If you love British definitive stamps of the 1880s through the 1920s but can’t afford them in unused hinged condition or mint never hinged condition, you can find many of them affordably priced overprinted and surcharged for use in British post offices in the Ottoman Empire. Great Britain was one of several countries given permission to operate its own post offices within the Sublime Porte.

The fifth of 16 National Parks stamp designs being revealed this month by the United States Postal Service depicts a stunning photograph by Richard McGuire of the interior of Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.

Also this week, Linn's readers enjoyed posts about the auctioning off of a remarkable stamp collection at WSS-NY, and the reveal of the first National Parks stamp.

New York City native Yip Harburg was one of America's most famous lyricists; his popular standards include Over the Rainbow, and Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

In 1899, the U.S. military administration overprinted and surcharged U.S. definitive stamps for use in Cuba. We recently filled an order for the 2½-centavo-on-2¢ reddish-carmine George Washington stamp (Scott 223). The basic stamp used for the overprint and surcharge is the First Bureau issue type III (Scott 267). In examining 30 examples of the overprinted stamps, we found that all were on the type IV stamp (U.S. Scott 279B), which made them Cuba Scott 223A.

An April 11 postmark from Middlesboro, Ky., accomplishes the dual goal of honoring Cumberland National Historical Park, and celebrating the new 2016 quarter dollar that also commemorates the park. The quarter was launched that day with an 11 a.m. ceremony at the park’s visitor center.

Australia, Turkey, and Sweden all issued stamps depicting historic and modern bridges during the month of March.

A new report confirms what a lot of postal customers have been saying for months: mail service isn’t as good as it used to be. That’s the verdict that the Postal Regulatory Commission delivered March 28, declaring there has been “a recent dramatic decline of service performance” for single-piece letters and postcards, and that all forms of first-class mail had failed to be delivered as quickly as promised.

The April 19-21 Flagship auction by Daniel F. Kelleher Auctions of Danbury, Conn., will offer more than 2,300 lots of United States, British Empire and general worldwide stamps and postal history. The auction features U.S. fancy cancels, the William R. Weiss Jr. collection of New York foreign mail postal cards, a large selection of Canada including imperforates, classic Great Britain with complete booklets, plus Russia, Iceland and much more.

The Royal Mail honors the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death with stamps featuring a variety of classic quotes from his work.

With the current preponderance of election news every time the TV is turned on, it is not surprising that a great many entries in our March contest dealt with that subject. The stamp of the month was the 1928 2¢ red issue showing Gen. George Washington praying at Valley Forge.

The duck stamps of Canada welcome a new piece to the series, as Surf Scoters grace this newly released stamp.

Not just collectors of imperforate press sheets are scratching their heads at current changes in United States Postal Service practices. Some first-day cover collectors are perplexed, too. There was no pictorial black-and-white postmark for the new Sarah Vaughan stamp issued March 29.

From the forthcoming set of 16 stamps commemorating the National Parks centennial, a forever stamp for Bandelier National Monument features a painting by Helmuth Naumer Sr.

Canada Post revealed images of two stamps with a Star Trek theme. The two permanent-rate stamps show William Shatner as Captain Kirk, and the Starship Enterprise.

Damage to a roof at the American Philatelic Center in Bellefonte, Pa., caused a leak in the library area that harmed some library materials. Long-term damage, however, was minimized through the quick efforts of staff members and volunteers. The $2.6 million American Philatelic Research Library construction project caused the roof leak, which was discovered March 14 after a rainy weekend.

Renowned British poet William Wordsworth was a key figure in the founding of the Romantic movement of poetry. The stamp honoring him shows a scene from Britain's Lake District.

The Saudi Ministry of Post, Telephone and Telegraph built three new postal centers in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam, in accordance with modernizing its postal service, during the third Five-Year Development Plan (1981-1985). State-of-the-art for their time, they were equipped with mechanized sorting machines, private postal boxes, mosques, restaurants for the staff, and a training center.

In the U.S. Stamp Notes column in the Aug. 24, 2015, issue of Linn’s, I showed a 1912 advertising cover featuring a Flemish giant rabbit. An anonymous donor has sent in the perfect follow-up: a cover showing a spotted Poland China matron pig and the litter of 10 to which she gave birth on April 22, 1922. According to the label on the illustration, the piglets weighed in at a total of 2,040 pounds by Oct. 22, 1922.

Political polling is ubiquitous these days. Who is leading the pack among challengers in the presidential race and who is catching up to them? What issues are tops on the minds of voters?