The January seminar by Calvet M. Hahn was meant to show what could be done in philatelic research by the use of auction catalogs, using the philatelic local of the Bayonne Despatch as an example. In putting together the list of sales, it turned out that #10, from the Paige Blake sale had a much better photo than the Levi records photo used in the leave-behind and it showed this was a Philip LaTourette cover, also the following lot (56) was a VF example of the unused stationery, reported in the E...

Our seminar leader for the February 11th meeting on the social and philatelic history of Camden, N.J. was Gene Fricks, past editor of the Collectors Club Philatelist for many years. The founder of Camden was William Cooper who settled at Pyne Point (later Cooper's Creek) and began a ferry service to Philadelphia by 1690. In the Pennsylvania Packet of March 2, 1774, an independent mails operator, Bennoni Dare, advertised his stage wagon would run from Greenwich, N.J. through Salem crossing on Wil...

                  At our April meeting, Bob Rose showed two carousels of New Jersey covers assembled by members of the society. The origin of this was a meeting of Rose, Brad Arch (1944-2000) and a few other members of the society. The bulk of the slides come from the Arch holding and is a tribute to this gentleman. As members will note there is a strong focus upon the 1869 issue, which was one of Brad's passions. The sales catalog of the Brad Arch holding stated it was the largest and most c...

This seminar, entitled "Fabulous Classic US. Fakes and Forgeries", was led by Louis Grunin. As Chairman of the Philatelic Foundation, Mr. Grunin was very well qualified to lead this discussion. He passed around a number of classic covers and asked the attendees to identify the covers that were fake and to explain why. An analysis of each of these covers is provided below, along with illustrations. Following Mr. Grunin's suggestions, viewers are invited to examine each of these covers and to dete...

                   Our June 10th meeting was a "show and tell" by our members on covers from New Jersey. Michael Heller presented a number of New Jersey advertising covers, while Harvey Mirsky brought in a recently acquired item which was analyzed by Calvet Hahn. The analysis is shown in one of the attached pages below. Wade Saadi presented several pages of New Jersey off-cover cancellations as well as a selection of covers. Cal Hahn brought in a number of New Jersey express covers, mostly fr...

              The October 10 seminar was devoted to the offshore islands of Massachusetts, with Douglas Clark serving as the seminar leader. Attendees received a 10-page reprint of his June 1983 American Philatelist article on "Nantucket Sound Steamboat Mail" including several additions. In addition to showing key items on slides, he filled ten frames with covers from the islands, particularly Woods Hole. The earliest was a privately-carried 1727 letter. Several early way covers of 1810 and 1...

                       Our meeting of November 11th on the Hawaiian Numeral issues was a tribute to the late Frederick Wheeler. It was led by Calvet M. Hahn, who pointed out that the numeral issues were the second locally produced stamps from the same Hawaiian newspaper printing presses, the first to require payment for inter-island service (hitherto free) and that while 'temporary', they served for seven years generating 29 settings and 15 Scott major numbers, as the printers used any paper ...

                           The December 9th seminar by Dr. Dean Briggs presented a breath-taking exposure to Florida postal history. As the late Henry Spelman stated, there was only enough material for two or three serious holdings- this seminar showed the best of those. A large number of cover illustrations from the presentation are shown below. The earliest British period cover from St. Augustine is datelined April 20, 1767 and rated in both sterling and pennyweights. It ...