Forgers such as the Spiro brothers, Fournier and Sperati are well-known characters in philatelic folklore. But what of the lesser-known forgers? Gerhard Lang has spent over six years investigating the mischievous creations of the little-known Placido Ramon de Torres…and uncovered one of the most prolific forgers in philately. He is now conducting research on more […]
General Philately
ABNC proofs – understanding the different types
The American Bank Note Company was a prolific printer of numerous issues for many Latin American countries. Die and plate proofs take pride of place in many collections or exhibits. However, they are often unmentioned and unpriced in most philatelic catalogues with little information available on the number of proofs printed. So just how scarce […]
Original ABNC steel plates come to market
So you’ve acquired a nice selection of plate proofs and a few die proofs to enhance your collection. Now how about an original steel plate as the cherry on the cake? Over one thousand of the American Bank Note Company original, engraved printing plates have recently come to market, offering an unusual opportunity to own […]
The Scott Classic Specialized Catalogue: a review
Once upon a time, Stanley Gibbons’ twin volume South America and Central America catalogues were my daily reference tools. They are still powerful weapons in the Latin America collector’s armoury but for a number of years, the Scott Classic Specialized has been my ‘go to’ first port of call. Gibbons hasn’t updated the aforementioned volumes […]
eBay disrupts catalogue publishing with Stamp Market Index
eBay and Noble Spirit launch online database with over 200 million price transactions We’re now used to most facets of our lives being ‘disrupted’ by the advent of the internet. There are few business sectors that have not had to adjust or reinvent their business models to stay ahead of the game in today’s online […]
Exhibiting Latin America…from Denver to Stockholm (Part 2)
Back in Europe, the philatelic world was gearing up to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Royal Philatelic Society by hosting Stockholmia 2019 in the Swedish capital. This was a somewhat unusual blend of regional Scandinavian stamp show combined with a truly world class philatelic event, attracting around 8000 participants from 51 countries. Drawing on […]
Stamp Dealers in Argentina and Uruguay
Once upon a time many of the world’s great cities maintained an active philatelic quartier. Stamp shops tended to congregate in a specific part of town to cater for the needs of a hungry collector base who would depend on local dealers to serve their needs. It is a business model that has been gradually […]
Fakes, forgeries…and buying online
In the earlier years of philately, faking and forging was big business. In many ways, it still is, with money to be made by unscrupulous types offering dodgy imitations of current issues on eBay at knockdown prices. But in the first one-hundred years of philately, much of this activity was targeted primarily at philatelists who […]
Philatelic Societies – a review
I’ve recently updated the Resources pages. Part of this exercise was to revisit links to philatelic societies and investigate others that I wasn’t so familiar with. In reviewing so many sites in a relatively short space of time, you quickly get a feel for what seems to separate the well-organised societies from those that ‘could […]
Which country has the world’s worst postal service?
Which countries should you avoid shipping to? Let’s say you put a few items up for auction on eBay and one lucky winner has an address in Haiti. Would you post it using regular mail? If you’d just read the Universal Postal Union’s annual report on the global ranking of postal services around the world, […]