Retired judge gives 11,000 stamps to Minnesota museum

By Joe O'Donnell

Here's a quick look at what's happening in the world of stamp collecting:

1. Big donor

Former judge and current Albert Lea, Minn., resident Bill Sturtz has been a philatelist for decades and has accrued a wide-ranging world stamp collection during that time, according to the Albert Lea Tribune. 

"Now, after about 80 years of collecting, Sturtz this week is donating his collection to the Freeborn County Historical Society," the Tribune report reads. "The collection, organized by country into four binders, contains about 11,000 stamps from more than 300 countries. Some purchased in the last year."

Read the full story. 

2. Disney stamps

"The first Disney/Pixar stamps were issued by Uganda in 1997, consisting of one souvenir sheet of six stamps (Scott 1479a-f), two souvenir sheets of nine stamps each (1480a-i and 1481a-i), and a set of three souvenir sheets (1482-84), all showing scenes from Toy Story."

Read our three-part series on Disney/Pixar stamps.

3. Canal Zone items at auction

"An impressive range of elusive errors and varieties from the Canal Zone, the onetime United States territory surrounding the Panama Canal, will be offered by the firm of Daniel F. Kelleher at its offices in Danbury, Conn. on Sept. 9."

4. Hot topics

Have a quick look at the top three posts of the last couple of days on Linns.com: 

1. Postal Service inspector general seeks public comments about upright Jenny Invert pane
2. Upcoming U.S. stamps for 2015, 2016 revealed
3. Illegal and late uses of U.S. stamps; Circus souvenir sheet misregistration