Foreign Collectors Are Keen for Mint Issues

Question: We are not stamp collectors, but a friend in the Soviet Union is. He requested some colorful U.S. stamps to add to his collection. I told my wife to go to the post office and buy a few representative issues and suggested that she send them on in uncancelled mint condition. But a friend told me that stamps are of little value when sent that way (in an envelope, mint). Can you straighten us out?--M.S.

Answer: Mint stamps are probably preferred by your Soviet friend. While many collectors like to study cancellations and other postal markings, most collectors in foreign countries would prefer to receive unblemished mint stamps because these show the full stamp design. They also tend to retain their market value better than used versions.

For a couple of years I traded stamps with a gentleman in the Ukraine. We sent each other mint regulars and commemoratives of our respective countries; we also swapped information about our lives. I had no problem then getting mail out of the Soviet Union, although I lost a few letters going there, presumably to government censors or other curious officials. With Mikhail Gorbachev in power, I think that you will have even less trouble getting collectible stamps to your Soviet philatelist.

Stamp collecting, by the way, is extremely popular in the Soviet Union, and collectors there have difficulty obtaining some foreign issues. So whether you send them new or old mint U.S. stamps, they are certain to appreciate them.

Q: My envelope was delivered “by Overland Mail via St. Joseph, Missouri,” according to a handwritten notation on it, then was delivered to a family member in Brooklyn, Alameda County, Calif. There is no year in the postmark, which is from St. Joseph, Mich. (there was a St. Joseph in both states). The stamp, which was slightly damaged on the right side (part of the perforation cut off), appears to be Scott No. 57 or 58 (circa 1860). Regrettably the stamp was cut off of this envelope and then pasted back on years ago, when I was a very inexperienced collector (11 years old).

My questions are: (1) Does this represent a memento of mail delivered by Pony Express, and (2) if so, would it have any value to others? --L.S.

A: It doesn’t sound like a Pony Express cover of 1860-61 (the years of its operation) because it doesn’t show evidence of having a Pony Express stamp from Wells, Fargo affixed to it, or the hand stamp or manuscript writing of something like “Per Pony Express” or “The Central Overland California & Pikes Peak Express Company,” which so many genuine Pony Express covers have on them.

Scott U.S. Nos. 57 and 58 are rare special printings and are unknown on Pony Express covers, so maybe you really mean some other catalogue number for the stamp, such as 25 or 26 (the 3-cent perforated issues of 1857, in use through midsummer of 1861). So to summarize, you probably don’t have a rare Pony Express cover, but let a stamp dealer look at it anyway for an evaluation.

Q: A number of years ago I purchased from the post office a roll of 13-cent Liberty Bell stamps, Scott No. 1595, which was misperforated down the center of the bells. I have a roll of 100 stamps in the original package. What are these stamps worth? --J.W.

A: Maybe a dollar or two per pair. They are certainly worth more than face value, but not as much as totally imperforate (without any perforation holes) copies would be.

Stamp News

“Linn’s World Stamp Almanac” in its long-awaited fifth edition has recently been released by the publisher of the largest-circulation philatelic newspaper in the United States: Linn’s Stamp News, P.O. Box 29, Sidney, Ohio 45365. First published in 1977, this useful almanac had its fourth edition in 1982.

The new edition contains 994 pages of useful stamp facts, figures and addresses, and the soft-cover copy is available at $19.95 postpaid from Linn’s , or from many local stamp shops.

Included are a history of the U.S. Postal Service, U.S. postal regulations, first-day covers, the addresses of worldwide postal agencies, collector societies, dealer organizations, tips on collecting, and sources of stamp information. An up-to-date listing of local, national and foreign stamp clubs, and a summary of available computer inventory programs for stamp collections are major parts of this book.

Regarding this new fifth edition of the Stamp Almanac, editor-publisher Michael Laurence of Linn’s says that “vast amounts of new material--most of it specifically related to stamps, especially U.S. stamps--have been added. All the remaining text has been screened, corrected, revised and updated.”