• "Ribbed" stamps
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• U.S. Scott 279A
  Forum: United States of America
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  18-12-2025, 06:43 AM
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• u.s. scott 279a
  Forum: Wanted
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  18-12-2025, 06:33 AM
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• U.S. Scott 279A update
  Forum: KSC Lounge
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  18-12-2025, 02:53 AM
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• An embarassing catalogue ...
  Forum: Non-philatelic (other collectibles) enquiries
  Last Post: Carmen
  13-12-2025, 04:15 PM
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• Plating scott 231
  Forum: KSC Lounge
  Last Post: RICHARD
  12-12-2025, 01:37 AM
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• Washington Franklin Serie...
  Forum: United States of America
  Last Post: RICHARD
  12-12-2025, 12:37 AM
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• Does anyone else have STA...
  Forum: Stamps / covers discussion
  Last Post: Carmen
  09-12-2025, 07:20 AM
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• Denmark stopping letter d...
  Forum: Post Offices
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  09-12-2025, 07:12 AM
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• What's New? What Are You ...
  Forum: Stamps / covers discussion
  Last Post: Hugh
  08-12-2025, 11:01 PM
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Canada # 24B not used some gum for sale or trade. contact me at richardziggy65@gmail.com

Wanted any and all U.S. Scott 231 types new used and on covers. Email me at richardziggy65@gmail.com

Arrived today from PSE. U.S. Scott 279A. This is an important stamp to send in. There are only two used Scott 279A to date none others Used or not used. And there are only one on cover certified by APS the only one according to the expert. These stamps are Rare

At last night’s meeting, Roy asked if I had ever seen the video Gary Burghoff - who played Radar O’Reilly in the wonderful TV show MASH - had made to promote stamp collecting. It was news to me, and very curious was I. Here are the preliminary results of my search for answers:

Gary Burghoff made the video in 1988. Apparently he visited several major stamp shows to promote the video.

He really was a collector. He was also a supporter of the Duck Stamp program in the US, and a duck stamp contest judge. 

You can buy the VHS tape on eBay for about $40 USC, but with Canada Post on strike, that doesn’t seem like a good option. I have found a free recording on YouTube. I have only watched the first three minutes, because I felt compelled to share the link with a wider audience. It is funny and kooky and a wonderful artifact of the 1980’s. As I mentally curate my “stuff”, I see this tape sharing a shelf with the 1970’s Stamp Album I was recently gifted - with Fonzie from Happy Days on the cover - and the VHS Guide to Windows 95 made by actors from Friends. Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/YaCE3uaBxWA?si=KZG5MAJWNjetim6e

It sounded so easy when Roy said “take home these pages of stamps, look up the catalogue value, pay me 30% of that”.

You send a request for a catalogue to the upstairs study. You receive a massive book that gives a new definition to “kiloware”. You discover the print is too small to read. You submit a request for help and a large magnifying glass is delivered. You look at the stamp. Its face is hidden by the postmark. You move on to the next stamp. You are able to sort of identify it. You put down the magnifying glass and pick up your phone. In order to take the picture, you need two hands. You put down the page of stamps, take a photo, and edit the photo into 5 strips of stamps. You ask Google Lens what it thinks of a stamp. The AI says “This is a stamp from Queensland. It is green.” It links an eBay listing for a completely different stamp. You show Google another stamp. It says “This stamp is Scott 101. Or Scott 120. It is similar to 101b.” You can’t use the Israeli sourced superior stamp identifier app because you are taking a stand against the government of Israel. Netanyahu hasn’t noticed yet …

You put down the phone, place the catalogue on your lap and notice it is now twice as heavy. You look for Scott 101. You hold the magnifying glass over the page and notice the slight tremor in your hand is making it difficult to focus on the print. You hold a ruler in your other hand to help you read. Of course you are now unable to make notes. You put down the magnifying glass and can no longer read the catalogue. You put down the ruler. You reach for your phone and take a picture of the catalogue. 

You now have a picture of the catalogue listings for 101 and 120. The stamp you are looking at doesn’t seem to be related to either listing. But there are variations that seem dependent on watermarks and perforations. You know from past attempts that you can’t see watermarks, even with the magic fluid. You begin to curse. You attract the polydactyl cat, followed by the occupant of the upstairs study. You are given a perforation gauge because you have no idea what happened to the ones you were given previously. You interrupt your toils long enough to say “No, another damned perforation gauge would not be a good Christmas stocking stuffer!”

You announce that you are too stupid to do this and you won’t buy any of the stamps. Another catalogue makes its way to you.

“Australia is hard” says the bearer. “Start with Iceland.”

An hour later you still can’t read the catalogue without taking a photo to enlarge the print, but you have found all the stamps on one page, even the stamp that Scott has insisted on sticking at the back of the book like an orphan instead of listing it with its siblings.

You realize that the people of Iceland were very sensible designers of stamps and you decide to search for a list of other sensible countries. You vow to devote your time to the sensible. As you begin to Google, you realize that the AI is mocking you. You decide to give up on philately for now, and soothe your troubled mind with a sudoku. You knock off the easy and medium puzzles, and are feeling much smarter. But half way through the difficult puzzle you realize they are the New York Times puzzles, and you have vowed to avoid US purchases. “But they are free and you cancelled your subscription” you argue. “It’s a slippery slope” says the little voice in your head. You decide to read before bed. “Don’t even think about saying anything right now” you tell the little voice as you pick up your Kindle. At least the book was purchased from a publisher in the UK.

So you copied some text from another post, or from Word or somewhere else and all of a sudden your post ends up looking like this, with embedded formatting tags:

   

How do you get rid of this?

Here's how:

Click the "Edit" button lower right corner of your post.

In the Edit screen, the formatting tags won't show up. But highlight the text anyway, that you want to remove the formatting tags from:

   

Now just click the "Remove Formatting" icon indicated in this picture. Preview your post again and the formatting tags should be gone.

Don't forget to save your changes.

Webmaster Roy

The participants really enjoyed Paul Fleet’s presentation on topical collecting yesterday! He explained how to get started picking a subject, how to find and research stamps, where to buy stamps, and how to organize them, and how to transform them into a custom album. His handout was very detailed and he brought lots of show and tell items - everything from an accumulation of stamps in an envelope to copies of his custom albums.

One participant has attended the program three times, not because she is a stamp collector, but because she loves the stories. She doesn’t own a computer. She doesn’t have internet at home. She goes to the library three or four times a week to read her email. After Paul’s presentation, she announced she was going to get a computer, and home internet, because then she could do research too. 

Paul’s presentation reminded me of the first philatelic presentation I saw during the pandemic. Michele Bresso from the American Topical Association did a presentation on topical collecting for a Women’s Institute virtual group in Hampshire, UK. I had never heard of topical collecting and was captivated. Michele was working on an exhibit on the history of typewriters. She offered to send anyone interested in collecting topicals a gift of stamps from the ATA. I was astonished by the generous size of the envelope of stamps I received. Through Paul I experienced that excitement again yesterday.

Jim Gould brought in a one page topical exhibit on the History of Kingston, and yes, the exhibit included US pre-cancels! Jim succeeded in signing up a new member, and collecting the fee.

Guy Monette told the tale of the 1898 Canadian map stamp, and brought - and demonstrated - his stamp pillow.

The Kingston Stamp Club is putting on quite a show at St Andrew’s by the Lake!

Stamps and Their Stories Week 2 was attended by all of the registered participants. Bob Gardner’s multi-part presentation had them making many notes. In addition to showing examples of Canadian provinces, Airmail, and Tax stamps, Bob provided detailed information on options for disposing of collections, including KSC’s consignment program - which was news to me! 

Bob also brought a topical display prepared by his grand daughter, which was a perfect promotion for Week 3, when Paul Fleet will speak about Topical Collecting.

As a first time coordinator for this program, I am extremely grateful to the club members who have volunteered their time and expertise to make my job both easy and highly entertaining!

I have stacks of Bankers Boxes full of covers.

Two categories - USA and Worldwide (sorry, no "Canada only" -- Canada goes in the Worldwide boxes)

Club members are encouraged to take the whole box home for a good browse -- whether you are interested in them as covers, or just looking for unusual stamps to soak. Just sign out the box and bring it back next meeting.

Price is 50c per cover. I bring a limited number of boxes each meeting. Reserve a box by letting me know before the meeting and I'll bring one just for you! Let me know if you want a USA box or a Worldwide box.

Roy

We offer collections with higher value stamps in them on the same "take them home on approval" basis as our 10c per stamp approvals.. But we only bring a small sample of these to the club each meeting. 

Our standard price for these stamps is 30% of Scott, and we don't adjust for the currency difference. And that's 30% OF, not OFF. In other words a $10 Scott catalogue value stamp costs you only $3.00. And a minimum value 25c c.v. stamp costs you only 7.5c.

Since we can't bring these all to the club every meeting, I'm going to post newly available collections here before each meeting. I will only bring them if somebody asks for them, and they will be reserved for that person for that meeting - and available to take home if they want.

New collections available this week:


1) Small, written up, topical collection "Errors in Stamp Design"

2) Stockbook of MNH QEII 1977 Silver Jubilee Souvenir sheets and blocks

3) Russia and areas of Russian influence (Baltics / Tannu Tuva / Mongolia) -- early, unlisted, lots of fun!

4)  Stockbook of MNH QEII 1978 Coronation  Silver Jubilee Souvenir sheets and blocks

5) Japan used - early to modern - many duplicates and cancels

6) Canada - modern used selected cancels including favor canceled souvenir sheets - 30% of Unitrade

More to come if I have time.

Roy