Stampchat+

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PRO;

I don't know what the heck you are talking about. Make it more clearly understood and I can then surely help and will be pleased to do so. Bill

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PRO;

I don't know what the heck you are talking about. Make it more clearly understood and I can then surely help and will be pleased to do so. Bill

Bill,

Here's the link to the marking for Pro's querry.


I think his question is whether this mark on an 1864 stampless
is a form of Union Censorship of railroad mail during the civil war or was it a result of checking for number of sheets [and, thus, rate sufficiency]??

Jim and Pro,

Well, yes and no. This marking is not listed in Dietz, either as a Railroad postmark or a POW postmark, so I would asume it must be a Union Railroad postmark. I have never seen it before, but presume it might have been a form of railroad examination of mail to check for attempts to pass CSA-origin mail into the Union via Railroad. Is there a town of origin inside?

Haven't been around, but things are starting to free up, so I'm getting back into the swing of things. I'm finally in my new home, with (almost) all of the boxes unpacked and my life mostly back to normal. High on my priority list is bringing my album site up to date.

But I'm also getting seriously into my next endeavor - running for the Sunnyvale City Council. I kick off my campaign in about six weeks, just after the General Election. So I've got an entirely different set of documents and web pages to design for all of that. If it's not one thing, it's another...

One of the local issues we've been dealing with is the fate of the Western Philatelic Library, housed in Sunnyvale. It's using free space right now in Raynor Park, and the City is considering doing away with the old Raynor School, which would dislocate the WPL. It technically falls within my area of concern as a Sunnyvale Library Board Trustee, since it's a library issue (but also because the Friends of the Sunnyvale Library also use space there). Right now, the issue is still in limbo, and the City is looking into the possibility of leasing out that whole facility to someone willing to pay rent on the rest of the buildings and maintain the space for the current occupants. I haven't heard a schedule on when that will next be discussed.

That this place may be back to being a well used place soon

The Pinks at ebay are among the 1600 lay offs there

the contract with live world is soon running out


they have alreadt started removing some boards
(the ones that were game contest related)
and maeve the former Big pink has said Groups, boards and chats are soon goimng by the wayside in a cost cutting move

of course as the bay moves more and more toward just new items and/ fixed price listings
it will make a big change in that area anyway.



Joke Boy

good luck with the Campaign

with the decline in overall stamp usage/ collecting/ interest do you feel the maintaining of the Library will be an easy sale?

If it is force to move what will happen to the material held there.?

Pro;

I think the most active stamp chatboard right now is the Virtual Stamp Club, although it is not set up as one continious chat, such as Frajola's board (which has changed it's name to Philamercury) or this one. Every conversation is isolated (there's a name for that which escapes me right at the (senior!) moment, so you must look at the various conversations by catagory to find those of interest.

There are lots of posters there who you know from the old (this!) Dave Frick board (including Dave himself every once in awhile). Although many of the conversations are pretty dull and uninteresting, there is a pretty wide variety to choose from.

Yeah
been there once or twice

hard to keep interested to me.

Of Course I do not have to ask as many questions as i used to
a good library helps
and of course a lot of exposure to much more material
a few years now and i have learned a little.

Thanks to many here and other places of course.

I think the WPL is going to have to move, regardless, and the WPL isn't really master of its own fate. The facility in question houses four groups plus city storage - a day care type business, some art studios, Friends of the Sunnyvale Library, and the WPL. I think that beyond me, nobody cares much about the WPL. The Friends are important because they generate tens of thousands of dollars for the city (but they've already sort of got an alternate location lined up). The two that are really generating public outcry are the day care and art studio.

Because of the outcry, the City Council has slowed down plans to reuse the facility. It may still happen, it might not. If it doesn't happen, I think the WPL will get to stay, since there's pressure in general to "keep it the way it is". But this is all up in the air. And the economy doesn't help, because it puts pressure on the city to reduce costs.

I think the folks who operate the WPL are eager to stay in business, moving the operation elsewhere. I just don't know if it's fiscally possible.

Hello,
I think i owe you all an explanation in one way or another.
about two years ago i decided to start a new university career and that took all of my available time, including all the time i had for mantaining, somewheat moderating and updating this forum (gee... it even took all my stamp collecting and trading time too!). Now i have waded through 50% of my new career and time seems to be available for me again for this tasks so i would like to hear from all of you and do whatever is needed to mantain this little space of the internet for us stamp lovers

Glad to be back again
Mauro M.

Mauro, thanks for the notification. I have been busy too, and not attended to my stamping much in the last year or so. I started working on them again about a week ago, and will try to get my accumulation into order as a collection. I hope all goes well with your adventures in further education, and with all on the board. Victor

Mauro, good to see you back! Not too lively here, but it's much more civilized than some other boards I can name..

And I've seen predictions that eBay will not renew the Live World contract when it comes up next spring. If so, things will be jumping here.

When you get time, there are thousands of members who signed up just to sign up, or to promote sex sites, and the like. I don't know how they find this site, or what they get out of joining, but they sure do clog up the membership list. Is there any reasonable way to keep them from doing it?

Never mind - I see you did it already...........

I can't avoid the fake sign-up totally but at least and so far i have prevented them to post spam on this board (quite a feat if you ask me...)
Anyway i am planning a version upgrade for this or next weekend and that will help me deal with them.

now about my last two years... i also bought a new house, new is a relative term here because the place is Circa 1901 and lots of restoring and upgrades are still needed but hey ... got a 90 sqm stone walled basement to be used as "stamp deposit" as wife usually calls my office

Do me a favor, if you are in contact by email or other means with board members just let them know we are still up and running!

Regards
M

Hello Mauro,

It's good to see you posting. Sounds like a very busy couple of years for you - but also sounds positive!

Rob

Hi Rob
yes they were quite busy indeed!
ignoring the fact of aquiring a new home, refurbishing it and moving in ... and considering that my new studies take 25 hrs/week assisting to classes AND i have a full time job ... well ... you get the picture
anyway... i am delighted to be back

Good to see you around

Now I can dig out the Uruguay stuff I have been running into

lots of material from Down south has been appearing lately

will post some for you later

.

Mauro,

I can relate. :)

Here's what I do most of the time: www.genuinefauxfarm.com

This is the first year I have not taught college classes in our current location. Oh...and our farm house was built in 1900. :)

Man, those windows are drafty. Hoping to put a few in this winter. It will be a cold job for me, but maybe I'll be able to warm up in the house after that?

Rob

Hi Mauro , and thanks for the alert that triggered me to come back here, I've been away too long.

Mauro,

Glad to see you back and some of the responses. Now all we need is about another 25 posters and we can get this board active again............................

Just to see if this can get conversation going...

Since Tammy and I have been doing the organic/sustainable farming (produce) thing for a few years. I am looking at putting together an exhibit along that theme.

We are big believers in local food production, support for small farms and sustainable approaches to growing food. So, you can kind of see where it is going.

I also have a propensity towards favoring postal history over other philatelic items if I were exhibiting.

So...what suggestions do people have for me on this topic?

Topics I might want to include are:
Seeds, Heritage/Heirloom Cultivars, Seed Hybridization, Seed Marking/Sales, Appropriate tools such as cultivators, sowers, harvesters, farm animals (esp poultry at this time), gov't related ag material
Also material helping to show crop rotation, intercropping, cover crops, composting, and economic impacts of farming.
One might consider an educational aspect or various private organizations that have to do with the topic.

Examples:
I have a nice heirloom squash illustrated ad cover from the late 1800's courtesy of Bill Weiss.
Recently picked up an illustrated ad with an ugly chicken and another with a cute chick (the bird sort...)
A penalty envelope from the Dept of Ag is in my possession.
And..of course covers that have stamps with appropriate thematic material.

I know some nice slogan cancels regarding food winning the war exist. And, I am also sure I can do alot with ad covers. But, I don't want this to be an advertising cover only exhibit. I'd like to show more than standard postal uses as well.

so....have at it. Make some suggestions!

Rob

You could also include
postcards from the Seed Guys
Many used perfins also

maybe also dop side tangents
like an Airmail Cover from
I think Cleveland
the site was once one of the largest Chicken farms in the Midwest

I'll look arounf but I think i have a couple of Cinderellas that are farm related

how about some Revs of Butter or margarine

Rob,

I would love to be able to give you helpful suggestions but unfortunately, what I know about thematic exhibiting could fit on the head of a pin! As you probably know, I've had some success at Traditional exhibiting over the last 35+ years, but I've never put together a thematic or display exhibit.

What I personally would do, if I were you, is speak to some of the chatboard posters who HAVE put together display class/thematic exhibits, such as Matt Liebson or Chip G. who I think, have both done well with their exhibits.

I'm pretty certain that the standards are, at present, different for thematic or display exhibits versus traditional, but you may be aware that this is all going to change in the near future, as it has just been announced by the ruling board for exhibiting that in the future, all exhibits, regardless of catagory, will be judges against the exact same criteria.

If you are not already a member, you should seriously consider joining the American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors (AAPE), a teriffic organization for those interesting in exhibiting. You (or anyone) can find out more about AAPE simply by doing a Google search, which will lead you to their website.

Mauro

Welcome back!

I wonder if it was an idea to send a message to the ones who are a member here, telling that Stampchat+ still is alive (and sometime kicking).

By the way - the memberlist needs a clean up - there is obvious a lot of the members, who not collect stamps!

In September I exhibited my Sudetenland 1938 - 1945 collection at the World Exhibition Praga2008 in Prague.
It was a very good exhibition and I'm happy to tell my exhibit got Vermeil (83 points) and I was told it was the first Sudetenland exhibit, which was exhibited in a world exhibition on Czech soil since 1948.
Most of the time lots of visitors was looking at it and I was happy for that.

Hi K-E, thank you and i missed you too
Congratulations about your SL Exhibit!
About old members, please feel free to invite anyone you want to come back, same goes to new members... and regarding to the user list, i am constantly deleting the bogus accounts, yesterday deleted about 14 thousand ones! but again, so far i am quite happy to have prevented any spammers posting spam posts here...
By the way, the new board version will help a lot with this and other admin chores...

Regards
Mauro

A new "find" leads me to tell the story of these very special cancels.
The German postal authorities introduced a “Freimarkenfreistempel” device in 1936 which could add a stamp on the mailing and cancel it in one operation. Each device has it own registration number. These “Freimarkenstempel” used in the Sudetenland are very scarce.
Business postcard from Freiberg 23/4 1942 to Bohemia and Moravia, canceled with a ”Freimarkenstempel” no. 1317. Correctly franked with 6pf.
Business postcard from Mährisch Schönberg 21/7 1941 to Bohemia and Moravia, canceled with a ”Freimarkenstempel” no. 1228. Correctly franked with 6pf. Only one card known with this cancel.
Local business postcard sent locally in Jägerndorf, canceled with a ”Freimarkenstempel” no. 1419. Correctly franked with 5pf.
A characteristic sign of stamps, which are canceled this way, are the 4 small holes in the stamp.

K.E.

I've been around through it all, just without much to say.

Rob -- I've never actually exhibited in display class or in thematic. At least at the WSP level, thematic exhibiting is very difficult. There is a rigid structure and set of rules. I have attempted to collect Ohio thematically, but what I have in reality is largely a thematic of "dead white guys from Ohio."

There are a lot of possibilities in agricultural themes -- huge variety of advertising covers for implements, seeds, nurseries, livestock, etc. Bringing that over into other "elements" of philately may be more difficult -- though I'm sure there are a number of more modern stamps relating to sustainable/organic practices, and there are revenue stamps for agricultural products. There are special postal rates for seed samples, plant cuttings, etc.

The hard part, as in any exhibit, is clearly defining the "story" and finding a compelling one to start with. I think it would be interesting to compare 19th century agricultural practices with modern organic practice (sort of the rise and fall of mechanized, industrial farming) but it will be difficult to turn a collection of that nature into a WSP-level exhibit based on current criteria.

p.s. I suppose it's time to get another "kid" image. I have two now, soon to have 3.

The real problem will be to limit the topic so that you will cover it all. The earlier you get a fix on this, the less extraneous material you will buy.

I took one look at the "rules" for thematic exhibiting and went the other way. Fast.

Bill
Yes, I am aware of all of the rules and the fact that they may be a moving target. But, I very much appreciate your pointing this out. I have exhibited only my postal history exhibit, so this would be new territory for me as well.

Bob & Bill & Matt
I guess at this point, I am not terribly worried about this being a competitive exhibit. It's actually a way to combining my farming business with my hobby. I see it as potentially educational for both areas and could have a promotional aspect for our business and for sustainable farming.

Pro

Thought of some of those, but good to get more ideas. I do have a modern cover from the IA ag dept with their perfin on it. We do get some modern postal history by virtue of being a farm. :) I have to overcome some of my tendency to prefer pre 1900 material over all else.

Story line
Therein lies some of the problem. I have some story line ideas and expect to see it move around a good deal. But, I see this as a multiple layer task. I need a story line, yes. But, I also want to provide as BROAD a coverage of postal history, philatelic material, as I can manage. I see nothing wrong with a postal history focus - in fact, it seems far more interesting and challenging. It would be nothing to simply go out an buy a whole bunch of brightly covered topicals and put them into a story line - blah.

Rob
[/b]

rfaux

You can get some input from these exhibits: http://www.japhila.cz/hof/index_the.htm

Hola a todos!

I'm currently down in Mazatlan for 3 months, enjoying being in short-sleeves and shorts.
We return to the horrid Oregon winter end January.

These last 2 years I have exhibited at APS Stampshow 2007 in Portland, and also COALPEX 2008 in Walnut Creek, CA. Next show will be PIPEX 2009 because it's in Portland, so no expensive travel necessary.

Trouble is that my head isn't into stamps at the moment. The plan was to apply for my citizenship once I'm back in Oregon, but now there's a possible return to Oz somewhere in 2009 to see family and friends. Who knows what will happen really.....

It's "only" -6C here and I'm stuck inside with a cold, otherwise I should now have been on a trip with some friends, who are now out chopping wood in probably around -15C, near a hut with no running water or electricity, 4 hours skiing from the road.

I exhibited my errors in postmarks once, in a national one-frame exhibition (open also to first-timers) last year. Got 40 points and ended up last because it didn't fit the "rules". I got criticised for being too wide spread in time and geography, well that was the point! My oldest item was from 1801 and the newest from 2006, with items from most continents (including Antarctica).

I could probably fill an entire frame with items only from Alma, Quebec and Tyler, Texas, but that would be less interesting.

Between Bjorn and Sheryll there appears to be a terperature gradiant. Sounds like several of us have stamping on hold, but I always come back, as I assume the rest will.

Sheryll and and Vik! It's good to hear from both of you. And, of course, Bjorn, Matt, Bill, Knud-Erik as well. Sometimes one doesn't fully realize how much you miss people until you hear from them again...

Rob

The forum software has been officially upgraded to phpBB3 (from phpBB2) ... please let me know about any quirks or bugs, it will take me a couple of days to iron them out!

Thank you all
Mauro