Inside Linn’s: Space cover dealers and do-it-yourself cover servicing

By Charles Snee

The March 29 issue of Linn’s Stamp News just landed on the presses and goes in the mail to subscribers Monday, March 15. And if you subscribe to Linn’s digital edition, you’re at the head of the line with early access Saturday, March 13. While you wait for your issue to arrive in your mailbox, enjoy these three quick glimpses of exclusive content available only to subscribers.

Space cover dealers and do-it-yourself cover servicing

It can be a challenge at times to find material for one’s collection. Charles J. Vukotich Jr., in Exploring Astrophilately, recaps the two primary ways to obtain astrophilatelic material: from space cover dealers or via cover servicing that you accomplish yourself. “Dealers have relevant covers and stamps for sale. If you want to collect worldwide space stamps you will find dealers very helpful,” Vukotich explains. But there’s much fun to be had by creating covers yourself, and Vukotich fills his column with helpful suggestions that will get you going in the right direction. First of all, don’t ignore the U.S. Postal Service. Vukotich reminds readers that covers “can be mailed directly to a post office at the launch area and be postmarked for a launch or other space event.” He also alerts readers to the helpful guidelines for requesting postmarks that are available on the Linns.com website. Numerous other pointers, from the best stamps to use on your covers to creating cachets on a computer, are also provided. If you have never tried creating your own space cover, be sure to bookmark this column for future reference.

Tip of the Week: U.S. 1871 7¢ Edwin M. Stanton stamp

Stamp Market Tips columnists Henry Gitner and Rick Miller advise readers to keep an eye out for the National Bank Note Co. printing of the United States 1871 7¢ definitive picturing Edwin M. Stanton, the secretary of war during the administration of President Abraham Lincoln. “This is a stamp that many collectors still need,” write Gitner and Miller. “While it might be too expensive for many collectors in original gum condition, a good alternative is a nicely centered stamp in unused, without gum condition.” They remind readers to “be leery of defects and perforations” when looking at examples of this stamp.

Kitchen Table Philately: worldwide stamps from 1875 to 2006

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 finds an attractive array of stamps from 35 stamp-issuing entities in a one-half sample from a $10 worldwide mixture offered by a dealer from Oklahoma. The years of issue in the sample ranged from 1875 to 2006, with the oldest stamp coming from Germany and the most recent from the Falkland Islands. Illustrated with the column is a 1965 commemorative picturing Winston Churchill. The sample had a Scott catalog value of somewhat more than $70. Roughly 28 percent of the stamps were valued at the Scott minimum of 25¢. A 1975 airmail semipostal souvenir sheet from Burundi was the highest valued item in the sample. You’ll have to read the column to learn the sheet’s value and the subject of the six stamps in the sheet.

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