Discover Topical Stamp Collecting For Fun and Profit

The Fascinating Saga of Germany’s Audrey Hepburn “Error” Stamps

Take a close look at the above photograph… Now, examine carefully the stamps below: Notice a difference? Yes, you got it 🙂 Audrey Hepburn is pictured with a woman’s cigarette holder instead of the sunglasses on the original photo !! How come ? Read on… Sean Ferrer, Audrey Hepburn’s son, will tell us more… “In the original photo, she’s got sunglasses hanging from her mouth, but they (Germany Postal Administration) had flipped the negative and replaced the glasses with … Continue reading →

Which Country Issued The First Robert Burns Postage Stamp?

Great Britain, Russia or Romania? Watch this short video for the answer…. 🙂 Further reading: Scotland’s National Poet & Bard, Robert Burns (1759-1796) on Postage Stamps Happy collecting! Talk soon, Janice aka Stampy PS: If you have a topical stamp checklist of Robert Burns on postage stamps that you would like to share with all our readers, do not hesitate to send it over and we will publish same in the TOPICAL CHECKLISTS section of the blog. You can get in … Continue reading →

Travel and Tourism on Canadian Postage Stamps

Travels on the “Blue Road”, on the northern shore of the St Lawrence River – Part 1 With dear friends Mairiuna and Jean-Claude, who flew over to Montreal, Canada from Bordeaux, France, we recently travelled within the beautiful Province of Quebec on a 14 days and more than 5,500 kilometers road trip. As we stopped often to take pictures, I suddenly realized that a lot of the beautiful sceneries, people, wildlife and artefacts of the regions we were driving through had been … Continue reading →

Discover Topical Stamp Collecting With Catapulted Flights and Famous Aircrafts on Stamps & Covers

There was a time when airplanes could not fly non-stop across the oceans and consequently, mail was transported by catapulted aircrafts from a ship at sea. In the late 1920’s, experiments were undertaken from the deck of big passenger ships. The first in history was in 1928, aboard the French Ocean Liner “Ile de France” and was followed by others such as on the German Ocean liners, Bremen and Europa in 1929 and 1930. Even though the Ile de France could … Continue reading →

Discover How Mail Was Smuggled Out Of Prisons Inside Uniform Buttons During The American Civil War

Did you ever wonder how prisoners barred from communicating with persons in the outside world managed to smuggled letters out? If so, you will enjoy listening to the podcast (audio recording of => 04 Approaching the Philately from a Different Angle: How to Share a Country’s History) of the APS Stamp Talk radio show hosted by Nancy Clark in which she talks with Galen D. Harrisson, about how he managed to find samples of the uniform buttons used by prisoners at war to carry out mail and where he first read … Continue reading →

Great Gift For Chocolate Lovers: Canada Post Specialty Cover Commemorating 100th Anniv of Purdy’s Chocolates

. Each time the Canadian Stamp News is delivered to my mailbox, I know I will discover something that will sparkle my day, and that’s a marvelous feeling! So, let me share with you the scoop from one of the most recent issues. 🙂 It’s all about chocolate… As reported by Bret Evans, the popular pre-printed specialty cover depicting a box of chocolate and commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Purdy’s Chocolates will now be much easier to locate! That’s good news for … Continue reading →

What is Stamp Collecting?

You’re about to discover what you need to start stamp collecting. Click on the arrow to start the video: Janet Klug, past president of the American Philatelic Society and member of the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee, is a great mentor on everything related to topical stamp collecting and I have much admiration for all she does for the stamp collecting community. To read an interesting interview with Janet about her stamp collecting interests, click here. Enjoy and happing collecting! Janice

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The Blue Whale To Be Featured On Canadian Biggest Stamp In Size & Denomination ($10)

Great news for marine mammals topical stamp collectors! Canada Post will feature the largest animal of all time, the majestic blue whale on it’s $10 high value definitive stamp this coming fall as per the announcement made on the front page of the Canadian Stamp News magazine under the pen of Bret Evans: I did some research on the Internet but could not find a prototype of the new blue whale stamp! I would like to know the dimensions. Canada Post ‘s website … Continue reading →

Creative Stamp Collecting Projects – Stamp Montage Postcards

Just stumbled upon a video from Cherrylandpostcards.com showcasing postcards that have been mounted with older stamps in such a creative way that I could not resist to share it with you. Truly impressive! Click on the arrow to start the video: Wow, a beautiful labor of love! Don’t you think? (It gives me ideas…. ;-)) Talk soon! Janice Your Topical Stamp Collecting Queen

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Canada Post’s ‘Stamp Quest’ Quaterly Collector Packs Discontinued in 2010

In the July-September 2010 bilingual edition of Details magazine , Canada Post announced they discontinued the Quaterly Collector Packs as of June 1st-2010 ( Update: for Stamp Quest members only) The main benefit of this philatelic product is the peace of mind resulting from the fact that you know you are not missing out on any stamps being issued. We will miss these quaterly packages as they were also quite practical. (Update: Thanks to Doug’s comment, we now know that the … Continue reading →

Topical Stamp Collecting: Mailboxes from World Wide Countries & Canadian Anti-Graffiti Street Letter Post Boxes

Graffiti is an expensive and defacing form of vandalism and Canada Post hopes to eliminate this nuisance on their street letter mailboxes by introducing a new design so graphically bold, that it does not leave much space work for the creators of graffitis. Furthermore, a special coating on the re-designed mailboxes will make it easier to remove the graffitis as soon as they are reported. No notices, stickers or graffiti are to be placed on Canada Post equipement and a decal … Continue reading →

Scotland on Stamps: “The Vanguard” by Scottish Painter J.A. MacWhirter Adorns 1898 USA “Cattle In The Storm” Postage Stamp

Topical stamp collecting is such a thrilling and fascinating hobby! As an example, let me tell you what happened yesterday. Being a topical stamp collector of many subjects, but primarily of ‘Unicorns on Stamps’ and ‘Scotland on Stamps’, I performed the indian “rain dance” ! following my view of the video (see below) taped during the AM Northwest TV Show hosted by Helen Raptis and Dave Anderson. Why? Read on… The show was about stamp collecting and featured rare and valuable … Continue reading →

Shells on Postage Stamps bridges with Shell Collecting at the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum in Florida, USA

Shells on Stamps – A New Youth Stamp Collecting Study Program American Philatelic Society member Dan Pattison, retired educator/administrator is teaming up with Diane Thomas, educator and program specialist at the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum to design a new youth program to teach how to start a collection of shells on stamps. The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum is a nonprofit organization located on Sanibel Island, Florida totally devoted to the study of shells & mollusks. The museum is hoping that collectors of shells on … Continue reading →

The Nuclear Option – A Philatelic Catalog and Reference Book On Atomic Stamps

It took four years for Rev John Walden, a keen stamp collector since the age of eight and veteran of Britain’s atomic testing programme, to showcase his topical stamp collection on the subject of atoms, inside a heavy 560 pages illustrated book! At the age of 18, he was sent on assignment to Australia inside the RAF Balloon Unit Crew to suspend an atomic bomb beneath three balloons. “I manhandled the atomic bomb and did receive an overdose but so far I have … Continue reading →

Moya Greene: First Woman To Head Royal Mail!

Great Britain recently announced the appointment of Moya Greene to the position of Royal Mail’s CEO. Not only does it make her the first woman to occupy this position, but she is also the first person from “abroad” to become CEO of the company. Her former CEO position at Canada Post, taken up in May 2005 from her predecessor, André Ouellet, proved to be a very profitable venture for them, since she managed to keep the Crown’s corporation in constant profit generation, … Continue reading →

Traveling Through Time with Postal History and Postage Stamps

Ever wondered why stamps were invented? Watch this short animated video created by the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. It is a great introduction to postal history, which by definition “tells you the story of how mail has been handled, who has handled it, and why.” The history of postage stamps goes way back in time…. Postal history is a another example of how you can specialize your stamp collection to a particular subject inside the realm of philately. As mentioned on their … Continue reading →