Edu Information -- Database?

Hey all. I see mention of EDU (Earliest Date of Use) for a particular stamp (and even sometimes for a particular town or postmark). Is there a central database that keeps that information? How is EDU determined? It seems bulky and inefficient to search through every certifying organization's records to make that determination.Thanks.

Luke

Setting aside the flow of wallpaper of the last fifty years or so, isn't the date of issue shown in the catalogue generally sufficient?

Geoff a high premium is placed on a stamp (normally on cover) which is the earliest known use. This refers mainly to classic US stamps and I'm not certain, but it's possible that some have not yet been discovered used on date of issue.

lukusw Richard Frajola hosts the Siskin-Berkin database of earliest known uses on his site (updated as of March 2015). It's a 97 page pdf file with lots of great information.

http://www.rfrajola.com/mercury/SiskinBerkun.pdf

Generally, yes, the catalogue is sufficient. But "new" EDU's are found every year and catalogues are not going to be the most up-to-date form of keeping up with the new discoveries. Also, it would be nice to check claims from sellers about an EDU item.

Jenny, I was typing while your response came up. Thanks for the info!

Jenny, just took a look at that link. Chock full of great info! Thanks for sabotaging my free time tonight :-)

Jenny

Ah, I see, Semper aliquid novi Americam adferre, as they say in Brooklyn.

Geoff

Jenny2U, That is an awesome link.
I have wondered about that type of info as well.
Saved in my bookmarks.
Thanks!

Great subject! Thank you lukusw!

Awesome 100th or so post.

For those who wonder:

Semper aliquid novi Americam adferre == From Americans there is always something new.

But I wonder if there are other countries where classic stamps are studied in the same way.

Great link Jenny2U. Thanks for sharing. Of course I went straight to the 10 & 11 data. A wealth of info in there.
Art

A couple of things I learned about this from direct experience

First to Jenny's comment about unknown issue dates on classics.
Last year I obtained an EDU certification for US #212 that set back the EDU date by a little more than three weeks. That is still two weeks away from the known delivery date to the P.O. in Washington, D.C. which is the earliest date of issue the stamp could possibly have. No record has survived of the actual first day of issue, so an EDU is as good as we can get.


In the course of doing this I learned a couple of things about EDU status.

1. First of all, the acronym EDU stands for earliest DOCUMENTED usage. This is a new designation of term for what used to be called EKU, i.e. earliest KNOWN use. The point of the name change is to emphasize the fact that the physical appearance of unsubstantiated discoveries is not enough.

2. To change the catalog listing, the new find must be authenticated by one of the recognized authority agencies. Apparently by general consent for EDU the principle authority of choice is the American Philatelic Society Expertizing Service, APEX. They maintain the most authoritative database for this service to the hobby. The lists at Richard Frajola's Philamercury site are easily accessed reports that are generally up to date, but that site is not an official authority for purposes of reporting new finds. Frajola himself made that clear to me when I reported the new date. Interestingly, the Siskin-Berkin list incorporated the new find when shown the APEX cert, but so far the Scott cat is not acknowledging it.

So the point about the standard catalog not being the best authority for details subject to serendipitous change is a valid critique for things like the EDU of a stamp. It was ever thus.

To expand somewhat on this topic, I have tried to keep the EDU files current since I added the Berkun /Siskin file to my website several years ago. I depend on collectors informing me when they find new earliest dates. New finds that owners wish included in the database are usually asked to submit the item to an expert group for confirmation of authenticity. I then weigh all available information and decide to enter as a new listing, or I request additional certification by another group if I am unsure of the validity of an opinion.

Once validated to the my satisfaction, and with a valid certificate from PF or APS, I update the listings. I make no effort to inform the Scott catalog editors of updates. I suggest people who own the items that they should present the findings to Scott's directly.

I have great confidence in the information that appears in the file I control. My website includes many article and exhibits, etc and may be visited here:

www.rfrajola.com

The United Postal Stationery Society maintains an ERP database of US postal stationery on their web site, UPSS.org. This database contains both EDU items and reports from journals and catalogs. This database is as current as the most recent submissions which include items from APEX.