Download this report as an MP3 sound file.

The Year In Stamps

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries. 

It's been quite a year for "philately," the fancy word for stamp collecting. 

What appeared to be a rare hundred-thousand dollar stamp, used for postage on a Florida 
absentee ballot, was a fake, but it sure got everyone's attention.

The U-S hosted a huge international stamp show in Washington, and it proved stamp 
collecting is alive and kicking in this country.

The Postal Service cut the waiting period after death before a person can appear on a U-S 
stamp from ten years to five. It also added former Olympic swimmer Donna de Varona, and 
serious stamp collector and former Postmaster General Benjamin Bailar to its stamp advisory 
committee.

The only known example of an eighteen-sixty-nine Lincoln stamp used on an envelope -- and 
stolen forty years ago -- was brought into a Chicago stamp shop. The FBI has the famed 
Icehouse cover now.

And in May, Spanish police raided the offices of the third-largest collectibles firm in the 
world and made arrests, as part of a probe into alleged stamp investment fraud. Just recently, 
the North American president of a company Afinsa owns most of stepped down. This story isn't 
over yet.

I'm Lloyd de Vries of The Virtual Stamp Club. For more about stamps and stamp collecting, 
visit virtual-stamp-club-dot-com

----------------------------------------------------------
Go to Previous Report
Go to Next Report 

Go to Report Index