In the previous column in this series on expertization (Linn’s July monthly), we looked at examples of when expertizing is needed. There were three takeaways from that column: Expertizing is needed when a cover seems to be too good to be true, when an unlisted error is “discovered” for an old stamp, and when that stamp issue has a history of being subjected to a lot of fakery.

Quite a few beer stamps have been issued by countries around the world, especially those countries noted for brewing. In 1983, Germany issued an 80-pfennig stamp (Scott 1396) to commemorate the 450th anniversary of its brewing purity laws. The design shows brewers from a 1677 engraving.

New Scott catalog numbers have been assigned to recent issues from the United Nations. The most recent United States federal duck stamps also received Scott numbers.

Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaperman Ernie Pyle kept America informed during World War II with his reports from the front lines. Pyle was honored on a U.S. definitive stamp in 1971.

Even if you don’t collect Europa as a topic, you may want to take a look at these stamps for the many other topics found on them. Starting in 1974, each participating country selected its own Europa stamp designs based on a common theme for the year, including famous people, the arts, history, local landmarks and much more. The theme for 2015 is old toys, and, as with the Europa topic, you can find many more topics other than toys in the designs.

A prominent author whose groundbreaking novel Go Tell it on the Mountain was published in 1953, James Baldwin was born in Harlem on Aug. 2, 1924.

It didn’t take long for the doom-and-gloomers to weigh in with their prognostications following the July 24 announcement from the American Philatelic Society that it hired former political aide Scott English to be the next executive director of the nation’s largest stamp club.

The Sept. 18 first-day ceremony for the Paul Newman commemorative forever stamp will take place at 10:30 a.m. in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Harmer-Schau auction at the American Philatelic Society Stampshow in Grand Rapids, Mich., offers a broad array of United States and worldwide stamps and covers, as well as collections that highlight selected material from a number of specialist collectors. The auction is taking place in three sessions on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Aug. 20-22.

The national anthem of the United States, The Star-Spangled Banner, was composed by Francis Scott Key while detained on a British vessel during the 1814 attack on Fort McHenry.

Vol. 5 of the 2016 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue yields more than 7,000 value changes among the listings for the countries of the world, N-Samoa. Countries that garnered significant attention from the editors this year include Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Romania and Russia.

On July 1, 1847, the United States Post Office Department issued its first postage stamps: a 5¢ and a 10¢ stamp. Before that time and for many years thereafter, written communications between individuals were sent without stamps. These are called stampless covers, and either were carried privately by individuals, express companies and carriers, steamboats and ships, or by the post office.

Over time, some nations have instituted mandatory taxes on letters and packages. The amount of the tax has been small, but considering the volume of mail within the nations that collect postal taxes, the result could be a tidy sum. The taxes on mail were often (but not always) paid through the purchase of a postal tax stamp, which was required to be affixed to the letter or parcel being mailed.

In the summer and fall of 1941, the United States Army Air Corps Ferrying Command (ACFC) inaugurated two air transport routes across the Atlantic Ocean that carried mail. The previously established Foreign Air Mail route No. 18 (FAM 18) commercial trans-Atlantic service operated by Pan American Airways between New York City and points in Europe employed Boeing B-314 flying boats called Clippers, with luxurious accommodations for passengers. ACFC flew austere land-based aircraft — Consolidated B-24 Liberator long-range bombers that had been refitted as transport planes.

Also this week, a town fights the U.S. Postal Service over a stamplike mosaic design at its local post office, and a stamp collector's interest in the hobby is "reawakened by eBay."

A prominent leader in the American civil rights movement, Whitney Moore Young Jr. was born in Lincoln Ridge, Ky., and became the executive director of the National Urban League in 1961.

Liberia’s battles with Ebola virus disease have claimed worldwide media attention since early 2014. It may seem frivolous to focus on the unfortunate country’s stamps, but the EVD epidemic seems to have abated, and you might find yourself curious about this remote country and its philatelic history.

In the Editor’s Insights columns in the July 20 Linn’s Stamp News monthly and the Aug. 10 weekly Linn’s, I mentioned Linn’s Editorial Advisory Board without giving too much detail. Linn’s goal is to engage its audience both in print and online and to grow this audience. The role of the newly formed Linn’s Editorial Advisory Board is to assist us achieving these goals by keeping us focused on the needs of our audience and helping us adapt to today’s market.

The American Philatelic Society will present Stampshow, the nation’s largest annual postage stamp event, Thursday, Aug. 20, through Sunday, Aug. 23, in Grand Rapids, Mich. at the DeVos Place Convention Center, 303 Monroe Ave. NW. The show will offer a bourse of more than 120 dealers, many meetings and seminars, and more than 15,000 pages of collectors’ exhibits.

If you’re hoping to fill that empty album space for United States Scott 594, you now have a decision to make: unused, or used? The Aug. 22-23 Regency-Superior auction at the upcoming 2015 American Philatelic Society Stampshow in Grand Rapids, Mich., offers one example in each condition of the scarce 1923 1¢ green perf 11 Benjamin Franklin stamp created from coil waste.