Aviator Issue Part of ’32 Romanian Three-Value Set

Question: Enclosed is a photocopy of six Romanian stamps that I’ve had since World War II. Can you tell me the value of these?--A.L.M.

Answer: Your block of six postal-tax stamps was issued by Romania in 1932 as a set of three values. Your 50-bani denomination variety in Prussian blue shows the face of an aviator and lists in Scott’s catalogue for 35 cents per stamp in mint condition.

Q: Is there a market for clean envelopes with canceled stamps attached that have gone through the postal system? If so, is there a liability or some responsibility to those persons whose names are on the envelopes?--M.W.H.

A: Most modern canceled stamps, either U.S. or foreign, have little resale value unless you have many pounds of them, and even then the price may be only a few dollars a pound for nice commemoratives attached to closely clipped corners from their original envelopes.

When you mail a letter to someone, that letter becomes their property. They may do whatever they want with it, including sell it, unless there are special confidential circumstances, such as a court order or a written plea in the letter not to reveal its contents or to sell the envelope.

I recommend that you clip off the stamps on your incoming mail, leaving about half of an inch of envelope paper around the stamp’s borders. Then save them in a box until you have several pounds that you can sell wholesale to a dealer or use as trading material or for presents.

Q: What are stamp hinges made of? Can they harm stamps?--H.C.

A: Good peelable hinges are manufactured of glassine paper, which looks something like light-green waxed paper without the wax. They are gummed on one side, and any collector or stamp dealer can show you how to use them to mount stamps on album pages. Modern hinges made today cause little if any damage to stamps when they are properly used, except for gum disturbances.

Stamp News

The William Faulkner 22-cent commemorative will have its first-day sale on Aug. 3 at Oxford, Miss. 38655. This stamp, in the U.S. Postal Service’s Literary Arts Series, honors the novelist by having the first-day sale in his hometown.

Scott’s Volume I of the new 1988 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue has been published. The 1,200-page stiff-paper-covered volume is available from stamp shops for $20 plus sales tax or may be ordered directly from Scott Publishing Co., P.O. Box 828, Sidney, Ohio 45365.

Volume I lists suggested retail prices of the stamps of the United States, United Nations, Canada, Great Britain and British Commonwealth nations. The 1988 edition contains 4,670 new issues. Relative to last year’s catalogue, more than 17,000 price changes of individual stamps have been entered.

Stamp Calendar

Friday through Sunday--San Francisco Stamp Fair at the San Francisco Hotel, 1231 Market St. (at 8th Street), San Francisco. Dealers will buy and sell. Friday 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Special show cancel. Free admission.

Saturday and Sunday--ORCOPEX ’87 Stamp Show at the Sheraton Hotel, 1015 Ball Road, Anaheim. Sponsored by the Orange County Philatelic Society. A bourse with dealers who will buy and sell. Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Admission 50 cents. For more information, telephone (818) 330-9583.