[press release; comments below]
After 33 years of service at the American Philatelic Society, AP Editor Barb Boal has announced her plans to retire as of December 31. In addition to the traditional editor functions, Barb has done all the layout and most of the design of the magazine. She has been our principal contact with the printer, provided graphic support for shows and other departments, assisted with social media and marketing, and taught educational courses. Barb has guided us as the magazine has moved to full color, gone computer-to-plate, overseen the development of a digital version, and most recently was the impetus behind the development of a mobile application for the magazine.

Barb says, “It has been an educational and enjoyable time for me. I learned stamp collecting and printing from the ground up from the best — Bill Welch, Charlie Rupert, and Joe Criscuoli…. During the reprinting of Fundamentals of Philately, Norman Williams joked that I must be the only one to have ever read Fundamentals cover to cover!

“Over the past thirty-three years, I have been fortunate to work with collectors from around the world. In addition to the pleasure and pride that we receive in producing the AP for members, it has been recognized by its peers, winning three International Golds and being presented with the Álvaro Bonilla Lara Award.”

This position has the primarily responsibility for the Society’s full-color 100-page monthly publication, The American Philatelist. Working with a staff of three and an Advisory Board, the position reviews and selects editorial content including articles, columns, and letters to the editor. The individual lays out editorial content and prepares ads, creating digital Indesign files for the printer. Additional preparation is required for a mobile application and bonus online content. The Editor provides oversight for the quarterly Philatelic Literature Review and is the principal contact with the printer.

The Editor also provides graphics support for other departments, such as design of digital billboards; postcards and ads; cachets; logos and show cancels; and brochures. Support and input is also expected for the monthly e-newsletter.

The position requires editing skills, excellent graphic and layout skills, and Indesign proficiency. Philatelic knowledge is very helpful. Candidates should be self-directed and possess strong organizational and problem solving skills. A Bachelors Degree is required and supervisory experience desirable. Salary range is $55K to $65K, depending on qualifications. Position reports to the APS Executive Director.

If you are interested in the position or know someone who you think should be considered, resumes with a cover letter must be submitted to Executive Director Ken Martin, kpmartin@stamps.org, by October 15. Desired starting date is December 1 to allow for a smooth transition.

The American Philatelic Society, founded in 1886, is the national stamp collecting organization of the United States, with more than 31,000 members. For more information about the Society and its services, contact the APS at 100 Match Factory Place Bellefonte, PA; e-mail (info@stamps.org) or visit APS online at www.stamps.org.

[press release]
Sundman Offers Reward For APRL’s Stolen McCoy Inverted Jenny Stamps

(Camden, New York) — Donald Sundman, President of Mystic Stamp Company in Camden, New York, is offering a reward of up to $100,000 to locate the two still-missing Inverted Jenny (Scott C3a) stamps from a block of four stolen nearly 60 years ago. The block was owned at the time of theft by Ethel B. McCoy of New York City who later donated two subsequently-recovered stamps and legal rights to the other two to the American Philatelic Research Library (APRL). [One of the recovered stamps, position 65, is shown here.]

Sundman is offering the reward of $50,000 per stamp on behalf of the APRL. He made the reward announcement at the Aerophilately 2014 convention banquet, September 13, 2014, at the American Philatelic Society headquarters in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.

“It’s possible that the two remaining missing stamps were innocently acquired by collectors decades ago who did not realize they had been stolen. With the passage of time, the heirs of those collectors may not realize they’ve inherited stolen property,” said Sundman (left).

For 19 years the stamps were the prize possession of Ethel B. McCoy (1893 – 1980), a patron of performing arts and an avid collector whose father, Charles Bergstresser, was a co-founder of the Dow Jones company.

In the 1986 book, The Inverted Jenny: Mystery, Money, Mania, author George Amick described McCoy as “…a woman of many interests. As the only child of one of the great innovators of American business and the wife of two other successful businessmen, she could afford to indulge them.”

McCoy’s first husband, Bert A. Stewart, a coin collector, died in 1936. In 1941 she married a prominent stamp collector, Walter R. McCoy, and they were active in philatelic organizations. In 1937 she was named a director of the American Air Mail Society and was posthumously named to the American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame in 1981.

McCoy acquired the block of four 24¢ Inverted Jenny airmail stamps — positions 65, 66, 75 and 76 from the original, unique pane of 100 — for $16,000 from Spencer Anderson in 1936. It was stolen in September 1955 while on exhibit at the American Philatelic Society convention in Norfolk, Virginia.

The hobby’s greatest cold case is the subject of a cover story by Ken Lawrence in the September 2014 issue of American Philatelist, the journal of the APS.

“There is still mystery and intrigue surrounding the theft,” said Rob Haeseler, Chairman of the American Philatelic Research Library’s McCoy Reward Committee.

“The McCoy block was deftly plucked from the Norfolk exhibit in broad daylight as the show prepared to open for the day. The thief cut a cord binding two of the exhibit frames and slid back the covering sheet of glass several inches. Armed guards had been stationed in the exhibit hall. A suspect has never been named.”

The block was broken apart, and one of the stolen stamps (position 75) was discovered in 1977, another (position 65) in 1981. Both were recovered with the participation of the FBI. Before she died at the age of 87 in 1980, McCoy donated both of them along with the legal rights to the two still-missing stamps to the APRL.

In 1981, the recovered position 75 Inverted Jenny was sold at auction on behalf of the APRL for $115,000. In 1988, the APRL offered a $10,000 reward for each of the two still-missing stamps, but neither one was located.

“The Inverted Jenny stamps are a philatelic treasure, but title to the two missing McCoy stamps belongs to the APRL,” Sundman explained. “If someone tried to sell one of them now, it would be seized and they’d have nothing. This is an opportunity to turn in the stamps for a $50,000 reward for each one, assuming they have not been damaged beyond recognition.”

In 2005, Sundman traded one of the two known 1868 Ben Franklin 1¢ “Z Grill” (Scott 85A) stamps for the numbered plate block of four Inverted Jenny stamps then owned by Wall Street bonds trader Bill Gross. The exchange was valued at $6 million at the time.

The reward offer for the missing McCoy stamps is being made by Sundman for one year, through September 2015.

In his article about the theft, Lawrence wrote: “It’s likely that nearly everyone who might have personal knowledge of the theft and subsequent dispersal of the McCoy inverts has died, but perhaps they left behind evidence, or perhaps the stolen stamps reside in estates whose beneficiaries don’t know what they have. Let’s all do our best to spread the word. Recovering one or both of the missing McCoy inverts will not only benefit APRL financially, it will elevate the stature of our hobby, and it will add yet another page to an epic that is not likely to be completed in our lifetimes.”

Anyone with information about the missing stamps can contact the American Philatelic Society at (800) 782-9580 extension 246 or by email at Jenny@stamps.org.

VSC member Chris Lazaroff reports a 2014 version of this veteran stamp will be issued on October 11 in Dover Delaware at the Dover Stamp Club’s show. The format is not know.

From the October 2nd Postal Bulletin:

On October 11, 2014, in Dover, DE, the U.S. Postal Service® will re-issue the Purple Heart Medal stamp, Forever® First Class Mail® priced at 49 cents, in one design, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of 20 stamps

The Purple Heart Medal stamp design features a photograph taken by Ira Wexler of a Purple Heart medal awarded during World War II. The 2011 Purple Heart with Ribbon stamp was reworked in 2012 to display a slightly larger image of the Purple Heart medal on a pure white background. Designed by art director Jennifer Arnold, the stamp was given the name Purple Heart Medal.

How to Order the First-Day-of-Issue Postmark:
Customers have 60 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office, at The Postal Store® website at http://www.usps.com/shop, or by calling 800-STAMP-24. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

Purple Heart Medal Stamp
Postmaster
Dover Post Office
55 Loockerman Plaza
Dover, DE 19901-9998

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark up to a quantity of 50. For more than 50, customers have to pay five cents each. All orders must be postmarked by December 10, 2014.

There are two philatelic products for this stamp issue:

• 125416, First-Day Cover, $0.93.
• 125431, Stamped Deck Card, $0.95.

Technical Specifications:

Issue: Purple Heart Medal Stamp
Item Number: 115400
Denomination & Type of Issue: Forever First-Class Mail
Format: Pane of 20 (1 design)
Series: N/A
Issue Date & City: October 11, 2014, Dover, DE 19901
Designer: Jennifer Arnold, Washington, DC
Art Director: Jennifer Arnold, Washington, DC
Typographer: Greg Breeding, Charlottesville, VA
Artist: Ira Wexler, Braddock Heights, MD
Engraver: WRE
Modeler: CCL Label, Inc.
Manufacturing Process: Gravure
Printer: CCL Label, Inc.
Printed at: Clinton, SC 29325
Press Type: Dia Nippon Kiko (DNK)
Stamps per Pane: 20
Print Quantity: 70 million stamps
Paper Type: Prephosphored, Type I
Adhesive Type: Pressure-sensitive adhesive
Processed at: CCL Label, Inc., Clinton, SC
Colors: Yellow, Magenta, Cyan, Black, Purple 266, Red 1805
Stamp Orientation: Vertical
Image Area (w x h): 0.73 x 0.84 in./18.54 x 21.34 mm
Overall Size (w x h): 0.87 x 0.98 in./22.10 x 24.90 mm
Full Pane Size (w x h): 5.25 x 4.83 in./133.35 x 122.55 mm
Plate Size: 420 stamps per revolution
Plate Numbers: “C” followed by six (6) single digits
Marginal Markings:
Front: Plate numbers in four corners of pane
Back: © 2012 USPS • USPS logo • Plate position diagram • Barcode (115400) in upper right and lower left corners of pane • Promotional text