This story has been kicking around philately for a month or so as a rumor; now it is confirmed. It’s the passing of a giant of our hobby. White Ace once published some of the most-used albums for collectors. ArtCraft was a staple of first day covers, before its run ended after 77 years in 2016. And so many of us grew up awaiting delivery of The Washington Stamp Exchange’s little yellow flyers with special offers.

[press release]
After 85 Years, Washington Stamp Exchange Is Closing

Washington Stamp Exchange was incorporated in 1933, in the depths of the Great Depression, when Leo and Sam August pooled their meager assets to start a business selling first day covers and stamps to collectors. Their first location in Newark, New Jersey at the corner of Washington and Market Street, became their inspiration to name their business Washington Stamp Exchange.

In the photo on the left, Americover 2014 tour participants visit Washington Stamp Exchange headquarters in Florham Park, NJ.

Stamp collecting and the relatively new specialty of cover collecting were rapidly growing hobbies then, and their business was already gaining collector interest when a fortuitous encounter with a salesman offering engraved stationery led to their introduction of ArtCraft Engraved first day covers in 1939. [The first ArtCraft cachet is shown on the right.]

Stamp issues were relatively infrequent in the early 1940s, so while the ArtCraft first day covers were a quick success, adding new products became important to continuing the growth of their business. In 1945, they released the first White Ace stamp album which they published under the trade name of The Washington Press.

At left, company owners Michael August, son of one of the August Brothers, and Tim Devaney, son-in-law of the other, celebrated ArtCraft’s 75th anniversary at Americover 2014, the annual show and convention of the American First Day Cover Society, held that year in Somerset, NJ.

From those beginnings, and through exceptional creativity and hard work, the company became a mainstay of the stamp collecting hobby. In addition to its products for collectors, the Washington Stamp Exchange was instrumental in the founding of the American First Day Cover Society and has been a major supporter of the American Philatelic Society, the Cardinal Spellman Philatelic Museum and the National Postal Museum.

After 85 years, many millions of ArtCraft First Day covers, hundreds of thousands of White Ace Albums and the enthusiastic patronage of many thousands of loyal customers and friends, it is with considerable reluctance that the management of the Washington Stamp Exchange has decided to close its business at the end of 2018.

Starting with this announcement and continuing until it is sold out, everything remaining in stock – ArtCraft First Day Covers, White Ace Albums and supplies – will be offered at steeply discounted prices. Much of what is available can be found on the company’s website www.washpress.com. [At right, Americover 2014 tour participants Otto Thamaset, John Hayner and John Friederich show some of the goodies they purchased at Washington Stamp Exchange headquarters.]

The disposition of artwork, production materials, equipment and fixtures has not yet been determined, and inquiries are invited from dealers or from anyone seeking to acquire such items as well as large volumes of collectible items and supplies.

A portion of financier Bill Gross’ stamp collection sold at auction Wednesday evening, October 3rd, for $10 million. That is a record for a single-day philatelic auction.

The sale, by Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, is the first of several planned for the next 2-3 years.

The top lot was a center-inverted block of four stamps from 1869 that fetched $737,500 (including the 18% buyer’s premium). [shown on right]

“A lot of these iconic items were bought by a billionaire and now they are dispersed among the riffraff,” Arthur Przybyl, chief executive officer of Ani Pharmaceuticals Inc., told Bloomberg News. Sitting in the first row, he won the night’s second-most-expensive item: a blue Hawaiian missionary from 1851 that brought $619,500. “I lost a lot, but I won the stamp I really wanted.”

The 74-year-old Gross has the most complete collection of U.S. stamps anywhere. A bond portfolio manager at Janus Henderson Group Plc, began collecting in 1992.

“This is only the tip of the iceberg,” Gordon Eubanks, a tech entrepreneur, told Bloomberg. He spent more than $1.2 million on at least seven lots in Wednesday night’s sale, including the unique “Bible Block” of six 10-cent stamps from 1847, for $590,000. [Shown above.]

[press release]
Seebeck
Everything possible for you to know about Nicholas F. Seebeck is in this free 182-page ebook.

The ebook is titled Seebeck: Hero or Villain? by Danilo A. Mueses.

This new second edition published in October 2018 is in English. It is a newly edited update and enlargement of the book first published in 1986 in Spanish.

The entire free 2018 ebook will be sent to you in a few days by email or as a free download from an emailed link if you so advise momotombo@woh.rr.com that you would prefer a link.

The low-resolution PDF file of the ebook comprises less than 5 megabytes.

Pages are 8½ inches x 11 inches.

• Learn about this prominent philatelic figure of the 1870s through 1890s.
• Have 100s of facts and details about Seebeck at your fingertips.
• All text of this ebook is machine-searchable.
• Includes index and bibliography.
• Includes full text of the Seebeck stamp contracts.
• Includes full text of the 1895 public letters of Seebeck and J. Walter Scott.
• Includes chapters summarizing the Seebeck stamps and stationery issued by El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and the Colombian state of Bolivar.
• Pictures dozens of selected stamps and postal stationery in color.
• Pictures important artifacts related to Seebeck and the Hamilton Bank Note Engraving and Printing Company.
• Additional files of the Minute Books of the Hamilton Bank Note Engraving and Printing Co.

Why is this ebook free?
Author Danilo A. Mueses and editor Michael Schreiber want to promote the collection and study of the Seebeck stamps and postal stationery. This book provides essential background for understanding the listings in stamp catalogs and for reading published special studies on the stamps and postal stationery. Offering a free ebook eliminates the need for a physical inventory and for any packing, postage, shipping and money handling. There are no gimmicks. The author and editor are not trying to sell you anything or buy anything from you. At some point, a traditional book on paper might be published in a small quantity.

To receive the free book, send e-mail to momotombo@woh.rr.com.

Ouch!

A Washington, D.C., radio station reports the reason many college students don’t submit an absentee ballot is that “they don’t know where to get stamps.”

The study comes from a Fairfax County, Va., focus group that used college interns from several county departments.

“They all agreed that they knew lots of people who did not send in their ballots because it was too much of a hassle or they didn’t know where to get a stamp,” county spokeswoman Lisa Connors told WTOP Radio.

However, students may be able to take advantage of in-person absentee voting — that is, voting in advance — if they go home for a visit before election day.

[Philatelic Foundation press release]
Long Lost Jenny Invert Reappears

Unseen for the last 100 years, one of the famous Jenny Airmail Invert stamps, known around the world to collectors as the stamp with the “Upside Down Airplane,” has now reappeared. It comes to light just in time to celebrate the centennial year of the stamp’s issuance in 1918 at the very beginning of air mail service in the United States.

The stamp was recently submitted to The Philatelic Foundation in New York. The PF’s experience and expertise in authenticating this iconic United States rarity is unrivaled, having previously issued Certificates of Authenticity for 86 of the 100 stamps from the original sheet, including all six of the existing blocks of four.

Matched against the PF’s detailed records, photos, and electronic images, the PF’s expert staff determined that the stamp is the long lost position 49 from the original sheet of 100 that was purchased by collector William T. Robey in a Washington, DC post office in May 1918. The sheet was sold by Robey to stamp dealer Eugene Klein for $15,000, a fortune in those days, and was later broken up for sale to collectors. Klein’s pencil notation, the position number “49” is still visible at the lower right back of the stamp. At NY 2016, the international stamp show held at the Javits Center in New York, an extremely fine example sold at auction for a record $1.3 million dollars.

Many of the Jenny Inverts have small faults, having been repeatedly bought, sold and often mishandled during the last 100 years. However, position 49 is in pristine mint condition. It was held by three generations of an anonymous Chicago area family in a safe deposit box where it remained untouched, its whereabouts unknown, until now. Because the stamp was never mounted in an album, it is coveted by collectors as a mint, unhinged copy with its original gum. Only six unhinged Jenny Inverts, including this example, are recorded from the original sheet of 100. Based on its centering, bright colors, and its pristine gum, the PF awarded the stamp the Grade of 90 “XF” meaning extremely fine condition. It is the highest graded Jenny Invert which still remains in mint unhinged condition 100 years after it was issued.

“This Jenny, position 49, had not been seen since the original sheet of 100 was sold in 1918 and then broken up for sale. The same family has owned this stamp since then. Its whereabouts were unknown for 100 years!” Bob Rose, chairman of the PF board of trustees, told The Virtual Stamp Club.

Still missing is Position 66, the fourth stamp from the stolen “McCoy” block. The third of the four stamps was recovered in 2016.

Larger picture of Position 49:

Amos publishes the Scott postage stamp catalogues, which are the standard reference for U.S. collectors and collectors of U.S. stamps, as well as Linn’s Stamp News, by far the largest stamp collecting newspaper in the U.S.

Donna O’Keefe Houseman is “transitioning” in January from the stamp publishing operation to something for which no details were released. The rumor is it’s retirement.

Chad Snee became the editor of the Scott catalogues July 1.

Jay Bigalke (right) becomes the Editor-in-Chief for both Linn’s and Scott, effective in January. A source outside Amos tells me this was one of the incentives for Jay to leave the American Philatelic Society (where he was editor of American Philatelist, the APS journal) and return to Amos Media and Linn’s.

Jay had been telecommuting to the APS in Bellefonte, Pa., and working in-house there one week a month, while living with his wife and two sons in Ohio the rest of the time.

[press release]
Amos Media is proud to offer Rail Transportation, an exciting new item in our popular Scott National Album topical series. This album celebrates the dynamic, rich history of rail transportation, which has been an important part of global life for more than two centuries — moving goods, mail and people around the world. On its pages you will find rail themed stamps from North America, Central America and South America.

Our new Rail Transportation album highlights 349 stamps featuring locomotives of all kinds, including early steam engines, diesel trains, electric trains and trollies, horse drawn streetcars, and more.

To help collectors of all levels, we have included the year of issue and a brief description of each stamp. The full-color illustrations and Scott numbers will help you identify the stamps. The album is printed on sturdy acid-free paper and is formatted to accommodate single stamps. Three blank pages are included, to encourage collectors to display additional stamps and related items. Additional blank pages can be purchased separately.

Whether you are a railroad enthusiast or a connoisseur of beautiful postage stamps, this album is sure to excite and challenge your hobby pursuits.

Our knowledgeable staff is available to help guide you through your collecting journey. Please contact us at supps@amosmedia.com with any questions. Visit us on the web at Amosadvantage.com.

[press release]
American Philatelic Society and Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum
Release New Book

One small error that produced 100 years worth of stories

The Inverted Jenny – popularly known as the upside-down airplane stamp – is the United States’ most famous postage stamp. Desired by collectors from around the world, the little red, white and blue stamp has been making news for 100 years now.

A single Inverted Jenny – with an original price of 24 cents – cost its first real collector $1,500 a century ago. A perfect stamp from an original sheet 100 – the only sheet ever released to the public – could bring nearly 1,000 times that price today.

What makes the stamp so special and who has pursued and owned it?

The Stamp of the Century, a new book by Kellen Diamanti and Deborah Fisher to be released May 1, tells about the origins of the airmail stamp and particularly focuses on those who sought out and have owned a copy over the past 100 years.

“… The stories told here reveal the passions of collectors, portrayed in an endearing way, connecting both the worldly and bizarre,” said Cheryl Ganz, Ph.D., curator emerita of philately at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum.

Characters from the famous to infamous abound in these pages. Among those you will meet are William Robey, who discovered a sheet of 100 error stamps at a Washington, D.C. post office and ultra-rich collector Colonel Ned Green, whose wealth came from his mother, “the Witch of Wall Street.”

Within The Stamp of the Century’s pages are the stories of brave soldiers and wayward pilots; owners of old money and new money; industrialists and politicians; smart, strong women who dared to shine in a hobby dominated by men; war heroes and schemers; the braggadocio and collectors of quiet gentility.

The book will be officially unveiled May 1 at the National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C. In a day filled with activities at the National Postal Museum, the U.S. Postal Service will issue [the first of] two first-class forever postage stamps commemorating the 100th anniversary of the advent of U.S. airmail. Following the ceremony, Stamp of the Century authors Kellen Diamanti and Deborah Fisher will be on hand to autograph the book and talk with museum visitors.

[The Museum opens its new exhibition, “Postmen of The Skies,” on May 1 also.]

Additionally, the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum has invited the authors to conduct the museum’s History After Hours presentation on the evening of May 2 [see below]. The discussion will focus on the impact of airmail on Washington, D.C. The authors will be on hand after the presentation to autograph books and talk with visitors.

The Stamp of the Century has been published by the American Philatelic Society in partnership with the NPM. The book will be available for purchase ($24.95, plus shipping) from Smithsonian bookstores and from the American Philatelic Society at www.stamps.org/publications.

About the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum
The National Postal Museum is devoted to presenting the colorful and engaging history of the nation’s mail service and showcasing one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of stamps and philatelic material in the world. It is located at 2 Massachusetts Ave. N.E., Washington, D.C., across from Union Station. The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25). For more information about the Smithsonian, call (202) 633-1000 or visit the museum website at www.postalmuseum.si.edu.

About the American Philatelic Society
With nearly 29,000 members in more than 110 countries, the APS is the largest, non-profit organization for stamp collectors in the world. Founded in 1886, the APS serves collectors, educators, postal historians, and the general public by providing a wide variety of programs and services.

Located at the American Philatelic Center in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, the Society is entirely supported by membership dues, gifts, and the sale of publications, souvenirs and services. For more information call (814) 933-3803 or visit the Society website at www.stamps.org.

Book Signing at the National Postal Museum May 2nd:
[press release]
Join Us for History After Hours

Join us for an evening talk with Kellen Diamanti and Deborah Fisher, authors of Stamp of the Century.

The Post Office Department inaugurated regularly scheduled airmail service on May 15, 1918 and issued a special 24 cent bi-color stamp to commemorate the occasion. Production technology at the time was prone to error for stamps with more than one color — a known fact by many stamp collectors. William T. Robey was one such collector who was hoping to encounter an erroneous stamp. Luck turned out to be with Mr. Robey that first day of issue, and he became the owner of the only misprinted sheet of 100 stamps, which would become one of the world’s most famous printing errors the “Inverted Jenny.”

Inspired by the upcoming 100th anniversary of Robey’s famous purchase, authors Kellen Diamanti and Deborah Fisher have conceived a work of creative non-fiction that places the stamps on the continuum of history. Following the stories of Inverted Jenny owners, the stamp can take the reader as far back as the presidency of George Washington. To update the Inverted Jenny story, Diamanti and Fisher have conducted dozens of contemporary interviews with collectors who own copies of the stamp today, dealers who have handled multiple sales, and experts who have spent a lifetime studying it.

A book signing with Ms. Diamanti and Ms. Fisher will follow the talk, and their publication Stamp of the Century will be available for purchase at the Museum Store.

The event is free, but registration is required. Click here to register through the National Postal Museum.

David Kols, the president of Regency-Superior Auctions, died Tuesday, March 13, 2018, after a long battle with colon cancer. He was 67.

His stamp auction firm was a major player in the market, with offices in both Saint Louis and Southern California. Kols said the company’s 125 or so auctions over nearly 25 years had sold almost $150 million worth of collectibles.

But Regency-Superior fell on hard times and closed last year. A major creditor seized Regency-Superior Auctions’ assets, including lots that had been consigned to it for sale. Many of the consignors still have not been paid or had their stamps and covers returned to them. Among the consignors was the American Philatelic Society.

Kols wrote in Linn’s Stamp News (May 22, 2017) the firm failed because “the stamp market is in the doldrums,” an assertion denied by APS executive director Scott English in an interview with The Virtual Stamp Club. http://virtualstampclub.com/radiostuff/170616.html

Before that, Regency-Superior had been the official auctioneer at APS StampShow. Kols was also a co-founder and strong supporter of Saint Louis Stamp Expo, a World Series of Philately show. He had been its executive director until last year.

You can find his obituary here.

[press release]

The National Postal Museum has accepted a donation of three volumes of postally used envelopes collected by the late Dr. George S. Brooks of Winchester, Kentucky. Dr. Brooks formed the collection in honor of his son LTJG George S. Brooks, Jr. USN, who was lost at sea aboard the submarine USS Pompano off the coast of Japan during World War II.

Pompano left Midway Island on patrol August 20, 1943 and never returned; its exact fate has never been conclusively determined. The elder Brooks channeled pride and grief for his son into collecting military mail that chronicled the hardships and sacrifices of wartime, especially the difficulties faced by military personnel and civilians in communicating from forward areas, secret locations and prisoner-of-war camps. Some of the last envelopes exchanged by Lieutenant Brooks and his parents – one marked simply “missing” – are an especially poignant part of the collection.

The donation was made by George S. Brooks II, accompanied by his wife, Kathy, and other members of his family. Mr. Brooks is the grandson of Dr. Brooks and the nephew of Lieutenant Brooks.

“Besides adding considerable depth to our military mail collections, the Brooks family’s gift will make it possible for the National Postal Museum to share their grandfather’s passion for collecting with others,” said Daniel Piazza, chief curator of philately.

The National Postal Museum is devoted to presenting the colorful and engaging history of the nation’s mail service and showcasing one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of stamps and philatelic material in the world. It is located at 2 Massachusetts Avenue N.E., Washington, D.C., across from Union Station. The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25). For more information about the Smithsonian, please call (202) 633-1000 or visit the museum website at www.postalmuseum.si.edu.