Stamp Collecting Report

First day covers are a specialty for many collectors. They often include postmarks that are special for the occasion and use envelopes with some decoration on them, which are called cachets.

The Postal Service has announced a stamp in Frank Sinatra's honor. Any way you look at it, the chairman of the board, Old Blue Eyes, is back -- if he was ever away.

Although it wasn't announced last August with the rest of next year's stamps, a Frank Sinatra stamp was in the works all along, says the Postal Service's Dave Failor.

It's the time of the year when some untrue stories about the postal service get more play than they should, so let's see if we can drive a stake through their hearts.

If there's a stamp collector on your list, it's TOUGH to choose a hobby-related gift, something he or she wants and doesn't already have. But here are some not-too-expensive suggestions that should please nearly everyone.

The president is a stamp collector -- the president of France, Nicholas Sarkozy. In a recent letter to the French federation of stamp societies, he describes himself as someone "who has a passion for philately".

A not-so-funny thing happened recently: My stamps stopped selling on eBay and everywhere else.

You'd think getting the top job in the Postal Service would be a a dream come true for a stamp collector. Not so for Benjamin Bailar.

When Peter Mastrangelo was hired as executive director of the American Philatelic Society, that nation's major stamp collecting organization, it was for his management skills, not his stamp savvy.

Definitive stamps aren't flashy, but they're the workhorses of the postal service stamp drawer. They're usually smaller and around much longer than commemoratives.

What pictures come to mind when you think of Minnesota? The Mississippi River? A bridge into Wisconsin? Well, that's what will be on next year's Minnesota Statehood stamp. Islands in the Mississippi at sunset, and the bridge at Winona.

Strong is Yoda in the Force ... and with mailers and stamp collectors. When the fifteen Star Wars stamps were issued last spring, an online poll chose Yoda to be the subject for a stand-alone stamp.

It happens all the time: Someone finds or inherits a stamp collection, comes up with an inflated idea of its value and suffers a severe letdown.

When someone famous and well-respected dies, the question inevitably arises, "Why have ANY waiting period?"

While part of the Postal Service loves collectors and the stamps we buy, it seems as if other parts hate us.

Iran issued a stamp commemorating "Peaceful Nuclear Energy." Is the stamp propaganda? Of course it is. But then, aren't most stamps?

The 2008 U.S. stamp program is announced: Lunar New Year, flags, Bette Davis and more...

Most stamp collectors have several collections or specialties. When they get stuck in one, the concentrate on another for awhile.

The four Disney Magic stamps issued recently show the title characters -- and their friends -- from Aladdin, Peter Pan, and Dumbo, as well as Mickey Mouse.

Actor Jimmy Stewart is the subject of this year's Legends of Hollywood stamp, and he really WAS "easy to love".

The Postal Service is about to tell us most of the stamps it will issue in 2008, but it's fun to try to guess the subjects beforehand.

It used to be that the only subject certain to be on stamps at your post office was the flag. Not any more.

Last year it was the D.C. Comic Book Heroes on stamps. This year it's the heroes of Marvel Comics.

Next month, I'll be attending a stamp show on the West Coast one weekend, then on the East Coast the following weekend. We figure there are about two dozen of us intrepid collectors making the trek.

It's been about three months since the first U-S Forever stamp was issued -- the stamp you can use, well, forever, to pay to mail a first-class letter, no matter how high postal rates go.

Most stamp collectors start out collecting everything -- every stamp they find from every country. And once upon a time, that was the way most stamp collectors KEPT collecting.

Some of the year's best stamp designs are coming to your post office in the next month or so ...

In early August, The U-S Postal Service will tell us most of the stamps they have planned next year. Britain and Canada already have. The key phrase is "most of." ...

While the U.S. is issuing stamps on subjects like history, literature and pop culture, so are other countries. But the differences are fascinating.

Some of the fifteen stamps on the Star Wars sheet are hard to peel off, and we may never see many on regular mail. But they're not really intended for either STAMP collectors OR mailers, are they?

Star Wars was honored with stamps by the U-S, The Lord of the Rings films by New Zealand, so it's not really that surprising that Britain is issuing Harry Potter stamps this summer.

What's a PEX? It's an acronym for "Philatelic Exhibition." But that word "Philatelic" doesn't mean much to non-collectors, either.

Nine stamps from Austria depict the story of The Sound of Music.

Several major annual regional stamp shows skipped a year for Washington 2006. This year, they're back...

A recent set of stamps from Britain was supposed to celebrate the glories of England. Instead, the British postal system has a bit of coddled egg on its face.

There's some confusion at local post offices about the new Forever stamp, which is already on sale.

Is there too much commercialism and pop culture on commemorative U.S. stamps? Then collect the DEFINITIVES!

Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts, talks about her stamp collection at the recent Henry Wadsworth Longfellow stamp ceremony.

Here's some of the things that have happenned in the ten years since we started these radio features.

If you thought the Hershey's Kisses 100th anniversary stamp earlier this year was too commercial, here's one better: the 30th anniversary of Star Wars.

This year marks the centennial of the Boy Scouts - founded by Robert Baden-Powell in 1907.

The latest stamps from France celebrate the Harry Potter series of books and movies.

There's now a club called the Mourning Stamps and Cover Club.

What's that saying about an offer too good to be true?

It's pretty hard to find Abraham Lincoln on a U.S. stamp today.

The Postal Service has requested approval to create a Forever Stamp.

Where can you buy and sell stamps online?

The dominoes keep falling since a police raid on a stamp dealer in Spain.

Some object to the topic of some U.S. stamps.

Ever play that game Six Degrees of Separation?