Ekko Radio Reception Stamps

See below for a partial pane image.




Towner Keeney Webster, Jr.'s Ekko Company released a stamp for WJTL with a press printed call sign in June, 1931.

And that was the last "official" Ekko stamp that was released.

However, the below advertisement is from a December, 1935 publication. It appears that Mr. Webster continued to supply Ekko stamps with handstamped call signs for several years after his firm folded, and probably from his home.

This was not difficult to do, as he clearly had a supply of the American Bank Note stamps, and a simple rubber stamp with easily changeable letters was readily available at a stationery store.

The problem is, there is no way to identify Mr. Webster's handstamps from those applied to the same stamps by anyone else that bought a similar rubber stamp.

The same left-over Ekko blank stamps found their way to the philatelic market many years later. These stamps are known with and without the "verified reception stamp" text.

This is why there are "official" press-printed Ekko stamps, and the ubiquitous rubber stamped varieties.

See below for examples of the blanks and some handstamps.

Jim

Oh my, THIS is a nice item for a collector of these!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/EKKO-Radio-...263178909700

I obtained some of these, as well as the stations' QSL (verification of reception) cards, including WBZ in Boston, during the early 1960's. What made me proud of the WBZ reception was that I could see the Pacific ocean from my listening position in my bedroom. Sadly, the stamps and cards were lost years ago.

There are two different WBZ Ekko stamps.

The other ones are Bryant stamps.

Jim

THANKS James Drummond!

Incidentally, that album went for $761!!

Hi Nells,

There was an ebay seller that came across a well-filled Ekko album at a garage sale. He picked it up for just a few dollars, about ten years ago.

He then began listing the stamps individually on ebay.

I was one of the buyers that bid on his lots, and, the last I heard, he paid off his house mortgage based on that one album.

On the other hand, the stamps that were listed in the collection that you mentioned were nothing special; they were all relatively common.

But solid collections of verified reception stamps are nowhere near as commonly offered as they were years ago.

Jim

JAMES - interesting! So there is a definite following of these stamps! Is the appeal more for radio collectors, though?

I don't know about others, of course, but for myself, being a former amateur radio operator (WN6LOQ) and a stamp collector, I pretty much HAVE to collect these types of stamps.

And write catalogs about them, too.

Of course, I justify just about everything that I collect that way as well.

Like being born on Christmas I have to collect Christmas seals, and so on.



Jim

I am doing some estate planning, so I have some questions of value. My father's step-father collected EKKO stamps. I think there are about 80 or so stamps, plus the return letters and hand written copies of the letters he sent out, and a log of letters mailed and received. He didn't buy an album, he created his own. I was told he won something from the contest but I haven't been able to verify that. What kind of value are we talking here? I know it can't be specific without the specific stamps he had, just a general idea. Does anyone have an estimate and any idea if there ever was a list of winners and what they won (if there was anything won)?

Hi rottenralf, you should at least post a few pictures so we can see what you have,

Peter

Hello rottenralf,

There is a catalog of these stamps available. The link is here:

http://www.ericjackson.com/rDetails...1958&this=it

Broadly speaking, there are common Ekko stamps that sell for a few dollars each, depending on their condition, and there are very rare Ekko stamps that can sell for hundreds of dollars each.

Some large and powerful radio stations were around for a long time, and they distributed thousands of stamps over the years.

But there were also part time stations that broadcast with just five watts of power for a few hours every few days.

And there are many stations between these two extremes.

There are also many stamps that were printed by Ekko but no examples of those stations have yet been seen.

So, the value of a collection of these stamps depends on which stations are in it.

If you can post some pictures I'll try to give you a more accurate value of them.

Jim

At the risk of drawing some ire from potential bidders, I have to point out this interesting ebay item...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/American-B....m1438.l2649

Looks like more than one or two collectors are into Ekko stamps and/or proofs of same...

Jim

There is a "WEAN" tucked into this lot:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/US-Cindere...264278975687

That EKKO proof brought $94 with 26 bids. Hot ticket item! Was anyone here the winning bidder?