Jun 16

Superman on U.S. Stamp

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2006 Superman Stamp (Scotts 4084a), DC Comics Super Heros

2006 Superman Stamp (Scotts 4084a), DC Comics Super Heroes

This weekend, the latest version of the Superman story was released in theaters.    Superman is one of the oldest and most beloved heroes of American comics and has seen numerous incarnations on TV and the big screen.

The U.S. Postal service in 2006 published a sheet of 39-cent stamps and 24-cent postal cards using characters of DC Comics.   The series came in a set of 20 stamps on the sheet – half showing the individual superheroes and other half showing covers of comic books starring them. Superman was the first stamp in that series.

An interesting history of Superman can be read on Wikipedia

The first Superman character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster was not a hero, but rather a villain. Their short story “The Reign of the Super-Man” concerned a bald-headed villain, somewhat reminiscent of Flash Gordon’s Ming the Merciless, bent on dominating the world. The story did not sell very well.

They reworked the character into a hero and were able to sell it to a new upstart company at the time, DC Comics, who took a chance on the story.  The revised Superman first appeared in Action Comics #1 in 1938 and it was a smashing success.  By the time the United States had entered World War II, Superman had inspired a boom in the comic book industry and had engendered the new genre of the “superheroes.”

First comic book featuring Superman

First comic book featuring Superman

Jun 08

FDR: The Stamp Collector in Chief Video

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Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was not the only president to collect stamps but he was the most avid collector of all US presidents. For him the joy of stamp collecting was a great stress release for the many difficult world problems that he faced during his presidency like The Depression and World War II.

This short video from the Smithsonian talks about his love of collecting but what surprised me was how FDR also influenced the design of several stamps. FDR suggested themes, images, colors, even designs for several issues including Byrd’s Antarctic expedition, Whistler’s famous painting of his mother for Mother’s Day and a bust of Susan B. Anthony to mark an anniversary of women’s suffrage. The issuance of 20 billion “Win the War” stamps—with a design selected by FDR, an eagle’s wings forming a V for victory—turned letter-writing into a patriotic act.

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/From-the-Castle-FDRs-Stamps.html#ixzz2Vd2kqh00
Follow: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

Susan B. Anthony stamp

After seeing the model for the Susan B. Anthony stamp, President Roosevelt sketched a revision and added a dark oval frame.

Jun 02

10¢ “Discovery of San Francisco Bay” – Panama-Pacific Exposition Issue #400/400a

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Scott #400 -- lighter orange color

Scott #400 — lighter orange color

Scott #400 and #400A (color variant): 10¢ “Discovery of San Francisco Bay” is the final stamp in our series on the Panama-Pacific Exposition series of stamps published in 1913. Of the 4 stamps in the series, it has the most interesting philatelic history. Scott #400 was the fourth stamp in the series and was issued January 1, 1913. Soon after publication, however, complaints from the public started coming into the Postal Service that the orange color was to light and the fine detail of the illustration was lost.

Plans were made by the Postal Service to reissue the stamp with a darker shade of orange. On August 25, 1913 – 7 months after it went on sale – #400 was removed from sale and all remaining quantities were destroyed. A darker version was issued in its place, and given the number 400A. The alternate color version of the stamp was not considered at the time a separate variety by the Postal Service and many collectors did not acquire as many copies – the darker version (400a), therefore, commands a higher price than the original.

Scott #400a -- darker orange color

Scott #400a — darker orange color

This, however, was not the end of the story for this stamp. The Postal Service also had increasing complaints about a different problem. High-volume mailers were complaining about problems with separating stamp sheets with 12 perforations, like #400/400a. They said that they were too brittle and fell apart too easily. The Postal Service, therefore, made a change and went to 10 perforations per 2-centimeters making the sheets stronger. The Panama-Pacific stamps were the first to be altered to the 10 perforations. In July 1915, the third version of the .10-cent stamp was issued (Scott 404).  Of the 3-variations of this design, this stamp is the highest value.

The design depicts the discovery of San Francisco Bay by Spanish explorer, Gaspar de Portola. Great navigators, such as Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, Sir Francis Drake and Sebastián Cermeño explored the coastline near San Francisco Bay, but failed to discover this waterway probably because of the fog. It took an overland explorer to be the first European to see the beautiful San Francisco Bay. On November 4, 1769, de Portola glimpsed the bay from atop Sweeney Ridge near present-day Pacifica. The design is based on a painting by Charles F. Mathews, the image was engraved by M. W. Baldwin.

Sources:

May 26

Sequoia Stamp Club’s WPL Auction

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Stuart Leven, Chairman of the Friends of the WPL

Stuart Leven, Chairman of the Friends of the WPL

The May 14th meeting of the Sequoia Stamp Club was devoted to an auction of material from the archives of the Western Philatelic Library (WPL). The WPL, was founded as the South Bay Philatelic Library in 1969.  It  was recently forced by the City of Sunnyvale to vacate its long-time home in Sunnyvale’s Raynor Activity Center, and is in the process of moving its holdings to a new building at the corner of 2nd Avenue and Spring Street in Redwood City. Stuart Leven, Chairman of the Friends of the WPL, opened the auction period with a short talk about the library and it’s move.

Sequoia Club member Wally Joliff

Sequoia Club member Wally Joliff leading the auction

Following the usual break to inspect the lots up for auction, Sequoia Club member Wally Joliff conducted the auction of some 60 varied lots. Livening up the bidding was Wally’s cheerful rejection of an underbid from a club member who was after a really good bargain, and a lot from Equatorial Guinea which Wally forecast might soon be recognized by Scott’s, an action sure to produce an increase in value. Who knew that you could get investment tips at your local stamp club meeting! The 60 lots in this first of an expected two WPL auctions to be held under the auspices of the Sequoia Stamp Club brought in about $1000 for the Library.

All images were taken by Ken Perkins, club photographer.

May 21

Five-cent “Golden Gate”, Panama-Pacific Exposition Commemorative Issue, 1913

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1913 Panama-Pacific Stamp - Golden GateContinuing our articles on the 1913 commemorative Panama-Pacific Expo stamp series is the 5-cent stamp showing the “Golden Gate” – the entry way to the San Francisco Bay.  The 3rd stamp in this series was part of a set to commemorate both the discovery of the Pacific Ocean in 1513 and the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914.  It was also to promote the Panama-Pacific Exposition that would take place in 1915.   The 5-cent “Golden Gate” stamp was an appropriate symbol of all of these events.

The 5-cent stamp is a beautiful dark blue, bearing the design of L.C. Schofield.   The Golden Gate Bridge is not seen in the stamp, of course, because construction didn’t start on the bridge until 1933.   A five-cent stamp at the time would have paid for international first class mail.  Statistics show that 29 million stamps were printed of this issue.

Here is an interesting cover – Panama Pacific Expo stamps paying Registered rate to France. #400A 10c has jumbo margins!!! Both stamps tied by black Petaluma, California box cancel. Reverse with NY Foreign Registry css and French receiving marks. Date Oct & Nov 1915.

The Golden Gate is the North American strait that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean.

From Wikipedia:

“The first recorded observation of the strait occurred nearly two hundred years later than the earliest European explorations of the coast. In 1769 Sgt. José Francisco Ortega, the leader of a scouting party sent north along the peninsula of present-day San Francisco, reported that he could proceed no further because of the strait. On 5 August 1775 Juan de Ayala and the crew of his ship San Carlos became the first Europeans known to have passed through the strait, anchoring in a cove behind Angel Island, now named in Ayala’s honour. Until the 1840s, the strait was called the “Boca del Puerto de San Francisco” (“Mouth of the Port of San Francisco”). On 1 July 1846, before the discovery of gold in California, the entrance acquired a new name. In his memoirs, John C. Frémont wrote, “To this Gate I gave the name of “Chrysopylae”, or “Golden Gate”; for the same reasons that the harbor of Byzantium was called Chrysoceras, or Golden Horn.”[2]“

Resources:

Image of the Golden Gate in 1885

Image of the Golden Gate in 1885

History of the Bay:

May 14

A Bit of Spring

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The US Postal Service just recently came out with a nifty new stamp series celebrating spring with vintage seed packets

Vintage Seeds

From the US Post Office

“Flowers are among the most popular subjects on stamps, and the U.S. Postal Service continues its tradition of beautiful issuances with Vintage Seed Packets.

From hand-tinted lithographs in the early 1800s to modern photography, images of floral perfection have adorned flower seed packets for more than a hundred years. The stamp art features ten photographs of antique seed packets (printed between 1910 to 1920), cropped to highlight their beautiful floral detail.

Each of the stamps depicts the colorful blossoms of one kind of flower—cosmos, digitalis, pinks, primrose, calendula, aster, linum, alyssum, phlox, and zinnia. Above each illustration in bold capital letters is the name of the flower depicted.

Art director Antonio Alcalá.”

May 09

Robert Chang – 50-year APS Member

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Chang standing in front of his table at PENPEX 2009

Chang standing in front of his table at PENPEX 2009 – by Hank Washauer

Bob Chang, proprietor of The Stamp Act, had the distinguished honor of becoming a 50-year American Philatelic Society (APS) member this year. On Saturday, April 27, 2013, Tara Murray, American Philatelic Research Library (APRL) Librarian and APS Representative at WESTPEX, presented Chang with his 50-year medallion. Chang, a resident of Belmont, CA, said he joined as a teenager and could not believe that he has been an APS member for 50 years. Over half that time, Chang has been a PENPEX dealer at table 3, selling Asian material and postal history. Congratulations to Chang for being one of 757 active APS 50-year members.

May 06

Visit from Tara Murray, Director of Information Services American Philatelic Research Library

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Tara Murray with her Certificate of Appreciation presented by the Sequoia Stamp Club.

Tara Murray with her Certificate of Appreciation presented by the Sequoia Stamp Club. Photo by Ken Perkins

Tara Murray, Director of Information Services/Librarian of the American Philatelic Research Library in Bellefonte, PA, visits the Sequoia Stamp Club in Redwood City, CA, on the evening of April 23, 2013.

The APRL has one of the world’s largest and most accessible collections of philatelic literature. It’s nearly three miles of shelving contain more than 21,000 book titles and 5,700 journal titles.

Library services are available in person, online or through email.

Services Include:

Search the online catalog of the APRL’s extensive collection of book titles, journal holdings, articles, and auction catalogs. In addition to the catalog, the APRL uses the Piper File, a card index of most U.S. philatelic periodicals from the 1880s through the late 1960s. The library will photocopy Piper File references on your topic, so you can select appropriate periodical articles. Request books and articles right from the catalog using the cart feature.

Borrow up to five books at a time by mail. All borrowed material must be returned using delivery confirmation. In some cases the library will ask you to have insurance coverage. See user fees to the right and read our Circulation Policy for more information.

Request Photocopies or Scans of selections from books, articles, individual journal indexes, Piper file cards (1880s-1969), Stamp Lover Index, Harris Index, etc. The APRL provides copies in compliance with U.S. Code Title 17 (copyright code). See user fees to the right.

Get Answers - from the Library’s friendly and knowledgable staff.

Tara Murray of the APRL tackles a tough question from Jim Giacomazzi, past president of the Sequoia Stamp Club, and club member Jim Mosso. Photo byKen Perkins

Tara Murray of the APRL tackles a tough question from Jim Giacomazzi, past president of the Sequoia Stamp Club, and club member Jim Mosso. Photo  by Ken Perkins

Interlibrary Loan - The APRL loans materials to non-members through the Interlibrary Loan System. To request an interlibrary loan, see your local library. The APRL does not loan materials directly to non-members and interlibrary loan requests must come from a library. The same user fees apply.

Learn more and search the library on their website.

 

May 01

May eBlast of PENPEX and the Sequoia Stamp Club

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Ed Bierman

Ed Bierman, Webmaster for PENPEX and Sequoia Stamp Club

In this months eBlast, I was asked to give you a bit of history of our website and some information about myself, Ed Bierman, the webmaster for the group.

I’ve been a member of the Sequoia Stamp Club since 1999.  I started out collecting stamps of the Marshall Islands but now spend most of my time looking for old postcards, especially the Cliff House in San Francisco.  I work as a profession webmaster for the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and Mills-Peninsula Health Services.

The website, penpex.org, I believe I set up in 2000 to promote the show and stamp club on the Web.  It was also a place to get a nice color version of the newsletter, The Chatter.  The site still has a lot of historical information and images from the past 13 years.  If you look under the archive of the PENPEX show you will find my images and documents such as  programs and cachets from the past.

Our site stayed pretty  ”traditional” with static pages of information until about 2 years ago when I went to our current WordPress blog format.  Along with all the traditional webpages about the PENPEX and the Sequoia Stamp club, I now post blog articles 3-4 times a month on various topics around stamp collecting.  Most of the post are interesting videos about collecting or information about past stamp issues that I find on the web.  I also publish individual stories out of The Chatter.

I’m always looking for articles from members.  Kristin Patterson posted a whole series of articles on the history of PENPEX stamp show. I would really love to have other authors share their knowledge on the site and you can do that by emailing me.

Apr 28

U.S. #397 – 1¢ Panama Pacific Stamp – Vasco Nuñez de Balboa

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1centbalboaContinuing our series of articles on U.S. stamp issues of 1913 is the 1¢ Panama Pacific Stamp -Vasco Nuñez de Balboa. Part of a series of four stamps issued that year in preparation for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Expo, it celebrates the 400th anniversary of the year Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean.

On September 1, 1513, Balboa departed with about ninety of his troops and Indian guides from the Atlantic port city of San Blas, in what is now Panama. Taking a generally southern route in search of a “great sea” the natives had talked about, they reached the southern shore of the isthmus on September 13, claiming the “South Sea” – what is now the Pacific Ocean – and all its adjacent lands for Spain. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to enjoy his fame for long, five years later, Balboa was accused of high treason by a jealous rival, and beheaded.

The stamp was issued in the green of the other 1¢ stamps of the era. First Day: 1/1/13. The vignette on this stamp was engraved by J. Eissler, and the frame by E. M. Hall. This stamp would have paid the postcard rate in 1913. Over three hundred million of these stamps in the twelve perforation format (“perf 12”) were produced by the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. (Source: Michel Casper)