Although The Philosateleian U.S. Stamp Album generally meets the needs of collectors of used stamps, I occasionally receive an e-mail asking if I have pages available where se tenant stamps are always grouped together. I’ve typically designed pages with an individual space for each stamp unless that stamp’s design is part of a larger picture that covers two or more stamps, such as the cherry blossom stamps issued last year.
This approach works well for singles, but leaves the folks who collect blocks or even panes out of luck. Unfortunately, I simply don’t have the time to maintain multiple iterations of The Philosateleian.
A solution for se tenants
Fortunately, however, a new project from the owner of StampHacks.com may give collectors of U.S. se tenants another option. The Community 21st Century U.S. Stamp Album keeps se tenant stamps grouped together. That’s not a big deal for me personally, but some people do prefer that sort of arrangement.
Beyond the arrangement of se tenants, the Stamp Hacks pages have these attractive features:
Black and white illustrations of each stamp
Brief descriptions of each stamp
The pages really remind me of my old H.E. Harris Liberty album. It was my first “real” stamp album (one that could be expanded) which I graduated from a number of years ago. It is nice to have those descriptions, and they no doubt take a lot of time to write.
Keep in mind that the new Stamp Hacks pages are available for only a single year (2001) at this point, but the creator plans to add pages for subsequent years. It definitely seems like a project that’s worth keeping an eye on.
What does this mean for The Philosateleian?
Nothing. I realize not everyone collects exactly the same way I do, and not everyone wants their album pages laid out exactly the way The Philosateleian’s are. I plan to continue maintaining and adding to The Philosateleian. But I’m also happy to see another option out there for those who need it.
These pages are free, just as The Philosateleian has been free since its inception in 2006. If you like them, please consider making a donation. Most of all, enjoy, and happy collecting!
Earlier this month, my wife and I had the opportunity to visit Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida. It’s something that had been on our “bucket list” for several years, and it seemed as good a time as any to go.
Even though this is not peak season for Disney World, the place was packed. Wait times for some attractions were as much as 90 minutes, but the Hall of Presidents—a building with displays featuring presidential memorabilia and a brief show about United States Presidents—was, rather sadly, less than crowded. Suprisingly enough, one of the items on display had to do with stamp collecting.
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Roto-Gage
The card describing the “stamp collector’s Roto-Gauge,” which is on loan from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, states the following:
Franklin D. Roosevelt began collecting stamps at age nine and continued the hobby the rest of his life. Even while President, he found time to expand his prized collection, inspiring new philatelists across the nation.
FDR was probably one of the best known stamp collectors in the world at large, but I had never heard of this tool before. The Roto-Gage (as the item was marketed) features not just a perforation gauge and small ruler, but a built-in magnifying glass and watermark tray. It was apparently intended to be something of a Swiss Army knife of stamp collecting, or as a piece of marketing material described it, “A compact and handy instrument that takes all the labor out of stamp collecting…the one thing needed to make this fascinating hobby a perfect relaxation.”
I have to wonder about the utility of having all of these tools combined into one unit; it seems to me it might be a bit unwieldy. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting piece of philatelic history, and definitely not the sort of thing I expected to see at Disney World.
Have you ever seen the Roto-Gage before? Ever used one? What do you think of the idea of combining multiple tools into one product like this?
You may have seen pictures of the new United States stamps depicting “muscle cars” of the 1960s and 1970s. These stamps are being formally issued down the road a bit from me in Daytona Beach on Friday. For those who aren’t stock car racing fans, the Daytona 500 is this weekend, so there’s a bit of a tie-in there.
The official ceremony is being held at Daytona International Speedway, and stock car racing legend Richard Petty and his son Kyle will be signing autographs. According to an e-mail notification I received last week from the American Philatelic Society, collectors are welcome to attend the ceremony, but must purchase a ticket to the truck race being held tomorrow evening plus a pass to the “Sprint Fanzone” area, a total cost of $65.
I would love to meet “The King” (Richard’s nickname), but my work schedule and the cost of admission will both work against me. Nevertheless, it sounds like a fun event for those who get to attend.
It’s not often that you run across English-language album pages for stamps from Asia, but the Society of Indo-china Philatelists is offering some for free.
If you visit the SICP website and scroll about a third of the way down the homepage, you should see the heading “Printable National Liberation Front (Vietcong) Stamp Album Pages”; beneath that is a link to the free pages, which contain explanatory text and color illustrations of each stamp.
This is, of course, a rather narrow area of collecting, but the pages are no doubt a wonderful tool for those who specialize in such stamps.
