What's This APS Marking?

Hi all -- I joined the APS a few days ago, and I received this mail from them. What is the ink marking over the stamps? It seems to say something like "AMER PHILATELIC C". Why a C, and not an S? I assume it's not a USPS marking, so where is the USPS marking? I haven't seen how they mark stamped mail lately, but I assumed they still mark it.

By the way, APS is talking about "approving" my membership in 60 - 90 days. What is that about? What is there to approve of or not approve of? They don't know anything about me, so I'm not sure what they'd mull over.

Thanks.

The C probably stands for CENTER. I believe the APS HQ building is known as the American Philatelic Center.

It is a legitimate postal cancel. Here is a clearer impression:

AMER. PHILATELIC CTR.
CPU BELLEFONTE, PA 16823

Thus a Contract Postal Unit, which they have had for a long time.

And their "AVSEC" aviation security mark in green.

Image cropped from a large mailer.

Add: Here are 3 marks from their days in State College in 1985, 1993, and 1999. The first as a BRANCH, the later two as a STATION. Someone from APS/APRL would have to elaborate on the classification changes over time.

Hi Letterpress




I am not sure now but when I joined the APS checked credit ratings, dealers I dealt with, and other references. Since an APS member may be dealing financially with dealers, the APS itself or others, they wish to check as to a candidate's integrity. I am not really sure how else to explain the process and the reason.

All I can say is be patient, it is well worth the wait.

Jerry B
APS 1982

APS has to follow the rules in the bylaws. This includes the required posting of the name in the monthly AP and then waiting for a fixed time for feedback. The following month the acknowledgement of membership is published.

One approval is NO felony convictions.

Mostly it is to see if you have a history of trustworthy interactions with others, especially financial.

As an APS member, you can be and are at time trusted with significant amounts of other folk's property. It is not just to get the monthly magazine to read. Likewise, one can be expelled from the APS for violating the rules and trust.

Edit: Let me add, congratulations Letterpress for moving to join. I hope you were also able to secure the 3rd Edition of the rate book discussed on another thread.

To provide some back story, the author, Tony, gave the APS enough money to make the 3rd Edition print run with the understanding that the money from first so many copies sold went back to Tony to repay his loan. After that all future sales went to the APS 100%. A stable, trustworthy organization helps grow the hobby this way.

Yes, I ordered the book within minutes of joining APS, based on your tip. Thanks.

Even the footnotes carry important information.

By the way, what are your thoughts on the other books? I see a bunch of Scott catalogs, and something called "US/BNA". The latter doesn't seem to have any other name or title, but the publisher is listed as both Whitman as well as "H.E. Harris".

The Scott catalogs are confusing in that some have several volumes, but I'm not sure if any given volume is standalone or part of a set.

US/BNA. United States and British North America.


Peter

Letterpress. Scott issues a US Specialized Catalog of all US issued stamps for postage, fees, revenue, hunting, postage due, etc. as well as stamps issued for use in US territories such as Canal Zone, Cuba, Guam Puerto Rico, Shanghai, Hawaii etc. as well as the United Nations, NY as well as the foreign offices.

They also issue a set of World Wide general with US (abbreviated compared to the Specialized) in Volume 1 with the rest of the world's countries, current and dead, alphabetically in all the volumes.

Any library should have both the Specialized and Worldwide catalogs on the shelf. For now you do not need the most recent versions. The newest set may be reference only, meaning you can read, but not check out; but checkout copies should be available in the library or via inter/intra library or library system loan.

The Specialized remains one book but has grown thicker over the years. The world wide was 4 volumes for a long time, then hit six and then the individual volumes were split into two parts each, A and B.

Scott also does a specialized US Errors catalog of just stamps with errors as defined within philately. Generally simplified as some step or design element wholly missing, added or duplicated which can be consistently duplicated.

When travelling, the first two books I pack are the Scott US Specialized catalog and B&W's US rate book.

"I am not sure now but when I joined the APS checked credit ratings, dealers I dealt with, and other references."

That's interesting. They didn't ask for my SSN or mention a credit check, so I'm not sure how they'd do one. I don't have any experience with dealers, and they didn't ask for any info. I've had to do two major security clearances / background checks, and they didn't do any of the things I'd expect for that sort of thing. It's extremely odd to go through that to join a collectors organization, so maybe they no longer do it.

I agree, I rather doubt the APS ever did much checking, nor *can* with the information provided to them. If there were true checking, there would be an additional application fee to cover the cost. I suspect the publishing of names and the waiting period lets current members/dealers essentially do it for them to weed out the problems.