This seminar on fancy cancels was given by Andrew Levitt.  The talk was well received and there was quite a bit of discussion over the methods suggested for putting a collection together and making presentations with it.  The pros and cons of stock-books, various mounting techniques (such as the Colson mounts) and expertizing were aired.  Attached are examples taken from the write-ups of Louis Grunin’s New York fancy cancel holding, as well as presentations used by John Boker at Anphilex 1996.  ...

Our February speaker was T. Lee Pomeroy II, a distant relative of both George Pomeroy, founder of the Pomeroy independent mail and express companies, and his cousin, Henry Wells of Wells, Fargo.  This genealogical connection underscores a little-noted connection of present day descendants with their forefathers who helped move the mails over a century and a half ago.  I know of two members of the Livingston family (associated with Livingston, Wells, Pomeroy) who collect, while the late Pat Reed ...

                                                            Our scheduled speaker in March was Matthew Kewriga, one of the new breed of younger serious collectors.   His topic was the 2¢ vermilion banknote issue.  Driving down to the meeting from Massachusetts, his car collapsed south of Stamford, CT.  However, not wishing to disappoint us, he has supplied photocopies of his approximately 100-page exhibit, selections of which are enclosed as leave-behind.  In addition to the essays and proofs...

  Michael Laurence, the publisher of Linn’s and a major student of the 10¢ 1869 was our April seminar leader.  He presented a slide show of the ten cent 1869 issue ranging from proofs and essays to reprints, with a wide selection of covers.  For his leave-behind, Mr. Laurence selected several pages of mail to France, which are enclosed.  He also provided suggested readings on the subject from Chronicle.  They ranged from Chronicle #96 (11/77) pages 256-269 (treaty rate), #99 (8/78) (a fo...

                                                At our May seminar, Janos Gabriel gave us an exciting presentation of mixed franking and forwarded covers both to and from the United States.   Some 132 covers were shown, a small selection of sixteen of which is included in the attached leave-behind, which include some of the most colorful.                                            

Our September seminar leader was Edward Epstein, who discussed page design for both one’s own album and for exhibition purposes.  His background as an artist and art teacher lent weight to his observations, which were well received by those who attended.  To illustrate his principles he passed out two sheets (six pages), which are enclosed along with six color pages of some other materials that he showed up that illustrate other presentation points. Epstein noted one should house one’s collec...

The speaker for October was Cal Hahn.  The basic thesis of the talk was that most events concerning classic U.S. philately can be found during the approximate quarter century beginning circa 1837 and running through 1863, and that, during this period, New York served as a major testing ground for postal policy.  Only the introduction of commemoratives (15¢ Lincoln 1869s etc.) and the UPU events fall outside the critical quarter century. An inchoate recognition of this seems to have been made ...

                                                             Those of you who missed Alan Geisler’s seminar on proofs and essays missed seeing some remarkable examples.  His decalcomanias were of the finest quality I have seen in the past thirty years.  His Bowlsby large die is the scarlet variety with the manuscript ‘A’ faint below the sinkage, confirming the note in Evans’ book.  There was a very nice horizontal pair of the 1867 John Sturgeon patent ‘unused’ carmine and the ‘used’ d...

Our December 2000 meeting was a show-and-tell and the best in my memory of the past decade.  Irving Adams showed an illustrated hotel item as well as a potential bisected letter sheet.  A selection of various perforation varieties were shown.  Harlan Stone showed a rare short-rate period cover from Switzerland to the U.S.  It is even rarer than the seven-month U.S. to Japan rate.  Helen Galatan-Stone showed an example of the Blood’s ‘striding messenger’, another example of which was shown by Dr....