It looks common, but it isn't Most collectors don't bother to check perforations on common stamps, especially definitives printed in the hundreds or thousands or more.

Maybe we should all start.

The July 13 issue of Linn's Stamp News tells of the discovery of a stamp that catalogs $25,000 in a small auction lot of what Linn's called "miscellaneous stamps."

The buyer, Kenneth R. Huskey of California, mentors beginning collectors. The group periodically pools some money and buys small auction lots to learn how to sort and identify stamps.

He said he gave about 100 stamps to a young collector to identify, and the collector identified all but one, a 4-cent brown stamp showing Martha Washington.

As the collector checked the perforations, they didn't match what was listed in the catalog.

Huskey checked the stamp and said, "It turned out to be perf (perforated) 11 at the top and sides, but when I turned it around and checked the bottom, it was perf 10."
(Perforations are the holes around stamps that allow them to be separated easily.)
Huskey checked the stamp again and asked other members to check it. They agreed the bottom was perf 10.

The stamp appeared to be the common 4-cent stamp issued in 1923 showing Martha Washington. But it was examined by experts and declared to have genuine compound, or mixed, perforations and "a tiny internal tear at bottom."

The Scott U.S. Specialized catalog lists the stamp at a value of $25,000.

Huskey said he'll auction the stamp and buy more stock for the club.

"You should never give up on the hunt," Linn's quoted him as saying. "This proves that there is no telling what you can get from a small $100 lot."

Who knows how many other copies of the stamp might be sitting in old collections or accumulations waiting to be discovered.

The USPS has released the designs of the five stamps honoring "The Simpsons" to be issued May 7. Pictures of the stamps and information about how to order them, along with details of how to vote for your favorite character, can be found here .

There's also a contest for 25 a limited-edition Simpsons posters to be signed by Simpsons creator and executive producer Matt Groening. Winners will be notified the week of May 18 - 22, 2009, the Postal Service said.

You know things are bad when the USPS is talking about cutting mail service to five days a week from six and says it will delay three stamp issues announced for this year.
The cut in delivery days might or might not happen, but the stamp issues will definitely be delayed, according to the March 23 issue of Linn's Stamp News, a weekly philatelic newspaper.
On hold for now are the Edward Hopper stamp in the American Treasures series originally planned for Aug 6, the Angel with Lute stamp planned for October and the fourth set of the Flags of Our Nation series planned in September.
All the stamps could be issued next year, Linn's said and quoted Roy Betts, a Postal Service spokesman, as saying the decision was "driven by the economy."
The Flags of Our Nation coils are part of a multiyear program, and it's not clear what the decision to delay the fourth set will do to the program.
The year's schedule still includes several holiday stamps: a Madonna and Child Christmas stamp, four Winter Holidays stamps, and stamps for Eid, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.

It's official now. The USPS has announced the new rates, which go into effect May 11, and first-class mail will cost 44 cents for the first ounce, with the postcard rate going to 28 cents.

The USPS release says, "Prices for other mailing services -- Standard Mail, Periodicals, Package Services (including Parcel Post), and Extra Services -- will also change. The average increase by class of mail is at or below the rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index."

New rates can be expected every May.

Here are some of the key new rates:

First-Class Mail Price
Letters - first ounce $0.44
Large envelopes - first ounce $0.88
Parcels - first ounce $1.22
Additional ounces $0.17
Postcard $0.28
Stamped Card $0.31
Stamped Envelope $0.54

First-Class Mail International Price
Postcards and Letters - first ounce
Canada $0.75
Mexico $0.79
All other countries $0.98

The full list is here

It's not surprising that a lot of countries are issuing stamps showing President-elect Barack Obama, but I've been a little surprised at some of the other subjects on the stamps picturing him. I understand that the countries hope to sell the stamps to collectors of topical stamps, and U.S. presidents are a popular topic, so it makes sense to have as many popular people on the stamps as possible, but some of the combinations are striking.

The Jan. 12 issue of Linn's Stamp News has a three-page ad showing Obama stamps from Chad, Liberia, Sao Tome e Principe, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Easdale, which the ad identifies as a British local post.

Most of the sets have single stamps and souvenir sheets, which add up to a hefty price tag if bought at the ad's prices of just over $6 to about $16 per sheet. Most of them also come in perforated and imperforate versions. The necessary album is getting bigger, right along with the price.

Chad's set of Barack Obama and Famous Personalities of Historic Note includes John F. Kennedy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr., Bill Clinton and Malcom X and four other souvenir sheets with such personalities as the Dalai Lama, Pope John Paul II, Ingrid Betancourt, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.

Guinea issued a main sheet of Obama with U.S. presidents and landmarks, Jesse Jackson, Marilyn Monroe and Malcom X, and other sheets showing Bruce Springsteen, Obama's family, Oprah Winfrey, and Mohammed Ali.

Guinea Bissau issued a sheet featuring Barack and Michelle Obama with a peace dove, Obama with Al Gore, Obama with Bill and Hillary Clinton and Obama and his children.
The Easdale local post sheet pictures Obama with John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King.

Liberia issued a sheet of stamps showing just Obama and one with Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden.

Sao Tome e Principe's International Celebrities sheet shows Obama and other family members, Haile Selassie, Harry Belafonte, Sammy Davis Jr., Kwame Nikruma, Bob Marley, Denzel Washington, Martin Luther King Jr. and others.

A second sheet shows Obama in front of the White House, with American Indians, with Afro-Americans and with the Statue of Liberty, while a third sheet shows Obama with Confederate soldiers in a battle scene, the Statue of Liberty, the World Trade Center and broken shackles.

Mozambique covered the History of the 21st Century with a sheet showing Obama and his family, George and Laura Bush, Michelle Obama, Obama and Bush in the Oval Office, Obama addressing crowds, Obama with Superman and the International Space Station.

And these are only some of the issues listed.

Other stamps are planned by Antigua, Gambia, Grenada, Grenada Grenadines, Maldives, St. Vincent Grenadines Bequis, Nevis, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and St. Vincent Grenadines. And more will be issued as Obama visits other countries during his presidency.

While I can't in good conscience recommend the stamps as investment items, they will certainly make an interesting collection. The advertiser, Marlen Stamp & Coin Ltd., is offering these and expected Obama stamps as a new issue service (buyers will receive packages of stamps as they're issued for as long as they remain subscribers to the service). The company's Web site.

Many other new issue dealers will also stock the stamps.

Every year, The Star runs a design-a-stamp contest on the Young Star page in conjunction with the Youth Stamp Fair. This year's theme was polar lights, which was also the subject of two stamps issued by the U.S. Postal Service for National Stamp Collecting Month (October). We
don't have room don't have room to publish the winners in the paper, so they're posted here instead.

7 and under

1. Josefa M. Linnell of Camarillo

2. Blair Steinberg of Moorpark

3. Alyssa Rezo of Camarillo

8-11

1. Emily Steinberg of Moorpark

2. Kingston Willis of Ventura

3. Taylor Perry of Thousand Oaks

12 and up (only two entries, both from adults; only one prize awarded)

1. Heather Williams of Camarillo

We didn't have as many entries this year as we have in the past, but I have a feeling that the polar lights theme threw some people off as being difficult to illustrate. I know of at least one teacher, however, who said it was an excellent teaching tool for several subjects, and I appreciated that response.

I hope you enjoy these efforts.

The U.S. Postal Service has issued what has become an almost annual statement denying that it plans to stop issuing Black Heritage stamps.
A news release from Los Angeles Postmaster James A. Smith, which appears to have been made available to every postmaster in the nation, emphasizes: “The Postal Service’s Black Heritage stamps have been around since 1978 and they’re one of the Postal Service’s most popular commemorative stamp series.�
Ella Fitzgerald was last year’s honoree, and the USPS printed 150 million stamps with a face value of $58.5 million, the release says.
The first U.S. postage stamp featuring an African American showed Booker T. Washington in 1940, and more than 100 stamps with African-American subjects have been issued since. The Black Heritage series began in 1978, and a stamp has been issued for it every year since.
No one knows where, or why, the rumors that the Black Heritage series is being discontinued starts, the release notes, but adds strongly:
“The rumors are not true. It’s hard to say why they keep popping up, but the speed with which rumors can be spread on the Internet is a factor. The myth started several years ago through an anonymous e-mail that told the recipients to buy Black Heritage stamps before post offices stopped selling them due to lack of demand. Unfortunately, the rumors still resurface shortly before a Black Heritage stamp is issue. We have no problems selling out of the Black Heritage stamps. Our challenge is keeping them available to meet the demand!�
A list of all the U.S. stamps with African-American themes can be found here. Type “Black Heritage� into the search box.
A display about stamp collecting at the main Oxnard Library includes all the Black Heritage stamps issued through last year. The display will be up through Oct. 31.
The display also publicizes the 17th annual Youth Stamp Fair sponsored by the Ventura County Philatelic Society, the Anacapa Middle School Stamp Club and The Star in Education Foundation. The free event will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20, at the Dudley House, Loma Vista Road and Ashwood Avenue, Ventura.
It will have lots of free stamps for young collectors, demonstrations of collecting techniques and tools, games, contests and door prizes.
In the interests of full disclosure, I should add that I chair the event and advise the Anacapa stamp club.

The United States will issue a stamp honoring the late President Gerald R. Ford on Aug. 31.
The design of the stamp, a portrait by Michael J. Deas, will be issued Aug. 31. Stamp dedication ceremonies will be in Rancho Mirage, Calif., and at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Mich.
The stamp was unveiled June 11 at the annual Gerald R. Ford Foundation dinner. “Throughout his more than three decades of public service, Gerald Ford gave so much to this nation,� said Postmaster General John E. Potter. “This stamp personifies his strong character as a courageous and principled leader who successfully healed the nation at a critical time in our history.�
The Fords’ children, Mike, Jack, Steve and Susan were joined by Vice President Dick Cheney and Potter at the dinner.
“Dad would be very proud to be honored by the nation through this U.S. postage stamp. Mother and our family are deeply grateful to the Postal Service for creating this wonderful tribute to Dad.�
Stamp designer Deas has produced several U.S. stamps, and his work has also appeared on the cover of Time magazine.
Pictures of the ceremony can be seen here and here.
Deceased presidents can be pictured on a U.S. stamp on the first birth anniversary after their death. By policy, at least, no one else can be honored until at least five years after their death.

I recently had the frustrating experience of having to tell a reader stamps he paid about $1,000 for are worth considerably less.

He wrote to me a few days ago after coming across the Dec. 27 entry on the blog about the popularity of the U.S. Elvis Presley commemorative, saying:

“I have a sheet of inverted St Vincent Elvis Stamps that I bought from Windsor House International in California for about a thousand dollars. Did I get ripped off? They said they would try to sell them at a show and they would get 3 percent of the sale. I can’t get ahold of them now. Can you tell me what they are worth and should I hold on to them.�

I hadn’t heard of the stamps, but my first thought was that his fears might be justified, and a Google search seemed to confirm that. Here’s my answer to him:

“Your inclination that you might have been a victim seems to be correct. I found this Web site that says such items are generally considered printers waste prepared after the original printer’s stocks were sold in bankruptcy. I can’t verify this, but the person who owns the site seems to know what he’s talking about. It’s at least a starting point for further research.

“A Google search for Windsor House International, which I assume you also tried, found nothing. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news. (I did find an ad from Shop at Home TV offering the stamps for $349.98 and some possible listings on eBay, although those might have been for the properly printed stamps.)�

I’d advise anyone who collects the stamps of St. Vincent or who is interested in error stamps from other countries to check out this Web page before buying such items. Unfortunately, according to the page, letters to the postmaster general about the matter remain unanswered — possibly, the Web site owner, Peter Elias, speculates, because “the chances of these stamps ever being used for actual postage in St. Vincent are fairly slim and … they are thus not defrauding the St. Vincent Postal Services.�

He also mentions similar difficulties with the U.S. stamp issued for former President Richard M. Nixon.

As Elias says at the end of his discussion of these inverted centers and a batch of other reputed St. Vincent errors:
“As they say: Caveat emptor - ‘let the buyer beware.’ �

A copy of what is probably the most famous U.S. stamp ever — the 1918 24-cent airmail stamp with the airplane upside down (Scott No. C3a) — has resurfaced.

Linn’s Stamp News reports in its April 23 issue that the stamp, which had not been seen since the full sheet of the inverts was sold by the post office, has been authenticated by the Philatelic Foundation of New York.

The newly found stamp was in position 13 on the original pane of 100 stamps (that is, it was the third stamp in the second row).

The stamp was submitted by the Robert A. Siegel auction house. It was consigned to the firm from an estate, and the original collector, “long deceased,� as Linn’s put it, was not identified.

“Until the rediscovery of the stamp, the hobby had no image of it and no idea of its provenance (history of ownership), although who owns the stamp is being kept private,� Linn’s writer Rick Miller said.

The discovery means that there are now images of 98 of the original 100 stamps.
Copies of the stamps sell for thousands of dollars in auction, and as Linn’s put it, “The stamp is well-centered horizontally but is vertically off-center. Most collectors would still be more than delighted to have it in their collections.�

Linn’s is the only weekly stamp newspaper in the United States. Portions of it can be viewed for free online here. Regular mail subscriptions may be ordered online or by writing to Linn’s Stamp News, P.O. Box 29, Sidney, Ohio 45365-0029.

If you want to read the full story of the Inverted Jenny, see if you can find a copy of “Jenny!� written by George Amick and published by Linn’s in 1986. It’s a fascinating story.