Postal rates are going up again this month. A first class 1oz letter up 2 cents to 68 cents, post cards up 2 cents to 53 cents, but the additional oz rate will again stay pat at 24 cents. At least something didn’t go up!

RW13a, bright rose pink color error, turned out to not be an error at all, but a chemically altered changeling. After several decades and thousands of dollars changing hands, modern technology was finally able to prove that this error never existed. The listing was removed from the Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers in 2016.

A French collector coined the term philately, but the word actually comes from the Greek ‘philo’ lover or fond of ‘ateleia’ free of payment or tax. Philotely is actually the more correct rendering.

The “First Day of Issue” cancellation, that we all know today, was first used in 1937. The stamp that received it was the Ordinance of 1787 Sesquicentennial issue.

The first country to issue postage due stamps was France in 1859. One of the reasons was to keep postmasters and letter carriers from cheating the public with fraudulent charges for extra postage due.

The Scott Catalog for US stamps does not use numbers 520-522. This is because those numbers first listed the first three airmail stamps, which are today C1-C3 before airmail stamps received the “C” as part of their number and their own section in the catalog. The editors never went back and reused these numbers after the move. Oops?

The APS Summer Seminar in Philately first began in 1980. Contrary to the belief of some, it never was actually named Stamp Camp. However, in 1990 the term Stamp Camp first appeared in The American Philatelists. This lasted until 1994 after which the named just stopped being used. The name still lingers today as many still refer to Summer Seminar as Stamp Camp.

The first governmental issued airmail stamp was issued by Italy in May 1917. It was an Italian Express issue over printed for experimental service between Rome and Turin.

The 3-cent 1869 pictorial wood burning locomotive stamp, Scott #114, which was the workhorse for the mail at the time due to the 3-cent letter rate, was chosen in the advance to commemorate the transcontinental railroad. The stamp was issued 6 weeks before the completion.

The first non-denominated US stamps were Christmas stamps. Scott #1579 and 1580 were issued on October 14th, 1975.