Inside Linn’s: Counterfeit U.S. Priority Mail stamps

By Charles Snee

The July 3 digital-only issue of Linn’s Stamp News will be available to subscribers Saturday, June 17. While you wait for your issue to arrive, enjoy these three quick glimpses of exclusive content available only to subscribers. 

Counterfeit U.S. Priority Mail stamps

“During the past several years, the number of counterfeit United States stamps has grown exponentially with new examples being discovered with disturbing regularity,” writes Dollar-Sign Stamps columnist Charles Snee. Until quite recently, the bogus issues were confined to nondenominated forever definitive and commemorative stamps. As Snee explains, “In August 2021, counterfeit unused panes of four of the 2020 $26.35 Grand Island Ice Caves Priority Mail Express stamp (Scott 5430) and the 2021 $7.95 Castillo de San Marcos Priority Mail stamp (5554) were discovered.” And earlier this year, another startling discovery was made concerning fakes of high-denomination stamps. Read the entire column to learn more.

Entering Wikipedia’s philately portal

In Computers and Stamps, William F. Sharpe takes readers on a guided tour of Wikipedia’s comprehensive philately portal. “The idea of a portal is to help readers and/or editors navigate their way through different topics,” Sharpe writes. “Portals are useful entry points to Wikipedia content.” Using various screen shots of the portal, Sharpe offers tips for navigating around the portal and taking advantage of some of its features. According to Sharpe, one of the more desirable features “is that the site offers new articles for viewing whenever you visit.” Sharpe last wrote about the philately portal in March 2018; it has expanded greatly since then.

Word search puzzle: fruits and vegetables

Linn’s regularly publishes three games to entertain readers: Trickies, a word scramble puzzle by Joe Kennedy; a word search puzzle by D.E. Rubin; and Philatelic Lexicon, a crossword puzzle by David Saks. In this week’s word search, Rubin has hidden the names of 27 fruits and vegetables that appear on stamps from Japan. So, sharpen your pencil or uncap your pen and have fun locating the one word from the name of each fruit and vegetable tucked inside the puzzle grid.

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