Used for thousands of year to keep floors clean, brooms have been featured in folklore, in fiction, in art and on postage stamps showing witches, snowmen, the sport of curling and more.

The world’s first semipostal stamps, with a surcharge (beyond the cost of postage) that was designated for a charitable purpose, were issued in New South Wales and Victoria in 1897. Romania, however, was not too far behind, becoming the first European country to issue semipostals, in 1906.

Souvenir sheets issued by the Philippines April 27, 1984, to commemorate the Espana 84 international exhibition in Spain were overprinted in black and in red.

For the third time in recent years, Poland has won the St. Gabriel award for the best religious stamp. The award went to a souvenir sheet issued by Poland April 2, 2014, to celebrate the canonization of Pope John Paul II (Scott 4114).

New definitive stamps from Pitcairn Islands feature stamp-on-stamp designs of its first postage stamps. Pitcairn’s stamps debuted Oct. 15, 1940, and the new definitives were issued exactly 75 years later.

In the midst of releasing a variety of Star Wars stamps, Royal Mail has provided some behind-the-scenes videos that show how the exciting stamps were produced.

There is good demand for many Soviet issues of the 1930s and 1940s. Stamps in mint never-hinged condition are especially in demand. One set showing good demand is the 1933 Leningrad Philatelic Exhibition overprints (Scott 487-488).

In the last dozen years, the British North America Philatelic Society has published 150 titles, most of them in color, almost all of them available to members at an appealing 40 percent discount. I know of no other philatelic society that comes close to that impressive achievement.

I recently received three large boxes of stamps. These stamps had been donated to a local charity that didn’t quite know what to do with them and passed them on to me for review and eventual disposition to a suitable organization.

Pillar boxes — the red, cast-iron mail receptacles on the streets and roadways of the United Kingdom — are as iconic to England as Big Ben and red double-decker buses. Pillar boxes were introduced to the British Isles in 1852. Their inspiration came from Europe.

A good set to look for is India’s first airmail set (Scott C1-6) issued in 1929-30. The stamp design features an inset portrait of King George V, while the vignette depicts a DeHavilland Hercules biplane flying the mail above a lake with mountains in the background.

There is strong demand for all Morocco local post stamps. Many of the stamps are quite colorful and feature exotic beasts such as camels and lions in the designs.

Dictator is defined as a ruler with total power over a country. We owe this term to the ancient Romans. In the Roman Republic (509-27 B.C.), a dictator was an extraordinary magistrate appointed by the senate in times of emergency.

Collecting Canada columnist Fred Baumann traces the early history of cancellations on Canada stamps, from the simple target cancels to the more descriptive numeral cancels, some of which are quite scarce today.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese forces bombed American military installations at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in a surprise attack that suddenly thrust the United States into World War II. Letters that were in transit across the Pacific Ocean are tangible mementos of that fateful event.

The earliest letter from Bermuda in private hands, written May 22, 1617, has just resurfaced after 45 years. It has never before been in philatelic hands.

The United Nations Postal Administration issued 15 stamps Oct. 23 to commemorate its 70th anniversary and to showcase the recently renovated U.N. headquarters in New York City.

Canada’s 2015 Christmas stamps will feature three animals and a Madonna and Child painting.

Stamps aren't just made from paper anymore. Recently issued stamps from New Zealand and Austria incorporate fabric, leather and crystals in their designs.

"One of the most iconic of British stamps, the Queen Victoria £5 orange, formed the basis of the display and presentation by Dr John Horsey to The Royal Philatelic Society London on 1 October," reported the RPSL in a recent press release.