Author Archives: Jim Szeplaki

When it comes to subjects considered for Canadian stamps, as the Rolling Stones song goes: "You can't always get what you want." But that doesn't mean people should stop submitting ideas. It may take time for approval, but dozens of topics are featured annually and catalogues clearly show expanded themes in recent decades. Various tests are applied by Canada Post staff and Citizens Advisory Committee appointees, explained Jim Phillips, Ottawa-based director of stamp services, during a seminar at the National Postage Stamp and Coin Show in Mississauga, Ont. on March 25. Commemoratives and definitives often require two years of planning. Obvious exclusions include proposals considered criminal, in bad taste, overly foreign based and blatant commercial advertising. Businesses have been featured, including in sponsored Prestige Booklets, but they were judged to have contributed to Canadian culture. Continue reading →

On March 14, the American Philatelic Society (APS) released the results of its recent survey, which saw participation from more than 3,000 APS members and 800 non-members, offering insight into what collectors want from America’s national stamp club. Last November and December, the APS sent a questionnaire to members, former members and non-members in their database using Survey Monkey. Avidix Research Director of Research David Paddock, who’s also a long-time APS member, analyzed the results and authored the report. According to the APS Blog, Paddock also volunteered to lead focus groups at StampShow 2016 in Portland, Ore. Continue reading →

“Topical collecting is so entertaining, artistically satisfying and versatile … it can be the panacea for most stamp ills such as sheer boredom, disgust, disinterest and disillusionment. “It can be taken very seriously as a major collecting interest with extensive research and planning, or it may be used as an entertaining and decorative sideline or supplement to a major specialty.” This colourful definition, from a Poughkeepsie, N.Y. 1960s club bulletin, quotes thematic collector James McMeen. This hobby has many forms, and as many similar and different hobbyists as you can imagine. Continue reading →

From long experience, well-respected bogus stamps expert Ken Pugh narrowed his decades-old message perfectly during a recent round of lectures in Toronto: “Get to know the real thing.” Despite echoing what others have said since fakers first sought to woo the unwary with spurious replicas or altered genuine stamps, the teacher and forensic specialist knows full well how collectors can still be duped. “You have to know what they look like to compare,” he says. That’s a lesson I learned during my first visit with Royal Canadian Mounted Police anti-counterfeit experts in Ottawa in the 1970s, before writing about bogus banknotes for a newspaper and once for Reader’s Digest. Continue reading →