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Looking back at a golden age.

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.

What a different world it was in 1950! The first charge card, Diners Club, was used,
the Cold War was in full swing with fears of Communism in the U-S and elsewhere, and
the Korean War began.

And the U-S issued 11 commemorative stamps. Today, the U-S issues more stamps than that
for a single subject, such as Pets or the National Parks.

Those stamps 65 years ago were the American Bankers Association, labor leader Samuel
Gompers, four stamps for Washington D-C, Railroad Engineers, Boy Scouts, and
anniversaries of Kansas City, California and the Indiana Territory.

As another example of how much times have changed… the U-S Postal Service rules today
discourage stamps for organizations and for anniversaries not in increments of 50.
1950 was the 40th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of American… and the stamp six years
ago for the centennial just said "Scouting," never mentioning the organization.

The American Philatelic Society, the national stamp collecting organization, has
published Charles Posner's in-depth studies of these 11 1950 stamps as a yearbook. It
looks at everything from how the subjects were chosen to the design process to when
they were issued. Look for it at stamps-dot-org.

I’m Lloyd de Vries of The Virtual Stamp Club. For more on stamps and stamp collecting,
visit virtual-stamp-club-dot-com.

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