Stamp Column Archives

The Glassine Surfer Column Archive

This column originally appeared in the American Philatelic Society's monthly magazine, "The American Philatelist." Since then some of the information may be out-of-date depending on how far back you're reading.

March 2001

Individual cancels are listed in a codified order with a separate page or two for each with an accompanying picture and detailed description of an office's EKU, machines and changes.

If you're curious as to the many varieties and usages of these cancellors then drop in.  You'll also be treated to the Inkjet cancel of the day.

Canadian Inkjet Postmarks
http://pages.infinit.net/inkjet

CCC Want List

The Collectors Club of Chicago's AskPhil Website has added a new "Want List Service" to their site.

Users simply describe the stamps that they are seeking in their want list and AskPhil puts out a wanted notice for everyone to read.  Users contact each other directly by email and only if an exchange is to take place do they need to reveal street addresses.

AskPhil is best known for it's expert answering service, where collectors can email in their specific problems and have their questions handled by a stamp expert, but this new service may become more popular.  

The one thing I've learned about stamp collectors on the 'Net is, though collectors like to read about stamps and do have questions about obscure areas of collecting, the one thing they want more than anything else is to acquire more stamps, and they're using the 'Net to do just that.

AskPhil's "Want List" service has been field tested and shoudl be valuable not only to those seeking general material, but to the specialist, particularly for postal history items.

AskPhil
http://www.AskPhil.org

Google Bar

It seems like a long time ago that I started using the search engine Google.  The charm of their method was not only to have a hefty percentage of the searchable 'Net indexed, but to have a way to minimize spam.  

They check the number of links leading to a Webpage and then rank search results by keyword and the links leading to that page.  The idea is that Webmasters will link their sites to quality, in effect reviving the adage "the cream rises to the top."  (Excuse me, I live in Vermont.)

Now, Google has a nifty tool for your Microsoft IE 5+ browser.  It's a Google search tool bar, which you can get at the Google Website.

Basically, it sits up among the other IE tool bars: the address bar, the icons, the "links."  It has an input box so you can bypass going to their site to search the Web with Google.  I like that.  It saves a little time, but the little feature that I appreciate more is the "search site" button.

Have you ever gone to a site looking for a snippet of information that you know is there but for the life of you you can't find it?  Then, type in your clues, a few keywords in the Google bar and click "search site."  Google will search only that Website for your page.

Of course this option has always been squirreled away under advanced search, but that meant being at Google and knowing the complete URL of the site you wanted to search.  Though the obvious intent of the Google bar is to make you a regular Google user, I can think of worse things.  (One caveat: if the site you're at isn't listed in Google, the bar will say it can't find any results.)

Google
http://www.google.com

Try it out on the APS site.