Category: Research Opportunities

As the beginner collector matures from intermediate hobbyist to serious philatelist the desire to add to one’s collection and to verify and authenticate those additions becomes of greater importance. When collecting in areas of the hobby where forgeries and forgers are known to  abound these additions can challenge even the most knowledgeable philatelist. One of these areas of collecting that has seen a proliferation of forged issues is that of Germany and German States and Colonies.

Continue reading “Resource of the Month – GPS Reference Manual of Forgeries”

This month’s highlighted resource is a series of documents housed in the Government Documents section on the first floor of the public space of the American Philatelic Research Library. By way of introduction to these important international resources, in 1863 the United States Postmaster General Montgomery Blair organized a conference in Paris to discuss the state and future of international postal relations. Delegates from 15 European and American countries met and succeeded in establishing a number of general principles governing international postal relations and services. But the scope and necessary authority of their decisions remained limited and they were not able to come to a consensus regarding an overarching and binding set of international postal agreements.

Continue reading “Resource of the Month – Universal Postal Union Publications”

Abacus Auctions. Bernie Manning’s Queensland postal history, the “Tamiami” Colonies postal history & postmarks: April 7, 2019 (Glen Waverley, Victoria, Australia:  Abacus Auctions,  2019). [NS Manning, Bernie]

Afinsa Portugal. Especializado, Selos postais e marcas pre-adesivas Portugal, Acores, Madeira (Porto, Portugal:  Afinsa Portugal ; Instituto de Expertizacao de Filatelia Portuguesa (INEXFIP), 2011).  [G6690 .A1 A257s 2011]

Continue reading “New Resources at the APRL, March 2019”

As a librarian and bibliophile who has worked in a number of different libraries in the last 25 years, one of the things that has always been of keen interest to me in this profession is exploring the history of a particular subject through its literature. Philately, more so than many other hobbies, has a rich and extensive bibliographic history of notable publications, some of which even pre-date the formation of philatelic organizations such as the American Philatelic Society.

Continue reading “Resource of the Month – Amrhein’s Philatelic Literature”

Abacus Auctions. Abacus Auctions [auction house] (Glen Waverly, Victoria [Australia]: Abacus Auctions, [2018-2019]).[AUCTION Abacus]

Abacus Auctions. The Ginger Meggs scenic letter cards, Colin Riddell’s Cocos postal history, William Pate’s New Guinea postal history: March 3, 2019  (Glen Waverly, Victoria [Australia]:  Abacus Auctions, 2019).[NS Meggs, Ginger]

Continue reading “New Resources at the APRL, February 2019”

Aloni, Zvi. The Alexander collection, Milestones in the postal history of the Holy Land  (Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv ; The Alexander Museum of Postal History & Philately, 2008).  [IP70068]

American Philatelic Research Library. Manual of philatelic headings used by the American Philatelic Research Library  ([Bellefonte, Pennsylvania]:  American Philatelic Research Library,  [2018-]). [Online]

Continue reading “New Resources at the APRL, January 2019”

Bodin, Richard. Swedish armed forces’ & military volunteers’ postal history in wars and abroad: a display at the Royal Philatelic Society London (London, UK: Richard Bodin, 2015). [IP69958]

Criswell, Grover C. Criswell’s compendium 1987: being a compendium of historical items and covering paper money, old stocks and bonds, autographs, postal history, army-navy-marine items, slavery material, customs items, books-reference works, CSA coins, medals, seals, & papers (Ft. McCoy FL: Grover C. Criswell III, Criswell’s Publications, 1987). [IP69959]

Continue reading “New Resources at the APRL, December 2018”

As many collectors and experienced philatelists are well aware some of the more specialized stamp catalogues provide a greater level of detail when it comes to the stamps and other philatelic items for a specific country. Two of the most common and oft used here in the library are the Michel specialized catalogues of Germany and the Yvert-Tellier and Maury catalogues for France and French Colonies.

One of the lesser known specialized catalogues, but certainly not to the collectors of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland are the Facit specialized catalogues. Recently in answering a question regarding the specific engravers of a variety of Scandinavian issues, the Facit Frimararkskatalog Special 2015 catalog [G6910 .A1 F142s 2015] came in very handy in identifying the engravers for the requested issues.

Continue reading “Resource of the Month – Facit Specialized Scandinavian Catalog”

One of the recurring questions that we receive at the American Philatelic Research Library (APRL) on a regular basis are inquiries about historical postal rates. Often specialized country-specific catalogues can provide information regarding rates for a particular country (the Michel Specialized German Catalogue for historical German postal rates for example) but one the best resources for both domestic and international postal for the United States are a set of two books compiled by Henry Beecher and Anthony “Tony”  Warukiewicz titled “U.S. Postal Domestic Postal Rates, 1872-2011” [G3701 .P8575 B414ud 2001] and “U.S. Postal International Postal Rates, 1872-1996” [G3701 .P8575 B414ui 1996].

Continue reading “Resource of the Month – Beecher and Warukiewicz U.S. Postal Rate Set”