Kelley New Editor at U.S. Specialist

A short announcement on the website of the U.S. Stamp Society says that Andrew Kelley of Denver will take the reins at the philatelic organization’s journal, effective with the March 2024 issue. He replaces Martin Kent Miller, who has been the editor since 2019. No reason was given.

Kelley recently received the Society’s 2023 Hopkinson Literature Award. His article “Authenticating Scott 530c — Triple Impression on the Three Cent Offset” appeared in the May 2023 issue of The Specialist.

The U.S. Stamp Society was founded in 1926 as the Philatelic Plate Number Association, but was known as the Bureau Issues Association from 1930 to 2000. Its members specialize in collecting U.S. stamps.

March-April First Days Magazine Is Available

The March-April issue of First Days, the journal of the American First Day Cover Society, is now available for download for society members and should be in their mailboxes any day now.

A veteran FDC collector tells how his interest all-but-started with hearing the heart-wrenching words, “there were so many more boxes that we didn’t have room for, so we burned them.” The issue also contains a chronicle of the adventure of servicing unofficial-location FDCs (“UOs”) in the days before the interstate highway system — and during the winter in Vermont!

Michael Dodd discusses what to watch for if you come across FDCs of the 1967 British Discovery & Invention stamps. Another article describes first day covers honoring a Filipino stamp organization’s most famous member. You know him, but you don’t know the cachetmaker profiled by Gerald H. Strauss, at least, not as a cachetmaker.

Gary Dickinson’s “Canadian Cachets” series looks at a major cachetmaker’s recycling efforts in the 1940s. Michael Lake tells of the close connection between an ArtCraft variety and the stamp affixed to it.

Also in the March-April issue is the debut of a new series, “Technology and Techniques,” and Mary Ann Bowman’s youth column solicits ideas on using topical FDCs to interest children in our hobby.

Even the ads are informative: In one, a collector asks for scans of MacArthur and Nimitz FDCs missing from his website, while another seeks Stanley Steamer covers.

Not yet a member of the AFDCS? Go to www.afdcs.org/join.html

Writing On Newfoundland Award Winners Announced

[press release]
CCC Announces 2021 Pratt Award Winners

CHICAGO, Feb. 21, 2022 – The Collectors Club of Chicago is pleased to announce the winners of the 2021 Pratt Award, which recognizes articles or other publications related to the philately of Newfoundland as judged by the Pratt Award Committee as being significant and of academic merit. It is awarded in the year following its publishing.

The 2021 recipients are the following (listed with their award-winning works):

    • Anthony B. Thompson, of Sweden, for “Newfoundland’s Moiré Patterned Bookend Paper 1937-1940” in the first quarter 2021 BNA Topics whole number 566.
    • John M. Walsh and Robin J. Moore (both residing in Canada) for two articles: “Newfoundland: Discoveries in the Design Sizes of the 1933 Gilbert; 1937 Long Coronation and 1938 Royal Family Issues” in the January 2021 issue of Maple Leaves whole number 359 and the follow up article: “Newfoundland: Discovery Design Sizes Found on the 5 Cent, 2 Cent Die ii, 4 Cent Rose Lake and 8 Cent Values of the 1932 Perkins Bacon & Co Issue. (Further Proof of Their Different Printing Press Uses and Capabilities)” in the July 2021 issue of Maple Leaves whole number 361.

The CCC Pratt Award is named for Robert H. Pratt, the eminent Newfoundland stamp and postal history collector, researcher, and author. Since 1997, the award has been bestowed upon the author(s) of the best-judged article(s) or book(s) published on Newfoundland philately.

The annual award is US$1,000, which is given to one or more winners. If there are multiple winners in a year, they share the prize. For 2021, a single researcher authored one winning article, and the other was co-authored.

[According to the club’s website, “Initiated in 1997, the CCC Pratt Award is named for Col. Robert H. Pratt, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the pre-eminent Newfoundland stamp and postal history collector, researcher, and author.”]

Further details about the award and past winners are available here.

Founded in 1928 and re-established in 1944, the Collectors Club of Chicago is a group of award-winning philatelists focused on increasing knowledge and education of stamp collecting and postal history. The club owns and operates a philatelic library and clubhouse in downtown Chicago and has hosted speakers from around the United States.

Chicago Club Book on Polish Airmail History

[press release]
CCC Publishing Poland and Contiguous European Pioneer Aerophilately Handbook

The Collectors Club of Chicago is pleased to announce the upcoming publication of the CCC’s 36th handbook chronicling specialized philatelic subjects: The History of Airmail in Poland and Its Contribution to Airmail Services of Europe ( 1914-1939), by Dr. Jerzy W. Kupiec-Węgliński. A Synopsis and Table of Contents in the Polish and German languages accompany this English edition.

The monograph, prefaced by Oxford-based Nobel Prize nominated historian Norman Davies, focuses on the development and operations of airmail services on the Polish territories throughout 25 years of turbulent European history during the 20th century. It begins with events originating in WWI, during October 1914-March 1915, in a remote area of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire’s Galicia Province, in the small town of Przemyśl. It concludes with the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, and the outbreak of WWII. It is an in-depth encyclopedic history of the development of air post not only in Poland, but also in all of Europe and beyond.

The substantive material is presented in 12 chapters. The first chapter highlights the 1914-1915 airmail effort by the Austrian Army from the besieged by Russian forces city of Przemyśl. The following chapter includes comprehensive descriptions and illustrations of the airmail postal route in 1918 from Vienna to Kiev, via Kraków and Lviv.

Further chapters detail the development of domestic airmail operations, as well as joint services by Polish and foreign carriers to other countries and continents, air rallies, “crash” (interrupted) mail, and the Zeppelin mail from mainland Poland and the Free City of Danzig to Americas.

The handbook is hardbound in an 8½”x11″ format, and includes 424 pages containing over 700 illustrations. The book is available from the CCC website ( www.collectorsclubchicago.org/handbooks-available-for-purchase for $US79.50 postpaid to U.S. and A.P.O. addresses (Europe for €65 plus Shipping & Handling), with PayPal being accepted for payment. Shipping to other destinations will be serviced on a per order basis.

About the Collectors Club of Chicago:
Founded in 1928 and reestablished in 1944, the Collectors Club of Chicago is a group of award-winning philatelists focused on increasing knowledge and education of stamp collecting and postal history. The club owns and operates a philatelic library and clubhouse in downtown Chicago and has hosted monthly speakers from around the United States.

U.S. Navy Censorship Markings 1940-1945 Handbook

The Collectors Club of Chicago is pleased to announce the upcoming publication of our thirty-fifth handbook chronicling specialized philatelic subjects: U.S. Navy Censorship Markings (1940-1945), by James Moses.

The book is hardbound, and includes 330 pages of data supplementing a large void in the documented study of U.S. WWII censorship. It contains more than 575 listings of naval censor markings that include a number previously unreported. The book describes and illustrates each mark and location(s) of use, and often a brief story behind the men, ships, and bases of those who sent or received censored letters.

The book is available at the introductory pre-printing price of $68, including shipping and handling. After March 1, the book will be available at the increased retail price. Orders can now be placed on the CCC website [link], with PayPal being accepted for payment.

AFDCS Book Chronicles 1945 UN Issue

A new book from the American First Day Cover Society shares a collector’s love for the 1945 U.S. stamp that heralded the formation of the United Nations. The Al Raddi Collection of Scott 928 Toward United Nations Conference FDCs shows more than 170 different first day covers and related items for the issue commemorating the meeting of delegates from 50 countries toward the end of World War II.

Each of the cachets is shown in color. The listings are divided into material that was intended to travel through the mail system, and those that were not. They are then further divided into those with contemporary cachets — applied no later than one year after the April 25, 1945, first-day — and add-ons. Raddi, from Michigan, invites readers to send information about other cachets that exist for this issue.

The book starts with a brief history of the conference, and then information about the stamp.

The Al Raddi Collection is available as a .pdf download from the AFDCS for $8 ($6 for members) or a printout may be purchased for $15 ($13) postpaid. Either version may be ordered from the AFDCS website at www.afdcs.org/fdccatalogs.html. The printed version may also be ordered by mail from AFDCS Sales, PO Box 44, Annapolis Junction, MD 20701-0044.

The American First Day Cover Society is a not-for-profit educational organization, with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status granted by the IRS. Established in 1955, the AFDCS also publishes handbooks, catalogues and its award-winning bimonthly journal, First Days. It also promotes first day cover exhibiting, both at its own Americover show and at other stamp shows.

For more information about the AFDCS, visit www.afdcs.org, e-mail afdcs@afdcs.org or write the AFDCS at PO Box 44, Annapolis Junction, MD 20701-0044.

Book: Postal History of the Spanish-Cuban / American War (1895-1898)

[press release]
CCC Offers New Book: The Postal History of the Spanish-Cuban / American War
(1895-1898)
By Yamil H. Kouri Jr.

The Collectors Club of Chicago is pleased to announce the publication of its 34th handbook chronicling specialized philatelic subjects: Under Three Flags, The Postal History of the Spanish-Cuban / American War (1895-1898) by Dr. Yamil H. Kouri, Jr.

The handbook deals with every postal and philatelic aspect representing the three sides of the war and includes abundant related history pertinent to the context of this conflict.

The 27 chapters present viewpoints from each of the war’s three belligerents. From the Cuban side, detailed are the military history, the Cuban postal systems in and out of the island, and the war’s impact on civilians. From the Spanish side, presented are the mails from the Spanish soldiers and sailors, military posts, military hospitals, prisoners of war, as well as Spanish patriotic labels, interrupted mail, and blockade mail.

From the United States side, detailed are the mails from all the military camps in the United States; patriotic covers and labels; wartime correspondence; mail from the American soldiers, sailors and military hospitals; military postal stations in Cuba and their postal markings and mail categories; military camps in Cuba; local provisional stamp issues; official mail envelopes; and the 1899-1902 postal issues.

All involvements of the three belligerents, the Cubans, the Spaniards, and the Americans, are chronicled in depth. Beginning with the detailed table of contents, the reader can easily find the sections relating to a cover being examined. There also is an extended index with reference page numbers to identify people, cities, army camps and ships.

This book includes 752 pages and 1,600 illustrations in full color of covers, postal markings, stamps, labels, maps, documents, photographs and tables. The handbook is handsomely bound in Buckram with gold stamping and includes a dust jacket. The Library of Congress number is 2018947752 and the ISBN is 0-9827357-6-6.

The handbook costs $90.00 plus postage to U.S. mailing addresses for those seeking shipping. The current U.S. postpaid price is $97.50, in addition to sales tax, as applicable. At this time, delivery outside of Illinois from Chicago, and from Louisville outside Kentucky, are not subject to the states’ sales taxes.

How to Order:
U.S. orders may be placed through the CCC website, www.collectorsclubchicago.org, using PayPal for the remittance.

Mail orders should be sent to Robert L. Glass, CCC Publications Committee, Collectors Club of Chicago, P.O. Box 3996, Oak Park, IL 60303-3996, with payment made in U.S. dollars by check or money order made payable to the Collectors Club of Chicago.

For other orders, international shipments and quantity purchases, contact Leonard H. Hartmann via email at Leonard@pbbooks.net for payment requirement details. Payment to the CCC may be made through PayPal. For international shipments, significant postage savings are possible on multiple orders; various special transits are available.

This handbook and several previous CCC publications also are available directly from the CCC (www.collectorsclubchicago.org), as well as from independent book and stamp dealers.

For more information, or to set up an interview with author Dr. Yamil Kouri or a CCC member or officer, please contact:
Melanie Rogers
CCC Public Relations and Publicity Manager
www.collectorsclubchicago.org
http://www.facebook.com/collectorsclubofchicago
312-593-7909
mrogers93@hotmail.com

About the Collectors Club of Chicago (CCC):
The CCC was incorporated on October 13, 1928, and it is believed members met in one another’s homes until the beginning of World War II, at which time the meetings lapsed. In early 1944, three legendary, Chicago-area, advanced collectors of postage stamps and postal history planned the formation of an intimate group of collectors having similar interests: Dr. Clarence W. Hennan, David Lidman (then the Stamp Editor of the “Chicago Sun”) and Charles F. Meroni, Sr. In November 1944, these three individuals and five more met to officially establish the club.

An agreement was reached whereby a Chicago-based organization would be formed for the purpose of promoting philatelic research, for the exchange of information concerning all aspects of postage stamps and postal history and for the promotion of social contact between good friends having a common bond through philatelia — the name of the organization was to be the Collectors Club of Chicago.

From 1945 to 1969, the club met at a variety of public locations, including the University Club and the Union League Club. In 1970, the club began meeting at the present-day Gold Coast clubhouse, which was a gift from Richard McPherren Cabeen and his wife Blema. Cabeen, a CCC member, was a notable philatelic author who wrote books as well as a stamp column that appeared in a local newspaper.

Because of the foresight of the Chicago area’s philatelic fraternity in the formative years, the current CCC membership now enjoys the privileges and benefits of a permanent, upscale clubhouse building, a very comprehensive philatelic library and the opportunity to socialize at least monthly with fellow collectors.