In an e-mail sent to members today, Sebastien Delcampe announced that an 18-cent sale fee will apply to each lot listed and sold after September 1. (There will still be no fees on lots that do not sell.) This fee is in addition to the existing commissions Delcampe takes off sold lots, and brings the popular auction site’s fee schedule closer to that of eBay.
In his e-mail, Delcampe states that the “objective is to limit the sale of items of too little value or for which there is too little interest.” The 18-cent sale fee will essentially make listing lots for less than 25 cents a money-losing proposition.
I can understand the move from a business perspective; Delcampe will eliminate low-value lots that, even if sold, result in miniscule commissions, and in the process make more valuable lots (from which they get a higher commission) more visible.
At the same time, I have to admit that I’m a bit disappointed in the move. I’ve sold a number of stamps on Delcampe that had very low catalogue values, and that I didn’t make any money from, but that I was happy to pass on to someone who could use them. I would be surprised if I’m the only one who did that, but now it will be more difficult to find those elusive but not particularly valuable stamps from around the world.
What’s your take on the Delcampe announcement? Love it or hate it? Share your thoughts below.
If you live in the United States, you’ve no doubt seen quite a few of the Four Flags stamps issued earlier this year. The set features four stamps, each with an identical American flag, but different wording: Freedom, Liberty, Equality, and Justice.
Complicating matters is the fact that each of the three different printers contracted to supply these stamps to the USPS has issued the stamps in two different formats, coil and booklet. 4 designs × 3 printers × 2 varieties per printer = 24 different stamps!
Those who collect only face different stamps don’t have to worry about such things, but for the rest of us, how do we identify which stamp is which? We’ll break down the set here and explain which stamp is which.
Coil stamps
We’ll begin with the coil stamps, as they’re the easiest to identify. Coils of 100 produced by each of the three printers all went on sale on February 22.
First up are the Avery Dennison coils (Scott 4629–4632), which are die cut 8.4 vertically. The big round die cuts make these the easiest to identify.
Avery Dennison coil stamp (die cut 8.4 vert.)
Next are the Ashton-Potter coils (Scott 4633–4636), which are die cut 9.4 vertically. The die cutting ends 2–3 millimeters from the top and bottom edges of the stamp, which makes this variety appear to have square corners.
Ashton-Potter coil stamp (die cut 9.4 vert.)
Finally, we have the coil stamps printed by Sennett Security Products (Scott 4637–4640), which are die cut 11 vertically.
And that’s it for the coil stamps! As mentioned before, there are four different designs repeated in each coil.
Booklet stamps
The booklet stamps are, unfortunately, a tougher nut to crack. While you should be able to identify each of the coil stamp varieties simply by eyeballing them, each of the booklets has the same gauge of die cutting, which looks like this.
Equality booklet stamp (die cut 11¼×10¾)
Positive identification therefore requires a millimeter gauge and a magnifying glass—unless you have excellent eyesight, of course.
The first two booklet varieties, printed by Ashton-Potter and Sennett Security Products, were also issued on February 22 in booklets of 20. There are apparently numerous minor differences, but the sure way to distinguish these is size. The Ashton-Potter stamps (Scott 4641–4644) are slightly narrower than the Sennett stamps (Scott 4645–4648). The Ashton-Potter booklet singles measure 18½ mm from the lower left corner to the lower right corner of the flag, while the Sennett stamps measure 19 mm from corner to corner. In this case, size does matter.
Booklet single with small microprinting (measure from lower left corner to lower right corner)
Notice the microprinted “USPS” pointed out by the blue arrow in the above illustration? Both the Ashton-Potter and Sennett booklet stamps have this microprinting, but it will help us identify the third booklet variety, those printed by Avery Dennison.
The booklet stamps printed by Avery Dennison (Scott 4673–4676) were not issued until June 1, and were produced as booklets of 10. As pointed out by the blue arrow in the illustration below, the Avery Dennison stamps use a much larger but less bold microprinting than the other two booklet stamps.
Booklet single with large microprinting
And that’s it! For now, that is. According to the Virtual Stamp Club, the USPS has already announced that booklets of 18 printed by Ashton-Potter will be made available starting on September 14. If stamps from that booklet differ from the earlier Ashton-Potter booklet stamps, we’ll be up to 28 different varieties from just four basic designs! As it currently stands, however, we’re at just two dozen.
Several weeks ago, I received an unexpected letter in the mail. The return address indicated that it was from an outfit called the Letter Writers Alliance.
The Letter Writers Alliance is, to put it in their words, dedicated to preserving the art form of writing handwritten letters—not just e-mail (though they’re not against e-mail), but real, sent through the mail letters. As a stamp collector, I can appreciate this sort of thing!
It turns out that the folks in charge of the LWA heard about Philosateleia because one of their members sent them a postcard via Philosateleian Post. Now I’m an honorary member, and one of the founders, Donovan, wrote up a very nice review of Philosateleia on the Letter Writers Alliance blog.
At $3 (plus postage), lifetime membership is probably about as affordable as anything I’ve ever seen, so if you’re a fan of letters, consider joining. Tell them that Kevin from Philosateleia sent you, and happy posting!
If you collect local post stamps, or stamps picturing waterfalls, you might be interested in Philosateleian Post’s newest stamp: a stamp picturing Ruby Falls near Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Ruby Falls, Tennessee, stamp
The Ruby Falls stamp will be issued on Thursday, September 13, and you can request a free copy for your own collection. See Philosateleian’s Post press release for details.
To many non-collectors, stamps are apparently becoming an amusing relic of the age before Internet, e-mail, and electronic bill payments. Even much of the real mail I receive bears no stamps. That made finding this image in a commercial e-mail that I received last week a special treat.
World Market E-mail Header
This header image from a message sent by retailer World Market depicts a fantasy stamp from “Kingdom Animalia.” What appear to be elephants are the stamp’s subject, while the reddish-orange design (with its English “Post” and French “Postes” in the margins) is reminiscent of Canadian stamps from the first few decades of the 20th century.
To the best of my knowledge, this “stamp” has never existed in printed form, but it’s nice to see a stamp—even an imagined one—used as a major design component in a piece of modern advertising.
