This is another Transport cover that I acquire from the recent Nutmeg auction. This cover to South America is franked with two 10-cent Transports C27, with 5/7/1945 duplex cancels tie with a 5-cent Prexie, addressed to Bogota, Columbia. It is returned to sender, censored, Universal Institute corner and 3 colorful backstamps. A very attractive postal history.

What is interesting about this cover was, the 25c rate to Colombia was by far the most brief usage during the 1941-1946 period to the South America continent according to the GH Davis Transport handbook. It would be quite a challenge to go out and look for an example of this. Do let me know if you find any!

In the last Nutmeg Stamp Sale 121 on June 20, 2006 I picked up a couple of nice WWII Transport covers. And I thought it will be nice to share it here. I like this particular cover on the left because of its many handstamps and definitely a well-traveled cover.

This cover is frank with two 10-cent Transports plane and 7 and 8 cent prexies, Registered Mail to Mexico with New York registry cancels addressed to Mexico City, Mexico. Noticeable tape marks and censored. This well-travelled cover originated in New York and went to Mexico City, El Paso, San Francisco and Reno before returning to NY. Altogether 18 backstamps and in very fine condition. I will share a few more of these purchase cover in the coming days. Hope you like them.

I got another post card from our beloved USPS again today about the flat rate priority mail. Something I thought you folks out there like to read, other than regular stamp stories. nothing special tonight just something to amuse y'all

It’s been almost a month since my last update. Life has been busy and challenging, yet I still find times for stamps. Not sure what to write about today but allow me attempt to show you the some tools I use to determine the market price for certain stamps.

I will be the first to admit that I love looking for bargains on Ebay. Once I find something I like and wonder if I may be paying to high for the stamps. I will then surf over to Linns Zillionstamps to check out what the dealers are asking for them. I know they are other stamp prices resources out there and I do use them. Actually I end going to a few of them as well.

Apart from collecting stamps some of you may know that I like covers as well. Postal History to be exact, I recently acquired a decent WWII transports 1943 cover from New York, USA to Tananarive, Madagascar. It has 2 postmarks behind this cover from the postal authority of Madagascar. This cover has 2 blue 30c transports stamp franked, paying 30c per ½ oz.

In my opinion a great cover with a tough destination and nice time frame of WWII period.

It has been a busy week and I am glad there were some quiet hours during this weekend to sit, relax and read a couple of books. I do a lot of reading both for business and leisure, maybe having the talent to speed-read helps a bit. One of the books I read today is “The Best of Herst’s Outburst”. For those in the philatelic world, the name Herman Herst will ring a bell – loud and clear, for he is a true philatelist that contributes a lot to the hobby.

I learn something about England Scott#33, from one of Pat Herman article in the book mentioned that I thought is interesting enough to share with my readers. Please find the article at the top of today entry.

Monday…how I dread going to work but surprisingly there are not much major issue at my workplace today. I guess a little blogging is in order.

I also decided to change the name of this blog from “another philatelic blog on the web” to Philately Crazy, because when I started this blog I did not know it would go this far. I have been pouring out my philatelic knowledge to it. It is almost like my philately online journal. Now it seem this blog is no longer just another blog, thanks to your support.

The first contest, where I ask the questions “Who can tell me the name of the three White Rajahs in Asia?” The first person who emails me with all three correct names will be the winner and received a Pan Am test covers. The winner is a fellow collector friend from England UK - Mervyn Thomas. The cover is already on its way to you last week.

The next contest for the cut squares, I am looking for 5 winners and so far I received 2 winners. Brian and Bob Ingraham, send me your address so that i can mail the cut square to you. So hurry up 3 more to go. Send in your answer to my email at localpcguy at gmail.com

There are actually two different dies for this cut square Die 11 and Die 12. Also if you are really into it, there are other varieties to look for such as, knife, sizes and watermark. Yup, this will drive amateur collectors like us up the wall.

I have been a member of the United Postal Stationery Society for the last 5 years. Its been worth every penny of the membership fee and more. I learned the ins and outs of US postal stationery, its so much fun looking for different dies, watermarked, knife, size and so much more. I highly recommend any collector to join this society.

I recently acquire some US possessions postal stationery (Canal Zone, Philippines and Hawaii). There is a duplicate set of 5 Canal Zone cut squares pictured above. The first 5 people that correctly identify these cut squares will receive a nice MNH copy. Send me your answer to localpcguy at gmail.com

Definition of Postal Stationery: Large-size postal paper, such as envelope or cardstock, with the stamp design impressed or printed directly on it.

Definition of Cut square: A neatly trimmed rectangular or square section from a stamped envelope that includes the imprinted postage stamp with ample margin.

Between 1999 and 2002 I worked in Hawaii. It was as everyone says it is - a paradise. However, I would not say the same thing about Linns and USPS. Somewhere in 2001, i decided to subscribe one year of Linns stamp news and have them delivered to my home every week. For some reasons, the delivery time was always delay and there were a couple of issues that i did not received at all.

So i decided to contact Linns to see if they can find out for me what is causing this delay. About two weeks later, Linns send me a letter apologizing for the delay and include those issues that mysteriously went undelivered. There was another letter attached to it, which comes from the United States Postal Service (USPS) to Linns Stamp News. It explain the process of how surface mail was delivered to the Hawaiian Island from the mainland. At that time Linns was sent via "printer matter" class and I assume it falls under surface mail delivery. The letter was interesting enough to me that i decided to post it above. Click on it for a bigger scans. I am interested to hear from you about the letter. Email me at localpcguy at gmail.com

I decided to show this cover due to the postage rates and amount of travel this cover went through. The stamp on the cover is Scott#831 paying a rare unpublished rate to Niger 50c tied by Muscatine Iowa Jun 28 1942 machine cancel. It is addressed to "Colonie du Niger Afrique Occidentale Francaise West Africa", censored at least twice, backstamps show routes including Stanleyville (not sure where this town is located) and Lagos (Nigeria). By far this is an interesting cover with the unpublished 50c rate by the Post Office Department. This cover has a rare rates and hard to find destination.

I got a post card from our beloved USPS 2 weeks ago, about creating public awareness on buying stamps online. Behind the card there is this cute comic strip that I thought is kinda interesting. Something that I thought you folks out there like to read, other than regular stamp stories. So for those busy people out there, here is where you go to order stamps and supplies

Since i am in the mood for Prexie cover, i will talk about one example that i like. This cover above is franked with Scott# 830, 831 and 833. IT is send via Airmail To China With $2 Prexy 30c and 50c all tied with New York NY Oct 31 1946 CDS on #10 envelope.

It is addressed to Shanghai China, paying 4 times of 70c Airmail rate. From my research Oct 31st, 1946 was the last day for this rate, this cover would have cost only $1 the next day. A very uncommon cover and postal history.

I found some info on a cover tonight and i thought i might do a short write up for it. The above cover is a combo usage of Prexie and Transports stamps. Since i collect them both, it will be a nice addition to my cover collection, too bad this cover does not belong to me.

This cover has a Scott#819, #831, C25 Air Mail To The Soviet Union 6c Transport tied by Washington DC Nov 23 1942 machine cnl on airmail cover. Since the addressee was a civilian, the cover was returned for an additional 64c w/ 14c and 50c prexies added.

Also, the cover was censored during wartime and the 70c rate is an unpublished rarity, routed through South America and Africa addr to Leland Stowe, Moscow Russia.

Stowe who is originally from CT, won a Pulitzer and was in Moscow reporting on The Russian front. He seem to have worked in Finland and Norway regarding war matters, no doubt Stowe was away at the front when this letter arrived and this cover was returned Jun 1 1943. Truly this is a cover with history and personality.

It is the weekend and I get to play with my stamps and covers...Hoohoo. Besides that, I need to plan some fun places to take my kids to, as next week is spring break. Anyway for tonight, I was pondering about what to write. The US Specialized group that I belong to is currently discussing about Prominent Americans covers and I thought I should dig through my boxes to see what I can find. I came up with four different commercially Prom. Americans cover. I did some research on them and came up with the rates the best I could. Too bad, this blog can only accommodate one photo per article. So I will try to choose the best one to display here and discuss about it.

The cover shown above has 2 different Prominent Americans stamps on it. They are numbered as Scott# 1281 and Scott #1294. This cover was sent on Feb 19, 1976 as insured parcel post of $1.28 for less than equal 2lbs to Zone 6. Insurance fee 60c for $150-200 indemnity and Special Handling fee of 25c for less than 2lbs. Total postage paid $2.13. I like this cover for the multiple services apply on it. Comments on this cover are welcome.

This week I have been looking at my Pan Am Test 1946 covers. Ok, some of you out there may not know what I am talking about. About 2 years ago, I was just as confused or curious as some of you out there, each time looking at a similar cover above. It was Roy Lingen’s article about these test covers in stamporama.com that got me interested and explained of what they are.

Basically, a short notice was given to the public by the US Post Office that mailers can send one envelope only to each of the 28 cities listed below here, on November 1st, 1946. Each envelope had to frank with the current airmail rate, which is 10 cents and addressed to "Pan American World Airways Airmail Test" to any of the 28 cities. The sender must also a return sender address at the top left corner of each envelope.

Upon arrival in each of the 28 cities, the Pan American office would immediately apply a dated handstamp and affix the country return postage and re-sendl the envelope back to sender through the regular airmail system.

The routes and cities participating were Miami to Kingston, Jamaica; Port au Prince, Haiti; Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic; St. Johns, Antigua; Pointe a Pitre, Guadeloupe; Fort de France, Martinique; St. Lucia, British West Indies; and Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Others were from Miami via Kingston to Curacao, Netherlands West Indies; Caracas, Venezuela; Georgetown, British Guiana; Paramaribo, Surinam; Cayenne, French Guiana; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Asuncion, Paraguay; Montevideo, Uruguay; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Santiago, Chile.

Others went from Miami to Panama City, Panama; Bogota, Colombia; Quito, Ecuador; Lima, Peru; and La Paz, Bolivia; or from Houston to Guatemala City, Guatemala; San Salvador, El Salvador; Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Managua, Nicaragua; and San Jose, Costa Rica.

There are uncommon examples from cities not included in the official speed test that were dutifully franked and returned to senders by Pan American Airways representatives anyway. I have two of these examples, one of them got send to Havana, Cuba and got return to its sender. I like to know if anyone else have any of these example?

Questions with prize: Who can tell me the name of the three White Rajahs in Asia?

The person who emails me with all three correct names, I will send one copy of this Pan American test covers of my choice to you. My email localpcguy at gmail.com

Ok tonight, this is going to be a short one. I went through my used/mint postal card collection to find one that I feel would give the collectors a fun time hunting for it. Ready, here we go. Look under the Scott catalog for UX 87 (Battle of Cowpens), the First Day issue for this card was on Jan 17, 1981. The post card rate changed from 10 cent to 12 cents on March 22, 1981. Therefore, this card was only correctly used for about 2 months. So go out there and dig through those cover boxes for them. For those that wants to get a copy from dealers, it should cost around $10. Happy Hunting!

I was debating what to write about for my actual first philatelic article and how I should approach it. I decided to write about a new area of collecting that I started about 5 years ago – US postal cards. Back in 2002, while searching for philatelic articles I came across James Majka’s postal stationery web page and decided to join the United States Postal Stationery Society. When I read the Linn’s stamp news, I always enjoyed the two articles on Stamp market tips and Tip of the week, it always gives me the knowledge and thrill to go look for those philatelic treasures mentioned. Therefore, I like to give that kind of hope and interest to my readers as as well.

This is where it all began, a whole new world of collecting mint/used stationery. However, tonight I want to share with you some of the knowledge I gained from this collecting area. The USPS about 30 years ago decided to increase the domestic postcard surface postage to 8-cents on March 2, 1974. About a little over a year later, the postal people decided to give us a break on the ever increasing postal rates, by reducing it by 1-cent. On September 14, 1975 the cost of sending a domestic postcard only cost 7-cents, but before you can say “what the heck, happen?” about less than 3 months, they decided to increased the postcard rate again to 9-cents on December 31,1975.

Therefore, with this short postal card rate, the scott# UX68 card was only used correctly about 2.5 months. This is probably the shortest-lived postal card rate and if pursue as a collecting area, it will open to a window of exciting chapter of modern postal history. So go on a treasure hunt for this properly used UX68 in dealer’s dollar box, antique stores, flea market and if you run out of luck, you can purchase a copy from any postal history dealer anywhere from $5-$10.

Here is my first attempt of sharing with the philatelic world on my collecting interest. i've been collecting since when i was 10, never a dull day looking at stamps, articles, covers or any material related to philately. At this moment, my collecting area is wide but kinda specific. ..for example i started collecting US postal stationery 4 years ago and boy it is exciting, i tell you..cut squares, knife wnk, sizes and different dies.

I also collect prexie (1938-1954), Transports (1941-1945), Liberty and Americana US stamps series postal history. So much to learn from every cover. FAM routes, solo usage, foreign destination rates, markings, crazy censored and many more.

I also enjoy reading blogs such as Allen Bohart (http://www.philatelictidbits.com/) and Michael (http://blog.michael.dodd.com/) each day at work. APS have a nice stamp talk radio at http://www.wsradio.com/internet-talk-radio.cfm/shows/APS-Stamp-Talk.html

Also when i have the time i would look for Brit. Comm. stamps for KGVI and QEII issues in mint or LH. A nice area to collect is Canal Zone. i've been started to collect their postal card and envelopes. I will try to post some interesting item in this blog which i thought could benefit audience on the net. We'll see how it goes.