Publisher's Note Thanks for the kind words from the first issue. I've decided to rename this publication Stamp News On-Line, so that it does not get confused with the Estamp company. There are quite a few new people subscribing to the Stamp Central Mailing list, welcome! I've decided to adopt a Friday publishing schedule, both on the web site ( http://www.coin-auctions.com/news ) and via email. Possibly by next week, the site will be hosted on its own domain, www.stampnewsonline.com - One more item: Privacy and your email account. I've been running lists since 1993 on the internet, and I've never sold a single name to a third party (though I have been asked!) - If you sign up via email to receive, your name will go no further than that list. The Stamp Central list does have periodic emails from member dealers of StampCentral.com, but even those who post (and they must be a dealer in good standing at the site) do not have your email address. Stamps of 2003? It's a little early to start talking about next year's stamp program, but it is fun to do. What will we see next year? Well, only those high up in USPS management probably have a clue at this point, but here is what we should see (by the way, the USPS usually makes their announcement in August What have I missed? Email your comments to info@dealermalls.com and I will publish them in a future newsletter. Too Many Stamps! German stamp magazine Michel-Rundschau reports that in the year 2000, 17,836 stamps were issued around the world. Liberia alone issued 771 stamps. Face value of the stamps was close to $9,000. If you feel that stamp issuers are out of control, you are right. One of my recent collections involves trying to collect as many different stamps issued in 1968 (The year I was born) and there are several thousand stamps to collect. With one Chinese stamp cataloging for $15,000, I am pretty sure that this collection will never be complete, but the point is that in theory, it is possible to collect several thousand stamps. 18,000 is really a number that I feel is unreachable for anyone. I've heard from a lot of collectors that they plan on not collecting new issues after 2000. It's just gotten out of hand. It should be interesting to see what the future holds, but the expansion of stamps issued are not really driven by the traditional collector who fills an album, but by the growth of topical collecting. The number of fake stamps being issued and selling are a testimony to this. With more collectors doing topical collecting, you can expect to see this trend continue. Great Postal History Opportunity As of this writing, there are about 50 days until the 37 cent postage rate becomes a reality. That makes the 34 cent rate the second shortage in terms of time. The dates of the 34 cent rate are from January 7, 2001 until June 29, 2002. The shortest rate was the 18 cent rate, valid from March 22, 1981 until October 31, 1981. While the 34 cent rate is significantly longer, take this into consideration: There were fewer than 50 stamps issued that satisfied the first class rate when it was 18 cents. There were that many stamps issued alone last month for the Greetings From America Sheet. In fact, the number including definitives is approaching 150 stamps. Something else to consider is that people used stamps a lot more in 1981 than they do in 2002. Meters have become very popular, and commemoratives are now sold in formats where the general public does not often buy them. It would be quite a challenge to collect all different 34 cent stamps issued on cover, especially since 60 of those stamps have been issued in the final weeks of the current postage rate. Bridal Veil Post Office My local newspaper (Gresham Outlook) published an article about the Bridal Veil post office. This is a famous place because 165,000 wedding invitations get franked there each year. Apparently it was in pretty run down condition, and a group of local volunteers gave it a new roof. The article is unfortunately not online, but a picture of this historic post office is located at:
Scott Catalog on CD-ROM
It was bound (pardon the pun) to happen, Scott has announced that the 2003 catalog will be available completely on CD-ROM as well as bound printed volumes. The price will be the same, regardless of which format you choose. This means $40 per volume, or $240 for the set. Of course, it is possible to buy it for less almost anywhere it is sold, but it is still a decent sum of money to lay out for the set. I imagine it is considerably less expensive to produce the CD-ROM set, but the price is the same. This is probably to protect sales of the bound printed volumes, as if they were less, people might choose that option. I had hoped there would be an option where I can choose both at a significantly reduced price. My bookshelf by my computer could certainly use the room, and CD-ROMS do take up less space than the printed volumes. However, for ease of use, I imagine the catalogs would be a lot easier than the CD-ROMS, as I could work anywhere. Well, for now, I think I will stick with the traditional bound catalog, but I do hope Scott offers a combination in the future, or a reduced price for the CD-ROMS.
Thanks for reading, see you next week.
Alan Cohen
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