Apfelbaum’s Corner – Volume 32

During the period from 1890-1900, the stamp catalogs of the world dropped the listing of postal stationery. This was not because collectors of the day had lost interest in that segment of the hobby. It was because dealers and cataloguers believed that the requisite number of philatelic varieties required maintaining a good volume of business had been reached. And they believed that the space devoted to postal stationery listings could be saved without hurting philately.

Over the intervening years, several new crops of collectors have been on the scene, and philately has changed from a game of seeing who can get the most stamps to one of using stamps for research into all phases of life.

Postal stationery is frequently artistic and always as historically significant as the stamps of a country. It is a branch of philately worthy of your interest. New catalogs which cover the subject of postal stationery are now appearing. Rarities can still be purchased as sleepers.