Some stamps from my U.S. collection

Like so many others in the U.S., I started collecting with commemorative issues. My U.S. collection is not strong nor does it contain any rarities, but I will post a few pages to move beyond covers in this forum. I'll start toward the end of my collection (I stopped collecting U.S. in the '90s because of excessive new issues and the self-adhesive stamps).

The page below contains stamps that also contributed toward my end of U.S. collecting. In the mid-1980s, it seemed like the U.S. Postal Service went overboard with "special issues." Here are a few. I don't remember the original booklet configuration of this stamps, but this seemed a logical way to mount them at the time. The concept of special occasion stamps was not all that bad, but the problem was in marketing. I don't think the public realized they were available. The only one I recall ever receiving on cover is the 22 cents fire works stamp.

This also was one of my last PhilaFramer, ink pen & typewriter pages. In looking back at these pages, I seemed to have a difficult time getting the page title properly vertically spaced from the first row of stamps. One of the nice things about the computer page maker programs is the ability to move things around for visual checks before printing.

Don

 

Thanks, Harry, for your comment, and the seasons greetings. I think most everyone who posts on the board agrees, self-adhesive stamps are the bane of stamp collectors. Time and change march on, though, and we take the bad with the good. For me one of the "bads" is self-adhesives, although, the public loves them. In my opinion, the good changes to stamp collecting far out weight the bad. I refer to the internet and the almost instantaneous communication it provides. I sometimes wish we could go back to the golden age of stamp collecting, but we would not have scanners, not even photocopiers, to make images of our stuff, and it would take days, even weeks to correspond with each other about our ideas and questions. Despite the things we don't like about the present, I think our lives are richer.

Best wishes to you for a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year, or any other holidays that you might celebrate.

Don

 

Collecting commemoratives provides variety in face and value differences of stamps, but after a few years of collecting them I discovered I liked definitives better. Definitives offer fewer face differences but more variety in color, values, and printing formats. In the 1980s, I began adding definitive printing formats and picked up on a new collecting area, plate number coils.

The coil number craze led to questions as to how they should be collected, singles or stripes, and if stripes, how many to a strip. As I recall, it started with a stripe of three, then with the appearance of the Transportation Coils series there was a line pair followed by the coil number on the next stamp, so were they collected in threes, fours, or fives. I began collecting the Flag definitives in strips of three and the Transportations in strips of four. Wrong! For some reason, maybe dealer influence, strips of five for all plate number coils became the preferred format. I soon gave up collecting plate number coils in the late 1980s. Again, too many issues, too many numbers to acquire, too many pages to draw, etc.

Here are some pages of the 1986-1988 Flag over the Capitol series which I tried to complete with the plate number coils in strips of three. The early pages of the coil numbers left too much white space, but toward the end of the series I had figured it out -- wait until the series is ended and then put more strips per page. I believe this is the only plate number coil series I completed.

Don

 

Lovely work <DON>! You are obviously very talented.

I may just go with the shoe box and rope/pulley system. Wait until my wife sees a dozen pulleys mounted on the den ceiling!

Here is my complete Stamp Dealer Cover collection, ready for hanging.

 

Moving to earlier U.S.issues here are a couple of pages of coil stamps from the 1922-32 definitive series. I tried to collect all used pairs, but slipped in some mint pairs in order to fill the pages. As I mentioned before, my U.S. collection is pretty basic, simplified is the term that would best describe it.

Don

 

I'll skip ahead chronologically to the Americana Issue of the 1970s-80s. It is the last definitive series I have drawn pages for. I have most of the Great American series stamps, but have never gotten around to drawing the pages. These pages are among the last ones not done on a computer.

Don

 

Simple and elegant. Very nice work <DonSellos> and wishes for HAPPY HOLIDAYS to you and yours!

 

Thanks, Molokai. Below are the remaining pages from my U.S. Americana stamps, the coils, booklet panes, and, a foray into plate block collecting. The latter two, while interesting, soon became difficult with the increased number of stamps required for a plate block and the proliferation of special interest booklet stamps.

Don

 

One reason I quite collecting booklet panes!!

Don

 

Good reason!

I enjoyed seeing these; thanks for taking the time to share with us <Don>.

 

Thank you, Harry.

Don

 

It has been a long time since I have looked at this U.S. album. Some long forgotten definitives in here that were not part of the longer series. Scott usually titled them "Regular Issues,". The Ike stamps appear in Scott's specialized catalog close to the Prominent American definitives, but were never part of that series. They were heavily used on first-class mail of the period.

The Ikes came out in two denominations, 6c and 8c and three colors, the 6c blue-gray issue and the 8c magentas and then the 8c blue-grey with the red USA (Sc. 1394). All were issue in sheet format, but only the 6c blue-gray and 8c magentas appeared in coil and booklet formats. The 8c blue-gray with the red USA was sheet format only.

Don

 

Fifty years on, I still Like Ike.

I think the last book length study of US definitives was The Liberty Series by Ken Lawrence, et al. A good project for you in 2019 Mr Stamp. We'll watch for the Prominant Americans book early in 2020!

Just FYI - Here is the list of Definitives per Wiki:

• 1869 Pictorial Issue
• Series of 1902
• Washington-Franklin Issues
• Presidential Issue
• Liberty issue
• Prominent Americans series
• Americana series
• Great Americans series
• Transportation coils
• Distinguished Americans series

Prexies not definitives?

 

Hi Werner & Molokai:

In response to Werner's observation, yes, it is odd that Wikipedia did not list it. Wonder why? As to Molokai's question about the Prexies, I think it is listed as the Presidential Issue. Perhaps, I misunderstood his question.

The Liberty Issue is my favorite of the more contemporary definitive series. I should buy Ken Lawrence's book on it. He is a thorough and meticulous researcher and I'm sure the book would be filled with interesting facts. Wait! I think I'll hold off. Maybe Molokai is sending me a signal that it will be my Christmas present from him?

Don

 

I've tended to call the 4th Bureau 'Presidential' but you are correct with respect to name and also that it is the 4th Bureaus missing in the list. I knew one was missing...

 

I'm still waiting for that Ezra Cole Zepp cover <DON>...three Christmases have come and gone.

It is an excellent source on the Liberty Series and, yes, Lawrence does awesome work! I also have two Prexie books and save perhaps for usage/covers it is not a very exciting series IMHO.

My U.S. 20th century interests are limited: 2nd Bureau, Beacon Airmail and Flags/Overrun Nations. And, of course, my early attempt to corner the market in #1274.

Still, I could easily spend all of my philatelic time on the NPs...