Inside Linn’s: Frajola website focuses on postal history

By Charles Snee

The Aug. 3 issue of Linn’s Stamp News just landed on the presses and goes in the mail to subscribers Monday, July 20. And if you subscribe to Linn’s digital edition, you’re at the head of the line with early access Saturday, July 18. While you wait for your issue to arrive in your mailbox, enjoy these three brief reviews of exclusive content available only to subscribers. 

Website focuses on postal history but offers more

If you have a passion for United States postal history with an emphasis on the classic period, then you should definitely bookmark the philately website of Richard Frajola in your web browser. To get an idea of the site’s content and scope, be sure to read William F. Sharpe’s Computers and Stamps column in this week’s issue. Sharpe begins with a quick orientation of the home page and then launches into a discussion of the census site, which is called PhilaMercury. Sharpe notes that this useful database contains more than 26,000 “images of covers, which can be searched by different categories.” Other key links on the site will take you to Jean de Sperati forgeries, census studies, articles, and numerous exhibits and presentations.

Dollar-denominated stamps uncommon on postal stationery

“While perusing my postal history collection recently, I noticed something: United States dollar-sign stamps aren’t often found on postal stationery,” writes Charles Snee in Dollar-Sign Stamps. To make his point, Snee illustrates a trio of different postal stationery items franked with dollar-denominated stamps: a stamped envelope, a letter sheet for international mail use and a domestic postal card. Of the three covers Snee highlights, he draws particular attention to the postal card, which was sent using a seldom-seen service called recorded delivery. Of course the other two covers have desirable features as well. Snee’s overview is definitely worth the read.

Kitchen Table Philately: a $2 mixture contains pleasant surprises

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 VI returns to a dealer in Minnesota who offers 100 foreign stamps for $2. Rawolik selected a one-third sample to review and found a pleasing number of stamps to add to his collection. Among the surprises in the sample was a stamp from Canada valued at $7.50. Read the column to learn which stamp it is.

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