24 cent INVERTED JENNY AIRMAIL Error

The most famous of all the printing errors in the world, and the most sought after stamp is the 24 cent inverted Jenny. This error was created May 10, 1918.  The center image of the Curtiss JN-4 airplane was printed first, with the frame added second; it is the frame that is actually printed upside down, not the center image of the Jenny. Only one sheet of 100 stamps of the inverted stamp was produced, making this stamp error one of the most desired stamp in philately history.

In October 2005 Bill Gross bought a numbered block of 4 for $2,970,000.00 and then traded it to Mystic Stamp Company for  a 1 cent Z grill stamp, (only two exist).

On January 12, 2008, Stamp Wants.Com gave away an inverted Jenny as a promotion. This represented the most expensive stamp ever given away. The winner was a California man by the name of John Shedlock.



                       

FIRST U.S. POSTAGE STAMP SCOTT #1 BEN FRANKLIN

The first U.S. postage stamp went on sale July 1, 1847 with the picture of Benjamin Franklin, known as the father of the post office. Before stamps, letters were marked PAID by pen and ink with various hand-stamping devices. On July 26, 1775 Franklin was appointed by the Continental Congress as the first Postmaster General of the Confederation. Franklin known as one of the most famous of all Americans, was a statesman, author, and inventor. Without knowing we tend to use axioms every day that is contributed to Benjamin Franklin, such as a "Penny saved is a penny earned" and "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. As an inventor he gave us items such as bifocals, swim fins, odometer, and lightning rod. As a statesman he helped to write the Declaration of Independence,
The second U.S. stamp honor went to the "Father of the Country" George Washington. Washington was general of the army during the Revolutionary War and led us to victory over the English, he then became the first president of the United States.

WHY DOES eBAY BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS THEM?

Today's rant.

eBay recently raised their listing fees on auction type listings from 10 cents to 30 cents (200%) increase. They also raised their final value fee to 10%.  They want and encourage you to start your auction type listings at 99 cents, which I do.  Say the item ends up selling for the 99 cents, I now have paid about 40 cents to e-bay even before I collect the 99 cents from the buyer. When buyer pays for the item, PayPal (owned by eBay) takes their percentage. Guess who makes money on the transaction and guess who does all the work and loses money on the transaction?

WHY DOES eBAY BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS THEM?

It's late at night, but I had to get this off my chest before I went to sleep. Good night!

SOUVENIR SHEETS

The post office started to create souvenir sheets in 1933 in a special printing for the "American Philatelic Society Convention". They have continued throughout history till this day. Very popular among collectors are "Sheets" with movie and movie stars theme. Among the hundreds printed to this date are "Sheets" from the movie Star Wars, and "Sheets" with movie stars like Judy Garland, Cary Grant, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, Lucille Ball, Audrey Hepburn, John Wayne, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Bette Davis, Bob Hope, Gary Cooper, Katharine Hepburn, and Gregory Peck. Another great collectable theme are cartoon characters such as Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny, Sylvester & Tweety, Daffy Duck, and Wile E. Coyote & Road Runner. Other great themes would be Sports or "Sheets" on the ecology of the U.S. There are Chinese New Year themes, and "Sheets" with artists. You could almost pick a subject and find the Post Office printed a "Sheet" on that subject. Collecting different sheets is easy and fun. I will show a few examples of "Sheets" with different themes.

DUCK HUNTING PERMIT STAMPS

Today I want to talk about some of the most beautiful stamps ever printed. These stamps are not for postage but are for raising money for bird refuges. They are called Duck Hunting Stamps and are permits for duck hunters. The post office started printing the stamps in 1934 and continues to this day to produce these works of art. In 1934 the cost of these stamps were $1.00 and today they cost $15.00. The program now raises about $25 million annually, and over 5 million acres of wetlands have been purchased with the Duck Stamp Revenue. Every year the post office has a competition between artists to submit their paintings of different ducks and the post office duck committee picks one for that year issue. Only one stamp a year is issued so it's an easy collection to maintain. The preface in Scotts catalog is RW. Please enjoy these work of art as much as I do.

STAMP COLLECTIONS - What to collect

What to collect? Question all new collectors ask themselves. There are many ways to collect stamps, but people usually tend to start collecting stamps in the country they live in. These collectors find it more convenient to find stamps where they live.Following is a list of the most popular collections.

1--U.S. Mint only
2--U.S. Used only
3--U.S. Mint and used
4--Country you live in.
5--Disney stamps from around the world
6--Stamps with birds only
7--Triangle stamps
8--Stamps with animals only
9--Very popular Queen of England stamps

Those are some suggestions. It is up to you to pick a Country or a Topic.

Where to acquire these stamps of choice is up to the individual. Some times the best way to get started is to purchase large packets of the Country of choice. This will give you a wide selection of stamps and will get you started. Next you will need to purchase a stamp album that picture all varieties printed on the topic you chose. If you want to become a serious collector, you will need a Scott Catalog, a perforation detector, and a watermark finder. A good place to purchase these items is on eBay. A hint in buying a Scott catalog is to buy one around 5 years old because you probably will have no problem identifying newer stamps from the pictures in your album. Problems start in earlier issues where stamps were minted with different perforations, imperforated, with different watermarks and different paper. You should also buy a stamp tong to handle your stamps. To place your stamps in your album you have choices. The most popular is to use stamp hinges. The next popular way is to use some type of crystal mounts which give your stamps better protection.

Remember pick a topic that you will be interested in for years to come. Collecting stamps can be a life long hobby.

ABBREVIATIONS in STAMP COLLECTING

Today I'm going to cover stamp abbreviations used world wide, from the mundane to the obscure.
Starting with : MNH------------Mint never hinged
                        MH--------------Mint hinged
                        MNG------------Mint no gum
                        MPG-------------Mint with partial gum
                        UNUSED-------Mint no gum
                        USED-----------Stamp has been canceled
                        CANCEL-------Stamp has been post marked by USPS
                         USPS-----------United States Post Office
                         HINGED-------Back of stamp shows mark left by previous hinge
                         HR--------------Hinge remnant--part of previous hinge still on back of stamp
                         THIN-----------Part of back of stamp is missing
                         CREASE-------Stamp has a bend
                         PIN HOLE----Hole in stamp the size of a pin hole
                         PERFS---------Perforations around the outer rim of stamp
                         IMPF-----------Stamp has no perforations
                         COIL-----------Stamp came off a roll and has 2 straight edges and 2 perforated edges
The following are prefaces used before Scott Numbers
                         C----------------Air mail
                         CE--------------Air mail special delivery
                         CZ--------------Canal Zone
                         E----------------Special delivery
                         F----------------Registration stamp
                         G----------------Guam
                         H----------------Hawaii
                         J-----------------Postage due
                         JQ---------------Parcel postage due
                         Q----------------Parcel post
                         QE--------------Special handling
                         O----------------Government departments
                         R----------------Revenue stamps
                         RW--------------Duck hunting
I hope this list can be a help to you.

GRAF ZEPPELIN

Today I want to blog about my favorite stamps of all time, which of course is, the three Graf Zeppelin stamps of 1930. Although 3,260,000 stamps were printed only 10% or a little over 300,000 stamps survived. The mint, after disappointing sales, destroyed 90% of the remaining stamps. Think of 10"s of millions of collectors through out the world trying to buy the 300,000 remaining stamps. Now you know why the value of the stamps have stayed high for the last 40 years.
The Zeppelin was a rigid air ship that flew more than a million miles between 1928 and 1937. the Hindenburg, the most famous of the Zeppelins crashed in 1937 in New Jersey and 35 people died out of the 97 on board.

Columbian Exposition Commemorative's

What does every stamp collector want? In 1893 the post office printed The Columbian Exposition Commemorative  stamps for the Chicago World's Fair. The denominations went from 1 cent to $5.00.
What makes this such a sought after set is the fact that in 1893 the average salary in the country was less then $5.00 a week. The smaller denominations sold at a very good pace, but times were bad in the country and the higher denominations were a complete flop. The post office sold so few of the $1.00 to $5.00 stamps that they became very rare. Today, as collectors, we have to pay premium prices for the higher denominations. In following blogs I'll bring you interesting and sometimes little known facts. If you have any questions on early United States postage stamps, don't hesitate to ask Sheldon.