Stamp Column Archives

Glassine Surfer September 2003

The Year in Review

Put away your Panama and your white shoes. It's time to review and assess our last year on the Web. We'll start off with the stamp sites because that's why you're here, and if you missed an issue, or lost a copy at the stamp show, here's a nudge to start mousing around.

Stamp Sites

Stamp sites are a rare breed, and unique, comprehensive, or entertaining philatelic URL's are rarer still. Still, we were treated to some really intriguing groundbreakers in the area.

"Civil War Postal History of Vicksburg, Mississippi" merges stamps and military history with about prewar Vicksburg, military history, CSA general issues, and mail during the siege. The illustrations and detailed information are an inspiration to all Civil War aficionados.

Civil War Postal History of Vicksburg, Mississippi
http://bellsouthpwp.net/p/a/parksvix/vixcwph.htm

And if this is your favorite piece of Americana, you have to drop into "United States Two-Cent Revenue Stamped Paper: The Civil War Designs," a no frills, elegant gallery with large scans of annotated varieties.

The Civil War Designs
http://www.rdhinstl.com/rn/rn.htm

US Philatelic Classics is a club for US philatelic forensic investigators filled with content and links that should satisfy anyone delving into the great issues.

The club divides the classics into 10 areas, from the stampless period up to the bank notes and completes the period with a couple of sidelights. Other avenues and leads, like a web directory of member websites, make this the best site for the topic, but be forewarned: US classics are an addictive joy.

The US Philatelic Classics
http://www.uspcs.org/

Rounding out today's tour of the USA, we have "US Stamps - A Pictorial Guide," a massive site of US stamps arranged by catalog number, starting with some provisional before launching into 1847 toward the future. The stamps are shown on black backgrounds without any distractions.

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

I was surprised by "Inverts," which shows you just how wide my eyes were opened. Inverted centers are striking errors. Through the mishap the beauty of the issue remains intact, and makes them the superstar of errors, witness our "Inverted Jenny."

The Inverted Center
http://www.invertedcenter.com

The Inverted Centre (Commonwealth-friendly)
http://www.invertedcentre.com

And what cigar box stamp collection would be complete without a glassine or two of unknown labels and etiquettes. The "Officially Sealed," site catalogs dozens of countries and hundreds of varieties of these ubiquitous slips of paper, so if you have a cigar box of seals, visit the site and see what you have.

Officially Sealed
http://www.poseal.com

When we move out to national stamp collecting sites, one of the best we saw was "Poland Encyclopedia," Ben Nieborg's successful effort to bring a comprehensive Polish philatelic web resource to the Anglophone world. "Build it and they will come" worked for American baseball, and he's created a great site.

Anyone thinking of doing the same for their favorite aspect of philately might take a look at the site for hints and inspiration. Besides stamps there's lots of resources about people, places, things and events of Poland.

Stamp Encyclopedia Poland
http://www.home.zonnet.nl/ben_nieborg

All those "G.N.R." Italian overprints in your collection come from the Italian Social Republic, courtesy of Il Duce. The story behind them and just about everything you'd want to know can be found at "Stamps of the Italian Social Republic," which could turn a trip to northern Italy into a philatelic journey back in time for postmarkers.

This and two other Italian sites really round out coverage of WWII on the peninsula well.

Stamps of the Italian Social Republic
http://giorgiobifani.cjb.net/

Italian Stamps 1862-1945
http://www.hist.uib.no/antikk/stamps

The Italian Center for Resistance Philately
http://www.cifr.it

Before we leave the topic, let's mention "Sudetenland: A Philatelic Story." This area of central Europe went through quite a few changes in the last century and this site covers most of it with fieldpost, provisional cancels, primitive cancels, registration, etc.

Sudetenland: A Philatelic Story
http://sudeten.bizland.com/postal_history.htm

Moving a little east we run into the "Society for Hungarian Philately," which is the best site for delving into Hungarian issues.

Society for Hungarian Philately
http://www.hungarianphilately.org

Over in the mod, mod, mod world of UK philately, we find the British Decimal Stamps Study Circle that focuses on all aspects of modern GB with newsletters, detailed specialist charts, lists, upcoming stamp issues, etc. It's well-illustrated and informative, and easy to navvy.

British Decimal Stamps Study Circle
http://www.bdssc.co.uk/