Inside Linn’s: Values for U.S. dollar-sign stamps in high grades

By Charles Snee

The Nov. 7 issue of Linn’s Stamp News just landed on the presses and goes in the mail to subscribers Monday, Oct. 24. And if you subscribe to Linn’s digital edition, you’re at the head of the line with early access Saturday, Oct. 22. While you wait for your issue to arrive in your mailbox, enjoy these three quick glimpses of exclusive content available only to subscribers. 

Values for U.S. dollar-sign stamps in high grades

In Dollar-Sign Stamps, Charles Snee begins by noting the recent publication of the 2023 edition of the Scott Stamp Values U.S. Specialized By Grade. “Among the stamps listed are a number of dollar-denominated stamps, so I thought it would be instructive to look at a couple that have been popular with collectors for many years,” Snee writes. Specifically, Snee highlights particularly nice examples of the $1 Cattle in Storm stamp (Scott 292) from the 1898 Trans-Mississippi issue and the 1956 $5 Alexander Hamilton stamp (Scott 1053) from the 1954-73 Liberty series. Snee concludes with some sage advice: “Of course, stamps in lower grades are more affordable. Regardless of the grade, remember to collect what pleases you and brings you joy.”

More blog sites for stamp collectors

William F. Sharpe, in Computers and Stamps, reviews a trio of philatelic blogs that he has come across. He first discusses the Brane and Nina blog about stamps and postcards; the authors have been posting articles since 2015. Next up is the Punk Philatelist blog, which Sharpe describes as having the longest home page he has ever encountered. “Gerard McCulloch, who writes the [Punk Philatelist] blog, chatted about the subject of online philately in a May 2021 Zoom presentation to the Royal Philatelic Society of Canada,” Sharpe writes. He concludes with an overview of the National Postal Museum blog. When he visited the blog, he found an impressive 21 pages of blog entries. One of the entries was titled “Ghoulishly Spooky Stamps.”

Kitchen Table Philately: 100 worldwide stamps for $2

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 sorts through a half sample taken from a $2 assortment of foreign stamps. “In my sample of half of the mixture,” Rawolik explains, “the stamps were well-distributed over 36 stamp-issuing entities.” The oldest and most recent stamps in the sample, from Malaya and Malta, respectively, were issued 114 years apart. Enjoy the full review in this issue.

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