The U.S. Postal Service made a surprise issue of a semi-postal stamp on Dec. 2. This stamp will be sold as a first class rate issue, with an additional charge of ten cents to benefit Post Traumatic Stress Disorder victims.
The stamp design will feature a green plant sprouting from the ground among dead leaves. There will be twenty stamps per pane of self-adhesives, with Charlotte, NC as the official first day city.
A coin show will be held on Dec. 8 in Auburn at the Elks Lodge on Route 12 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Off-street parking and admission are free.
As promised in last week’s column, our annual series of advice for holiday gift-giving for collectors will commence with suggestions on price guides for hobbies covered in this column.
United States coin collectors can use the old standard “Guide Book of U.S. Coins, published in hard and softcover by Whitman. It is nicknamed the “Red Book,” due to the color of the cover.
Another basic coin guide is the “Official Black Book of U.S. Coins,: which is a smaller softcover book. Warman’s issue a coin price guide every year.
World coin guides are very large and expensive; the series published by Krause covers only one century per volume.
Stamp collectors in the U.S. use the Scott price guides published by Amos Press. There is a large U.S. Specialized volume, and smaller versions of that issued by Amos and the U.S. Postal Service.
H.E. Harris Co, and the Official Guide publishers also issue less comprehensive U.S. stamp catalogs.
Sports card collectors have guides for cards in the major sports published by Beckett and Sports Collector’s Digest. Postcard collectors have to fall back on the price guides issued by J.L. Mashburn over 15 years ago, as these have never been reissued.
To obtain any of these guides, check your bookseller, or search on line. Next column will discuss hobby periodical publications.