Linn’s Washington correspondent Bill McAllister reveals one of Washington’s greatest secrets in the cover feature in the Jan. 18 issue of Linn’s. Specifically, McAllister presents a look inside the vault at the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

One of Washington’s secret stamp treasures lies not at the National Postal Museum nor at the headquarters of the United States Postal Service in L’Enfant Plaza.

A fixture for many years in New York politics, Al Smith became the Democratic candidate for president in 1928, but he lost to the incumbent, Herbert Hoover.

What should be expertized? For starters, any item that is being suggested as a possible new addition to the catalog should be expertized. Over the last few years, I’ve had two questions come up where the finder thought that a new listing might be in order. In each case, though, the item turned out to be a collectible variety, not a new listing, and the finder was disappointed.

The London-based Royal National Institute Blind People’s Christmas Stamp Appeal is encouraging folks to send in their stamps as part of an effort to raise money for the RNIB, which is "a leading source of information on sight loss and the issues affecting blind and partially sighted people," according to its website.

Nicholas Frederick Seebeck was born in Germany in 1857, and in common with many of his compatriots, he and his family moved to the United States in search of a better future. Nicholas Frederick was 9 when the family settled in New York City. Quite early on, he got involved in the printing business. He also began dealing in postage stamps for collectors. In 1876, he compiled and published a stamp catalog with the rather lengthy title Descriptive Price Catalogue of All Known Postage Stamps of the United States and Foreign Countries.

In an effort to improve user experience by limiting the number of emails we send our readers each day, Linn’s Stamp News is making a slight change to its free newsletter send schedule in 2016. Effective Jan. 1, our Auction House Planner, which currently goes out on Wednesday afternoons, will be sent out on Sunday morning.

Billy Mitchell fought in the Spanish-American War and in World War I, and became a leading proponent for the establishment of an independent United States Air Force.

Collecting stamps from Australia’s former British colonies can be an expensive proposition, particularly colonial stamps issued by New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria between the 1850s and 1880s. Nevertheless, each of the colonies has classic stamps that fall into the realm of “budget friendly,” and good examples are the lower denominations of the stamps marking the centenary of New South Wales, issued between 1888 and 1910.

This table will help you organize the many different varieties of the New South Wales Centenary stamps of 1888-1906.

Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United States, has been featured on several U.S. stamps. the first was issued in 1925, the year following his death.

Ghassan “Gus” Riachi announced in his Dec. 28 Middle East Stamps column the publication of his magnum opus: a work of 16 years titled The Sultanate of Nejd: A Philatelic Manual. After my careful perusal of this scholarly treatment from one of the preeminent students of Saudi Arabia philately, I think it safe to assume that it will be regarded as the primary reference work of the stamps and postal history of the Nejd period for many years to come.

During the 40 years of its life (1840-80), the Two-Penny Blue line-engraved Queen Victoria stamp was issued in 10 distinctly different versions. The Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue assigns numbers 2, 4, 10, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 29 and 30 to these 2d blue stamps. Several changes in design, two different perforation gauges, two distinct watermarks, white and blued paper, and combinations of these features determine the Scott number of each stamp.

Howdy Doody was the star of a television program named for him. The boy marionette and his friend Buffalo Bob Smith interacted with children in an entertaining program that ran for 13 years.

On April 5, 2013, the U.S. Postal Service issued a set of 10 nondenominated (46¢) Vintage Seed Packets forever stamps (Scott 4754-4763). The stamp designs feature garden flowers as they were depicted on vintage seed packets. The stamps were issued in double-sided booklets of 20 (Scott 4763b), with eight stamps on one side and 12 on the other. They are generally collected as a mint block of 10 (Scott 4763a).

Famous for his wide-ranging comedic style, Steve Allen was also an author, songwriter and musician. He was married to actress Jayne Meadows for 46 years.

A half dozen postal entities pictured stained glass windows on their 2015 Christmas stamps. In alphabetical order, they are Alderney, Brazil, Croatia, Guernsey, Jersey and New Zealand. Guernsey Post issues stamps for both Alderney and Guernsey. The seven stamps issued Nov. 6 for Alderney picture scenes from a stained glass window in St. Anne’s Church on the island. The 42-penny stamp shows Jesus blessing children, and the other stamps picture children from different parts of the world.

One of America's best known film stars, Humphrey Bogart, won an Academy Award for his role in the 1951 film The African Queen.

European-born Franz Waxman moved to the United States in the 1930s and became an important force in the film music industry, winning two Oscars for his work.

Great Britain’s Royal Mail is issuing eight stamps Jan. 7 reproducing photographs of Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. In 1914, Shackleton and his 28-man crew, including photographer James Francis “Frank” Hurley, set sail in Endurance on an expedition to cross the Antarctic continent. Although the expedition didn’t reach its goal, it is remembered as one of the greatest survival stories of all time. The story has been retold in books, films, television specials and in an exhibition organized by the American Museum of Natural History in 1999.