Our January 9 meeting of the NY Chapter was, as usual, dedicated to our members’ “one frame” display. We were graced with five wonderful exhibits. Chip Gliedman got the evening off to a start describing his progress towards his “51” collection. Rather than being a showing of 1851 issues, it was his start at collecting an iconic cover from each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. He s...

Michael Heller was our speaker for December, on the topic “U.S. Domestic Postal Rates, 1800-1850.”  His talk encompassed a wide variety of stampless covers from many different states, focusing primarily on the various postal rate schedules in effect during the first half of the 19th century. Michael first discussed the growth in post offices during the early 19th century and how changes in tran...

Our November presenter was Chip Gliedman, on the topic: “Early fur trade mail in the US and Canada (1822-1871).”  His fascinating talk was based on his exhibit of special mail routes of Rupert’s Land and the Red River Valley, which focused on the mail routes organized by the Hudson’s Bay Company. Chip provided us with a great deal of information on the history of this vast and remote area in th...

Drew Nicholson was our September speaker on the topic “Postal Billboards – Some Interesting Dutchess County Advertising Covers.”  Drew brought a fascinating group of advertising covers, reflecting many towns in New York’s Dutchess County and ranging from the 1850s to the early 20th century.  He shared his deep knowledge of the history of this area, which made the presentation very interesting and ...

At our October 16 meeting, Bob Rose shared with us the history of cover faker John A. Fox, tracing his rise as a New York dealer in the 1940s and his downfall after his fakery came to light in the 1960s.  As the Philatelic Foundation played an essential role in outing Fox’s cover creations, this presentation from Bob Rose, currently chairman of the Foundation, was most appropriate. Bob supported h...

Dan Ryterband was our speaker for June, presenting his outstanding collection of “First through Third Issue Revenues.” While Dan’s revenue stamp collection was mostly complete, he noted that his main focus was quality, not completion.  This focus on quality was very evident throughout his collection. Dan walked us through his collection in chronological order, starting with the imperforate stam...

Our May speaker, Ed Siskin, delivered a fascinating PowerPoint presentation on the “Postal History of the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1789.” Ed’s talk started with the status of the Parliamentary Post in 1774 and the negative impact of the Boston Tea Party and Benjamin Franklin’s firing.  He then discussed Goddard’s limited attempt to start an American post office, but that only a number ...

Wade Saadi was our April speaker, where he presented Part II of his talk on “Parcel Post Postage Due Postal History.”  Much of Wade’s presentation focused on the scarce higher values of this stamp series, most of which were neatly tied to each cover. The first few covers focused on PPPD stamps used on special delivery mail.  Wade then showed several examples of these stamps paying actual parcel...

Chip Gliedman, our speaker for February on the topic “Stuck on Covers”, brought a large variety of fascinating labels used on 19th century covers for many different purposes. These included postage due, soldier’s mail, circular paid, Good Samaritan, express and other types of labels. Chip started out with a significant holding of Leominster, Massachusetts postage due labels, including one cent,...

Our January meeting featured the ever-popular Member’s One-Frame Exhibit. We had six exhibitors, as follows: Wade Saadi brought a selection of illustrated cameo advertising covers in a variety of shapes and colors.  The covers ranged from the 1850s to the 1870s and included: hotels, life insurance (Charter Oak tree), merchant (ship), musical instruments (melodeon in green), wines (barrel) and o...

Wade Saadi was our presenter on December 13, on the topic “Postal History, Parcel Post Postage Due Stamps.”  As Wade brought in a large number of covers illustrating this unusual but fascinating area, we only had enough time to view Part I of this presentation. Wade explained how these postage due stamps (five values, ranging from 1 cent to 25 cents) were first used only with parcel post packag...

Larry Lyons was our speaker for November on “Hussey’s Post.”  Larry brought two albums filled with his award-winning and incredibly comprehensive collection of both stamps and covers of this long-running local post.  If anything, his collection was overwhelming! Larry first pointed out Hussey’s was not  really a local post but a special messenger post, that specialized in bills, notices, invita...

Henry Scheuer was our speaker for October, on “Pre-1920 U.S. First Day Covers.”  As a recognized expert on first day covers, Henry gave us both an overview of this field of cover collecting and much detail regarding some of the specific items in his talk. He first reviewed the terminology such as “designated first day of issue”, “first day of sale”, “earliest documented use (EDU)” and “pre-date...

Our September speaker was Michael Laurence, who presented a fascinating talk on “Behind the Scenes at the Chronicle.”  Michael has spent more than 50 years as an editor of various magazines, including Playboy, Linn’s Stamp News and the USPCS Chronicle. His talk described some of the key aspects that make the Chronicle such a successful publication. Michael described four keys to the Chronicle’s...