck’s bill touches or overruns the vertical perfora-tions on the stamp versus the normal plate block. In fact the duck’s bill goes into the next stamp (second plate block from the top).

Have members of other stamp clubs who collect plate blocks ever noticed this shift? I don’t know if this is considered a perforation shift error, or, a produc-tion freak. Thanks for sharing it with us. Perhaps you’ll find a plate block of these stamps with a more dramatic perf. shift to add to your collection.

Editor’s note: Those interested in er-rors, freaks, and oddities should consider jolining the Errors, Freaks and Oddities Col-lectors Club (www.efocc.org).

Club members ended the year with a Christmas dinner at a local restaurant. Dur-ing the January meeting, members will select new APS slide shows for the new year, and will bring some of their stamp collections to share around the table.HappyNewYearThe Fort Stanwix Stamp Club wishes all the stamp clubs a happy and successful New Year.

— Stephen Stawiarz


Fulton,NewYorkMeets at 7:30 p.m. on the 3rd Wednesday except July and

August in members’ homes; contact John A. Cali for location

John A. Cali, 613 W. 4th St., Fulton, NY 13069-3104 315-592-4441

Other Federation Member ClubsPutnamPhilatelicSociety of Carmel, and St.LawrenceInternationalStampClub of Massena are also members of the Federation of New York Philatelic Societies. The Putnam club contact is Drew A. Nicholson, 18 Valley Drive, Pawling, NY 12564-1140, [email protected]. Meetings are on the first and third Fridays at 7 p.m. in the third floor cafeteria of Guideposts, Seminary Hill in Carmel. Patrick R. Rourk, 3 Morton St., Norwood, NY 13668-1100, [email protected], is the St. Lawrence Club contact.

ClubMeetingRegularly

The club is continuing to meet regularly in members’ homes. Please contact John A. Cali at the number listed above for more information. Read about our holiday activities in

the next issue of the Stamp Insider.We wish everyone a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Fulton Postal HistoryA pair of stampless folded letter sheets mailed from Fulton shed a light on its early postal history. A post office was established there in 1826 as Union Bridge, but the name was changed to Fulton after only six weeks. The 1836 FLS, top, was as-sessed six cents postage for not more than 30 miles. The writer noted that it was a single sheet just beneath the CDS. The second FLS from 1842 was assessed 18¾ cents postage for dis-tance of 150 to 400 miles.

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Ithaca,NewYorkMeets from 7:30– 9:30 p.m. on the 2nd & 4th Wednesday

in Room 384, Morrison Hall at Cornell University

Yoram B. Szekely, 104 Klinewoods Rd., Ithaca, NY 14850-2229 [email protected], 607-257-5346

MyLifeinStampsBy Karl Berkelman

I have collected stamps for as long as I can remember — almost 70 years. As a child grow-ing up in Maine I got started by trying to acquire all of the presidential series soon after it

came out. My interest in stamps was reinforced by my fascination with world geography. Later I discovered that there were other collectors. For instance, my grandfather who

lived in Philadelphia had long been a collector. He came from Guernsey and had lived in Saint Martin, French Equatorial Africa, southern France (where my mother was born), Tu-nisia, and Canada, so he had plenty of opportunity to pick up stamps. When my parents honeymooned in Europe, they stopped at post offices to pick up whatever they could for him. He had a nearly complete collection of 1900–1940 U.S., Canada, Britain and colo-nies, France and colonies, and Germany, as well as stamps from many other countries. It included the U.S. airmail zeppelins. He was my inspiration.

In the 1950s I inherited my grandfather’s collection and merged it with mine. I had good opportunities to enlarge the collection while my wife, children, and I lived abroad in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and France for several years. As my teaching career got busier in the 1970–1990 period my stamp activity lapsed somewhat, although I still put away whatever stamps happened to come my way. When I retired a few years ago, my philatelic interest picked up again.

In the meantime stamp collecting had changed. Many more countries were issuing many more varieties. The single-volume Scott catalogue had grown to half a dozen or more vol-umes. Also, metered mail, e-mail, and other changes were making it harder to increase a collection just from incoming mail. The quest for completeness that had been a part of my fascination with collecting was no longer a credible motivation. Trying to be an all-inclusive collector was hopeless. Everyone was specializing. So I had to specialize as well.

At first I figured I would get rid of whatever countries I could and collect only a few, so I had to link up with other collectors. On the Web I discovered the Ithaca Stamp Club and started to attend meetings. Keeping stamps from the U.S., Canada, Britain, France, and Italy, I sold the rest. I still continue to be overwhelmed by the volume of new stamps being issued and can’t keep up. What should I do? Should I reduce again the number of countries in my collection? Should I find a special topic to concentrate on? I’m trying to decide. I wonder how many other collectors are facing the same kind of question. What is the future of stamp collecting?

Dr. Karl Berkelman is a retired professor of physics at Cornell University.


Cooperstown,NewYorkMeets at 7:30 p.m. on the 1st Tuesday except February

and March at the Tillapaugh home, 28 Pioneer St.

Ellen Tillapaugh, 80 Beaver St., Cooperstown, NY 13326-1202 [email protected], 607-547-5646

LeatherstockingStampClub

SeenattheFallBourse

The club’s fall bourse on October 11 was a success. Clockwise, club member Bill High-field and his daughter, Jan, with John J. Nunes, above; Ed Bailey and club member Carl Johansen, right, and Dee Archer of the Women Exhibitors, StampExpo 400 Chair Conrad Novick, and club member Linda Car-kees, below. Novick and Archer were at the show to promote the 2009 StampExpo 400.

ProgramsJan. 4 — Holiday party at Cooperstown Fire Hall 1–3 p.m. Bring a dish to pass.February and Marech — No meetings


Plattsburgh,NewYorkMeets at 1 p.m. on the second Saturday of each month in the second

floor meeting room of Plattsburgh Public Library, 19 Oak St.

Glenn A. Estus, P. O. Box 451, Westport, NY 12993-0451 [email protected], 518-962-4558N

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HowDoISpellPlattsburgh?Let me count the ways.

At a recent meeting of the North Country Stamp Club, one member asked if he had a scarce cancellation from Plattsburgh. He had a post card with the post office

name spelled Plattsburg (without the h). The postmark isn’t scarce, but brings up an interesting story.

According to Kay and Smith’s New York Postal History: The Post Offices and First Post Masters From 1775 to 1980, the official name of the post office has wavered between Platts-burg and Plattsburgh since it was established in 1797. The name was Plattsburg from 1797 to 1827 and again from 1894 to 1955. From 1827 to 1894 and since 1955, the official post office name has been Plattsburgh.

The accompanying illustrations are from three military offices of Plattsburgh with the different spellings: Camp of Instruction, Plattsburg, N.Y. (circa World War I), Platts-burg Barracks (1932), and Plattsburgh Air Force Base (1960).

Plattsburg Barracks, now the site of much regional redevelopment since the clo-sure of Plattsburgh Air Force Base in 1995, was the site of the Plattsburgh Idea — a forerunner of the modern Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC).

The writer, Claude F., at the Camp of Instruction apparently was training as an officer for the U.S. Army. He wrote: “Great place to camp. Clear water, no mosquitoes, good drinking water & cool nights.” [Edi-tor’s note: The postcard was written in mid August. I wonder what Claude’s opinion of the camping place was come January.]Programs

Jan. 10 — Champlain QuadricentennialFeb. 14 — Love is In the Air

One Place


Olean,NewYorkMeets at 7:30 p.m. on the 2nd Monday at the Elks Club, 209 W.

State St. (Entrance is from the parking lot on the 2nd Street side)

Jack Searles, 733 Front St., Olean, NY 14760-2851 [email protected], 716-372-1070

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HowDaftGanYouGet?Perhaps by stopping collecting altogether for awhile?By David Alexander

I have collected stamps since my childhood, except between 1939 and 1946 during World War II. It is not that I did not have opportunities to get stamps, but rather had no desire

nor inclination to do so. My mind was 100 percent on the war and the need to win it. In 1943, I passed through Lisbon, Portugal in civilian clothes. I was there only 12

hours. Then I was two days in Rabat, the capital of Morocco. I got one stamp to place on a postcard addressed to my wife. Then two weeks in Algiers and one and a half years in Italy.

During that period, the authorities, whoever they were, were replacing the regular set of stamps showing King Victor Emmanuel III and taking out the fascio, the Fascist emblems from all stamps. It took a very long time! I got to Trieste, which had pro-claimed itself a free city, not wanting to be under Yugoslav rule. Trieste issued its own overprinted stamps which found a place on the philatelic market, especially the high values. After visiting Italian partisans, who had no correspondence and no stamps, I eventually returned to London.

The last stamps I had collected before the war was the Swiss trilingual set of 18 stamps for the Swiss National Exhibition in 1939. My first philatelic desire in 1946 was to obtain a GPO envelope bearing a special cancel for the first session of the UN General Assembly held at Church House, London, at the beginning of 1946.

I never regretted the decision I took on that occasion to make stamp collecting No. 2 in my life.Auction,Election,PartyEnd2008We had our major auction at our November meeting.

New officers elected at our November meeting are Steve Brainard, president; Ron Yea-ger, vice president; Jack Searles, secretary and treasurer Cathy Searles.

Our Christmas party was held on December 8. Ham was furnished by the club and everyone bought a dish to pass. Programs for the coming year were developed at the De-cember Christmas Party.Programs

Jan. 12 — Show and TellFeb. 9 — Deltiology by Ron Yeager

— Ron Yeager


Oswego,NewYorkMeets at 6 p.m. on the 4th Monday except July and August

at Faith United Church, 12 Mark Fitzgibbons Drive

Leigh LeClair, 212 Murray St., Oswego, NY 13126-4032 [email protected], 315-342-5653

OvertheRiverandThroughWoods?

The club’s November meeting ended with members driving home very slowly in a slushy icy snow mix. Club members swapped and perused some Swedish material brought in

by President Leigh LeClair, as well as the APS circuit books.Other topics of conversation included the date of the Holiday Party, APS dues, and

club members who had already escaped the snow and gone south for the winter. Also discussed was the possibility of finding a guest speaker for a future club meeting, which may be put off until the weather is more coöperative.HolidayPartyThe Holiday Party was held at Canale’s Restaurant on December 16. Those in attendance had a good time, full stomachs, and had fun opening a few stamp related door prizes and gifts. It is hoped that the January and February meetings can take place, but the lake effect snow machine is unpredictable!TransatlanticTradeThis cover is a great exam-ple of the worldwide trade connections established by the Kingsford Starch fac-tory via the little town of Oswego. The cover, an ex-ample of transatlantic mail, was mailed from London on March 11, 1884 via the Celtic, a ship in the White Star Line, a serious competitor with the famous Cunard line.

The White Star Line was profitable in the late decades of the 19th century and had three main ships, the Celtic, Majestic, and Oceanic. The line was purchased in the early 1900s by railroad baron John Pierpont Morgan.

The cover has a London hand stamp on the front bearing the date, and several mark-ings on the back. It was likely mailed from the London office by J. H. Paxon, the London manager of the Kingsford Company to Thomas Kingsford in Oswego. On the reverse side of the cover one can see that it arrived in Oswego on March 24, a journey of a mere 13 days. Not bad for the year 1884!


Rochester,NewYorkwww.rpastamps.org

Meets at 7 p.m. on the 2nd & 4th Thursday at Twelve Corners Presbyterian Church, 1200 S. Winton Road

Thomas M. Fortunato, 28 Amberwood Place, Rochester, NY 14626-4166 [email protected], 585-225-6822

ROPEX2009Update

ROPEX 2009 will be May 15–17 at Monroe Community College’s ESL Sports Centre. This is our third year at the facility and should be our best show yet. We anticipate

30 dealers from throughout the East Coast and Canada offering a wide range of philatelic material. Dealer tables are still available and start at $300, with a lower rate for dollar deal-ers. For information contact bourse chairman Dave Robinson at [email protected] or 585-482-7712. Exhibit frames are $10 each ($20 for single-frame entries) and will be sold until filled. A maximum of 240 frames will be shown. Exhibits chair is Tom Fortunato. Contact him at [email protected] or 585-225-6822.

Our awards banquet will be a little different, as it will be held at Domenico’s Ristorante featuring steaks and Italian fare. Ordering will be off the full menu. It is conveniently located across from the show and near the new Country Inn and Suites. Reservations are requested through the RPA by the show opening to ensure appropriate seating in the banquet room.RochesterLabeloneBayRochester was very much a business boomtown in 1917. Bausch & Lomb was more than a half-century old; George Eastman had solidified Kodak’s leadership roll in world-wide photography; and the Haloid Company (later becom-ing Xerox) was well-established.

Few people realize that Rochester was also known for its shoe-making industry at that time, perhaps due to the skills of many European immigrants who had moved here. In fact, a generation earlier in 1878 the Brown Shoe Company (of Buster Brown fame) convinced five Rochester shoemakers to move to St. Louis to begin manufacturing shoes of their own with the goal of producing them cheaper than their East Coast counterparts. The rest was history.

This poster stamp advertised the 1917 Rochester Shoe Manufacturers’ Style Show at the landmark Powers Hotel in the city. It sold on eBay in late November 2008 for $8.50.Programs

Jan. 8 — Owney, the Postal Dog, Smithsonian presentationJan. 22 — ATA presentation on DVDFeb. 12 — Everyone-A-Dealer NightFeb. 26 — Linn’s Stamp News 2008 Stamp Poll


Schenectady,NewYorkMeets at 7:30 p.m. on the 1st Monday, except January–February and July–August, at Union Presbyterian Church, 1068 Park Ave.

Ronald K. Ratchford, 1105 Union St., Schenectady, NY 12308-2805 [email protected], 518-374-3776

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Auction ActionDr. Joe Rudnick auctions a pair of philatelic frames. He was assisted by, from left: Jim Kirby, Tom Auletta, and George McGowan.

Tri-ClubStampAuctionSuccessful

On November 3, 2008 about 25 philatelists gathered at Petta’s Restaurant, 134 Duane Avenue in Schenectady. Following an Italian buffet meal, an auction took place with

Dr. Joe Rudnick serving as the auctioneer. Among those assisting with the conduct of the philatelic auction were John J. Nunes and Maris Tirums who kept records of the auction results. Others assisting the auctioneer in handling the numerous lots included Jim Kirby, Tom Auletta, and George McGowan.

The Schenectady Stamp Club served as the host club. Members of the Fort Orange Stamp Club of Albany and the Uncle Sam Stamp Club of Troy constituted a sizeable portion of the attendees. Schenectady Stamp Club Historian Ronald K. Ratchford took numerous digital photographs during the auction and even purchased one auction lot for himself.GrayReturnsHomeSteve Gray was able to return to his residence after about two weeks of hospitalization and a month at the home of a relative. Full recovery from the pelvis fracture may still take a while, however.NoFormalMeetingsPlease note that no formal meetings are scheduled for January and February.


Staten IslandPhilatelic Society

StatenIsland,NewYorkMeets at 7:30 p.m. on the 1st & 3rd Monday except July and August at the Rev. Paul Kroon Center of Messiah Lutheran

Church, 195 Jefferson Blvd., Annadale, Staten Island

Charles R. Carlson, 30 Hopping Ave., Staten Island, NY 10307-1219 [email protected], 718-984-7880

DiscussionofColorsWellAttended

We had a really well attended meeting our second meeting in November, our biggest of the season so far, and several members have not checked in yet — nor paid their

dues. By the time the late comers arrived, the early birds were deep in a discussion of col-ors. Really. You know if you collect early stamps, that many exist in multiple shades, some of which have an astounding value.

If you collect Great Britain, and work with a Stanley Gibbons catalogue, you know that shades are of primary interest in early British stamps. Indeed, such common stamps as the common half-penny or one penny stamps of King George V can have a confusing number and subtlety of shades, often with breathtaking differences in value.

The same is true of almost all early European stamps. My catalogue of Swedish stamps can assign the various shades to a printing date, which frequently correlates to the cancel’s date, and lends an interest, if not value, to the stamp. These subtle, but important differ-ences in color and shade can often lead to wishful thinking when it comes to valuing a col-lection. Try checking out an early Austria collection, and see words describing the color of the two kreuzer 1850 stamp as black, blackish gray, gray, silver gray, and mouse gray. I’m confused already, but I would have to plead guilty to buying a whole Austria album just to get one gray shade that I thought I needed.

For Austria collectors, the new Dr. Ulrich Ferchenbauer Österreich 1850–1918, Spezial-katalog und Handbuch can help solve the problem. It has every stamp broken down by col-or, with an accurate reproduction of each recognized shade. Finding the shade you have is just a matter of comparing your stamp to the pictures in the books. The color photos are simply amazing, with a very faithfully accurate reproduction of each color.

This catalogue is not easily obtained, and it is not cheap. The former one volume is now four volumes. The set of books weighs 17 pounds. It is simply a tour-de-force of Austrian philately, the last word on the subject and at 245 euros for the set plus postage, it had better be the last word, because my wife can hardly tolerate me buying another catalogue on that subject for some time. The sole U.S. distributer of the Ferchenbauer catalogues is Ralph Schneider of Illinois.

Just as our discussion of colors and shades was wearing down, the last attendee arrived with a showing of U.S. 1861 three-cent stamps, with a variety of subtle colors that left my failing eyes wondering if he was making up the names of the colors, which frankly left me shaking my head. The colors were beautiful, although the differences were subtle. But then, that is why we meet, to discuss stamps and have fun.


Syracuse,NewYorkwww.syracusestampclub.org

Meets at 8 p.m. the 1st & 3rd Friday at the Reformed Church of Syracuse, 1228 Teall Ave.

Richard Erat, P. O. Box 593, East Syracuse, NY 13057-0593 [email protected], 315-396-6796

Organized 1919APS Chapter 50

FormerPresidentRobertSalenskiDies

Fifteen year Syracuse Stamp Club member and former president Robert Salenski, 65, of Liverpool died on October 20, 2008. He

was president from 1994 to 1997 and was a dedicated club member and collector.

The Syracuse native retired in March 2008 after 38 years with Na-tionwide Insurance as an agent in Baldwinsville. He was a member of the American Legion in Clayton. the CNY Rod and Gun Club, and many other various sports clubs. He is survived by his wife of 40 years, Elaine; a son; a daughter; a sister; a brother; and three grandchildren.

Contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society.2009ScheduleClub members are looking forward to a very exciting 2009, including celebration of the club’s 90th anniversary during Syrapex 2009. Guests, as always, are welcome at all meetings. We would like to encourage all collectors and members of other clubs, near and far, to stop by for a visit.

Several events have been scheduled and monthly full meeting auctions have been ap-proved by the board of directors. Auction nights are very popular and with recent club purchases of worldwide auction lots of higher value, it should prove to be fun for all and offer bargains galore! Programs/Events

Jan. 2 — Stampo (bingo for stamp collectors); mini-auction at 7:45 p.m.Jan. 16 — Swap & Shop; free food & drinks Jan. 30 — AuctionFeb. 6 — Washington–Franklin Series by Rick Erat; mini-auction at 7:45 p.m.Feb. 20 — AuctionMarch 6 — Sherlockian Philately by Associate Professor Joseph Coppola of Morrisville

Sate College and a member of the Mycroft Holmes SocietyJune 20–21 — Club trip to the APS in Bellefonte, PASept. 26–27 — Club trip to StampExpo 400 at the Empire State PlazaNov. 7–8 — Syrapex 2009, Holiday Inn Carrier Circle


Sidney,NewYorkMeets at 7 p.m. except July and August on the 3rd Monday

at Sidney Civic Center, 21 Liberty St.

Robert Finnegan, 10 O’Neill Drive, Oneonta, NY 13820-1154 [email protected], 607-432-8141

FoundingMemberHarryS.TaberDies

The Tri-County Stamp Club has received the sad news that one of its founders, Harry S. Taber, 93, died on November 19, 2008. Harry had been a long time collector and was

instrumental in the historic flag cancels found on envelopes throughout the 20th century. Harry was from Sidney Center, which had the last post office using the flag cancel in the United States.

A childhood accident forced him to be bed ridden for many months and while re-cuperating in a TB sanitarium in northern Herkimer County, his lifelong passion for postage stamps was born.

Over the years, Taber traveled widely with various philatelic societies. He was a founding member of the American Flag Cancel Society and in later years became a judge at stamp shows throughout the northeast. Taber was a vice president of the Fed-eration of New York Stamp Clubs in 1965.

Beginning in 1940, Taber was employed by Scintilla Magneto Division of Bendix Avia-tion Corp. in Sidney for 35 years. In 1956, the family moved to the farm in Sidney Center, where they have resided since. After he retired, the Tabers spent winter months in Ruskin, FL and summers were spent on the farm.

He is survived by his wife, Naomi; a sister; three sons; six grandchildren; and great-grandchildren. Memorial donations may be made in Taber’s name to the Sidney Center Emergency squad.PennySwapMembers attending the November meeting had some fun looking through duplicates of members in the club’s Penny Swap. Purchases were added to respective collections while the proceeds went into the club treasury.Linn’sStampPollThe January program will be the Linn’s Stamp Poll. Members will be voting on some of their favorites from the 2008 issues of the United States Postal Service.

Members strive to match the final results of the annual poll conducted by Linn’s. Com-memorative issues, definitive issues as well as postal cards and stationary will be displayed on Linn’s Stamp News site (www.linns.com) to refresh club members’ memories.PossibleProgramChangeIn February the program was to be Philatelic Games and Quizzes, but the program may be changed due to a scheduling conflict of the presenter. Members will receive any change in the program via their monthly club newsletter.


Troy,NewYorkMeets at 7 p.m. on the 1st & 3rd Wednesday except June, July, and August at M.J.’s on the Avenue, 499 2nd Ave., North Troy

Terrill S. Miller, P. O. Box 335, Troy, NY 12181-0335 [email protected], 518-869-6872

UN

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TROY, N.Y.

PhilatelywithaBang

On October 1 John J. Nunes displayed a fine assortment of philatelic items and ephem-era relating to the history of Explosives. He began with their discovery in China and

took us through the centuries to the present state of the industry. As always, he did his homework and provided us with a an interesting and varied education.RFDOn October 15 George McGowan spoke on Rural Free Delivery, specifically as it developed in Albany County. After city delivery began in the 1860s, rural Americans believed they should also get home delivery, reasoning that they paid the same postage rates but did not get the same service. After many years and much politics, rural delivery experiments were conducted in the early 1890s and RFD grew rapidly thereafter.

Rural Free Delivery gave us a variety of postal history to study, beginning with the many and interesting forms of canceling. The rural carrier eventually was able to provide most of the services that the local post office could.CompetitionNightOne of the highlights of the philatelic year for the club is the annual Competition Night, and this year was no exception. We had many interesting and varied displays with the members selecting the top three. First place went to Peg Kosinski for her display of the flag on picture post cards. Second place was won by John Traver with his collection of 21st century canceled Christmas stamps. He makes his own album pages. Third went to George McGowan for his collection of the Hudson-Fulton Stamps (Scott No. 372 and 373) on cover. Thanks to everyone who attended and who displayed.Programs

Jan. 7 — U.S. C10a Booklet by Jim KirbyJan. 21 — Annual meeting and George L Habert (Single Page) NightFeb. 4 — TBAFeb. 18 — Members auction

George McGowan and John Traver at Competition night


Utica,NewYorkMeets at 7 p.m. on the 1st Tuesday except July

and August, at New Hartford Town Library, 2 Library Lane Stamp circuits available

Jerome F. Wagner, 160 Proctor Blvd., Utica, NY 13501-6119 315-732-0219

STAMP CLUB

GR

EATER UTICA

CoilStamps—RealorFake?

At our November meet-ing, member Ken Up-

degraft gave a presentation on old U.S. coil stamps and the difficulty collectors face in attempting to determine whether those in their collec-tions are genuine or fake. He and other members joining in the discussion explained that during the 1930s many unscrupulous stamp collec-tors trimmed U.S. definitives so they would appear to be more valuable coil stamps.

Updegraft showed two coil stamps he acquired when he purchased a circa 1930 Scott Modern Postage Stamp Album that appeared to have been untouched for more than 70 years. The first was a one-cent blue-green Franklin perf. 12 vertical coil (Scott No. 318), the other a two-cent carmine Washington perf. 12 vertical coil (Scott No. 322). Updegraft has not had these expertized, but has shown them to several New York State stamp dealers, each of whom expressed a different opinion as to their authenticity. This led to a discussion of the procedures that a collector can employ to have potentially valuable stamps authenticated.

He also showed the members two additional U.S. definitive stamps that appeared to be coil stamps, but which are not catalogued as such in the Scott Catalogue. One was a four-cent dark brown Lincoln (Scott No. 222), which appears to be a perf. 12 vertical coil stamp, and the other was a one-cent ultramarine Franklin (Scott No. 246), which appears to be a perf. 12 horizontal coil stamp. Updegraft explained that these two stamps were present in two very old collections that he recently acquired, one of which was that of a turn-of-the-century Mor-risville postmaster. Neither collection appears to have been touched in 80 years, he said.

Several club members speculated that these two stamps might be test stamps, although they are not catalogued as such in the Scott Catalogue. It was speculated that they might be locally produced test stamps, inasmuch as there would be little or no incentive for an unscru-pulous collector to produce fake coils since a genuine coil of neither was ever released.G

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FakesScott No. 348 pair, far left; Scott No. 388 pair, above; and Scott No. 352 single, left.


Cheektowaga,NewYorkMeets informally at noon Tuesdays at the Masonic

Community Center, 2379 Union Road

John L. Leszak, 2379 Union Rd., Cheektowaga , NY 14227-2234 [email protected], 716-822-1951

Valley of B

uffalo Family Life Stamp Club MasonicStarsoftheSilverScreen

Quite a number of Freemasons who had marvelous careers as film actors on the silver screen have been honored by United States Postage stamps. Here’s a brief sampling

of a Masonic film festival:DouglasFairbanks (Scott No. 2088) was noted for his swashbuckler roles in films, and is perhaps best noted for his role as Zorro. His real name was Douglas Elton Ullman. During WWI he was quite active raising funds for War Bonds.W.C.Fields (Scott No. 1803) is always remembered for his comedic roles. The “W. C. “ actually stood for “William Claude.” Fields was his stage name; his real last name was Dukenfield.ClarkGable (Scott No. 2446) is best known as one of Hollywood’s greatest leading men. Many people recall his role in the classic movie “Gone With the Wind,” but few can name his last movie, with Marilyn Monroe in 1961, which was entitled “The Misfits.”OliverHardy (Scott No. 2562) did much work for Hal Roach, who was also a Mason. Hardy’s real first name was Norvell. JohnWayne (Scott No. 2448 and 3876) is best known for setting the standard of the Western Hero, he also played a lot of blood and guts roles in assorted war movies, including the classic The Green Berets. His real name was Marion Robert Morrison.ValleypexUpdateMany folks have inquired about the status of the Valleypex stamp show. At this writing, it is hoped that the show will be held in the summer of 2009. Stay tuned for more details.


W MP S

ORGANIZED FEB. 7, 1961APS 560-44599

Spencerport,NewYorkwww.geocities.com/gmusante/wmps.html

Meets from 6:30–9 p.m. on the 2nd Tuesday, except July and August, at Ogden Farmers’ Library, 269 Ogden Center Road

Gary Musante, 107 Sherwood Drive, Brockport, NY 14420-1451 585-637-9091, [email protected]

MembersPreparingPowerPointPrograms

November’s meeting had the best attendance

in many years with 14 club members and two guests from the Rochester Philatelic Association. Club members were happy for the return of long time club member George Shaw, who served a number of years on a lo-cal town board which met on the same night as club meetings and was unable to attend both.WorkshopThe club’s first Stamp ID Workshop was a modest success. Most of the items identified by club members turned out to be semi-postal stamps and non-postal labels. To everyone’s surprise the biggest item identified is that many club members found that they have to brush up on their foreign language skills.

Club members are working on new PowerPoint presentations for the spring. Topics for future slide presentations were discussed, including local postal history, baseball stamps and covers, and unusual and rarely seen revenue stamps.

The club has set its meeting schedule for the next six months and updates will be post-ed on the club Web site.Programs

Jan. 13 — Show, Tell and Learn and silent auctionFeb. 3 — Note: one week earlier then normal: Show, Tell and Learn and silent auction March 10 — APS circuits April 14 — Show, Tell and Learn and silent auctionMay 12 — Club banquetJune 9 — APS circuitsJuly–August — No meetings

Local postal history offers many collecting options.


Shows & Bourses

January4 — Gates

RS Stamp Show, Diplomat Banquet Center & Hotel, 1956 Lyell Ave. 10–4. Bourse. John J. Nunes, 518-399-8395, [email protected].

11 — Meriden, CTConnecticut Stamp Col-lecting Festival, Sheraton Four Points, 275 Reseach Parkway. Stamps, covers, lots, postcards. Sunday 9–3. Richard E. Murphy, [email protected].

18 — LathamCapital District Stamp Show, Ramada Latham, 946 New Loudon Rd. 10–4. Bourse. John J. Nunes, 518-399-8395, [email protected].

23–25 — Washington, DCMetropolitan Stamp Expo, Hilton Washington Dulles Airport, 13869 Park Center Rd., Herndon, VA. Friday and Saturday 10–6, Sunday 10–4. John J. Nunes, 518-399-8395, [email protected].

24 — St. Catharines, ONSt. Catharines Stamp Club’s 60th Cathex, Grantham Lion’s Club, 732 Niagara St. 10–5. 14 dealers. [email protected]; http://home.cogeco.ca/~stampclub/home.htm.

25 — West SenecaStamp, Coin, Postcard & Collectibles Show, Harvey D. Morin VFW Post 2940, 965 Center Rd. 10–4. Bourse. Vic-tor Drajem, 716-656-8080.

NESS Stamp ExpositionsDedham, Massachusetts

First Sunday Stamp and Coin Show9:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m. January 4 and February 1

Holiday Inn, Rts. 1A and 95, Exit 15AMeriden & New Haven, ConnecticutConnecticut Stamp Collecting Festival

9 a.m.–3 p.m.January 11 (Meriden) and February 8 (North Haven)Sheraton Four Points, 275 Reseach Parkway, Meriden

Holiday Inn, 201 Washington Avenue, North Haven

Saddle Brook, New JerseyThird Sunday Stamp & Coin Show

9 a.m.–4 p.m. January 18 and February 15Wyndham Garden Hotel, 50 Kenney Place

Richard E. Murphy52 Cedar Hill Road, Northborough, MA 01532-1813 www.richardemurphy.com • [email protected]

Fede

ration of New York

Ph

ilatelic Societies,

In

c. . .

September 25–27, 2009Empire State Plaza, Albany



February6–8 — New York City

Metropolitan Stamp Expo, Midtown Holiday Inn, 440 W. 57th St.. Friday noon–6, Saturday 10–6, Sunday 10–4. John J. Nunes, 518-399-8395, [email protected].

8 — SyracuseSyracuse Stamp, Coin & Collectibles Show, Holiday Inn, Carrier Circle, Thruway exit 35. Saturday 9–5:30, Sunday 10–5. Bourse. Ed Bailey, 315-452-0593.

8 — North Haven, CTConnecticut Stamp Col-lecting Festival, Holiday Inn, 201 Washington Ave.. Stamps, covers, lots, post-cards. 9–3. Richard E. Mur-phy, [email protected].

21–22 — AlbanyCover Mania 10, Clarion Hotel, 3 Watervliet Ave.Saturday 10–6, Sunday 10–4. Bourse. John J. Nunes, 518-399-8395, [email protected].

22 — West SenecaStamp, Coin, Postcard & Collectibles Show, Harvey D. Morin VFW Post 2940, 965 Center Rd. 10–4. Bourse. Vic-tor Drajem, 716-656-8080.31–March 1 — Niagara FallsNiagara Frontier Coin Club Collectors’ Show/Expo ’08, Elks Lodge No. 346, 1805 Factory Outlet Blvd. Stamps, coins, postcards. Saturday 10–5, Sunday 10–4. Ralf Hjalmarson, 716-633-4104.

Add Your ListingSend show/bourse calendar listings to:[email protected]

Stamp, Coin, Postcard& Collectibles ShowSUNDAY Hours 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

January 25 • February 22March 22 • April 26 • May 24

June 28 & September 27 Free Admission & Parking!

Harvey D. Morin VFW Post 2940965 Center Road, West Seneca, NY

Contact: Victor Drajem • phone: 716-656-8080

Suburban Stamps, Coins & Collectibles

Always Buying315•452•0593

Open: Monday–Friday 10 a.m.–5 p.m.Saturday 9 a.m.–1 p.m.

120 Kreischer RoadNorth Syracuse, NY 13212-3251

Just off Taft Road 1⁄2 mile east of Rt. 81

Mark Szuba • Edward Bailey

Buy ö Sell ö Trade

Big “E” Coins& StampsRD2 • Box 158

Munnsville, NY 13409-9754Ernest Lewis 315•495•6235


AdvertiserIndexAmerican First Day Cover Society ..............77 American Topical Association ....................77APS Writers Unit #30 .................................. 39Art Cover Exchange ......................................77ASDA ................................................................35Azusa Stamps and Collectibles ...................17B. Trading Co..................................................35Frank Bachenheimer .................................... 25Bejjco of Florida, Inc. .................................. 25Big “E” Coins & Stamps ...................................75Frank Braithwaite.........................................77Buffalo Stamp Club Bufpex 2009 ................ 27Champion Stamp Co. ..................................... 23Norman Cohen ...............................................77Cover Mania 11 ...............................................37Design on Demand .........................................35Elwyn Doubleday ...........................................35Henry Gitner Philatelists, Inc. ................... 11Harmer–Schau , Inc. ......................................31 Heritage Auction Galleries .........................13Journal of Antiques & Collectibles ............77Lincoln Coin and Stamp Co. .........................31Steve Malack Stamps .................................... 23McCloud Stamps & Covers .......................... 47E. Joseph McConnell, Inc. ............................. 9Metropolitan Expositions ............................ 5

Mystic Stamp Company .......................... 40–41Nassau Street Stamps & Collectibles .........21Ness Stamp Expositions ................................ 74Niagara Frontier Coin Club ....................... 27NunesNook ...................................................... 7Nutmeg Stamp Sales ......... Inside Back CoverOld World Archæological Study Unit .....77Park Cities Stamps ........................................29Philatelica, Ltd............................................. 74PostalHistoryStore.com ..............................33R. J. Associates ................................................35Sarasota Natl. Philatelic Exhibition ........ 39Schmitt Investors, Ltd. ................................19Stamp Camp USA............................................ 45StampExpo 400 .............................................. 74Stamp Insider ........................... 35, Back CoverStamp News .....................................................19Subway Stamp Shop, Inc. .......................... 14–15Suburban Stamps, Coins & Collectibles ......75Syracuse Stamps, Coins & Collectibles ........ 9Vidiforms Company.......................Back CoverVirtual Stamp Club ........................................35Washington Press ...........Inside Front CoverDouglas Weisz U.S. Covers ..........................33West Seneca Shows ........................................75George Wildman ...........................................29


Join the American First Day Cover Society• Get a unique perspective on stamp collecting• Learn about first day cover collecting• Enjoy FIRST DAYS magazine• Contact us today!

AFDCS, P.O. Box 16277, Tucson, AZ 85732-6277Phone 520-321-0880 • Website www.afdcs.org

Do you like to draw or paint andmeet people from all over?The Art Cover Exchange maybe for you! Write to Joe Doles105 Lawson Rd., Rochester, NY14616-1444 or go to our Web site:

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Unusual U.S. Scott #210 Covers Always Wanted

Norman CohenP.O. Box 29543

Dallas, TX 75229-0543

WANTEDBenjamin Harrison on cover — Scott #308, 622, 694,

828 & 1045 • Long Island postal history

Frank Braithwaite56 Morewood DriveSmithtown, NY 11787

[email protected]

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We provide our readers with colorful, original articles written by the experts …• Covers Doug Finch

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• The Civil War Collector

John Sexton

• Collecting Old and Rare Books

James Dawson

• Website-ings Mike McLeod

• Ken’s Korner Ken Hall

• Antiques Shop Finder

• The Kovels on Collecting

Ralph & Terry Kovel

• Flea Market Guide

• Gavels ‘n’ Paddles Results of Auctions

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Old World Archæological Study Unit – www.owasu.orgCollect cave art, monoliths, and ancient tombs stamps?

We study archæology on stamps and collateral materials.Dues – U.S. /Canada $15, overseas $23.

Special! Mention the Stamp Insider :Get 2009 membership & bonus of 2008 journals for $25!Contact Merle Farrington, 10 Clark St., Medway, MA 02053

or Caroline Scannell at [email protected].

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TheLastWordsHeather Sweeting, Associate Editor

14329 Victory St.Sterling NY 13156-3172


StationeryMarketIsn’tStationary

I recently received a call from a collector in-terested in buying a set of the new sporty

car postcards for a car buff. To his dismay, he found that the only way to purchase the cards — five designs in all — was to order 20 of them from the USPS fulfillment center, at the cost of $13.95 for 20 cards. An idea with the intent of sparking philatelic interest as a nice little gift became costly and was aban-doned. Moreover, the collector was upset that the USPS was charging 69 cents each for a postcard that costs 27 cents to mail.

The USPS set of Disney cards also has the same mark up. Generic cards, such as the 27-cent Corinthian capital cards are sold for 30 cents each, a bargain in comparison.

One wonders who is reaping the profits from the cards — the artist, the manufacturer, or the USPS? You would think many more would be sold if they were available in sets of five or 10. I had considered purchasing some of the cards as I think postally used examples could be a modern postal history rarity. I also hesitated because of their cost. Some eBay sellers offer sets of five for a slight mark up, which makes them cheaper than buying the entire 20.

The set of car postal cards is a bargain compared to the set made for the recent Great Lakes Dunes series. The 10-card set is priced at $8.95, making each individual card 89.5 cents! Why are these more than the cars? Is it because they have more designs to print or because the USPS needs more money? In 2004 the cloudscapes postal cards were priced at $9.75 for 20 (48 cents each). The 2007 lighthouse cards jumped to $12.80 (64 cents each)! Why did the cost jump so significantly in 2007? That was the year the Postal Regulatory Commission was told it had to set aside billions of dollars to cover pension costs.

One must question to whom is the USPS marketing these cards? Why are they being produced? The only places they can be purchased are the USPS Fulfillment Center and the USPS web site. Would the post office sell more of these postal card booklets if they were available in local offices? I think so, as most people don’t even know that they exist!

Casual car buffs or lighthouse fans might buy a set if they saw them at a post office, but probably won’t go to the USPS site for postal stationary. I would say that those who know they exist are primarily collectors who have read press releases, stamp magazines, etc. How does the postal service expect to sell these to thrifty collectors who realize the cards have a huge mark up?

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Bimonthly $10.00 per year.To subscribe or for a sample copy:

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