What Was In Your Mailbox Today??

Today I received U.S.Scott #218 to complete the small set of large bank notes from 1888.

Nice looking stamps

I continue to receive lavishly produced auction catalogs from major Houses even after advising them they are burning money since I will not be in the market again (99.999%). It still amazes that in the digital age where you can "test drive" and purchase a vehicle entirely from your living room, philatelic auction houses send out lavishly illustrated, heavy, sometimes even hardbound catalogs. Don't get me wrong, I love to flip through them, but I do think of the commission revenue burned at the stake. Siegel has dipped their toe in the completely digital catalog waters with their Saturday paperless catalogs but they are one that still sends out hard copies. Schuyler-Rumsey produce amazing catalogs and Cherrystone's are not too shabby.

I got 6 1/2 pounds of Rumsey catalogs last week. The hardbound Grassi catalog is going on the coffee table for others to look at. You're right, they are beautifully printed and described, and who knows, may attract some new collectors to the hobby. What surprises me is how many are sent out by FedEx, that can't be cheap. I guess the consignment deadlines and printing deadlines are so tight that they can't depend on the regular mail to get there on time.

Because the catalogs are so nice, maybe they figure people will hesitate to throw them away, and instead will give them to a friend or library or something as a form of advertising. Putting an ad in the New York Times saying "stamp collectors wanted" is unlikely to have any impact, but one of these catalogs landing in the BMW mechanic's waiting room lounge or the doctor's office could attract a high roller or two and that's all the auction houses need to stay afloat.

It came by Federal Express, but that's more reliable than the Post Office and my mailbox.

President Franklin Pierce, appoints Edwin C Bailey as Postmaster at Boston, Massachusetts, Sept 23, 1853.




This is a companion to my earlier acquisition related to the post office at Boston, Massachusetts.

President Zachary Taylor, appoints William Hayden as Postmaster at Boston, Massachusetts, July 1, 1849.




Getting ready for Boston 2026.

Noocassell - "I find identifying Machins can sometime be as much fun as pulling out your own teeth." - I can identify with that! hence my decision to only do what I can with the Basic Machin 101 PDf file.

I haven't even started sorting my USA stamps - the varieties there, especially in the 'classics' overwhelm me. and the more recent self-adhesive 'stickers' don't do anything for me at all I'm afraid. It must have been fun though, having such a large audience

Frama ! Frama ! Frama !

I get some from Norway, Åland, Belgium, Turkey, Portugal, Australia… I love Frama. .

I also got the 2 UK Frama trial that were lacking in the first UK set (16,5 and 17p).

Definitively a good day.

Here a sample :

Today, the mail brought me the complete MNH set shown below. These are Scott #548-550. Yes, I know the 2c isn't well centered, but for $12 for the entire set, I can't complain.



I also received a complete used set #JQ1-JQ5 with a bonus JQ5 and a complete MNH set #QE1-QE4. I'll be mounting those later.

Today I received an eBay lot of various Esperanto items from the archives of Forrest J Ackerman, a major figure in the history of science fiction, including drafts of two letters written in Esperanto by Ackerman in 1935, when he was only 19 but already very active in the Esperanto and sci-fi communities. Most relevant for this forum is a postcard sent to Ackerman in 1938 by someone with the nickname Covonjo. I did some research and identified Covonjo as Celia Winnick, who later led an Esperanto group at the Baha'i Center in Los Angeles.

Today, I received a selection of MNH stamps for my U.S. National Album.

These are some of them:

#370

#372

#397

#442

#462

#497

#504

#537

#559

#587

#588

#590

#611

#612

#632-634, 635-642 (some I already had)

#647-648

#713

#715

#766a and #767a with gutter

@mml1942 Very nice documents. Old " Rough and Ready " lies at rest a mile or so from me, but the poor guy had been disinterred a few times, the last in the early 1990s to try to tell if he was poisoned or not with arsenic. The answer was no.

Another great mailbox day. Today I received what I would call an average set of space fillers for U.S. Special Delivery #E1-#E10.





Not sure I mentioned this before, but a week or so ago I received the following set:

Another day, another potentially exciting item in the mailbox!

It's supposed to be Scott #134. What looks like a grill isn't very pronounced, but it sure looks like one. Could it be fake??




Also included was this #135:

"Another day, another potentially exciting item in the mailbox!" - I'm envious Nicholas C. as I'm waiting for several items but Canada Post is on strike!