The Hardest Part of Collecting is Beginning
By John M. Hotchner

When the bug bites, and one thinks, “Hey, I might try stamp collecting!” what is the next step? Actually, it may not be as clear as that. The collector-to-be may find herself saving the odd stamps that come in on mail, or purchased at the post office. A small accumulation builds up in a kitchen drawer, and the thought occurs: “Maybe I could put these in an album or display them in some other way.”

It can be tempting for “real collectors” to denigrate the accumulator, but a lot of accomplished stamp and postal history collectors began by saving the odd stamp. The question is how to provide resources and encourage people who are attracted to the hobby to become practicing members of the guild?

Three immediate questions present themselves: How do I get more stamps?, What do I want to collect?, and Where do I get more information about the hobby? Let’s take them in reverse order since, in practice, that is the order in which the caterpillar beginner becomes an experienced butterfly.

Ideally, the beginner knows someone who is a collector who can be a mentor. Failing that, such a person can be found at a nearby stamp club. As most of us these days are on the Internet, use your favorite search engine to research “(the name of your area) & stamp collecting”. As an example, I Googled “Northern Virginia & Stamp collecting”. A cornucopia of response came back pointing me to physical addresses and websites of dealers, shows, clubs, and auctioneers in Washington, D.C., from suburban Maryland, and Northern Virginia as far south as Richmond.

In setting up your search criteria, my advice is not to be too specific. I could have put my precise area (e.g. Arlington, Virginia) into Google, but the regional approach will get a wider range of possible resources.

You can also go to www.stamps.org, which is the website of the American Philatelic Society (APS). Don’t let the name scare you. Philately is simply a fancy name for stamp collecting, and the 30,000+ members of what we call “America’s Stamp Club” range from lifelong scholars to the newest of beginners. You need not be a member to use the majority of the website, and you will find it helpful as you think about where you want to go with your new hobby. Among the resources on this website is a listing of the stamp clubs across the nation that are Chapter members of the APS.

Once you have found a stamp club — hopefully within a half hour’s drive — visit and introduce yourself. Most clubs will have members willing, even eager, to help newcomers to the hobby. They can explain how the club can help you, what is going on philatelically in the area, how to access and use stamp catalogs, how to get and use various stamp collecting implements such as tongs, stock cards, watermark detectors, etc., and can show you a range of stamp collecting periodicals that open the door to the world of philately.

I recognize that there are people who prefer to collect “anonymously.” That is to say, as a matter of security, they want to do nothing that “exposes” them as a stamp collector so that no one is tempted to rob them. While I personally think that is an excess of caution, it is a personal choice. Just realize that if you choose it, you lose the benefit of joining a club, and/or having a mentor.

If you choose to be a loner, you can use APS and other Internet resources to find books on how to get started in the hobby, and periodicals like this one that can keep you apprised of the current events and issues in the hobby. As to stamp catalogs, often your local library will have them in the reference section; though they might not be the most up-to-date versions. For stamp collecting supplies and implements, an Internet search will help you find suppliers such as Subway Stamp Shop.

Once you are connected to resources to help you get going, the next thing to establish is what you are going to collect. You have probably given this some thought already, and perhaps have been guided by what you have accumulated. That is one approach, but not the only one.

It used to be that most philatelists began by collecting the country in which they live. After all, there is a ready-made connection, and it is relatively easy to get more stamps for the collection. But another alternative is to give some thought to your or your spouse’s heritage, which got me collecting Italy and Poland in addition to the United States; your interests or profession, which motivated me to collect Russian stamps up to 1930, and American diplomatic history on foreign stamps; countries you have visited or lived in, resulting in collections of India, Venezuela, and Spain.

Today, I think more and more collectors are attracted to interest areas as a base for stamp collecting. This is often called topical or thematic collecting. If you are fascinated by the space program, themes that have to do with preserving our environment, great art on stamps, or any of thousands of other topics, there will be multitudes of stamps that connect to your interest, and a national philatelic society, the American Topical Association (which has an excellent website), can be a tremendous resource.

I would suggest one other approach; the one I began with (can it be?) 65 years ago: my father gave me a packet of 2,500 worldwide stamps. I loved them all; every last cheap example. I spent hours learning where they came from, grouping them by country, looking at the designs and trying to relate them to the area of the world they came from, trying to find them in the Scott Catalogue.

I stayed with worldwide collecting for probably three years; learning more geography than I did at school. During that time I also learned the rudiments of the hobby from a wide perspective, and came to some conclusions about what countries’ stamps particularly appealed to me.

Eventually, realizing that I could not afford to collect the world, I gave that up in favor of about a dozen countries, headed by my USA collection, that were especially appealing. But I had a pretty good foundation of hobby knowledge.

So, based on my own experience, I recommend starting if you can with a worldwide focus. I guess I never lost that approach as I still seek out what a friend used to say of her collection. She collected “any given stamp,” by which she meant stamps that appealed to her regardless of country of issue. It might be one or two stamps from a particular country. It might be a hundred. But I feel some sort of connection when I look at them.

The overriding point to keep in mind is that philately is a smorgasbord; from which you are entitled to sample at your whim, to choose as you wish, and to alter your choices when you feel like it. No one can tell you how to collect or what to collect. Yes, there may be a certain amount of sneering from established collectors who have come to believe that their way is absolutely the best way, and may try to convince you to go in their direction. They can be blissfully unaware that you are a round peg that does not fit in their square hole. You can patiently explain this to them, or just pity them their myopia.

We have one more question to answer: How do I get more stamps? We will take a look at some strategies in our column.

Should you wish to comment on this column, or have questions or ideas you would like to have explored in a future column, please write to John Hotchner, VSC Contributor, P.O. Box 1125, Falls Church, VA 22041-0125, or email, putting “VSC” in the subject line.

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A New Presidential Memorial Stamp Is Waiting in The Wings
By John M. Hotchner

[It’s been about a year since George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States, died, and several months since the U.S. issued a stamp for him.]

I had the good fortune to meet him—twice—and I’m a fan. So I looked forward to the commemorative memorial stamp for him that was issued on his next birthday, June 12, 2019.

This is a tradition that has its roots in the 19th Century, with the issuance of the first presidential mourning stamp of the United States in April, 1866, a 15¢ stamp in black (Scott #77, plus later grilled issues) honoring Abraham Lincoln; who had been assassinated a year earlier. The earliest known use, per Scott, is April 21, 1866.

A mourning stamp was a novelty in 1866, though earlier presidents had been included in the stamp program after their passing. But Lincoln s e t a n e w standard: a stamp in black, issued within a year of death, or shortly after. A use of his stamp, on a mourning cover, is shown in Figure 1.

We would not see such an issuance again until the passing of Pres. Warren Harding from a heart attack on August 2, 1923. A mourning stamp in his honor (Figure 2)—a flat plate-printed, perf. 11 version (Scott #610)—was released just a month later, on Sept. 1, 1923. It was followed by three more versions (perf. 10 flat plate, imperf., and perf. 11 rotary press; Scott #s 611-613) within a couple of months.

After this there was a hit-or-miss period. Woodrow Wilson, who passed away in 1924, after he left office, was given a 17¢ memorial stamp in black (Scott 623) almost two years after he died, seen in a first day cover, Figure 3. William Howard Taft whose presidency ended in 1913, left us on March 8, 1930, and was included in the Fourth Bureau issue with a brown 4¢ sheet stamp and a coil just three months later (Fig. 4)

But Calvin Coolidge, who passed in 1933 was not placed on a stamp until the presidential issue of 1938, where he was the honoree on the $5 (Scott #834).

The next president to die was Franklin D. Roosevelt, on April 12, 1945; at the start of his fourth term. Four stamps were issued in his honor—none of them black—within a year of his death. The first was released on June 27, 1945; a 3¢ purple (which can be considered as a mourning color). It was followed by a 1¢ blue green, a 2¢ carmine rose, and a 5¢ bright blue (Scott #930-933). They broke the mold by including illustrations of more than just the picture of the president. See Figure 5 below.

The next president to die was John F. Kennedy, the victim of an assassin, on November 22, 1963. And here is where the modern system of memorial stamps was inaugurated. On May 29, 1964, a 5¢ blue-grey commemorative was issued showing JFK and his eternal flame (Scott #1246, Figure 6). His birth date was May 29, 1917.

Figure 6 shows JFK on a Sc. 1246 FDC along with stamps for other assassinated Presidents: McKinley, Garfield, and Lincoln (Sc. 559, 558, 1036)

Presidential deaths after Kennedy, and the date of their memorial stamp (on or near their birthday), are shown here:

We are long past the times when the U.S. Postal Service was simply reactive to a presidential passing. Wouldn’t be prudent. They now have “in the bank” an approved image of each president who has left office, ready for use on the memorial stamp. It has been selected by the president himself, and discussed with the immediate family as well.

Also gone are the grim black stamps that celebrate death, in favor of brighter colorful portraits. This is not to say that all the presidential memorial stamps are beautiful—or popular. Richard Nixon’s stamp was not expected to do well, so the USPS ordered only 80 million printed. Compare that to the 511,750,000 stamps ordered for JFK, and 170 million for Ronald Reagan.

Should you wish to comment on this editorial, or have questions or ideas you would like to have explored in a future column, please write to John Hotchner, VSC Contributor, P.O. Box 1125, Falls Church, VA 22041-0125, or email, putting “VSC” in the subject line.

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By John M. Hotchner

The thrill of the chase often ends with a long sought pur- chase, and then begins the fun. The thrill of the chase beckons again, and the new purchase goes in a box to be put into the album some rainy day when there is nothing else to do. The problem is that it is far more satisfying to own something than to do the work to get it where it belongs. So, often times the box gets full of sets, mixtures, and covers; which spawns other boxes, and a few years down the road, a closet full.

If you are among the collectors who go from dealer or mail box directly to your album, I congratulate you. You don’t need this column and you can move on to the next article. But if you are less diligent, and need a prod to prevent sloth and get organized, perhaps the following may be helpful.

My confession: I know whereof I speak. I am part sloth. My own method is to have a row of Kleenex boxes; each labeled with the name of a country or subject that I collect. But that is where my organizing stops. I can go years before a box gets to the point of overflowing and something must be done. Of course by that time, I have usually forgotten what is in the bottom of the box, and clearing the box and checking its contents against the catalogue and album has achieved major project status— something that, depending upon the complexity of the country I’m working with, Chinese overprints for example—may take literally weeks of my not so copious spare time to accomplish.

Had I done them as I got them, the looming hulk of a project could have been avoided. But oh, how easy it is to put off to tomorrow what I don’t feel like doing today.

The logic is inescapable. It just makes more sense to get things into the album as rapidly as possible. And maybe a review of the logic will be useful to you; recognizing that sloth has a tendency to overcome logic. In my mature years, I have gotten better, but I have a way to go!

So, here are a baker’s dozen benefits of avoiding sloth:

1. If you know what you have, you won’t buy it again. How many times have you thought, “I think I have that but I’m not sure. It’s a good price (or a premier copy) so I better pick it up just in case.” Then somewhere down the road, you discover that you have four of the item!
2. If you know what you need, not only to fill holes but to improve condition, you can home in on offerings and not waste time on poking through material you don’t need.
3. It is actually fun to put items into your album, and a joy to fill in and complete a set or a page. Why deny yourself or delay that sense of accomplishment?
4. It is always easier to deal with a small task than to let it become one that looks overwhelming as you face it.
5. By identifying what you need right out of the gate, and just as importantly, what is excess, allows you to trade off or sell what you can make some bucks on. Few of us have unlimited resources, so some inflow of dollars will often permit you to hunt for more material.
6. I have seen in my time as an appraiser too many instances where boxes and closets of accumulated material costs the collector or the collector’s heirs significant sums. Why? Because there were pearls hidden among the swine (not to criticize pigs—a fine and useful animal). But a dealer, an auctioneer, or an appraiser may not have the time to open every envelope, assess perforations and watermarks, and thus identify goodies that are not marked as such. At least in their proper place in an album, they will be more obvious.
7. If you or your heirs have to pay for the time it takes to do a thorough evaluation of a “mess”, literally hundreds if not thousands of dollars can be added to the bill. And if the col- lection is substantial, it may have to be inventoried with some accuracy as part of probate.
8. One of the fun parts of checking new acquisitions against the catalogue and your album is that once in a while you will find something that is a listed variety; most often worth more than the routine version. The accumulation-in-a-box method at best delays those finds.
9. When YOU know what you have, you are in a position to brief your heirs and assigns about the value of your collec- tion, where to find the good stuff, and what to do with it. Too often I have seen an ill-prepared spouse make a bee-line for the trash compactor with a collection that could have realized real money; let alone that this wanton destruction deprives the hobby of significant collectible material. Their aim is to get their closet back and they have no idea of the potential value of the collection. It might as well be old floor sweepings.
10. In general, you will have a happier spouse or significant other. Piles of box lots in the corner of the spare bedroom, on the dining room table, or eating up closet space, is often an affront to the senses; if not yours then the person or people with whom you live. Organizing to the point of album checking tends to reduce consumption of space to what is essential, and an organized collection is much easier on the eyes.
11. If you are organized, and everything is in its rightful place, you can find things. This is especially meaningful to me and to other authors who just know we have something that is needed as an illustration, and have to “waste” hours looking for it. Infuriating! Ditto for exhibitors who discover a need for an item to complete a page, know they have it, but can’t find it.
12. You will be more attractive to dealers who always ap- preciate a customer who knows what s/he wants, can state it, evaluate rapidly what the dealer has on offer, and if there is a match, make a decision without shilly-shallying.
13. One of the benefits of the hobby, and a reason why it is attractive to many collectors, is that a major activity of the collector is to bring order out of chaos. Our hobby becomes a way that we can exercise some level of control in a world which seems quite out of control—because, in fact, it is. We lose that benefit when a jumble of philatelic material becomes overwhelming.

So, there you have it. Organize and you will be doing yourself a favor!

Should you wish to comment on this column, or have questions or ideas you would like to have explored in a future column, please write to John Hotchner, VSC Contributor, P.O. Box 1125, Falls Church, VA 22041-0125, or email, putting “VSC” in the subject line.

Or comment right here.

By John M. Hotchner

I’ve just gotten to the long put-off project of updating my U.S. albums — used stamps only — and that has required paying attention to catalogue listings; not so much values as numbers, what can be washed and what can’t, year-by-year programs, and such. And that has provoked some random thoughts.

When I began collecting stamps in earnest, in 1954, at age 11, there were barely 1000 catalogue numbers after 107 years since the first U.S. stamps were issued. In the 74 years since then, the U.S. has issued another 4300+ stamps. The midpoint, catalogue number 2650, was issued in 1992, with a First Class letter rate of 29¢. Which means we have had about 2650 U.S. stamps (ignoring air mail, postage due, officials, and other Back of the Book issue) in just the last 26 years.

Many of the U.S. stamps from the very beginning to those of today have varieties and subvarieties. What this means is that collecting the entire country has become a mammoth undertaking — even if we limit ourselves to a single copy of each major variety. Projecting into the future, at roughly 100+ new stamps per year, the challenge will become gargantuan over the next 25 years — assuming we still need or want stamps in the next 25 years!

Let’s look at another aspect: Our first stamps in 1847 were denominated at 5¢ and 10¢; the former for letters sent up to 300 miles, the latter for over 300 miles. Shortly thereafter, in 1851, the basic rate was reduced to 3¢ for up to 3000 miles and 5¢ for beyond that distance. On October 1, 1883, the domestic First Class letter rate was set at 2¢, regardless of distance. And there it sat for nearly 50 years; except for 1917-19 when a penny was added for postage on letters (really, a semi-postal rate, as the additional penny was intended to help pay for the costs of American involvement in World War I.)

The 2¢ rate ended on July 6, 1932, when the 3¢ rate came into force. Twenty-six years later, it was increased to 4¢ on August 1, 1958. And the march to higher rates with ever shorter time spans began in earnest. In recent years, there have been nearly annual rate increases (though there was a hiccup in April, 2016, when a court directed the USPS to reduce its 2014 49¢ rate to 47¢ because the increase to the 49¢ rate had been improperly processed. Eight months later the 49¢ rate came to stay, last year it became 50¢, and this year, it went to 55¢.

Some of the sting of recent rate increases has been removed by introduction of the Forever stamp concept in 2007. Had you bought heavily in 2007, the 41¢ you paid then per stamp would now be carrying 55¢ letters. Of course, some of that gain would have been eaten up by inflation. And the USPS would have had your money all this time instead of you having it in the bank earning interest. You have to figure that the USPS knew what it was doing, and did not expect to lose money on the Forever deal. In fact, virtually all First Class stamps are now issued with the word “Forever” as a part of the design, and the concept has been extended to other types of mail as well.

The bottom line is that collecting U.S. stamps has become more expensive if looked at it purely from the standpoint of cost per First Class stamp — especially if we collect mint U.S. Ah, but I hear you say, today’s dollar is not what it used to be. To be fair, the present First Class rate has to be seen in the context of inflation. In other words, 2¢ in 1900 is not the same as 2¢ in 2018.

The website in2013dollars.com is helpful in understanding this. A single 1900 dollar could buy what it takes $30.42 to buy in today’s dollars. The 1950 figure is $10.33, and the 2000 figure is $1.45. Using their calculator, the 2¢ you paid for postage in 1900 is the same as 61¢ in today’s money. And that means we are getting a bargain.

Looked at another way, we really do get a bargain. Our domestic letter mail cost is among the lowest in the developed world; made possible by the volume of mail sent in this country: around 40% of the world’s total. Nowhere else in the world can you send a letter as far for as low a rate.

But we buy much more than First Class stamps. For example, the numbers of dollar stamps these days greatly exceeds (what with Priority Mail and Express Mail) the numbers of dollar stamps issued through the 1954 Liberty issue of my youth. And as I think back to the few 1¢-5¢ booklet panes which I treasured in my youth, today’s output of booklets is staggering when one considers the range of stamps in booklet form, and the varieties of booklets.

What is on our stamps? The earliest U.S. issues celebrated the Founding Fathers, which was gradually expanded to presidents and other prominent politicians and government (including military) officers.

The the first tentative steps toward expanding subject matter of stamps began with the 1869 issue, advanced with the 1893 Columbian Exposition issue, and really began to flower with the 2¢ red commemoratives starting in the mid-1920s. But the people honored remained mostly those in the above categories.

Expanding the categories of people was begun in 1940, with the Famous Americans issue of 35 stamps; five in each of seven categories (Authors, Poets, Educators, Scientists, Composers, Artists, and Inventors).

Today, we have taken what was a good thing and arguably gone round the bend with a majority of our stamps being devoted to pop culture, and sports, fruits and other edibles, pets and flowers. Whereas our stamps of the first 100+ years were devoted to the people, events, discoveries that made America great, we now overwhelmingly celebrate what will sell.

Let’s look at a few more changes. Multicolor stamps — actually only two colors to start with — were a rarity from 1869 when they first appeared, and were the exception rather than the rule into the late 1950s. The first year that more U.S. commemoratives were issued with multicolor designs than as single color was 1961. The reason tracks to advances in printing technology that made multicolor stamp production more reliable, faster and cheaper.

The same advances in printing technology also resulted in our much lamented leaving the era of line engraved stamps in favor of surface-printed and photogravure printing. Many feel strongly that the trade-off of routine multi-color stamps in place of the beauty of quality intaglio printing was a mistake. Why couldn’t we stick with engraved multi-color stamps? The Postal Service felt the higher cost couldn’t be justified.

The early 1960s also saw another imperative for multicolor stamps — the fact that another “color” was being added in the form of tagging; made necessary by the requirement to automate mail handling in the interest of speed and cost control. That has blossomed into its own specialized field with different tagging compounds, formats (overall, block and stripes), and tagging embedded in the paper that comes from the manufacturer so that it doesn’t have to be added by printing.

And we can’t forget the advent of self-sticks, introduced in 1974 and used now and then until the self-stick experiments of the early 1990s, which quickly morphed into nearly the entire production of U.S. stamps being produced in self-stick form. Granted, the public loves it, and we collectors might also — had it not come with a terrible surprise: Almost all used self-stick stamps are difficult if not impossible to wash from the envelopes that carry them. The USPS has not seen the cost of adding a washable layer to stamps, thus making self-sticks collector-friendly, as being worth the cost.

And so, time, fashion, and technology march on. Whether the result in our issued stamps is a net positive or negative for U.S. stamp collectors can be debated ’til the cows come home.

On balance, I think it is a less attractive hobby to newcomers than it used to be, and I regret having to say that. But it can be just as absorbing and fascinating once a collector is hooked, and for that reason, I don’t fear for philately’s demise as some do.

U.S. stamps will continue to change. It is not in our power to stop change. What is in our power is to resolve to adapt to the changes as best we can rather than simply railing against them.

Should you wish to comment on this column, or have questions or ideas you would like to have explored in a future column, please write to John Hotchner, VSC Contribu-tor, P.O. Box 1125, Falls Church, VA 22041-0125, or email, putting “VSC” in the subject line.

Or comment right here.

Financing A Stamp Collection On A Tight Budget
By John M. Hotchner

If it’s true that there is no such thing as a free lunch, then stamp collecting is subject to the rule. One of the reasons that our hobby is not embraced as a serious pursuit by young people (by which I mean those from 10 to 50), is that it costs money, and those are the years when potential collectors usually have other, more pressing uses for relatively scarce dollars. Later in life, the kids are grown and on their own, housing needs are not so much a drain, the outflow of dollars associated with the 9-5 job is mitigated by retirement, and those who have planned for retirement often have disposable income that can be devoted to a wide range of pleasurable activities that were harder to justify when younger.

But speaking as one who started as a young teenager and never quit (and we are a distinct minority) I want to pass along the ways I developed to feed my stamp collection in the post- college years when dollars were scarce. How scarce? My first job in the U.S. Foreign Service paid the magnificent sum of $5,194 per year! Though I had steady promotions, they were eaten up by marriage and establishing a home, four children in five years, and the expenses thereunto pertaining. Note, I’m not complaining. I would not have done anything differently. But there was not much left over for hobbies. I doubt things have improved markedly for today’s youngsters.

The first lesson I learned was that I couldn’t/shouldn’t spend family money on stamps. So, where would money come from? As a teenager and at college, I spent most of my lawn mowing/snow shoveling money on stamps. The result was that, as I began my work life, I had a decent collection that was expansive compared to what I actually wanted to get more deeply involved with. So, at the local stamp club, I began to sell off what I didn’t need, and that money went into a separate stamp fund. I used it to buy material for my specialty collections (Christmas seals and AMG material mostly), but also bought collections at auction.

Auctioneers and dealers, I learned, usually bought col- lections, took the best material out to sell as individual stamps or small lots, and that made their cost and a short-term profit. The leftovers went to auction as collection remainders that often realized no more than 5-10% of Scott Catalogue. I found I could break those collections down into smaller lots for my club auction, where members would be happy to buy at 20-25% of Scott. And since I had been a collector for a while, and knew how to watermark, perforate, tell papers apart, etc., it became a game to identify better items that the collectors and dealers had missed. Since I had time and limited money, I could use the former to rectify the latter.

I also found that buying collection remainders was a great way to fill album holes because 80+% of most countries’ stamps were low to moderate priced stamps that dealers would skip over in arriving at their buying price, and in making up higher priced lots to sell. In those early years, I began collecting several of the countries I visited, and got them to perhaps 70% complete from collection remainders.

Meanwhile my stamp account was getting healthy enough that I could buy the occasional better stamp or set for my serious collections.

Another thing I learned is that discretionary money means just that. I could buy lots of cheap stamps and fill a bunch of album spaces, or expensive stamps in poor condition to do the same. But something my father told me registered. He said that cheap stamps will almost always remain cheap. And damaged stamps, unless great rarities, will also remain cheap. So, I made a decision to spend my money on good stamps in Fine or better condition, and the occasional rarity if in sound condition and it looked good from the front.

I was not thinking of myself as an investor, and still don’t. But I am mindful of the fact that at some future time, my heirs will be selling my collection, and the better the stamps and the better their condition, the easier they will be to sell. And it pleases me to know that, unlike greens fees, concert tickets, and fine wines consumed, all of which have no value once the event is passed (though the money will have bought wonderful memories), my collection will have value to those who come after me.

In my early years, stamp clubs were essential to me; not only for selling, but for buying and trading. We’ll get to the latter in a moment. But just as I was selling excess material, other club members and sometimes their heirs, were also using the monthly club auctions (and some clubs had sales book systems as well) to do the same.

Club auctions were then, and remain, a bargain-hunter’s paradise. Sellers don’t expect to get full catalogue. The club auction, as compared to other methods of selling stamps (and covers), is fast, low on paperwork and commissions, and the income is immediate.

These days sellers can also use eBay, APS Stamp Store and the like, but for the bread-and-butter material that every collection needs, the club auction remains a staple.

Now, let’s talk about trading. In some sense this seems to be a lost art, but it was for me, and remains, a great method of acquiring material, and there are no taxes involved since no money is changing hands!

Again, your local club, and national societies where you meet others with your interests, are a key to trading. There are several methods: trading according to catalogue value; stamp for stamp or cover for cover, and if mint stamps are involved, face value for face value.

You can, and most people do, trade duplicates. But what is essential is that you are getting something you really want, and to do that, you may decide to trade material that is in your collection for something that you want even more. An example: In my Christmas Seal collection, I began collecting everything I could get my hands on. Eventually, I found I liked the 1934 design best, and found it to be a worthy challenge to gather material to illustrate its history, production, use, and the items used to market it.

Another collector had material I wanted. He would not sell it. But I had some 1913 material he wanted, and though I liked it, it was not as important to me as the 1934 items he had, so we swapped. In cash value, he probably got the better of the deal. But I’d make that trade again in a heartbeat. The point here is that trading can sometimes go in unusual directions, and so long as both collectors involved are happy, it is a good trade.

One final thought before I close. Sometimes I saw items — both with dealers and collectors — that were available, and that I wanted, but were in the “I could never afford that” category. If we are a prisoner of our own thought processes, most of us interpret that concept as “I could never have enough money at one time to pay for item X”, and that may well be true.

But I learned early to offer a down payment, with a promise to pay off the remainder owed on a schedule, over a reasonable amount of time. I have never had a seller turn me down. And I have never defaulted. That is because of two things:

1. Having made that contract, I am motivated to sell material so that the money would be there when I needed to write a check. I might mention that I met someone at the local club who was happy to pay me to do his washing and cataloguing. What he paid was far short of minimum wage, but it was welcome and useful.
2. Sometimes, the reaction “I could never afford that” does not arise from a lack of money so much as from how you have chosen to allocate what you have. Several times I have found that I could afford something I wanted badly if I were willing to reallocate how I had planned to spend what I had. It was a matter of deciding what I wanted more, and exercising some level of flexibility.

The bottom line to this discussion is that being young with financial responsibilities need not mean that you can’t be a stamp collector. It does mean that you have to look for ways in which you can generate income to have a nest egg to be able to purchase material you want and need. And you need to use resources you have available like your local stamp club, the knowledge you have accumulated, and time. With moderate expenditures you can have a lot of fun and build a satisfying collection.

Should you wish to comment on this column, or have questions or ideas you would like to have explored in a future column, please write to John Hotchner, VSC Contributor, P.O. Box 1125, Falls Church, VA 22041-0125, or email, putting “VSC” in the subject line.

Or comment right here.

By John M. Hotchner

A recent reader question asked what to do to encourage stamp collecting with a grandchild 450 miles away with not a lot of opportunity for “heads together” collaboration? The grandparent is able to visit a couple of times a year, but what to do in between visits?

This hits close to home as I have the same situation with grandchildren on the opposite coast. Beyond sending stamps every so often and hoping nature might take its course, I had not thought about how to construct a more effective program. This column will attempt to do just that.

Let’s start with a few assumptions I think are valid:

1. The concept of “postage stamps” will not register with most kids until ages 5 or 6. Until then, colored bits of paper can be attractive as playthings, and for art projects. Stickers (which unlike stamps have no intrinsic value) are a good substitute to prepare younger children for stamp collecting.
2. Once postage stamps, their use, and their variety are on the child’s radar screen, adults need to understand how they can be seen by kids as an attractive pursuit. I think there are at least seven ways that stamps can appeal to kids:
   1. Their entertainment value—what can they be used for that’s fun?
   2. Their value as a way to connect with other kids, and with familiar adults.
   3. Their value as a reflection of their own life, their family, where they live, etc.
   4. Their value as property—The concept of something “that belongs to me” develops during the 5-and-up period, and if it has real value, kids at younger and younger ages are “getting” the concept of ownership of something with value.
   5. Their value as a means of exercising the basic human imperative to organize. This is one of stamp collecting great strengths—organizing by country, by design content, by time period, by sets within country, etc.
   6. As a means of gaining positive attention and feedback from the adults who matter in their lives.
   7. To satisfy the natural childhood quest for knowledge toward understanding the world he or she lives in.

So, the essential question is how do we grandparents use these insights to introduce philately in ways that children will feel a positive pull to the hobby as they get older? Let’s take a deeper dive into each of the seven categories.

Entertainment value: Stamps can be the basis of games, art projects, creative writing, and more. It can also be entertainment to receive presents of stamps in the mail, and to watch for stamps on the mail.

Connections: Double your pleasure—Double your fun by sharing an interest that is ageless and encourages talking to exchange information that is heavy on positives—unlike so much of adult-child relationships.

Reflecting their lives: Stamps can illustrate where they and relatives live, what the adults in their lives do for a living, their own interests, their pets, what they are learning at school, sports in which they participate, and more.

Property: Children, like adults, learn to assess their own value by what they own. The problem is that most kids don’t own very much beyond their clothes and a few toys. A stamp collection offers not just ownership, but it can be shaped by a child to be a very personal possession.

Organizing: Younger children can organize by color, by design subject, for older stamps, by face value. As they grow and learn to read, organizing by country, and by date of issue can be added.

Positive Attention/Feedback: Every accomplishment from organizing, to completing a game, to learning the name a foreign country calls itself (e.g. Helvetia = Switzerland) is an opportunity for praise.

Quest for Knowledge: The childhood brain is a sponge for knowledge of all types. There is joy in making the connections that help us to understand our lives in terms of place, emotions, family, our time in history, our artistic sense, our connections to others, and more.

In all these areas, success tends to build on success in ways that are addictive. I have observed over time that stamp collecting is best passed from one person to another not by telling another person that they should be a collector, but by making stamps available, and being a mentor (as distinct from an instructor —  kids especially have enough rules to follow). The role of a mentor is to answer questions, provide alternatives, organize and participate in activities, teach good practice, ease obtaining of needed implements, and occasionally warn about the sand traps (e.g., not using sticky tape to put stamps in an album).

So, with this as background, what can a non-resident grandparent do to encourage stamp collecting? What follows is not in any special order; just as things occur to me: So, with this as background, what can a non-resident grandparent do to encourage stamp collecting? What follows is not in any special order; just as things occur to me:

• Provide stamps by mail — a few at a time — that are likely to interest the child, and point out special ones that relate to the child’s family and interests, current events, or that have special historical significance. Use attractive commemoratives on your mail.
• Encourage them to talk on the phone, by Skype, and eventually by email, about the ones they especially like.
• Ask them to pick a stamp that they like from their collection, help them identify it, and then encourage them to use its design as a starting point for a story that can be true or not. You can in response add your perspective to the story, or a new chapter. With encouragement and praise, this can become a regular activity.
• When you visit, bring stamps from your own collection to show what it is that you find fascinating.
• Encourage the child to reach out to other relatives to save stamps for them, and to parents and adult friends to bring home stamps from business mail.
• Send for first day covers for new stamps that will arrive in the mail addressed to the child.
• Provide collecting implements (stock cards, albums, glassine envelopes, stamp tongs, hinges, etc.) as needed. Some of these can be brought when you visit so that you can explain in person how to use them.
• Help them with organizing. Help them fill in sets or lists. For example, the presidential set of 1938, or at least one stamp showing each president since George Washington; or a series of precancels that show origin in all 50 states.
• When you visit, show them how to make their own pages for their collection. This can be a page for one stamp or a set; or pages that resemble an album page.
• Take note of the flowers they have in their garden, the animals that can be found in their area, the foods that they like; and when you get home, send stamps that show these things.
• As the child is able to appreciate them, give stamps with value for birthdays and other special occasions. These can be older issues (e.g. 1976 Bicentennial souvenir sheets), or current stamps from the USPS in presentation books or packs. For example, the USPS yearbook makes a colorful and informative Christmas present.
• Encourage them to have as one of their collections a group of stamps about their own life: stamps that commemorate their state, show the things they play, eat, their heritage, the stamps issued in the year they were born, places they have visited, etc.
• Encourage their parents to support the collecting activities, and to be a resource themselves even if they don’t collect. They can, for example, teach their kids how to use Google to learn about the people and events they see on stamps.
• If there is more than one grandchild, send different stamps for each, and teach them about how they can trade stamps.
• Plan some stamp collecting activities when they come to visit you. Visit places of historical interest that are shown on stamps, and give them the stamp. Show them how and what you collect.
• Make flash cards to help them learn the foreign names on stamps so they can learn to identify where foreign stamps come from (No name, but a picture of Queen Elizabeth, Noreg, CCCP, Republique Francaise, etc.) Help them find the different countries on a map.
• Encourage them to design stamps that they would like to see and send them to you. A particularly good job might be framed and given to them when you or they visit.
• When you visit or they visit, and the time is right according to their level of interest, take them to a local stamp show, which likely will have a kids corner with free stamps and stamp collecting implements.
• In the same vein, take the child to a local stamp club meeting; some of which have active juniors programs. It may be that someone local will be willing to mentor your grandchild. This is not a complete list, nor does a grandparent have to do all of these things to hook a child’s interest. But it provides a starting point.

Readers are invited to add to the list, or to tell us about your experiences in trying to interest young family members in stamp collecting.

Should you wish to comment on this column, or have questions or ideas you would like to have explored in a future column, please write to John Hotchner, VSC Contribu-tor, P.O. Box 1125, Falls Church, VA 22041-0125, or email, putting “VSC” in the subject line.

Or comment right here.

By John M. Hotchner

What do you see when you receive a stamp on an envelope or at a post office? The average user of the mails might notice a bit of color; maybe even the subject or design, but by 20 minutes later most could not tell you what the design illustrated.

Stamp collectors are different. We look at the stamp, classify it according to whether it is a common variety or something more interesting, and decide whether to keep it. And perhaps at the subconscious level, we also evaluate modern stamps in the context of what has gone before — and for many of us, the comparison is often not positive.

For most people, stamps are a means to an end. For collectors, they can be that, but most importantly, they are an end in themselves. So, what is it that collectors find attractive and unattractive about these objects of our affection? At the most obvious level, which the non-collector also sees but may not appreciate, there are ten factors:

a. Color either monocolor or multicolor. Most of today’s stamps are a mix of colors because the general public has voted for this with their wallets. They find multicolor more pleasing and attractive, regardless of what the colors may be. Collectors tend to notice the colors used, and make judgments about the attractiveness, the appropriateness, and the arrangement of the colors.

b. Print Quality, Part I For collectors, especially those of the old school, the Gold Standard is single color that has been printed by recess engraving. We find these examples of the engraver’s and printer’s art near irresistible. Unfortunately, they are more expensive to produce and have become a victim of the Postal Service’s bean counters. The USPS budgeting process values cost avoidance before all else; second, revenue, and then in third place they may evaluate how customer preference might intersect with the other two. They see collectors more as cash cows to be milked than as a constituency to be pleased (though I don’t think the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee totally buys into that), so we don’t see many recess engraved stamps among the new issues of the United States. Of the majority, whether we can identify them or not, we tend to react better to photogravure printing than offset.

c. Print Quality, Part II Advances in printing technology have over the years since our first postage stamps in 1847, improved the uniformity and the quality of stamps coming off the presses. It used to be that a collector could make their life’s work the study of a single stamp in all its varieties. On most of today’s stamps, it is a struggle to find an example that differs in any significant way from all its brothers and sisters.

d. The Topic/Subject may be the first thing we all consciously notice and react to. For the general public, it may be the only criterion for what to buy, while collectors have more subtle and more complicated reactions. All buyers/viewers like a pretty flower stamp. But for the general public, that is where it ends. For collectors, a little of that (puppies, lighthouses, birds, costumes, etc.) goes a long way. We prefer topics with some gravitas: history illustrated though events and the people who excelled in their fields and contributed to making America great, events that advance the human condition like space stamps, scientific discoveries and medical advances.

e. The Design is of little importance to the general public, but of supreme importance to collectors. The Postal Service has two responsibilities here: First, to convey the subject clearly on a small palette, and second, to reflect the full range of American art styles in its stamps. That includes, among others, abstract art, comic art, impressionism, pop art and photography. But a large percentage of collectors are traditionalists; not fond of anything not, well, traditional. So, collectors have a full range of thoughts and feelings on the art used for any given subject. While cocktail parties talk Trump, stamp club meetings talk stamp design trends, especially as represented on new issues.

f. The Size which is always “the bigger the better” unless you are the public, having to carry around giant Priority Mail, Express Mail or large commemorative stamps. Now, the reality is that the extra weight and size of large commemoratives is hardly worth considering, but the general public has its concerns and this is undeniably one of them. Collectors on the other hand generally revel in ‘bigger is better’ when contemplating stamps they liked, but will immediately jump to critic mode when the stamp is a large version of something they don’t like.

g. Stamp Shape which draws the same kinds of complaints when non-traditional circular, especially tall or wide, or triangular stamps are issued. The USPS sees these as interesting variations on what might otherwise be a boring theme, and believes they bait the stamp collecting hook (of which more later), but collector reaction is by and large not complimentary.

h. Stamps In Souvenir Sheets clearly intended by the USPS not for postal use but for collectors. Few such sheets are used on mail, but then, it requires real effort to remove the postage from the excess paper for use. So, while many collectors enjoy them as philatelic souvenirs, the same collectors may be annoyed, feeling that they are being fleeced.

i. Face Value has risen with inflation, and has risen even faster if Priority Mail, Express Mail and souvenir sheets are counted in. The public buys what they need and it is fee for service. But it requires a real act of will for a collector to lay out over $80 for a new Express Mail plate block (every 18 months or so), and in this way, the USPS is pricing itself out of the market as the vast majority of stamp collectors are not in that league.

j. Multi-Stamp Sets combined with face value, make even relatively inexpensive stamps an investment when there are 10 or 20 different pets, Harry Potter characters, Peanuts Christmas stamps, etc. It used to be this was limited to commemorative subjects, but in recent years the Postal Service has extended it into the domain of definitives. All of this tends to encourage stamp collectors to avoid mint stamps, and to concentrate on used. (But even this is more difficult to swing now that most self-sticks can’t be washed.)

At the second level are the technical details of the stamp. These are almost totally ignored by the general public if they are noticed at all. Again there are multiple aspects:

a. The Paper Used, And Its Color which can be bright to dull, thin to thick, coated or not, and pregummed or gummed after printing. In the olden says, there was also the issue of watermarks.

b. The Tagging which can be in the paper, on top of the paper, overall or block, and can fluoresce in many colors.

c. The Gum which can be flat or shiny, ridged or not, and self-stick (with the consequent problems of aging and nonwashability). On this one there is a sharp split between collectors and non-collectors. The latter generally love self-sticks. Collectors are ok with them if used stamps can be washed from envelops, but unalterably opposed, with flashes of anger, if they don’t wash.

d. The Means Of Separation which used to be simple perforations (holes between the stamps), but has now moved on to die cuts of various shapes and sizes often with several variations on the stamps of a single issue.

e. Added Factors such as plate numbers and what they represent, the copyright or issue date, secret marks to deter counterfeiting (often in the form of microprinting, or opticalvariable devices), and backing paper which is now an integral part of collecting a “mint” stamp.

Collectors may ignore or study the multiple variations in each of these second level categories.

At the third level; some of which are obvious even to the non-collector, and many of which are not, are unintended production varieties. These are often termed in philately EFOs, for Errors, Freaks and Oddities. Each of these is a term of art that has a lengthy definition, and if you want to learn more about this area, visit www.efocc.org, the website of the EFO Collectors Club.

To the extent that the general public cares about these at all, it is because they have found something really obvious like a missing color, or unintended imperfs. Sometimes they will turn these back into the post office, saying something like, “Take these back and give me good ones that I can use.” For the more philatelically aware, the immediate question is how do they turn these into money?

Collectors are more likely to keep EFOs, as even minor examples are relative rarities. The truly dedicated will also use EFOs as a window on the production process; as a means of understanding the fascinating world of stamp printing.

Can we learn anything from this brief review of the properties of a stamp, and the differences in how stamps are seen by collectors and non-collectors?

I think a primary lesson is that the USPS is in a no-win situation. In order to get the attention of non-collectors and to draw them into the hobby, they have to produce an unending stream of stamps with popular themes that the general public will pay attention to, but which dyed-in-the-wool collectors often find annoying and manipulative.

Another is that there is much more to stamps than the general public ever thinks about, and much more for collectors to think about and enjoy than most have time, money or inclination for.

The “old” way of collecting a mint example of every stamp the United States has issued is now a huge challenge (with over 5500 different stamps; many of the earliest examples beyond the ability of our wallets to acquire). So country collecting — even in used-stamps form — is giving way to topical collecting and discreet time period-collecting.

Very little of this is obvious to us as we look at a stamp we buy or receive on an envelope today.

Should you wish to comment on this editorial, or have questions or ideas you would like to have explored in a future column, please write to John Hotchner, VSC Contributor, P.O. Box 1125, Falls Church, VA 22041-0125, or email, putting “VSC” in the subject line.

Or comment right here.

By John M. Hotchner

Stamp collecting is dead! So said the venerable New York Times on September 29, 2017, in an op-ed titled “Stamped Out” by Eugene L. Meyer. The sub-head said, “In the Internet age, philately has lost its once-worldly charms.”

In the April 2017 issue of American Stamp Dealer & Collector, the American Stamp Dealers Association magazine. I wrote a response to a similar voice of doom published in the Wall Street Journal. What I said then bears repeating now, what follows is an update of what I said in April 2017, under the heading, “A Waning Hobby? Not On Your Life!” I don’t as a matter of practice repeat columns or themes, but I’ll make an exception here as the column will be new to most readers:

What follows refers to an article in the May 31, 2016 issue of the Wall Street Journal titled “The Last Bastion of a Waning Hobby.” It talked about the author’s visit to the Champion Stamp Company, which he described as the last remaining street level stamp shop in New York City.

So the question for today is: “Is Stamp Collecting a Waning Hobby or Stamped Out?” My answer is that the hobby hit bottom some years ago, but I believe it is on the way back up. But it is coming back as a hobby nearly unrecognizable to those of us who began when stamp collecting was properly described as the King of Hobbies, and the Hobby of Kings.

In other words, it has evolved in a great many ways. Let’s look at some of the changes over the (can it be?) 70 years since I began to collect:

The “product” has changed. What used to be mostly needs-based issuance programs, worldwide, with mostly monocolor stamps, has turned into a multicolor, collector- and profits-driven enterprise to which postal administrations cater shamelessly. Today, thousands of stamps, souvenir sheets, varieties and more are issued that will never see the country from which they purport to come. And the only mail you will see them on is the rare first day cover that has actually gone through the post.

In addition, the subjects with heft — history, national symbols, founders and rulers, and the national points of pride in industry, science, etc. — now make up a much smaller percentage of what is issued. Instead we get birds and flowers, pets, pop culture, international themes that help to sell the product abroad, and other such pap.

What is collected has changed. In the good old days, we collected countries. Some of us even attempted the world. No more. Now it is topicals that rule; with specific time periods of countries rather than the entire country a close second. Covers, a collecting category barely thought about in the mid-20th Century, are now a major draw, and the more involved the collector, the more likely he or she is to include covers.

The demographics of the hobby have changed. It used to be that almost every grade school kid gave the hobby a try. Now, most kids are unfamiliar with stamps, have never been inside a post office, and the concept of writing a letter is as foreign as dialing a rotary telephone. For these reasons, the concept of stamps as a utilitarian product or as a point of pride in country has given way to stamps as art or as a reflection of another interest (e.g. space exploration),

The methods of commerce have changed. The village stamp shop has nearly disappeared. Dealers and sales sites on the Internet have taken their place, along with some continuing periodic bourses and annual stamp show events in and near larger towns and cities. Some dealers are no longer populating bourses at all, or as often; finding that they are doing just fine with an Internet presence. The computer is now an essential tool for collectors.

Even auctions, which continue to do well, have had to set higher minimums for lots in order to cover their catalogs’ production and other business costs; which have also driven up buyers’ and sellers’ commissions.

The need to join a club or society has decreased as the presence of personal computers (and iPads, iPhones and other such tools) has proliferated. So much information and so many resources are available to collectors for free on the Internet that collectors who have never experienced the benefits of receiving a philatelic publication in the mail, philatelic friendships in person, or trading relationships, don’t see the need to pay for being involved in the organized part of the hobby.

The economics of publishing have changed. It is no secret why memberships and subscriptions are down, and costs to subscribers are going up. Paper, printing, and mailing costs are all on the upswing, and have been for the last 20 years. So, the satisfying feeling of receiving and holding hard copy in your hands is rapidly disappearing as philatelic publishing migrates to the Internet. Many of us old timers are adapting, though with some angst; but it is a change that has both positive and negative aspects.

The concept of condition has changed. Because of modern technology, perfection of printing and centering is now not only possible, but expected. And today’s collector has chosen to apply the new standards to old stamps where perfection is seldom seen. This includes the rage for undisturbed gum that has never been sullied by a hinge, a positive mania for Very Fine-or-better centering, and looking down one’s nose at any cancellation that does not look like it was cancelled-to-order.

Stamp collecting no longer looks like an obvious choice for youth, or even millennials. In the ‘40s to ‘70s maybe even a majority of grade schoolers gave stamp collecting a try — even if only to squirrel away a few stamps; just because some of your friends or siblings were doing it; and because the Postal Service supported school stamp clubs. Today, hardly any of the kids you might be friends with are doing it. They are doing electronics, organized sports, hanging out at the mall, and God knows what else that provides much more immediate pleasurable feedback. For some time now, we have been raising generations of kids who want it all NOW. Stamp collecting gives pleasure, but it is mostly a source of delayed gratification as collectors painstakingly build something they can be proud of.

The cost of involvement has changed. Even if a collector is satisfied with average condition and used stamps (and leaving aside the increased number of issuances per year with ever higher face values), the cost of albums and yearly supplements, stock books, glassines, catalogues, and other collecting implements has soared. It can be moderated by making one’s own pages using computer software, but that makes collecting more difficult. Speaking of which…

…Getting started as a novice in collecting just isn’t as easy as it used to be. Several reasons have already been mentioned, but let’s add the high face value of normal postage stamps, let alone stamps for high-value services, which puts the yearly cost of collecting current mint stamps out of the reach of youth and even young marrieds looking for a hobby. Collect used stamps, and they can no longer be removed from the envelopes for which they paid postage — if you can find such envelopes, given that computer-vended postage, meters and other such electronic stamp substitutes have all but pushed real postage stamps out of the mail system. Add to this the fact that stamp collecting is a hobby best passed from one generation to the next one-on-one. How does that happen when today’s stamp collectors won’t go to a stamp club (most of which resemble a retirement community; though a vital one), an ever smaller percentage of the population is serious about collecting, and real live dealers are not available locally to serve as mentors.

The attitude toward stamps as a collectible at the entry level has changed. Collectors used to start collecting because it was fun. If one got serious enough about it later on, then some element of the investing mindset might become part of the equation. But for a long time now, we have been emphasizing the money side of everything to our kids, and they have gotten the message. Even if fun is part of the equation, a weather eye on what the collection will sell for at some future time is now an early consideration — and those who sell are not looking to get back some moderate percentage of their “investment,” they are looking for a profit! And they are bitterly disappointed when they don’t get it — if you believe the letters to the editor columns of the philatelic press.

If there is a common theme to what has been laid out above, it is the effects of the electronic age on both the hobby and on the minds of potential collectors. But there are other themes too; chief among them being the increasing costs of being a collector, the willingness of stamp producers to kill the goose that laid the golden egg by going for short-term profits instead of long-term growth of the base, and the changing nature of the hobby and what collectors want from it.

I said in the introduction that I think the hobby’s popularity has bottomed out and we are on an upswing. The Chicken Littles among us don’t see it, but I think it is true because I think that the hobby and most individual collectors are adapting. The negative influences of the computer and the Internet also have some positives. Information and answers to questions are much easier to get, as our hobby institutions (including the dealer community) adapt to the Internet world. I also think that if stamps are less appreciated as stamps, they are more appreciated as art, and as a reflection of the breadth of our world’s activities.

I think that if stamp collecting is less attractive to kids, it is and can be much more attractive than it used to be to adults in mid-life — if we take the trouble to promote it that way. Finally, I think that the high end of the hobby is just as satisfying as it used to be in terms of the joys of owning wonderful, scarce, and even expensive material. In this way, it is not unlike being a connoisseur of art, wine, rare books, coins or other collectibles.

My conclusion is this: As long as the collector gene is part of the make-up of human beings, the hobby will continue and prosper. It will be different from what we grew up with, and we who are part of it will need to adapt rather than quit in disgust. Our hobby will still need to be passed on to new collectors one-on-one, and each of us has a role in that task.

But it is anything but a “Waning Hobby” or “Stamped Out,” both of which imply that it is just south of extinction! Nothing could be further from the truth!

Should you wish to comment on this column, or have questions or ideas you would like to have explored in a future column, please write to John Hotchner, VSC Contributor, P.O. Box 1125, Falls Church, VA 22041-0125, or email, putting “VSC” in the subject line.

Or comment right here.

By John M. Hotchner

Most of us as collectors stay inside the philatelic box — standard collections of the United States or another country, or stay with an era like the first 100 years, or even a single issue like the Liberty Series of 1954. Another group will focus on Back of the Book issues of one sort or another, or go the thematic route.

Going beyond the Scott Standard or U.S. Specialized Catalogues gets us to at least the outer edges of the box, but for such material there are often specialized catalogs that help us define boundaries. I’m talking here about such things as precancels, perfins, state revenues, and collecting specific plate numbers.

But if you want to bust out of the box completely, you have to dabble in something that has no catalog, and because of that, there are still many discoveries to be made. One such area is what I like to call Postal Larceny, which I define as the myriad ways in which individuals and sometimes organizations go about cheating the Postal Service of revenue, using the post for illegal or immoral purposes, or attempting to fool collectors into buying altered stamps and covers, or outright forgeries.

I have found that to be a fascinating, challenging and enjoyable pursuit, and want to recommend it as a specialty all its own. Wait a minute: Aren’t postal forgeries — defined as “stamps” created to replicate genuine U.S. stamps, but fakes made to cheat the USPS out of revenue — listed in the Scott U.S. Specialized?

Yes, they are and have been since the 2013 catalogue. But when I began to collect them in the 1960s, there was no such resource. In fact there was no cohesive resource at all. Just after the turn of the new century, Rich Drews, Joann Lenz and I fortuitously discovered we all had the same interest. Each of us had a holding, and a file folder of clippings from the philatelic press about some of these counterfeits. None of us wanted to sell, so we hit on a scheme to pool our material and files. Each of us now has a complete file, though it by no means covers everything we own.

More importantly, we did an exhibit showing all of what we know to exist and have in “our” collection. See the title page on the right and also reproduced at the bottom of this page for clarity. While it began as two frames, it is now on the verge of a sixth, and the exhibit is shown at the APS Winter and Summer shows each year.

It was from viewing this exhibit that the Scott editors took the initiative in 2011 to come to us and ask if we would be interested in having a postal counterfeit section added to the Specialized — and if so, would we be interested in preparing it? Yes, and Yes, were the immediate answers.

Getting U.S. Postal Counterfeits within the box was a huge victory for us in that it gave form and recognition to the collecting area. But the area remains a challenge with both information and material waiting to be discovered. For example, there are Linn’s articles describing a 20¢ Flag Over Supreme Court counterfeit that was used on mailed advertisements for pornography. We don’t have one, and indeed none of us have ever seen a genuine example!

The other aspect of postal counterfeits, if you follow the reports by Rudy de Mordaigle in U.S. Stamp News, and other philatelic press reports, is that the postal counterfeits business (for that is what it is!) has mushroomed in the years starting with the 37¢ Flag rate (2002). There have been more counterfeits since then than in all the years since 1894 when the first examples are recorded. And the quality of the newer counterfeits is very high. It used to be that counterfeiters had to replicate engraved U.S. stamps. No longer. The USPS changed their requirements to eliminate engraving in favor of photogravure, which is much less expensive. But it is also much easier to credibly fake. So, where ‘in the olden days’ a postal employee might identify a counterfeit and call in the Inspectors, current counterfeits are well enough done that postal staff can not easily tell the difference between the fakes and genuine stamps without a magnifier.

Processing equipment can spot the counterfeits because most have no or the wrong tagging. But it seems that the equipment also kicks out envelopes with perfectly good stamps in sufficient numbers to make tracking each reject to see if it is a counterfeit not a realistic option.

Virtually each new First Class or Forever definitive of the last 15 years has been counterfeited numerous times and by numerous sources. They are sold openly on the Internet and marketed to mom and pop stores in inner cities, and the USPS seems to be unable or unwilling to put a stop to it; thus adding hundreds of millions of dollars to the Postal Service deficit.This level of audacity is equaled if not exceeded by what have come to be called the “stamp doctors” who alter genuine U.S. stamps to make them into more expensive versions (making coils from imperf stamps, adding “Kans.” Or “Nebr.” Overprints, for example) and repair flawed stamps to make them more desirable (and thus more expensive). Examples of this practice might include reperfing to replace damaged perforations, adding perfs to straight edges, filling in pin holes, replacing hinged gum, and much, much more.

Putting together a collection of faked, altered and repaired stamps is a challenge because no dealer specializes in such material, but almost every dealer will have some examples and they mostly sell for pennies on the catalogue-value dollar. The collector who accumulates and studies such material is bound to learn a great deal about the properties of such material, but will also have a leg up in being able to make good judgments about genuine and unaltered stamps.

Throughout this article are examples of U.S. collector forgeries and altered or repaired stamps. I have purposely picked badly done examples that are obviously bad, but readers should be warned that the art of forging, altering and repairing has made great strides in recent years, and the only reliable ways to avoid such material are by acquiring personal knowledge, and knowing how to use the services of a reputable expertizing organization.

We will end this column at this point, but I will continue in future columns. We will look at use of stamp-like substitutes for postage stamps, attempts at short payment, use of the mails for criminal activity, stolen mail, stamp washing to remove cancellations, postal stationery counterfeits, misuse of USPS stamp images, movie prop stamps, and more.

Should you wish to comment on this column, or have questions or ideas you would like to have explored in a future column, please write to John Hotchner, VSC Contributor, P.O. Box 1125, Falls Church, VA 22041-0125, or email, putting “VSC” in the subject line.

Or comment right here.

By John M. Hotchner

What do you see when you receive a stamp on an envelope or at a post office? The average user of the mails might notice a bit of color; maybe even the subject or design, but by 20 minutes later most could not tell you what the design illustrated.

Stamp collectors are different. We look at the stamp, classify it according to whether it is a common variety or something more interesting, and decide whether to keep it. And perhaps at the subconscious level, we also evaluate modern stamps in the context of what has gone before — and for many of us, the comparison is often not positive.

For most people, stamps are a means to an end. For collectors, they can be that, but most importantly, they are an end in themselves. So, what is it that collectors find attractive and unattractive about these objects of our affection? At the most obvious level, which the non-collector also sees but may not appreciate, there are ten factors:

a. Color, either monocolor or multicolor. Most of today’s stamps are a mix of colors because the general public has voted for this with their wallets. They find multicolor more pleasing and attractive, regardless of what the colors may be. Collectors tend to notice the colors used, and make judgments about the attractiveness, the appropriateness, and the arrangement of the colors.

b. Print Quality, Part I For collectors, especially those of the old school, the Gold Standard is single color that has been printed by recess engraving. We find these examples of the engraver’s and printer’s art near irresistible. Unfortunately, they are more expensive to produce and have become a victim of the Postal Service’s bean counters. The USPS budgeting process values cost avoidance before all else; second, revenue, and then in third place they may evaluate how customer preference might intersect with the other two. They see collectors more as cash cows to be milked than as a constituency to be pleased (though I don’t think the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee totally buys into that), so we don’t see many recess engraved stamps among the new issues of the United States. Of the majority, whether we can identify them or not, we tend to react better to photogravure printing than offset.

c. Print Quality, Part II Advances in printing technology have over the years since our first postage stamps in 1847, improved the uniformity and the quality of stamps coming off the presses. It used to be that a collector could make their life’s work the study of a single stamp in all its varieties. On most of today’s stamps, it is a struggle to find an example that differs in any significant way from all its brothers and sisters.

d. The Topic/Subject may be the first thing we all consciously notice and react to. For the general public, it may be the only criterion for what to buy, while collectors have more subtle and more complicated reactions. All buyers/viewers like a pretty flower stamp. But for the general public, that is where it ends. For collectors, a little of that (puppies, lighthouses, birds, costumes, etc.) goes a long way. We prefer topics with some gravitas: history illustrated though events and the people who excelled in their fields and contributed to making America great, events that advance the human condition like space stamps, scientific discoveries and medical advances.

e. The Design is of little importance to the general public, but of supreme importance to collectors. The Postal Service has two responsibilities here: First, to convey the subject clearly on a small palette, and second, to reflect the full range of American art styles in its stamps. That includes, among others, abstract art, comic art, impressionism, pop art and photography. But a large percentage of collectors are traditionalists; not fond of anything not, well, traditional. So, collectors have a full range of thoughts and feelings on the art used for any given subject. While cocktail parties talk Trump, stamp club meetings talk stamp design trends, especially as represented on new issues.

f. The Size which is always “the bigger the better” unless you are the public, having to carry around giant Priority Mail, Express Mail or large commemorative stamps. Now, the reality is that the extra weight and size of large commemoratives is hardly worth considering, but the general public has its concerns and this is undeniably one of them. Collectors on the other hand generally revel in ‘bigger is better’ when contemplating stamps they liked, but will immediately jump to critic mode when the stamp is a large version of something they don’t like.

g. Stamp Shape which draws the same kinds of complaints when non-traditional circular, especially tall or wide, or triangular stamps are issued. The USPS sees these as interesting variations on what might otherwise be a boring theme, and believes they bait the stamp collecting hook (of which more later), but collector reaction is by and large not complimentary.

h. Stamps In Souvenir Sheets clearly intended by the USPS not for postal use but for collectors. Few such sheets are used on mail, but then, it requires real effort to remove the postage from the excess paper for use. So, while many collectors enjoy them as philatelic souvenirs, the same collectors may be annoyed, feeling that they are being fleeced.

i. Face Value has risen with inflation, and has risen even faster if Priority Mail, Express Mail and souvenir sheets are counted in. The public buys what they need and it is fee for service. But it requires a real act of will for a collector to lay out over $80 for a new Express Mail plate block (every 18 months or so), and in this way, the USPS is pricing itself out of the market as the vast majority of stamp collectors are not in that league.

j. Multi-Stamp Sets combined with face value, make even relatively inexpensive stamps an investment when there are 10 or 20 different pets, Harry Potter characters, Peanuts Christmas stamps, etc. It used to be this was limited to commemorative subjects, but in recent years the Postal Service has extended it into the domain of definitives. All of this tends to encourage stamp collectors to avoid mint stamps, and to concentrate on used. (But even this is more difficult to swing now that most self-sticks can’t be washed.)

At the second level are the technical details of the stamp. These are almost totally ignored by the general public if they are noticed at all. Again there are multiple aspects:

a. The Paper Used, And Its Color which can be bright to dull, thin to thick, coated or not, and pregummed or gummed after printing. In the olden says, there was also the issue of watermarks.

b. The Tagging which can be in the paper, on top of the paper, overall or block, and can fluoresce in many colors.

c. The Gum which can be flat or shiny, ridged or not, and self-stick (with the consequent problems of aging and nonwashability). On this one there is a sharp split between collectors and non-collectors. The latter generally love self-sticks. Collectors are ok with them if used stamps can be washed from envelops, but unalterably opposed, with flashes of anger, if they don’t wash.

d. The Means Of Separation which used to be simple perforations (holes between the stamps), but has now moved on to die cuts of various shapes and sizes often with several variations on the stamps of a single issue.

e. Added Factors such as plate numbers and what they represent, the copyright or issue date, secret marks to deter counterfeiting (often in the form of microprinting, or opticalvariable devices), and backing paper which is now an integral part of collecting a “mint” stamp.

Collectors may ignore or study the multiple variations in each of these second level categories.

At the third level; some of which are obvious even to the non-collector, and many of which are not, are unintended production varieties. These are often termed in philately EFOs, for Errors, Freaks and Oddities. Each of these is a term of art that has a lengthy definition, and if you want to learn more about this area, visit www.efocc.org, the website of the EFO Collectors Club.

To the extent that the general public cares about these at all, it is because they have found something really obvious like a missing color, or unintended imperfs. Sometimes they will turn these back into the post office, saying something like, “Take these back and give me good ones that I can use.” For the more philatelically aware, the immediate question is how do they turn these into money?

Collectors are more likely to keep EFOs, as even minor examples are relative rarities. The truly dedicated will also use EFOs as a window on the production process; as a means of understanding the fascinating world of stamp printing.

Can we learn anything from this brief review of the properties of a stamp, and the differences in how stamps are seen by collectors and non-collectors?

I think a primary lesson is that the USPS is in a no-win situation. In order to get the attention of non-collectors and to draw them into the hobby, they have to produce an unending stream of stamps with popular themes that the general public will pay attention to, but which dyed-in-the-wool collectors often find annoying and manipulative.

Another is that there is much more to stamps than the general public ever thinks about, and much more for collectors to think about and enjoy than most have time, money or inclination for.

The “old” way of collecting a mint example of every stamp the United States has issued is now a huge challenge (with over 5500 different stamps; many of the earliest examples beyond the ability of our wallets to acquire). So country collecting — even in used-stamps form — is giving way to topical collecting and discreet time period-collecting.

Very little of this is obvious to us as we look at a stamp we buy or receive on an envelope today.

Should you wish to comment on this editorial, or have questions or ideas you would like to have explored in a future column, please write to John Hotchner, VSC Contributor, P.O. Box 1125, Falls Church, VA 22041-0125, or email, putting “VSC” in the subject line.

Or comment right here.