Borneo Collector Likes Stamps and Standing in Line

The Borneo Post reports, "It was the trend of pen pal letter-writing in yesteryears that gave local antique collector Lucas Johnny a boost to continue with his hobby of collecting stamps since his childhood days. He started on stamps since he was seven years old in 1953 during his school days."

Lucas, shown above, is quoted as saying, "My interest to collect stamps actually started after I was encouraged by my primary school teacher and continued my hobby up to secondary school at Methodist School Sibu."

According to the article, "Currently, he is ‘sharing’ his stamp collection by holding an exhibition at Pustaka Miri which started on May 6 until end of this month. He explained that the hobby of stamp-collecting was a popular hobby back in the 1960s and 1970s."

"Meanwhile, Lucas is also involved in the effort to break the record for the longest philately line at Miri Civic Centre on May 25. The event, which part of the events to mark the 8th Miri City Day is organised by Pustaka Miri and Miri City Council (MCC). In order to be eligible for the Malaysia Book of Records (MBR), the philately line has to be more than 300 metres," the article goes on to say.

To read the entire article, click here.

Boy Becomes Swiss Gaurd Because of Postage Stamp

The Catholic News Service reports, "One young man’s dream of becoming a Swiss Guard began with a postage stamp."

Michael Odermatt is quoted in the article that "when he was a small child, his godfather gave him a stamp depicting the ornately dressed papal soldier and I was fascinated by that image and wanted to know everything about the Swiss Guard.” 

According to Wikipedia, "Only unmarried Swiss males of the Catholic faith - historically, mainly from the four original Swiss cantons (Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Luzern) and Valais - are eligible for service. Moreover, they must all be between 19 and 30 years of age, at least 174 cm tall and must have fulfilled their basic military training in the Swiss Army." 

Shown above, 2005 Swiss stamp showing members of the Swiss Guard. 

To read the entire article, click here.

Happy Mother's Day

Shown here is a Mother's Day stamp issued by Austria on May 1, 1935 (SC#376).

It features a painting by J. Danhauser titled Mother's Love and was engraved by Hans Ranzoni.

To see some other stamps engraved by Ranzoni, click here and scroll down.

Stamp Catalogue Prices Are Misleading

Britain's Guardian reports, "Stamps valued in professional catalogues at hundreds of pounds are fetching just a few quid on auction sites. But local philately clubs are still thriving."

Reporter Patrick Collinson quotes airline pilot Paul Sanderson who back in the 1960s "amassed a sizeable collection of mint or near-perfect British stamps" as saying...

"We are told that postage stamps are a good investment, and this may well be true for very old rare stamps. However, when it comes to less rare stamps we should treat Stanley Gibbons' catalogue values with a large pinch of salt, as in many cases they appear to be absurdly high. I have been selling some of my stamps and the prices raised have been a fraction of their catalogue values."

John Baron, chair of the Association of British Philatelic Societies is also quoted in the piece.

He advises collectors to regard the Gibbons catalogue as a guide to what is available rather than the real market price. "I had a text just this morning from a major collector. He says he takes the Stanley Gibbons price and divides it by between three and 10 so he knows what to expect. It's only if you go over £1,000 or so that the prices become more reliable."

According to a spokeswoman for Stanley Gibbons, "The catalogue is a guide to values at the higher end of the market. What your stamps fetch is all about the quality of the items – whether they're mint, the quality of the colour, the perforations, the condition of the gum, to how clearly and centrally a postmark has been stamped. It is a common fallacy that the prices in our catalogues show what a stamp is 'worth' should you wish to sell it. They are, instead, the price at which Stanley Gibbons will sell a fine example of the stamp in question."

To read the entire article, click here.

NY Man Pedals to Post Offices Around Nation

The Associated Press reports, a northern New York man is bicycling around the lower 48 states in a quest to visit the most eastern, southern, western and northern post offices.

According to the AP, "...67-year-old Floyd Lampart of Lake Clear left his home outside Saranac Lake on April 4 and rode to Lubec, Maine, home to the easternmost post office in the nation.

"He then headed south, and arrived at the post office in Key West, Fla., earlier this week. Key West is the southernmost point in the U.S.

"Lampart plans to pedal to San Diego, then head up the Pacific Coast to La Push, Wash., to visit the most western continental U.S. post office. Then he'll go to the northern-most post office in Angle Inlet, Minn., before heading home."

Annual USPS Food Drive This Weekend

This Saturday, the U.S. Postal Service will conduct its 21st annual  "Stamp Out Hunger” food drive.

Washington state's Yakima Herald reports, "The food drive, which the USPS says is the largest single-day food collection event in the country, aims to provide relief for the nearly 50 million people in the U.S. who struggle with hunger. That’s about 1 in 6 people."

To donate to the food drive, community members can leave a bag of nonperishable food at their mailbox or wherever the letter carrier normally delivers their mail. Local carriers will pick up the food throughout the day and bring it to the food bank. 

According to the article, "Last year, the drive collected more than 70 million pounds of food, making it the ninth consecutive year that brought in at least 70 million pounds. In its 20 years so far, Stamp Out Hunger has collected more than 1 billion pounds of food."

Acceptable nonperishable food items include canned soup, canned vegetables, fruits and juices, canned meats and fish, pasta, rice and boxed goods such as cereal. 

Joining the Postal Service in this annual effort are the National Association of Letter Carriers, National Rural Carriers Association, AFCIO, Feeding America, United Way and Campbell Soup. All food and donations collected will go directly to local charities and food pantries associated with the individual Post Offices.

For more on the "Stamp Out Hunger" food drive, click here.

Photo Tour of the USPS Stamp Fulfillment Services Center

The Stamp Fulfillment Services (SFS) located in Kansas City, Kansas is a fully automated fulfillment center for the United States Postal Service. Operating in 300,000 square feet of space, 156 feet underground, it is sometimes referred as the 'The Cave.' That's because it is situated 3/4 mile into one and visitors have to take a bus to get to it!

According to a press release, SFS’s daily inventory of stamps ranges from 400 million to 600 million, with a fulfillment rate of 12,000 to 15,000 orders from around the world per day. Most of those orders have a turnaround time of just 24 – 36 hours.

Sales at the facility reached $468 million in 2009.

The SFS provides mint stock, First Day Covers, Digital Color Postmarks and many other collectibles. An onsite store is opened to meet the needs of local business customers and visitors to the facility. SFS fulfills orders from the www.usps.com website, 1-800-STAMP24, and from the USA Philatelic catalog.

Back in March, members (shown above) of the American Philatelic Society and Center toured the SFS.  

Click here for photos of their visit.

Jay Leno Talks About the New 'Muscle Car' Stamps

Check out the backstory on how the new 'Muscle Cars' stamps came to be as TV personality interviews Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe and Stamp Artist Tom Fritz on Jay's jaylenosgarage.com website.

Selling Advertising on Stamps

"Some say the U.S. should follow the lead of the many other countries that have privatized the post office. Short of that politically unlikely solution, about the only money-making strategy left is to follow Heinlein’s advice and sell the moon. Which is to say: It’s time for the Postal Service to monetize its most valuable tangible asset and offer advertising space on the 22 billion stamps it sells each year," writes Stephen L. Carter, a professor of law at Yale University, on the Bloomberg.com website.

Professor Carter says, "The idea isn’t entirely new. In 1981, the USPS proposed selling advertisements on the booklets holding stamps (not on the stamps themselves), an idea that went nowhere. Beginning in the late 19th century, several other nations, including Great Britain, began to allow advertising on the obverse side of stamps, as well as on what is known as the selvedge (the page edges that are left when you tear out the stamps)."

Now? Who knows? "A stamp bearing the Nike logo or images from 'Mad Men' might be a huge seller," suggests Carter. Maybe they could sell space on their vehicles as well?

To read the entire article, click here.

Belgian Chocolate Flavored Stamps

Thejournal.ie website asks "FEEL LIKE having chocolate at Easter in Belgium? Well, send a letter and really lick that chocolate-flavoured postal stamp.

According to the article the Belgian post office has issued 538,000 stamps "that have pictures of chocolate on the front – but the essence of cocoa oil in the glue at the back for taste and in the ink for smell."

Belgian stamp collector Marie-Claire Verstichel is quoted as saying while the taste was a bit disappointing, “they smell good.”

To read the entire article, click here.

Scouts Earn Their Stamp Collecting Merit Badge

Eleven Scouts graduated from my Stamp Collecting Merit Badge workshop today in Northridge, Calif. 

Scouts learned how to soak, hinge, and mount stamps. The found out about first day covers, where to get stamps, how to use tongs, preserving their collection and various types of albums. They also designed their very own stamp. 

Congratulations to all the Scouts and a big thank you to The American Philatelic Society, The Los Angeles Philatelic Society, The National Association of Stamp Dealers, and Mystic Stamps for providing materials and/or financial support.

For more on attending or putting on a Stamp Collecting Merit Badge workshop, click here.

Vatican Issues Stamps for the 'Sede Vacante'

The Euronews website reports, "The Pope may have left, but the tourists remain in the Vatican city to get their hands on the hottest souvenir going. A limited edition stamp for the  'sede vacante' has been issued by the Vatican post office."

Reporter Fabien Farge writes, "Marking the first papal resignation in 600 years, the stamp is expected to become especially valuable if postmarked on the first day. Designed by Daniela Longo it depicts an angel with two keys under a canopy. It is the seventh time that a stamp has been issued to mark the vacant see since the tradition began in 1939."

The stamps, shown above, cost the same as regular Vatican postal stamps which come in four denominations.The image on the stamps depicts an angel holding an umbrella and a set of crossed keys, the coat of arms for the Holy See during the Sede Vacante. A total of 200,000 such sets of stamps were printed.

To watch video about the new stamps, click here.

Preservationists Protest Sale of Historic Post Offices

"The Santa Monica [Calif.] post office, with its distinctive PWA Moderne style, is one of about 200 post offices around the country, dozens of them architecturally distinctive buildings, that the Postal Service has indicated it may choose to sell in coming years because of its financial problems, " writes reporter Robin Pogrebin the the Art and Design section of the New York Times.

According to the article, "Eleven historic post offices are already on the market in places like Yankton, S.D.; Gulfport, Miss.; Norwich, Conn.; and Washington. In many cases the buildings have not only been community hubs, but also remain among the most architecturally distinguished buildings in their towns, legacies of New Deal efforts to put America back to work."

When these post offices close, preservationists say, important public buildings become private preserves as they are refurbished into commercial spaces like high-end retail stores. Though many of the buildings’ exteriors are protected by local landmark laws, many of the interiors are not and developers tend to make changes like renovating lobbies, "pens Pogrebin.

Shown above, Josh Kornbluth, in character as Ben Franklin, speaking to protesters fighting the possible sale of a post office in Berkeley, Calif.

To read the entire article, click here.

Philatelic Quilt and Pillow

Cathe Holden of Petaluma, Calif. shares her creative ideas, crafty projects, original designs, artistic inspiration, product reviews and loads of free stuff (including how to make this postage stamp quilt and pillow for a cigar box doll bed) on her JustSomethingIMade.com website.

Illinois Stamp Dealer Featured in Paper

The Rasdale Dale Stamp Company of Westmont, Illinois is featured in an article that appeared in suburban Chicago's Daily Herald.

Kim Kellermann, the 55-year-old grandson and part of the third generation of family members running Rasdale Stamps is quoted in the piece as saying, ""Whether a collector focuses on 19th-century stamps from his ancestors' homeland or on the latest pop culture stamps featuring 'The Simpsons,' stamps help collectors understand a region, an era, politics and art."

He goes on to say, "I've never touted stamps as an investment. It's a hobby. It takes time. It takes patience. Instant gratification? There isn't that with stamps."

Reporter Burt Constable writes,"At Rasdale, Kellermann handles U.S. stamps, while his brother, Kevin Kellermann, 52, is a licensed auctioneer and expert in foreign stamps. Their sister, Kristin Maravelias, 49, who has a law degree and lives in Mount Prospect, manages the office and handles the accounting. Their mother, Joanne, still was employed in the family business in 2011 when 'she died working on her stamp collection' in her Lombard home..."

Shown above, Kim Kellermann in Rasdale's 7,800-square-foot warehouse with boxes of material for one of their stamp auctions.

To read the entire article, click here.