Inside Linn’s: Making your own first-day cover album

By Charles Snee

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

Making your own first-day cover album is easy

Lloyd de Vries, in First-Day Covers, comes to the rescue of collectors who are searching for effective ways to house and display their FDCs since the demise of Washington Stamp Exchange, which produced White Ace albums. His solution is to use combinations of stock pages to house covers of different sizes. “These interchangeable pages with pockets in different sizes gives you a flexibility missing from standard FDC albums that can only accommodate No. 6¾ envelopes,” de Vries explains. He also provides guidance on how to avoid damaging your FDCs when you insert them into a stock page. Whether you’re a novice or experienced collector, the tips de Vries provides will serve you well. Be sure to keep this column handy for future reference.

Patron saints on stamps of Eastern European countries

“In Christianity a saint is a faithful deceased Christian in heaven who has been recognized formally by one branch or another of the church on Earth as being worthy of veneration through his or her closeness to God,” writes Rick Miller in Stamps of Eastern Europe. Patron saints, those heavenly guards of an earthly person, place or thing, feature prominently on numerous stamps of Eastern European countries. Miller brings this point home with an introduction to the patron saints found on stamps from Georgia, North Macedonia, Serbia and Armenia. St. Mesrop, considered one of the patron saints of Armenia, is featured on a vividly colored souvenir sheet of one issued by Armenia in 2012. Miller’s profiles of Mesop and the other featured saints make for a most engaging read.

Kitchen Table Philately: worldwide stamps from 18 countries

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 sorts through a sample of 43 stamps from 18 countries that were randomly selected from a worldwide assortment that cost just $3.75. Our reviewer found that the oldest stamp, issued in 1891, was a Swedish 10-ore King Oscar II. Turkey took the prize for the most recent issue, a 2014 2.50-lira stamp picturing deer and mushrooms in a national park. Be sure to read the entire review for all of the pertinent statistics.

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