Stamp Column Archives

Glassine Surfer February 2004

Stampprinters has been growing for years and is still a work in progress, especially when you consider that it includes company histories and photographs as well.

There are hundreds of photographs of the printers' own publicity materials, as well as a growing archive of articles on stamp subjects other than printers, such as letter boxes and stamp exhibition souvenirs.

Stamp Printers
http://www.stampprinters.info/SPI_homepage.htm

This is a tremendous content site, and one which I never would have been able to ferret out on the plain vanilla search engines. If you know of such sites, you owe it to all of us to spread the word. Post me.

Kingdom of Fife

Kirkcaldy Stamp & Postcard Club is a small lub in the Kingdom of Fife in Scotland. Founded in 1936 as the Kirkcaldy and District Philatelic Society, they tacked on the postcards to reach more collectors. The site, itself, is a small contact site, and is hosted by the area's local tourist site.

Readers may wonder what wonders, besides the KSPC reside in Fife, and may do well to think golf: The Old Course at St Andrews.

Kirkcaldy Stamp & Postcard Club
http://www.thefifepost.com/kirkcaldy.htm

The Fife Post
http://www.thefifepost.com/links.htm

Ghost Eater

Armchair reading is one way to immerse yourself in your favorite pastime. I like trains and travel, so I like reading Paul Thoreaux's books, like the "Old Patagonia Express" and I really enjoyed Hearst's "Nassau Street" about stamp collecting in the '30's and '40's.

Currently, there's a philatelically inclined-writer Frederick Highland whose most recent book is "Ghost Eater." It's a historical thriller set in the 19th century Dutch East Indies, and is the adventure of an American sea captain, who journeys up a river in Sumatra to rescue missionaries.

You can get a sample of the book at the writer's website and read a short story that serves as a pre-quel to the book.

The Saramang Head
http://www.ghosteater.com/content/saramang.htm

Lawrence Block is another writer knowledgeable about hinges and tongs. He has two books about a hired assassin who happens to collect stamps, and now it's a movie in waiting. The latest news is that it'll be called "Keller" (the protagonist's name) and star Jeff Bridges. If you'd like to learn more, click on over to the writer's site.

Lawrence Block
http://www.lawrenceblock.com/

Stamps Down in China

Late last year China Daily ran a story about stamp collecting. In '97 China's postal revenues were $545 million. In '02 they were $295 million.

In '02 China issued 12 million sets of stamps, which was cut to about 10 million in '03, but in '99 China estimated there were 20 million collectors, as compared to an estimated eight million in '03.

Further, according to China's postal administration, three people stop sending letters whenever a telephone is installed, and China sent twelve per cent fewer pieces of mail from 1995 to 1998.

So it seems e-mail was just the straw that broke the camel's back, and it was that Canadian Alexander Graham Bell who slew philately's Roland Hill.

The Glassine Surfer archive is online along with other articles, help, and links to stamp collecting sites. All the sites mentioned in previous columns can be found at the GS site. Likewise, there are many more sites in the GS directory.

We also host the Sociable Stamp Society chats online on Sunday evenings at eight o’clock eastern. Just click on “chat.”

The Glassine Surfer
http://www.glassinesurfer.com

Thanks for reading the “Glassine Surfer.”