Inside Linn’s: Combination first-day covers becoming more difficult

By Charles Snee

The June 24 issue of Linn’s Stamp News just landed on the presses and goes in the mail to subscribers Monday, June 10. And if you subscribe to Linn’s digital edition, you’re at the head of the line with early access Saturday, June 8. While you wait for your issue to arrive in your mailbox, enjoy these three quick glimpses of exclusive content available only to subscribers.

Combination first-day covers becoming more difficult

“Longtime readers of this column know that one of my specialties or interests within first-day cover collecting is combination FDCs: covers with additional stamps related somehow to the first-day issue,” writes Lloyd de Vries in First-Day covers in the June 24 issue of Linn’s Stamp News. However, it has become more difficult for de Vries to acquire combination FDCs for recent issues consisting of multiple stamps. Read his column to learn why.

Tip of the Week: U.S. 1933 50¢ Baby Zeppelin airmail stamp

For this week’s tip, Stamp Market Tips columnists Henry Gitner and Rick Miller recommend the United States 1933 50¢ airmail stamp (Scott C18) picturing the German airship Graf Zeppelin. “Known as the Baby Zeppelin, it is a perennial favorite of U.S. collectors,” according to Gitner and Miller.

Kitchen Table Philately: ‘selling all the good stuff!”

In each weekly issue of Linn’s, either E. Rawolik VI or E. Rawolik VII dissects the contents of a stamp mixture offered to collectors. E. Rawolik is a pseudonym that is also the word “kiloware” (a stamp mixture) spelled backward. This week, E. Rawolik VII digs into a worldwide assortment from a seller in Massachusetts whose ad in Linn’s states: “Breaking up 50+ year accumulation and selling all the good stuff!” The oldest stamp in the reviewed two-thirds sample (50 stamps) was issued in 1870, and the most recent debuted in 1990. “It was a good mix geographically, value-wise and for types of stamps,” Rawolik concludes. Enjoy the full review in this issue.

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