Sociable Stamp Society


This is our blog for current stamp news and views of interest to the philatelist and beginner. Daily updates provide items on shows, new issues, events, what's selling, and timely facts.
Late Deliveries Accepted
For a fleeting moment I thought about re-naming this blog the 'Dead Letter Office' due to lapses in service, but I have to realize that even the Pony Express had troubles getting their messages across the Great American Desert. Even so my only defense is that I've been so busy mulling over the messages in the back of the post office that I haven't had time to deliver them. It's a matter of misplaced priorities, or more rightly put a matter of competing needs. So I have put away childish things and gathered up my tongs once again. All that simply is a way to say that I back doing what I like best.

Oh, Dead Letter Office just sounds so damn final in our 21st world where we believe in re-incarnation, second careers, third marriages, and fun without end. And coincidentially, on Sunday, I read a NYT review of a Civil War book in which the writer makes the case that the killings and losses were so severe throughout the entire US, that for a generation or so after the war, the US was a country haunted by the spectre of death.

I can believe that. I'm sure a war such as that tore out everyone's heart, and the lingering lessons of that conflict are about the tremendous loss of life, no matter what side you were on: even the slavers suffered as they died.

So. Priorities have been addressed and re-routed around and away from Gettysburg.

"The important thing is never to stop questioning." - Albert Einstein

St. Rowlands School of Hinge Sticking
The answer to yesterday's stamp question:

Q: What person appears on more American postage stamps than any other person?
A: George Washington.

Today's New Stamp Question
Q: What is granite paper made of?

All Work and Play

Stanley Gibbons in London has vacancies in their Stand offices, and how many collectors have drempt of a life where you're paid to handle stamps? Looks like they want a Commonwealth and a GB person as well as a buyer/valuer/describer for auction work. Nice work if you can get it. For more: Gibbons

P&J Philatelic

Another stamp outfit is making noise in New York. The offices of P&J Philatelic Co. figure prominently in a new Broadway play called "Mauritius," a story of a tug of war over something of incalculable value. Sounds like an interesting choice for a play as the object of desire could hardly be visible to anyone in the audience. Ah, but the play's the thing, not the set design. And if any publicity is good publicity, maybe a philatelic movie would be a good thing. For more: Mauritius

"The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money - Alexis de Toucqueville

St. Rowlands School of Hinge Sticking
The answer to yesterday's stamp question:

Q: The motto "Damus Petimus Que Vicissim" appears on the world's most famous stamp. What does it mean?

A: The latin version of "We give and expect in return" was the official motto of British Guiana and appeared on the One Cent Magenta in 1856.

Today's New Stamp Question

Q: What person appears on more American postage stamps than any other person?