What Did You Do Philatelically: Today Or Recently?

Thanks Scott Walkman82 hoping by end of week to be using the stairs. Living my internet life around a kindle gets very old after a while. Always have preferred desktop PC to laptop/mobile.

DJCMHOH - You'll be up and around in no time. I used to prefer a desktop but now use a laptop connected to a huge monitor and hardly notice the difference at all. It's nice to have the mobility to take it with me when needed.

Scott

All the best for your recovery, DJ. With your attraction for healthcare systems, you should be resident in Europe!

A friend was cleaning out some stuff and gave me these. I've never done much work digging into US postal rates, but am intrigued and might need to pick up a book or two.

What fun. The bible is "US Domestic Postal Rates, 1872-1993" by Beecher and Wawrukiewicz, or you can get the raw data from an old US Post Office Department publication by the same name.
Not to give away any spoilers, but in late 1944, (per ounce),
First Class: 3 cents
Air Mail: 8 cents
Special Delivery: 13 cents extra
Registration: 20 cents extra
That should explain all of your covers except the top one which I will leave as an exercise for the reader to explore. :-)

I added a 1 TB microSD as a supplemental internal drive in my laptop for storing images and electronic philatelic periodicals. Some were on an external HD so now can free up that for dedicated back ups in general.

I should add that APS sells both the domestic and international rate books, and they are currently on sale (for all, with extra discounts for APS members - members save $8-$10 per book).

Thanks for mentioning the sale. I had been meaning to order the domestic one for a long time, and I just did. They are $20 off right now. Not bad.

Today I ordered the Ruth Ginsberg & Winter Animals issues, the last for 2023. I also ordered the 2023 Annual with the high value & definitive packets (mail use issues). I need to do some math as the annual is getting VERY costly. I love the book, but the face value of all the issues is getting a little steep. As I noted in a previous post, I have these going back to the 80's. Those were simple portfolios & cost just the face-value of the stamps (plus a little for the folder) I remember paying $5-$10 for the earlier ones. I think this year the total package was close to $185. My annual gift to myself (excuse the pun .. please) !.

Since we are discussing Tony Wawrukiewicz' two rate books, I would like to point out that on Stamp Smarter we have several PDF files compiled by Tony to correct and expand the material in those two books...

https://stampsmarter.org/learning/H...yWRates.html

In addition we maintain a library of all of the official USPS Notice123 publications which are issued by the USPS each time that rates are updated. These can be found here...

https://stampsmarter.org/learning/PostalRates.html

While not as convenient as having them all compiled in Tony's easy to use format, it at least brings all the information together in one convenient location.

Mike

I received some stamps I ordered today and spent some time sorting which ones I wanted to keep for my collections vs. use as postage. Quite happy with what I got.

Went for a three-day trip last weekend to Tokyo to participate JAPEX2023 (58th All Japan Stamp Exhibition), Nov 3 to Nov 5. It was my first attempt to participate in a competitive exhibition with my 3-frame "Japan Hand Engraved Documentary Revenue, 5th Issue, 1 Sen Black", and, wow, got 82 points = domestic LV plus special appraisal from Jury - totally unexpected !!!

Congratulations! And thanks for sharing your knowledge here.

Added some stamps to a new country to my WW albums this weekend...Rhodesia. I was really surprised that I had not yet mounted any material for that country, but there it was(n't). I'm sure I have some more accumulated around here, but my goal is to get stamps in the album, so I was please to add this new entry.

Unechan, congratulations! And thanks for sharing your photos. I was in Osaka in July and was able to attend a small stamp show. If only I had planned a trip around JAPEX instead!

As for my philatelic doings today, I'm attempting to write down what stamps I like to collect based on what I've already collected. I've never actively thought about themes before, but this forum has inspired me.