The American Philatelist
Table of Contents
Sales Talk
Show Time
Author Guidelines
Display Ads
Classified Ads
 
image
Complaints
Donation Program
Estate Advice
Expertizing
Insurance
Member Services
Sales Division
Transaction Service
Marketplace
 Quick I.D

This column is updated/published monthly in The American Philatelist
Updated for July 2008


Learn More, Do More, Enjoy More
Through the APS!

Even though many of us will be vacationing this month, new U.S. stamps will continue to appear. The Celebrate stamp will be reissued in a 42-cent version; there will be a new printing of the 10-cent American Clock coil, five 42-cent stamps honoring vintage Black cinema, and a 42-cent stamp celebrating the centennial of the song “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”
July is the slowest month of the year for shows — the only WSP show being the Minnesota Stamp Expo in mid month. Fortunately, there are some local shows and bourses as well, so you won’t have to suffer withdrawal symptoms before StampShow next month in Hartford!

Let Your Stamps Breathe
An article in the May issue of the German Postal Specialist (the journal of the Germany Philatelic Society) brought my attention to the damage that old PVC stamp mounts and sheet covers seem to have caused to classic German stamps. Apparently, lead salts in the PVC stabilizer interacted with sulphur in the inks of some stamps, causing a dark lead-sulphide discoloration. This seems to have been a problem particularly where the stamps have not been allowed to breathe. More recent PVC films and Mylar films have not shown this problem and are currently judged to be safe. I am now going through my collection replacing old mounts with new and replacing yellowing (another sign of chemical decay) glassines with fresh ones. So, before you store your stamps away for the summer, let your stamps breathe with new mounts and glassines.

Board Meeting
Our Board of Directors met in Bellefonte in May. The major decision that was taken was to approve a set of rules for the conduct of APS elections. After the 2007 election it was decided to take a thorough look at our rules and procedures and produce a revised set of rules. A special committee was formed and, after a lot of discussion and consideration, including observations from members, a document was produced that was then approved by our Board: Report of the Election Policies and Guidelines Committee. The specific policies approved by the Board were aimed at ensuring that our future elections are fairly conducted, while at the same time preserving a candidate’s ability to campaign as he or she feels appropriate, but guided by our rules of conduct. Both can be found online at www.stamps.org/Almanac/alm_ElectionPolicy.htm and www.stamps.org/Almanac/Election_Policy_Report08.pdf. You may request copies of each by calling 814-933-3803.

The Board also, at that meeting, began to work on an update to our Strategic Plan. I will have more on this in the coming months.

Membership
Our membership has been steadily declining for more than a decade, and this year is no exception. There have been more resignations than normal this year, fueled in part, no doubt, by our difficult but necessary decision to raise dues. Our challenge remains attracting new members. It is no longer satisfactory for us to sit back and let collectors find and join us. We, each and every one of us, need to be proactively recruiting. The Society is doing its part by making our products and services better known and more attractive, and we are expanding our web services and presence every month. We also are making available to members materials that can be used for each of us to recruit. But, the most important factor is YOU. The selling point in recruiting is your enthusiasm and obvious joy in being a stamp collector. If you approach a potential member with this joy, recruitment will be easy!

E-Mail Newsletter
I hope you are enjoying our monthly e-mail newsletter. We want you to know what is happening at the APS, and in the hobby, on a timely basis. The purpose is to enhance and accelerate our communications with our members. We understand, however, that some of our members did not receive the first newsletter. If you didn’t get one and want to receive our newsletter, let us have your current e-mail address. For our members who don’t have a computer, but use one at their local library, our newsletter can be found by going to our website at www.stamps.org/ and clicking on the link “APS Special E-Delivery.”

A New Collector
I can’t resist a personal story. My name-sake grandson is now seven. A couple of years ago I watched him collecting rocks — so I figured the “collecting gene” must be there. Last year I gave him a bunch of coins, but he was not interested. Several months ago he visited with his family, and I asked him if he wanted to see my stamps. We sat down and I pulled out a loose-leaf book in which I keep U.S. new issues since 2000, arranged on pages in page protectors. We leafed slowly through the book, as I explained what the issues were, and his attention was clearly caught first by the “Nature of America” sheets and then by the “Star Wars” sheet.

The next day I went to my local stamp shop (yes, there is one in Bethesda!) and bought the nine Nature sheets and the Star Wars and put them in page protectors. I made up a loose-leaf note book, put his name on the front, and put some stock sheets at the back. That evening we went through a book of duplicates and then a bag of stamps waiting to be soaked — he eagerly took many and put them on the stock sheets. He was especially entranced by the few used singles that had come from the sheets.

I sent him home with a beginner’s book on stamp collecting, and he avidly read the part about soaking. He called me the next day to announce proudly that he had soaked off the used stamps and had arranged them on the stock sheets. A new collector was “born.” Now, this is only the first step. I expect to spend a lot more time with him over the next couple of years mentoring. While this is perhaps an easy example, patient mentoring is key to creating the collectors of the future.

Finally, make your plans to attend StampShow in Hartford (August 14–17). And, check out the American Philatelist reprints on our website (www.stamps.org/
Services/ser_ArchivedArticles.htm). The featured article this month is “America’s First Gold Rush” by Tony L. Crumbley.

And above everything else, enjoy our hobby, tell others about it, and share the JOY OF PHILATELY!

 


Contact Information available for the APS Staff
APS Webmaster - Doris Wilson
Technical Contact - Brian Krasinski
© 1999, American Philatelic Society All Rights Reserved
Read our Terms of Use