GS Stamp Collecting

Glassine Surfer Stamp Guide

Here's our list of features about stamps found throughout the site.

Noteworthy Stamps and Events

Hawaii's Royalty on Stamps - Starting in 1853 the Kingdom of Hawaii portrayed the kings and royal family of Hawaii on its stamps. Read about the Kingdom of Hawaii, the Kamehameha kings and their stamps from the Glassine Surfer.

Hawaii's Grinnell Missionary Stamps - The Kingdom of Hawaii’s 1851 Missionary stamps are one of the great stamp issues. Not only are they rare and valuable, but they’re related to one of the great “black sheep” of philately, the Grinnell Missionaries.

The US Bank Note Issues of 1870 - 1893 - Three printers, over twenty years of use, myriads of paper and color varieties, security measures, and secret marks are just some of the challenges and rewards that the US Large Bank Note issues offer.

United States Fourth Bureau Definitives Delve into the heart of the American philatelic landscape. The USA's Fourth Bureau Series of definitives issued from 1922 through 1938 is an excellent entry into the realm of US stamps. Recommended for their significance, classic design, collecting possibilities, and affordable price tags.

The Inverted Jenny: C3a - In 1918 William Robey bought the legendary sheet of US air mail errors which is one of today's treasures of stamp collecting, but why didn't the clerk notice that the plane was upside-down?

Out of Sight, Out of Mind - The Penny Magenta was discovered by a 12-year-old English schoolboy in British Guiana, who sold it for about $1.50, and in 1980 the stamp sold for just under a million dollars. Today it's the world's most valuable stamp, though rarely seen and perhaps never to be auctioned again. Find out more in Eric Shackle's Internet round-up of the Penny Magenta.

Sir Rowland Hill and The Penny Black - The first postage stamp was a reformer's idea to help better the world, and now it's impossible to imagine a world without them or imagine what the world was before them.