Noteworthy Mentions

"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring." Marilyn Monroe This stamp of Ben Franklin from the United States Postal Service was issued in 1851 with a face value of one cent. The stamp was used to pre-pay certain types of mail like circulars or what is known today as junk mails. The 1-cent Ben Franklin stamp varies considerably in its design. The imperfection in the design is due to the technical difficulties in making the plates causing the stamps to appear incomplete, mostly at the top and bottom borders. To further differentiate...

  We're just days away from the biggest event of the year! Gift Giving! In actuality, it's Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa... This year's gift-giving holiday offers so many choices for everyone. Then again, for a coin collector, one thing's for sure. It's those precious gold and silver coins. Back in 1964, Burl Ives sang the lyrics to the song, "Silver and Gold". It's a song that captured everyone's love for these precious metals. He wanted his listeners to know that these precious metals are highly valued and owning these precious metals would give us joy and pleasure. It goes without...

If you're an avid stamp collector, there's no better gift that embraces your passion for stamp collecting like no other than stamps! That might sound unthinkable and conspicuous to some, but wouldn't you want that one rare stamp to fill that empty space in your album? Of course! The challenge comes when the person that's shopping for you doesn't really know what stamps to get you. After all, there are hundreds perhaps thousands of stamps that you would want to get a hold of this Christmas. Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus! If you're a collector of USA stamps,...

This stamp of George Washington from the New York Postmasters' Provisionals stamp series was issued in July of 1845 with a face value of five cents. Five cents may not be worth much these days but in 1845 it was feared that the five-cent stamp would get stolen. Thus, to deter theft the post office clerk inscribed his initials in ink on each stamp that was made before anyone could purchase it. Although the stamp was only made for use by the New York Post Office, the stamp became popular among New Yorkers and beyond. Unknowingly to many, the stamp's popularity...