The use of bisected stamps has a long but less than honorable history in the United States. Bisect refers to stamps that have been cut in part, most commonly in half, but into other fractions also, and postally used for the proportionate value of the stamp.

In a recent article I discussed the graying of stamp dealers and collectors. One could consider these components of a larger ecosystem of sorts. Some experts claim that the stamp collecting ecosystem consists of three major components.

Nearly everyone know about the Post Office’s financial woes and the inability of Congress to do anything constructive towards it. The latest legislative proposal is more evidence for this statement. House Speaker John Boehner and the Majority Leader Eric Cantor adopted an idea to use the estimated s

If you have attended a recent stamp show, perhaps you noticed that most of the dealers were sporting gray hair, and without a doubt, most stamp collectors are of the older persuasion to boot. Much has been commented about the lack of young people taking up stamp collecting. Complaints like these hav

There have been reports that self-service kiosks at post offices in 13 state and the District of Columbia have been targeted by criminals who place devices on the machines that record debit card information. One postal official has stated that an investigation is underway, but offered no details on

Much as mainstream stamp collectors have their own terms for their collecting, first-day cover collectors have their own language. This is especially true here in the U.S. The Postal Service guidelines allow quite a bit more latitude for creating FDCs than collectors will find in other countries. He

Postage stamps have been issued in several different formats, all of which are collectible. Many stamp collectors focus solely on stamp booklets as their collecting specialty. For a postal customer, buying a booklet stamps is more convenient. Most stamp booklets will fit into a wallet or a purse. Th

In order to expertize a stamp, you need the right tools available to you. These tools are readily available to most stamp collectors. Once you have acquired them you need to learn how to use them, in order to make the types of judgment real expertise’s make.

As the old saying goes, all good things must come to an end, and such came to pass for domestic airmail service on May 1, 1977. This was two weeks shy of airmail’s 59th birthday.

On December 31, 1975, domestic rates changed once again. The first ounce of a first-class letter required 13 cents postage, and each additional ounce required 11 cents. Postcard rates rose to 9 cents. The rates for airmail letters rose to 17 cents for the first ounce and 15 cents for each additional