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 Since then some of the information may be out-of-date depending on how far back you're reading.

May 2003

Is stamp collecting all sound and fury, signifying nothing, or perchance a sublime light of Zen understanding, a koan unto itself? Yes, it is a hobby to most, a passion to some, and a biz to a few, but isn't stamp collecting an infectious addiction?

I had thought that philately was genetic, but I doubt it is a dominant or recessive trait, as it erupts spontaneously and seems to have pandemic traits, afflicting devotees worldwide, often while they are still young.

Stamp might be a road, an atlas to all realms near and far, but most of all, stamps could be talismans for the shaman. I've seen Washington and Franklin druids, a high priestess of first day covers, and wizards of a cloistered Machin order.

Though I'm not sure what's really going on with stamps, the gleam in collector's eyes tells me something's right, but and we all know God made coins and then improved on the idea and made stamps.

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US Stamps

It's simply called "US Stamps - A pictorial guide," which is appropriate, as that is what it is, a gallery of US stamps arranged by catalog number. The guide starts with a few provisional issues, such as New York and St. Louis postmasters, and then dives straight into the 1847's and beyond.

The site is laid out in frames. Across the top are links to the major sections of
postage, revenues, and others such as ducks. On the left-hand side are the sections internal list of issues, such as 1847, 1857, and 1919-1921, which leaves the rest of the screen for well-produced stamp scans captioned with informative data, such as 5c - Red brown, pale brown or brown - 3,700,000 - Imperf - Thin bluish paper - Scott #1 -  1847.

The postage section covers the classics up to and around the Fourth BEP series, while the extensive locals section has 120 entries from Adams & Co.'s to Zieber's One Cent Dispatch of Pittsburgh, PA. And should anyone want to inform a non-believer about the compelling nature of US Ducks, email them the URL for the Federal Hunting Permits. They're all here. 1934 through 2002.

Other BOB are also presented in strength from airmails and newspapers to parcel post and Shanghai issues.

This is the sort of site a stamp collector can really enjoy. The stamps are the focus, rendered nicely on black backgrounds, and there are no other banners, graphics, ads, or distractions from the stamps at hand.

US Stamps: A Pictorial Guide
http://www.theswedishtiger.com/usstamps/

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Timbrology

How does the Web work, and how do people use the Web? Well, here's some anecdotal evidence of how the Web really works. Last week I looked at the Glassine Surfer Web stats and saw that on one day more than 700 people came to my site after searching Google for "timbrology." Never before and I'm sure that never again will that happen. The Glassine Surfer page in question that they all read was part of a past GS column in which I ruminated about the terms "philately" and "timbrology."

For a while I was stumped as to why 700 people suddenly were compelled to surf the Net for this obscure synonym for the study of stamps, but I queried my Webmaster friends online, and found out that timbrology was the correct answer to a question that evening on the UK version of TV's "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?"

And that's how the Web really works. Surfers are viewers who treat the Net screen just like a cable or satellite TV screen, popping from one URL to another according to their whims, and the behind the screen workers use the same resources to answer questions and ferret out information wherever they may find it. Individual sites, themselves, are increasingly irrelevant. Http Links are the true superhighways of the world.

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Rarest of the Rarities

Anyway you cut it, 125 webpages is a lot of Net material, and in this case, it's some of the most important material around the stamp Web. These pages were exhibited in 2002 in Monaco by Le Club de Monte-Carlo and display stamps and covers from around the world from Algeria to the Zanzibar's French Bureau, with four pages for the USA.

These online exhibit pages can be accessed from the "Resource Library." Scroll down to the bottom, and under "Special Features" on the left-hand side, you'll see your destination.