Thanks for the reply, Jim. Nice to "meet" you. Thank you for your many contributions to philately in the form of the handbooks you have been creating. The radio stamps caught my particular attention.
The first EKKO stamp I ever encountered was a loose single stuck in the pages of a Scott Specialized catalog I had checked out of the local public library while I was a teenager. It was no doubt left there by a frustrated collector who saw the words "American Bank Note Company" printed on it but couldn't find it in the catalog. Packrat that I am I held on to it until quite some time later I saw some discussion of these stamps in an article by Barbara Mueller in, of all places, the Essay-Proof Journal. That caught my attention, but what to do about it?
From that initial chance encounter fast forward 45 years, and I again chanced upon some sellers on eBay who were offering these stamps like they meant business. This was just before your handbook came out, and when it did I was an early buyer. I wanted to know the story, for EKKO, Bryant, and the early development of radio from its start in telegraphy (after that went wireless). The ubiquity of telegraph stamps had set the stage for a philatelic connection, especially the wireless versions from United Fruit, Marconi, and United Wireless (apparently all patterned after the Western Union franks of the time). So did the fact that ABNCo was the creative source for much of the well executed material used by EKKO, and sometimes emulated by others.
. Material + Story = Philatelic potential.
Your notes have opened the door to a field that is surprisingly large, dare I say "vast"?
You wrote:
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The update kit has a) images of stamps that weren't in the book and b) better quality images of stamps that were in the book
The handbook is excellent. It is a great guidebook and intro to the subject. Has there ever emerged any interest in taking it to the next level and producing an actual catalog? Is there a philatelic study circle for this material, or is it pretty much dominated by DXer interests?
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AFCO: Nothing has been added for these stamps.
Based on your notes (p. 89) there is no evidence that the several varieties of these stamps which have survived ever saw distribution and use to a widespread audience. Since they claimed to have been "TRUE VERIFICATION" stamps, presumably they were not made available for direct sale to collectors, but only via station distribution. Yet it is a fact that quite a few have survived, in a variety of colors. The subject might need a bit more discussion; perhaps from a study group?
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Stamps that are overprinted Specimen are already shown in the book.
It is an excellent introduction. But there is so much more material out there begging for listing. A young philatelist could have a field day in documenting an interesting field of study.
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Ekko blank stamps: yes, a few. Send a scan of what you have, and I'll see if I have any that you're missing.
Thank you for looking into it. Here is what I have at present:
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Altered stamps: nothing has been added or changed in the introduction.
It's another broad area crying for study.
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Lastly, it's pretty much universal these days that some will ignore condition or faults and only focus on, in this case, call signs. Not much that we can do, other than to closely study any of the images that are shown in the auction listing.
Given the intrinsic rarity of specific pieces, do you think that in the last decade the material has become too dispersed to meaningfully catalog?
Posted 04/11/2022 9:53 pm
