Inside Linn’s: High-denomination Prexie cover sent to Nassau Street

By Charles Snee

The Sept. 9 issue of Linn’s Stamp News just landed on the presses and goes in the mail to subscribers Monday, Aug. 26. And if you subscribe to Linn’s digital edition, you’re at the head of the line with early access Saturday, Aug. 24. While you wait for your issue to arrive in your mailbox, enjoy these three quick glimpses of exclusive content available only to subscribers. 

A $5 Prexie cover sent to Nassau Street didn’t go to a stamp dealer

When Dollar-Sign Stamps columnist Charles Snee first saw the 1941 registered cover shown here, he assumed the addressee was a stamp dealer because it was sent to Nassau Street in New York City. A bit of online searching determined that was not the case. “But what really grabbed my attention was the $6.57 franking consisting of five stamps (left to right): a 1939 2¢ John Adams coil stamp (Scott 841), a 1924 5¢ Theodore Roosevelt coil stamp (602), a 1931 50¢ Arlington Amphitheater (701), a 1938 $1 Woodrow Wilson and, last but not least, a $5 Calvin Coolidge,” Snee explains. Read the column to learn more about the addressee.

Modest mail recovery from 1908 wreck of steamer ‘Finance’

In The Odd Lot this month, Wayne L. Youngblood highlights a fascinating piece of mail that was salvaged from the wreckage of the Panamanian steamer Finance on Nov. 26, 1908. The attached post office label in the bottom left corner explains the mishap. As Youngblood explains, very few mail items were recovered from the wreck. The cover he shows has lost its stamp due to exposure to water, but it “would have borne a 5¢ stamp, paying the then-current international Universal Postal Union rate,” according to Youngblood. Other unusual details about the cover are revealed in the column, so be sure to read the whole thing.

Kitchen Table Philately: worldwide stamps with high catalog values

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 VI sifts through a one-quarter sample from a mixture of worldwide stamps. More than 60 percent of the stamps in the sample had a Scott catalog value of $1 or more. The stamps were issued from 1886 to 2012. Enjoy the full review in this issue.

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