US Stamps

Inside Linn’s: U.S. 2002 3¢ Star definitive stamp

Dec 14, 2023, 10 AM
In Modern U.S. Mail in the Jan. 1 issue of Linn’s Stamp News, Richard L. Beecher looks back at the 2002 3¢ Star stamp, which was issued in response to an emergency rate increase.

By Charles Snee

The Jan. 1 digital-only issue of Linn’s Stamp News will be available to subscribers Saturday, Dec. 16. While you wait for your issue to arrive in your inbox, enjoy these three quick glimpses of exclusive content available only to subscribers. 

U.S. 2002 3¢ Star definitive stamp

Richard L. Beecher, in Modern U.S. Mail, takes readers back to the events following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that forced the U.S. Postal Service file for an emergency rate increase with the Postal Regulatory Commission. According to Beecher, the request “was made by the USPS in early 2002 and approved soon thereafter, with new rates set to go into effect on June 30, 2002. The domestic letter rate was increased from 34¢ to 37¢. To meet the demand for 3¢ makeup-rate stamps and to satisfy customer desire for patriotic themes in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, a simply designed 3¢ Star stamp was issued on June 7, 2002.” Beecher goes on to share a pair of interesting uses of the 3¢ Star stamp, one of which is illustrated above.

An overview of The Digital Philatelist website

In Computers and Stamps, William F. Sharpe drills down into The Digital Philatelist, the creation of James Gavin, whom Sharpe describes as an “active army of one.” According to Sharpe, the home page “includes a multiline menu that identifies various philatelic subjects. Clicking on any one of these entries either brings up the page for that subject or displays a drop-down list of subtopics for that entry.” Some of the subjects have so many links that A-K and L-Z alphabetical entries are included to simplify a user’s search. There’s much more to the site, as Sharpe explains in his column.

Kitchen Table Philately: worldwide mix with a ‘big surprise’

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 reviews a worldwide assortment from a dealer in Arizona. Of the 92 stamps examined, a whopping 37 (40 percent) came from Ireland. Rawolik also compares this packet with a mix from the same dealer that was reviewed in the Dec. 26 ,2022, Linn’s. That comparison led to a “big surprise,” Rawolik writes. Read the column to find out what it was.

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