Are Stamps Licked?-- Part 4: Titanic Souvenir

Some other stamps on dispplay:

**  Patriot names.  AS the declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776, a letter made its way to that document's most famous signatory, John Hancock.  It was addressed to "The Hon. John Hancock Esq. In Philadelphia.  (What, no Zip Code?)

**  A famous mistake.  A rare 1918 misprint celebrating the first airmail flight shows an upside down JN-4 airplane, or Jenny"; a single "inverted Jenny" sold in 2007 for nearly $1 million.    The museum has a set of 4.

**  (Fe)Mail Milestones.  On her historic solo flight across the Atlantic in 1932, Amelia Earhart carried mail postmarked before and after landing.  This one was stamped Trans-Atlantic Non-Stop  Solo-Flight  First Aviatrix  Amelia Earhart Flight  Newfoundland-Ireland May 20-1932- May 21 and was addressed to Bernt Balchen, Hasbrouch Heights, New Jersey.

**  Shipwreck souvenir.  Before an iceberg sunk the grand Titanic in 1912, one of its first-class passengers mailed a letter written on the ship's stationery.  It says White Star Line and shows the company's flag.  It was addressed to M.W. Defmeyer S A 36  Berlin Germany.

--Cootstamper.

Are Stamps Licked?-- Part 2 The New Smithsonian William H. Gross Stamp Gallery

Inside are 20,000 stamps, including examples from every single country that has ever had them, including some like Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) which no longer exist.  There is also the only letter ever postmarked from the moon and one sent to John Hancock on July 4, 1776.

Also, there is a letter recovered by settlers after Indians captured the Pony Express rider carrying it.

Of course, there is a block of "inverted Jenny" stamps, like a set that sold for nearly $3 million,  which feature an upside down airplane.  It became one of the most famous ever U.S. stamps after a 1918 misprint and quick recall.

Lick Me.  --Cooter

Are Stamps Licked?-- Part 1: Is Stamp Collecting On Its Way Out?

From the Nov. 4, 2013, Time Magazine "Are Stamps Licked?  by Katy Steinmetz.

Baltimore's Philatelic Society had their 75th annual stamp show did not have a lot of young collectors.  But stamp collecting isn't over.  Rarest stamps are increasing in value and the hobby is spreading abroad.  But, in the U.S., philately is down.  Membership in the largest stamp society continues to wane.

Billionaire Bill Gross, who owns the world's most-valuable private collection says, "It's not necessarily obvious that kids even know what a stamp is."  Not surprising in these days of e-mailing and texting.  He even gave $10,000,000 to build a new 12,000-square-ft. stamp exhibit at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C.

Revenue at philatelic auctions is up.  Collections worth $5-$10 million were almost unheard of before, but now there are several dozen.

Doing well in the world, but not so much at home.  The market lacks young collectors to make it thrive.  The Boy Scouts issue a merit badge for stamp collecting.  In 2012 it issued 1,000 of them (compared with 22,000 for basketry and 92,000 for first aid).

New memberships at the American Philatelic Society have shrunk about 30% after peaking in the 1980s.

--DaCoot