Inside Linn’s: Dollar-sign trio on RBG Priority Mail first-day cover

By Charles Snee

The Nov. 13 issue of Linn’s Stamp News just landed on the presses and goes in the mail to subscribers Monday, Oct. 30. And if you subscribe to Linn’s digital edition, you’re at the head of the line with early access Saturday, Oct. 28. While you wait for your issue to arrive in your mailbox, enjoy these three quick glimpses of exclusive content available only to subscribers. 

Dollar-sign trio on RBG Priority Mail first-day cover

A last-minute conflict prevented Dollar-Sign Stamps columnist Charles Snee from attending the Oct. 2 first-day ceremony for the Ruth Bader Ginsburg stamp in Washington, D.C. So, he reached out to Linn’s Washington correspondent Allen Abel for an assist with a philatelic request. “Following the success Abel had in sending me a Priority Mail first-day cover for the John Lewis stamp (Dollar-Sign Stamps, Sept. 4 Linn’s), I asked if he would try a repeat for the Ruth Bader Ginsburg stamp,” Snee writes. The result of their collaboration is illustrated here.

A casket heralds new thinking about death

In The Odd Lot, Wayne Youngblood showcases an 1883 advertising cover for Hackett & Smith of Louisville, Ky., manufacturers of what they called an “improved self-sealing imperial metallic casket,” which forms the background of the ornate red corner card (return address). “The detailed image of the red casket is not immediately obvious to the viewer, but it becomes quite clear under any form of scrutiny,” Youngblood explains. He also pictures a second advertising cover featuring the corner card of the Mound Coffin Co. in St. Louis that takes a more subtle approach to the subject of death.

Kitchen Table Philately: 68 stamps from 32 countries

In each weekly issue of Linn’s, either E. Rawolik VI or E. Rawolik VII dissects the contents of a stamp mixture offered to collectors. E. Rawolik is a pseudonym that is also the word “kiloware” (a stamp mixture) spelled backward. This week, E. Rawolik VII breaks down a mixture of 68 stamps from 32 countries. The ad promised more than $60 in catalog value, and Rawolik received stamps valued at $71.35. The years of issue spanned 140 years, from 1870 to 2010. The oldest and most recent stamps were from Netherlands Indies and Croatia, respectively. Enjoy the full review in this issue.

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