Nov 2024, Expertized & Featured Issues Auction
MSCS received a donation with a mix of stamps including some with high catalog values. The club obtained APEX certificates for some of these stamps.
Nov 2024, Expertized & Featured Issues Auction
MSCS received a donation with a mix of stamps and covers, including some with higher catalog values, which will be included in the Club Auction at the Nov meeting.
March 2023 Expertized Issues Auction
MSCS received a donation with a mix of stamps including some with high catalog values. The club obtained APEX certificates for some of these stamps.
Scott # 133 and Scott #396 were auctioned at the March meeting along with the Expertized Fakes shown below.
"Expertized Fakes"
April 2023 Expertized Issues Auction
In accordance with club auction rules, MSCS auctioned the Scott #396 line-pair stamp and the Scott #394 single line watermark as Club Lots at the 06 April 2023 meeting.
May 2023 Expertized Issues Auction
In accordance with club auction rules, MSCS auctioned the Scott 353 pair, unused, full original gum, never hinged as a Club Lot at the 04 May 2023 meeting.
June 2023 Expertized Issues Auction
In accordance with club auction rules, MSCS auctioned the Scott 354 pair, unused, original gum, previously hinged, small nick top left corner of the right stamp, as a Club Lot for members and guests, at the 01 June 2023 meeting.
July 2023 Expertized Issues Auction
In accordance with club auction rules, MSCS auctioned the Scott 244, unused, regummed, filled thin and sealed tears, as a Club Lot for members and guests, at the 06 July 2023 meeting.
August 2023 Expertized Issues Auction
In accordance with club auction rules, MSCS auctioned the Scott 355 Line Pair, unused, original Gum, previously hinged, as a Club Lot for members and guests, at the 03 August 2023 meeting.
Sept 2023 Expertized Issues Auction
In accordance with club auction rules, MSCS auctioned the Scott 355 Line Pair, unused, original Gum, previously hinged, as a Club Lot for members and guests, at the 07 Sept 2023 meeting.
November 2023 Expertized Issues Auction
PCS folder with $2 Trans Mississippi issue, Scott # 293, CV $900
The folder additionally displays some of the following postal history:
"The Trans-Mississippi Exposition opened in Omaha, Nebraska on June 1,1898 to celebrate the American West. To help advertise and promote the event, the U.S. issued a set of nine commemorative postage stamps. They were the second commemoratives in U.S. history and the last of the 19th century."
"The first day of issue was June 17,1898 in Omaha.
The highest value stamp in the Trans-Mississippi Exposition issue was the $2 stamp featuring the Eads Bridge over the Mississippi River between St. Louis, Missouri and East St. Louis, Illinois. Designed and built by engineer James Buchanan Eads at a cost of $10 million, the bridge was dedicated on July 4, 1874."
"At the time it was built, the Eads Bridge was the world's largest. It consisted of three large spans, and it was one of the first bridges to carry railroad tracks across the Mississippi River. As a result, it became one of the most heavily used Mississippi River crossings and played a key role in the expansion of the American West."
"The design of the stamp was based on an engraving of the bridge on the admission ticket to the Republican National Convention in St. Louis in 1896. The stamp was printed in orange brown."
"The $2 stamp was printed in the smallest quantity of the stamps in the Trans-Mississippi issue, making it the rarest of the nine stamps. Due to the limited need for $2 in postage, except on heavy items and international mail, this stamp was available only in large postoffices and major cities. Less than half of the stamps were actually sold; the remainder were returned to the Post Office Department and destroyed."
In accordance with club auction rules, MSCS auctioned the Scott 391 Vertical Pair, unused, original Gum, never hinged, as a Club Lot for members and guests, at the 02 November 2023 meeting.
Earliest known Memphis Letter
- by Jerry Palazolo, Member MSCS
- After an absence of two hundred and fifteen years the earliest known surviving letter written at Fort Pickering (now the site of Memphis) has returned to the city. This early postal artifact dated June 8, 1805, contains the original full length letter written by James Swearingen who had recently been appointed commander of the fort. As there was no post office yet established anywhere in Western Tennessee the letter was transported by a courier to the Chickasaw Nation post office located 100 miles inland near the present day town of Houlka, Mississippi. There at
- the Chickasaw Agency it entered the U.S. mail. It was sent collect 25¢ to his friend Frederick Bates who was then postmaster of Detroit in what was then the newly established Indiana Territory.
- The letter reads in part, “I am here alone in a dreary wilderness, savage country. The situation of the garrison is pleasant and that is all that can be said. I have been here since the 1st of March last without an officer and I know not or whether there will be any but myself. You cannot expect news from me in this country ...you will write to me frequently…”
Bogus Confederate Stamps ~ David Kiehn, MSCS
There are many fake, counterfeit, and facsimile issues of Confederate stamps. The most common are known as the “Springfield” facsimiles.
Bogus Confederate Stamps
Fourteen counterfeits were created and sold in the 1930's by a stamp dealer in Springfield, MA. They were sold as singles and blocks of four.
Bogus Confederate Stamps
At some point, the dealer put the word “facsimile” on the back. The facsimiles were also used in booklets issued in 1941 by the Tatham Stamp Company.