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 Since then some of the information may be out-of-date depending on how far back you're reading.

April 1999

WWW CSA PO

The stamps and postal history of the Confederate States of America have encamped on Conrad Bush's stampsite.  His is a full fledged site outfitted like a primer with issue and usage data, gallery of large scans, rounded out with links to many non-philatelic CSA sources online.

Conrad Bush's CSA at
http://members.aol.com/jlkcsa/

And for more about the Confederate Post, read Patricia A. Kaufmann's article "The Rebel Post," an nice addition to her commercial site, Osborne-Kaufmann.

"The Rebel Post" by Patricia A. Kaufmann at
http://www.webuystamps.com/rebpost.htm

The Louvre As Footnote

The Net's a powerful way to present information, and it's only a matter of typing to call upon the Smithsonian, the APS, Her Majesty's Government and dozens of other collectors, to contribute their resources and information to your stampsite by linking to them.

Topical stampsites often carry a wealth of information on the topical subject of their collections, but anyone can enhance a stampsite with links to famous collections and museums related to their personal trove.

If you have a French stampsite link to the Paris Guide with its links to Versailles, views and the Louvre.  Scout those sites and link to online objects depicted in your collection.

Paris Guide at
http://www.smartweb.fr/paris/musees.htm

Your British collection would be in good company at London's Westminster Abbey.

Westminster Abbey
http://www.westminster-abbey.org/

An art topical site or Renaissance topical can show visitors philatelic depictions of the Sistine Chapel and then usher them on a virtual tour without straining their necks.

Cappella Sistina at
http://www.christusrex.org/www1/sistine/0-Tour.html

Japan's national museum is online with over 100 of their works of art.

Kyoto National Museum at
http://www.kyohaku.go.jp/meihin/mase.htm

Other online museums of note are:

The Smithsonian
http://www.si.edu/

The National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. at
http://www.cathedral.org/cathedral/

The Paleontology Museum Database at
http://www.cyberspacemuseum.com/paleodbase.html

Ancient Sites--Take Your Place in History at
http://www.ancientsites.com/index.rage

Virtual Tours at
http://www.dreamscape.com/frankvad/tours.html

Vienna Tour at
http://www.atnet.co.at/viennaslide/0000.htm

That Euro

Well, they did it.  One buck is now worth something like .85 Euro-cents, and my keyboard has no cute little Euro symbol: that 'e' with the two '=' through its middle.  And the question is," Why did Europe opt for this oddball original?"

The pedestian "f" or "F" worked for the franc.  The mark has been well-served by the simple "Dm" or "Fm" depending on your nationality, and the "P" works for many nation's pesos, even Australia's!  (Surely I jest.)

Here are some suggested Euro keyboard symbols you already have at your fingertips.  Feel free to use the one most appropriate.  

Twelve Euros may be expressed as --- "12:}"  A 'Net emoticon for the brave new world.  Maybe --- "12e" --- is best.  It's simple and graceful, though the Pan-Europeans in Brussles might opt for the masculine version --- "12E."  

In England they could use --- "12;( "--- to denote John Bull's uneasiness, but then maybe we all could use --- "12/ "--- and trick the UK into thinking they're shillings so they'd accept them, afterall no one's using shillings anymore.  The BBC might consider airing "Monty Python's History of the Euro," starting with the death of the farthing.

But the really odd thing about the Euro --- " ;( E e or / " --- is that it does not exist.  It's merely a term for value that you can use as if it were real, but it's not.  There are no tangible Euros, and there won't be until 2002. So, maybe the best symbol for the Euro would be ---" ?? "--- :)

Yes, change is here to stay, and though oxymoronic, I can't imagine Karl Malden doing a Euro commercial.

The Euro Convertor at
http://europa.eu.int/eurobirth/index_en.html

The Official Euro Rates
http://europa.eu.int/eurobirth/rates.html

Rate Convertor at
http://www.xe.net/currency/