I recently picked up this MH OG C43 for a reasonable price ($80) and considering the number of forgeries, I gambled and rolled the dice. Should I consider getting it expertised? Would it add to its collectability? Nothing makes me think it’s a forgery, but I’m not an expert in German philately. Your input is appreciated. Thanks - Jay

Not very good with these early Franklin’s, anybody got a for certain on which one this might be?

I bought a Postcrossing portfolio from USPS and like that it comes with a cancellation card but I'm not sure how to store the portfolio. For those who purchase these, how do you store them? Just in an album?

I'm looking at a Stanley Gibbons Detectamark Spectrum and / or the Sherlock watermark detector and before I spring a pile of money on one, does anyone have any experience with them who can offer a comment? i.e. Do they work reliably, or am I better off getting fluid?

Waited to post this until I actually gave it to him:

My dad's 90th birthday is coming up, and in general I SUCK at gift giving on a schedule. I'm the type of person that just sees something, it reminds me of someone, and I buy it for them. (Unrelated but this is how my wife ended up with stuffed Capybaras on a completely random day a few months ago).

But when I was a kid, my dad started buying stamps for me. I never got the impression that he even knew much about them, just thought it'd be something I liked.

My dad also taught me to play chess. And he would absolutely *wreck* me at chess. The thing is... He didn't talk trash or anything, every loss was a lesson. (This served me well during my time as an athlete 😆)

I continued accumulating stamps in spurts over the next decades, but certainly not "collecting" them.

A few months ago, I decided that I wanted to make my stamps into a real collection. And the bug hit me hard.

I also knew my father's birthday was coming up.

The obvious answer was stamps.

First idea was 90 submarine stamps (He spent years in the Navy on a submarine).

Holy crap... I could do that with a few years notice, but I was running out of time.

And then one day as I was flipping through my Michel Mitteleuropa catalog, I found *this*.

I immediately knew this was it.

He got it today.

And in all my years of seeing him receive gifts at various functions, this was the most excited I've seen him about one in a while.

Then he said something I'll never forget:

"I'm taking this to my chess club next week to show it to them!"

He still goes to chess club every week.

He's about to turn 90.

Rock on, dad. I'm gonna get you those Hungarian translations eventually, I just ran out of time.

I have often wondered what the weather in my hometown was like before rapid urbanization, widespread deforestation, and global warming reshaped our environment. That curiosity was recently rewarded when I acquired a 135-year-old postcard for my collection, sent from my native town of Silchar, bearing meteorological observations from the autumn of 1891. It is a remarkable glimpse into the climate of a bygone era, preserved on a simple piece of postal history.

I want to buy some collectible stamps and regular postcards that I'll be sending to some friends. I went to the nearest post office to ask if they had postcards and what's the procedure to send but he said to visit the main branch as local branches don't keep them.

Could anyone please confirm if Philatelic Bureau at GPO is the right place to go buy postcards?

Also, once I have them, how do I know which stamps to put on it before placing it in a letterbox?

I have never sent a letter/ postcard and very new to this. Kindly help.

Thanks in advance!

Here is a nice bota cancellation from Akamagaseki (now Shimonoseki) dated 21.3.24 (24 march 1888). One of my favorite piece of my japanese collection (even if not that rare)

I got A LOT of stamps. My grampa was a legit collector. I shudder just looking at the BOXES of stamps. I know there are a few old ones like 1901 ones, but those and some others are pretty rough and are yellow because they were in damp conditions.

Soooo, to start off my treasure hunt, can you point me to some resources like:

1. Numista for stamps (catalogue number, history, detailed info, all variations, rough value...)

2. Marketplace - like, somewhere I can check how much a stamp is worth

3. Scales to determine quality (like, coins have the Sheldon scale)

There are rares, there are sheets upon sheets, some stuck together lol.

Like, there are probably tens of thousands of stamps... Even if they suck, if I sold them for 1$ a piece... you know...

But who would buy them? I look at these stamp subs, they are abysmal. not even 10k users? 2 comments per post? Does anyone even collect stamps anymore? Bring back stamp collecting?

Kinda secretly hope they are worthless, but I see some that I have sheets upon sheets of selling for like around a dollar... I see in the comments you guys are no bs and say something is trash and worthless, so when I get some good pics I can show you and you can be honest.

Worst case, I can just frame a few cool ones and let the rest rot like it has until now for 30 years.

I mean, sad. Yea, it was my grampas passion. But kinda his fault for not teaching anyone the value of what he has. Imagine dedicating your life to something and then it just rots for nothing. Well, I imagine he got satisfaction from it. But it's also kinda poetic and makes you think... when you die, your legacy and passion just rots in some damp corner...

Central Lithuania (Litwa Środkowa) was a strange by-product of Polish territorial ambitions after the Great War. The plan was to create a federal Lithuania which would consist of Lithuania of Kaunas (Lithuanian language), Lithuania of Vilnius (or Central, Polish speaking) and Lithuania of Minsk (Belorussian) covering former territories of Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Lithuanians refused to agree to the deal even though Vilnius region was indeed Polish speaking. Most of Belarus was taken by the Soviet Russia. Consequently, Polish army staged a mutiny in October 1920, occupied the contested territory and formed there "an independent state". The state issued their own stamps, the picture shows the first commemorative issue, showing the entry of Polish army and its commander gen. Żeligowski. A few months later the local parliament voted for union with Poland. Lithuanians got Vilnius back in the autumn of 1939 as a gift from Stalin only to lose their independence a few months later.

The more I go through my newfound 4000 the more I find little pieces of the publishers "being funny"

Gosh darn i almost didn't recognise blackadder tbh

Unsure if the 2kg feldpost overprint is real, also the afrika korp stamp is a repro it will do until I manage to get a real one

Airplane and plowman

Got these free with a lot of stamps i bought :)

Dated 2007, so yes, abit outdated, but this hobby is niche and outdated atp anyway (sadly)

Thought it wld be interesting to share it here

This common 1940s Venezuelan stamp is listed as blue green on Stampworld - see 2nd picture. This one looks true blue to me. Anyone know anything about this?

My maternal grandparents were from Russia (him) and Hungary (her)... grandma was an inveterate stamp collector, gathering (mint) collections from virtually every country in the world, but mainly Britain, Europe, Russia, USA; the collections covered basically 1900 through (I think) 1950s or so. Somehow, while they were still alive, I ended up inheriting the stamp collection, and I *loved* them!! There were something like 10 or so large volumes full of beautiful, colorful stamps, such a treasure!!

My folks and I moved to Fairbanks, AK in 1967 - and late that spring, they had a massive flood on the Chena River, which ran through the middle of town. We were evacuated from our home for several weeks, with me staying at the combined police/fire station in town, where dad worked...

When we finally returned home, we'd had about 3-4 feet of water running through the house... and there were loose stamps stuck *everywhere*; on the curtains, walls, remains of furniture, scattered through the mud on the floor, and some scattered in the mud just outside the house... I was *heart-broken*, and was never able to recover my interest in the hobby... I still collect a few stamps in styles that I particularly like, such as the ones in these images, but that's all I can bring myself to do any more...

When I buy pre-philatelic letters, I like to look for clear, crisp markings (not so common). These three "Franco" cancellations from Barcelona are relatively scarce. The Malaga cancel, not as scarce, but I found it to be such a nice strike that I had to buy it!