November brings a special joint issue of The American Philatelist, created in conjunction with the American Numismatic Association and the staff of their publication, The Numismatist. Read on for messages from both editors, and a special offer for APS members!
From APS Editor-in-Chief Susanna Mills:
How exciting to learn how the other half lives! This month, I had the pleasure of working with the American Numismatic Association in a long-overdue joint issue of The American Philatelist and The Numismatist. The Numismatist’s talented staff – editor-in-chief Caleb Noel, and editing team Darcie Graybill, Olivia McCommons, and Sydney Stewart – worked with our AP team to put together two journal issues that celebrate the interconnectivity of our hobbies, the joy of collecting (no matter what you collect), and the knowledge and resources that we can share.
As you’ll find in this joint issue between the ANA and APS, our similarities far outweigh the differences between our two hobbies. In fact, many of the authors in these pages already collect stamps and coins. Our two feature articles are written by stamp-and-coin collectors. Ken Bressett of the ANA, a numismatic powerhouse, writes “A Match Made in Heaven,” offering a look into the myriad links that bring our hobbies together. And Paul Holland, whom you know from past issues of The AP, gives us the lowdown on a niche connection between banknotes and stamps – Latvian stamps that were printed on the opposite side of banknotes due to post-WWI paper shortages.
In addition to these features, which will run in The Numismatist and The AP, we bid a warm welcome to five guest columnists from the ANA. This ANA takeover will give you a taste of The Numismatist’s regular content and with any luck will spark your interest in coin collecting and the related subfields of numismatics. Meanwhile, several of our own columnists are lending their knowledge to The Numismatist this month, and will return to our pages in December.
Finally, in an AP exclusive, Senior Editor Jeff Stage tackles topicals. Did you know that there are 1,850 stamps that depict coins and banknotes? Could be a topical collector’s mecca.
Once you’ve finished reading The American Philatelist, there’s more to read. The full November issue of The Numismatist is available for APS members to read, for free, here. And if once you’ve gotten a taste, you want more, you’re in luck – the ANA is offering APS members a 50 percent discount on a one-year ANA membership, with discount code ANAPS23. The offer expires on December 31 – get it while it’s hot!
On a personal note, I’ve had a lot of fun working with Caleb and his team to bring this idea to life. How often do you get a chance to walk the walk and talk the talk of such a similar hobby? I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
From ANA Editor-in-Chief Caleb Noel:
As the saying goes, “two heads are better than one,” and I couldn’t agree more! I’m delighted to be partnering with the American Philatelic Society (APS) on a joint issue. Working with APS feature authors, columnists, and editors this month has been eye opening and educational.
Our hobbies could be siblings, and you’ll see the “family resemblance” when you read some of our numismatic-themed columns, many of which have a philatelic twist. In “Tokens & Medals,” longtime columnist David Schenkman writes about Treasury Department medals. In “Budget-Minded,” Al Doyle shares some thrifty gift ideas for all kinds of collectors. “Getting Started” columnist Mitch Sanders provides some helpful hints for starting a numismatic collection. Benjamin Swagerty, who writes our “Paper Money” column four times per year, details his quest to get autographs from world-class athletes on banknotes that bear their likeness. And finally, in “U.S. Coins,” David McCarthy profiles five United States coins that non-numismatists should know about.
Thank you for the opportunity to share another kind of hobby in the pages of your magazine. I hope some of our content will inspire you to delve into a new collecting interest.
Also in this issue
As always, coins aren’t the only thing you’ll get in this issue. We hear from Daniel Telep, who last joined us in September 2019 to coin (oops – I mean, invent) the term “Re-Federalization,” for the period of postal history immediately after the Civil War. He returns now for an update – a cover bearing a Confederate States stamp long after its use was terminated, that somehow still was sent.
We also feature a “hidden treasure” (treasure, you say?) tale from Ladd Faszold, an extremely uncommon inverted surcharge unexpectedly discovered on an extremely common cacheted cover.
Check out Scott Tiffney’s column “APRL Notes” this issue to learn more about – oh no – a resource in our archives that’s equally relevant to stamp and coin collectors!?! Are there no safe havens in this issue from coin collecting?
Kidding aside, Scott Tiffney shares about the American Bank Note Company’s files in our archives. It’s an impressive resource with a lot of firsthand information about the printing of U.S. and worldwide stamps (and, clearly, the printing of banknotes).
Translators needed!
One of the APS’ services is offering translations for its members. Examples include postal markings on covers, philatelic articles, and notes or enclosures such as the text on the back of a postcard or an enclosed letter. Translations up to 250 words are generally free.
Volunteers who can translate based on images provided by email are especially needed for languages such as Chinese and Japanese and others that use non-Latin alphabets. If interested in assisting, please email APS Director of Expertizing Ken Martin at kpmartin@stamps.org.
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