WEBVTT - How Stamp Collecting Works 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:04.280 Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:13.520 Heart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:16.119 and there's Chuck and Jerry just laughed. So it's just 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:20.680 me and Chuck being bad boys going through our stamp collection. 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:27.639 Oh yeah, that's right, the purposefully silent Jerry. By the way, Yeah, 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:31.880 it's her own choice. Yeah, she's a real, live human being, 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:34.800 Jerry said. Plenty of chances we've asked her, and she 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:38.160 loves being in the background and not being on the show. 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:41.000 I just want to make that clear. She's a wallflower. 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:48.239 M a lazy, semi useless wall flower that we love 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:51.800 like a sister, that's right, and who keeps us in line, 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:55.560 an who may or may not even exist. That's right. 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:58.880 Let's talk about stamps, baby, So I already said we're 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:01.400 talking about stamp collect thing. Oh and by the way, 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:04.240 this is stuff you should know. I think that it's 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:07.240 not an official episode until I say that. What do 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:12.000 you think that's our watermark? Okay, yeah, nice reference, Chucks. 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:14.640 We're gonna talk about those there. Wow, you have been 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:18.200 doing this for a while, haven't you a couple of years? So, um, 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:21.280 we're talking stamp collecting. I don't collect stamps. I never 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:25.600 have collected stamps. Um, I've never been friends with somebody 0:01:25.600 --> 0:01:28.760 who collected stamps. As far as I know, no relatives 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:32.320 of collected stamps. Do you ever collect anything? I collected 0:01:32.319 --> 0:01:36.759 baseball cards, the usual, you know, But it turns out 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:40.560 I would I would posit that stamp collecting is vastly 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:43.959 more popular than baseball card collecting. As as popular as 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:47.480 baseball card collecting is, I think, if you're talking worldwide, 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:50.400 probably so, yeah, for sure, because I mean over in 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:53.120 some countries they don't even care about baseball. They're like, 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:55.880 I don't even know who Freddie Freeman is. I like 0:01:55.960 --> 0:01:58.680 the alliteration, but I don't know who he is. They should, 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:03.000 he's great. I remember when he was a rookie. Do 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:06.400 you have a rookie card? No? I stopped collecting baseball 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:12.680 cards when I aged out of the well baseball card age. Yea, 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:16.240 but yeah, it was long before Freddie Freeman. No, I 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:18.440 don't have one of his cards, do you. No? I 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:20.920 don't collect baseball cards. I collected banks. I think I've 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:25.280 talked about that before. Uh No, I don't know why 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:28.360 it's weird. I think I just had more than one 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:30.160 of them and then said, well, this is a start 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:34.320 to something. And I collected, Like, I mean, technically there 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:37.600 were piggy banks, but none of them were big, So 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:40.040 you know, I think I had like thirty or forty 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:42.160 banks at one point when I was a kid, little banks. 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:45.760 I suspected you were talking about banks, banks like you'd 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:48.440 walk around and like slap your hand on like a 0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:50.840 fifth third and been like, I just collected this bank 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:57.280 something like that. So piggy banks that weren't pigs yeah, 0:02:57.520 --> 0:03:01.200 you know, it was like a just bank. Little banks. Yeah, 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:05.880 what was the coolest one you had? I got one 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:08.239 from like a NAPA Auto Parts that was a car 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:10.560 battery bank, and that was that was kind of cool. 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:13.480 I remember that stands out in my memory for some 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:16.760 reason I can imagine, but cool, I don't know is 0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:19.040 the right word for it. But okay, that's the only 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:21.000 one who can really remember. I had a Mickey Mouse bank, 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:22.920 but who does think it went too I had a 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:28.240 Spiderman piggy bank the bust of you know, myteen seventies 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:31.840 spider Man and I broke it open with a hammer 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:35.560 and used all the money inside to buy candy and 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:38.880 two lunches at school for a stretch. It was like 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:40.440 I was walking around like I was the King of 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:42.840 England in the cafeteria. I thought you gonna be like 0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:46.280 my first pack of cigarettes. There was just a few 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:50.440 short years before then. But yeah, stamp collecting, I've never 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:53.280 known anyone who's done it, but it is hugely popular 0:03:54.240 --> 0:03:57.240 and it seems like a really kind of lovely pleasant 0:03:57.240 --> 0:04:01.600 thing because, as is pointed out here in this uh article, 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:05.600 who was this was this ed grabstr Uh, it's like, 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:07.920 you know, collecting little pieces of art, little tiny works 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:12.640 of art exactly. But even more than that, stamps have 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:18.800 a very deep, detailed, intricate, arcane history, and I mean 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:23.160 stamps in general, but also every single individual stamp and 0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:27.800 the stamp collecting community really loves to dig into that 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:31.120 history and you know, all about all the different stuff 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:34.440 about every single stamp um and so there's a lot 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:37.880 of information to absorb while you're collecting, which I think 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:40.200 is one of the big draws of collecting anything, is 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:43.720 the background information to it. To definitely, like look at 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:46.800 you can enjoy a stamp just on its face, pretty 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:49.360 its neat is really well done usually, or at least 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:52.440 the ones that are worth collecting. But the idea sure 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:55.000 that too, but the idea and it has you know, 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:58.839 a history just from sometimes being old, but then also 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:02.360 the idea that it has a backstory to Um, it's 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:05.120 just about as as well rounded a hobby as as 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:09.840 you could find. So another term for stamp collecting is 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:14.240 called hi lately p h i l a t e 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:17.960 l y. It's not the easiest word to spell until 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:21.479 you stop and think about it, but it's derived from 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:25.040 the words philo or love of like philosophy, love of knowledge. 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:29.880 But this is love of atalia, and that is exemption 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:33.559 from payment. So you would use a stamp to show 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:36.599 that whatever you were sending or whatever is exempt from payment. 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:40.480 You already paid. So really hi lately means love of 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:44.120 stamps in a really round about way. To see, I 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:49.560 heard it pronounced philately. Really we'll go with that one then, 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:52.600 because I've just been pronouncing that that way in my 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:56.719 head for a very long time. There you have it. 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:02.880 Who is that with you? Her name is uh mispronunciation, 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:10.000 Emma says mispronunciation, Yeah, ms, mispronunciation. We're not going to 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:12.640 assume anything, you know. One of the things very good. 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:16.000 One of the things that that I've noticed in queuing 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:19.599 episodes is how many jokes of your slide right past 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:22.440 me while you're saying them, and I don't catch him 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:25.360 until I'm queueing an episode later on. So so many 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:28.800 hats off for all those jokes that I've missed. If 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:32.200 you're gonna get into philateli or be a philatelist, then 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:35.600 you should know that it's not like a get rich 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:37.800 quick thing. You do it sort of for the love 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:41.800 of the hobby itself, and as you go along over 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:44.640 the years, you may eventually acquire some stamps that maybe 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:47.559 worth some money, but it's not the kind of thing where, 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:52.320 um just get into it with the the intentions that 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:55.040 you should have, which is you're not gonna make a 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:57.280 ton of money doing this kind of thing. Yeah, get 0:06:57.320 --> 0:07:00.200 into it for the love of collecting stamps. Yeah, way 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:02.880 to do it. Yeah, that's kind of eye opening and surprising, 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:05.360 I think, to most of us on the outside of 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:09.440 the Philadeli world looking in, because you know, we hear 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:13.240 about these auctions where stamps go for millions of dollars, 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:15.600 and every once in a while they'll pop up as 0:07:15.680 --> 0:07:20.040 like a mcguffin in a movie or something like that. Um, 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:24.360 so the idea that almost all stamps are the wildly 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:28.400 vast majority of stamps are really not worth much at all. 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:30.320 Is is kind of surprising, or it was to me 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:33.720 at least, But also it just makes me love stamp 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:36.760 collectors that much more, you know. Yeah, And I think 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:39.320 one thing I really love about stamp collecting, which is 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:42.040 sort of towards the end of this research, but I'll 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:44.520 go ahead and say it now, is that it seems 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:48.960 like the stamp collecting purists only collect stamps that are 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:53.200 actually used to mail things like get out of here 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:56.920 with your special edition collector thing that is just printed 0:07:57.000 --> 0:08:00.600 up for some certain you know, to give to a dignitary, 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:05.520 like they want stamps like mail in letter stamps. That's right. 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:08.600 And as a matter of fact, there's a kind of 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:12.360 considered one of the big authorities on stamps, the Scott Catalog. 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:17.320 They apparently don't even recognize stamps that aren't released by 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:22.040 governments for the purposes of mailing postage to the general public. 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:26.080 If it if it's not released like that by those authorities, 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:29.400 then it doesn't exist as far as that's concerned. Yeah, 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:30.840 I mean, it seems like part of the fund is 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:34.960 finding these things on an old letter like a cool discovery, 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:37.800 and uh, I just I like the idea of it. 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:39.480 I'm probably not going to get into it just because 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:40.760 I don't have the time for this kind of thing, 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:43.600 but I can certainly appreciate it. And then there's one 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:45.880 other aspect of it too that I kind of turned 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:49.320 up from this, and I'm sure it's not entirely correct 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:52.440 across the board, but it seems like a person stamp 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:56.960 collection is a very personal thing. It says like I 0:08:56.960 --> 0:08:59.640 am interested in this, so I went through the trouble 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:02.679 of ending these things. And in that sense, it almost 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:07.559 bears a resemblance to that super adorable coin collection that 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:11.640 Owen had throw Mama from the train. Remember when he 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:14.040 pulls out his coin collection and instead of some rare coins, 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:16.760 it's like a quarter that he had he got changed 0:09:16.800 --> 0:09:18.880 for when he was at Coney Island with his dad 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:21.280 when he was twelve. It's it's kind of like that, 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:25.000 you know, it's a really endearing hobby. I think, yeah, 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:26.960 because it's not like you're like, all right, I'm gonna 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:30.280 get into stamp collecting, and you know, what are the 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:33.880 best stamps to collect for? You know, the best stamps 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:35.800 to collect are the ones that speak to you. So 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:37.640 if you get into it for a little while and 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:41.720 you're like, boy, the stamps from the Roaring twenties really 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:46.400 are are pretty cool looking to me, or stamps with 0:09:46.520 --> 0:09:49.280 dogs on them, or you could collect many, many kinds 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:51.360 of stamps. But a lot of people sort of get 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:54.440 into stamp collecting and realize, I like these kinds of stamps. 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:57.319 So that's what my collection is going to reflect exactly. 0:09:57.480 --> 0:10:01.440 That's exactly right, very cool. So that's am collecting everybody. 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:05.680 Should we take a break? Should we already? Sure, let's 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:07.720 do it, chuck, Let's throw caution to the wind like 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:37.000 every average stamp collector does. Okay, we're back, and um 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:39.160 we should say chuck. I think if this seems a 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:42.280 little weird, if the tone seems a little weird today 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:47.400 this is one of our less than usual Thursday recording sessions. 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:50.160 So it's it's always a little like more foot loose, 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:53.720 you know what I mean? Sure, my feet are very loose. 0:10:55.240 --> 0:10:58.680 So we should probably give some terms here if you're 0:10:58.760 --> 0:11:01.000 interested in getting a stamp collector, if you just want 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:03.640 to know a little more about it. There is a 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:08.120 lot of arcane jargon in slang in the world of 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:10.319 stamp collecting, and one of the reasons why it's been 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:13.920 around for almost a couple of hundred years now, and 0:11:13.960 --> 0:11:17.640 over that time there's just kind of been successive generations 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:20.120 who have kind of added and refined and contributed to it. 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:22.560 But they all have to know what they're talking about 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:24.199 to one another, so they've kind of come up with 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:27.520 a bunch of different terms to describe things. Yeah, like 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:30.080 in true stuff, he'sho know, fashion. This is a broad overview. 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:34.600 Their entire podcast dedicated to this kind of thing, right, Uh, 0:11:34.679 --> 0:11:37.000 So we're gonna go over some of those broad definitions. 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:38.839 And the first one we have to talk about is 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:43.200 the gum, which is that sticky stuff that killed George 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:47.440 Costanza's wife or fiance. Well, here's just from looking envelopes, 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:50.199 right or was it stamps? I guess it was envelopes, 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:53.959 wasn't it? But it's still gum exactly. I forgot about 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:57.240 that because he got the cheap the cheap stuff he 0:11:57.400 --> 0:12:01.960 cheaped out um. So this is what's used to stick 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:04.560 the stamp on. If the stamp has never been used 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:08.360 at all, it's like this pristine little thing. It's it's 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:12.680 called full original gum, and then it's called new gum 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:14.400 if you have a stamp and you want to add 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:17.520 a little uh gum to it to stick it into 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:21.160 your collection, which we'll get to as well. Yeah, so 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:25.199 the sticky stuff equals gum. Right, pretty simple. Let's get 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:29.400 a little more complex, Chuck, what's a block? A block 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:32.040 is a group of stamps that are still connected to 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:35.360 their little friends. But it's got to be at least 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:38.200 four and a and they can't be four in a 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:42.440 row either. For my research, it's two and two. It's 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:46.040 got to be a square block. Yeah, I saw that there, 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:50.400 as long as therefore it can be irregular shapes, because 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:54.760 sometimes blocks of stamps get added to, or messed with 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:57.680 or just changed over the decades or the century. So 0:12:57.800 --> 0:13:01.080 I've seen that more than at but in a less 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:04.000 regular shape is still considered a block. But what about 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:05.880 four in a row in a strip? Does that count 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:09.280 as a block? I believe so. I think as long 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:12.360 as it's at least four and that there is although 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:16.959 I guarantee there's another arcane term for what you just said, um, 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:19.400 But as long as it's not all of the ones 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:24.080 that were originally attached together, that would be a sheet. Okay, 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:28.839 al right, okay, alright, nowhere are Um. One other thing 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:31.240 about stamps that you have to realize is, you know, 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:33.640 you tend to think if you collect things, when you 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:38.199 collect things that are not quite right, like a slightly 0:13:38.280 --> 0:13:40.640 off version of what it's supposed to be, that it 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:44.800 would be much more expensive and collectible. And in some 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:48.840 cases that's true, Like there there's a um, there's somebody 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:53.880 in the stamp collecting world, uh that is collecting stuff 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:56.440 that nobody else is. Like, there's always going to be 0:13:56.440 --> 0:13:58.920 somebody out there who wants something. But in the standp world, 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:02.160 you want something as precise and pristine and centered and 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:05.440 perfectly done as possible. That that usually tends to be 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:09.160 the higher valued stamp. The other kind that are just 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:13.199 kind of off the printing was slightly off center, that 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:16.600 kind of thing. Those are called errors, freaks and oddities 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:21.920 e fos in the stamp collecting world. Yeah, it's it's like, uh, 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:24.800 you're talking about if like there's an obi wan Kenobi 0:14:24.880 --> 0:14:29.400 figure that the first thousand that they made he was 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:33.320 missing a left ear. Uh, in that world, that would 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:37.280 be the most valuable thing probably ever made exactly in 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:39.720 the history of the world. But yeah, like you're saying, 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:43.560 with stamps, they generally they want as far as value goes, 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:46.800 they want them that are nice and tidy, right. But 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:50.160 so I mean with with those terms error free, errors, 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:54.040 freaks and oddities, those are just kind of wildly overstating 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:56.720 what they describe. Like we're talking about a stamp that's 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:59.960 just the printing is slightly off center for the perforation 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:02.560 are just a little bit off or whatever maybe kind 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:04.920 of half got through there. That would be considered a freak, 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:08.360 you know, like that's how precise stamp printing is meant 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:11.240 to be. So um, some people do collect that, but 0:15:11.280 --> 0:15:13.360 for the most part, yeah, you want as as close 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:15.840 to perfect to stamp as possible. It sounds like a 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:21.120 record album title, Air's Freaks and oddities, like the best 0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:24.520 of Guided by Voices or something that's a good one 0:15:25.000 --> 0:15:29.320 or just a you know, off brand Discovery Network Channel's 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:37.840 new show, you know. So um, there's cancelations too. That's 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:40.760 another good term to learn if you're getting into stamp collecting, 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:43.520 and everybody knows a canceled stamp. It's where they take 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:48.680 a like a ink stamp stamp over the postage stamp 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:51.560 and it's canceled. You can't reuse it. It's meant to 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:54.720 say this has been used, it's okay, let it through 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:57.760 the mail, but don't try to reuse it again. And 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:01.160 that's a canceled stamp. And still you can still collect 0:16:01.160 --> 0:16:05.160 those stamps. In fact, you know, most stamps I think 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:08.760 that people collect have been used and found on these letters, 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:12.200 which we'll talk about that are called covers. But sometimes 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:15.520 that postmark is on the stamp itself, and sometimes it 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:18.720 is off to the side, you know, because it's not 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:22.760 those people at the post office they're just stamping those things. 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:25.120 They got a lot of work to do. So sometimes 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:27.400 you'll just barely get a little bit of cancelation on 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:29.920 the stamp, and the rest of the goodness, including the 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:32.080 date and where it was mailed from, might be just 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:35.640 on the envelope itself. Yeah, and there's a lot of 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:38.320 information that can be contained in just a plain old 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:43.360 cancelation stamp. Um some you know, like some people collect 0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:48.040 disaster stamp. So like if you had a letter that 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:50.840 was postmarked, or an envelope and a stamp that was 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:55.040 postmarked on September eleven, two one in New York, somebody's 0:16:55.080 --> 0:16:59.160 probably collecting, you know, canceled canceled stamps and covers like 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:01.280 that interest s thing. I never really thought about that. 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:04.480 That makes perfect sense. Also, while we're talking about the 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:06.640 people working at the post office, I feel we would 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:09.040 be remiss if we did this whole episode without doing 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:11.720 a shout out to our favorite postal worker, Van Nostrin. 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:15.840 That's in a great state of Washington. And I don't 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:18.359 know where the ads fall, but if there's a stamps 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:22.320 dot Com ad on this total total coincidence, that's right. 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:27.480 Some people I saw um collect machined um stamps meter 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:31.240 postage too. And like you said, there's probably a subset 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:34.639 out there for kind of anything. There definitely is every 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:37.320 rule you see, there's some rebel group out there breaking it. 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:42.040 In the Philadeli world, the covers what I mentioned, don't 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:46.280 you dare call it an envelope? Yeah, you'd really reveal 0:17:46.320 --> 0:17:50.200 yourself to be uneducated rube if you did that, which 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:53.440 there's probably a word for that too. Yeah, like in 0:17:53.600 --> 0:18:01.560 a beginning beginner philadelist is probably come licker. That's good. 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:06.439 Uh So the cover, like I said, as the envelope, Um, 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:09.440 sometimes you will keep that whole envelope at least for 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:11.440 a little while. Sometimes it's a little you know, they're 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:15.040 easier to hang onto than a tiny stamp sometimes, so 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:17.280 you might not want to cut it out right away, 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:19.960 and you can keep up with those envelopes until you 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:22.240 want to get that stamp off. Or like we said, 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:26.560 if it's got some of the really valuable information that 0:18:26.680 --> 0:18:30.280 makes that stamp special is on the cover itself, you 0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:32.959 may want to keep the whole thing forever and just 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:36.800 have it on the envelope. Right. And again, these are 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:39.440 things that people pay attention to in the stamp world 0:18:39.600 --> 0:18:42.720 or collect. And then there's another thing that that you know, 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:44.919 most of us who just use stamps as like normal 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:48.359 human beings UM have noticed but don't really pay much 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:51.320 attention to our the perforations that we used to separate stamps. 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:54.360 Like way back in the day, stamps came in sheets 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:59.840 and you colonial person or you know, UM second Industrial 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:03.320 age inhabitant, we're expected to pull out your scissors and 0:19:03.359 --> 0:19:09.159 cut the stamps into you know, little individual singles. Then finally, UM, 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:14.560 an irishman named um Henry Archer from Dublin came up 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:18.400 with a perforation tool. And all you're doing is making 0:19:18.480 --> 0:19:22.280 the paper at certain points thinner so that it's easily 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:26.200 torn at those points. And so the first perforated stamp 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:29.600 that came out was the eighteen fifty British Penny Red, 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:32.880 which is pretty pretty quickly after stamps were first invented 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:38.560 postal stamps um. And with that Henry Archer created this 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:46.440 whole sub category of stamp I guess some categorization, a 0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:55.399 subcategory of categorization that is categorical. But stamp collecting people philatilists. Um. 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:58.040 I'm i'd like it the way I say it, more philatelists. 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:05.840 Now I should probably loud um. So philatilists um, really 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:09.760 pay attention to perforations. It's like a really important part 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:13.080 of stamp collecting. Yeah, because it can be a big clue. 0:20:13.119 --> 0:20:14.920 I mean, it can be a clue as to where 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:18.720 it actually came from, because these people know how they 0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:22.240 have perforated things with different machines and different parts of 0:20:22.280 --> 0:20:25.159 the world in different eras. So it can be a 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:27.359 very big clue as to the age of the stamp 0:20:27.359 --> 0:20:30.440 and where it came from. If they don't have those perforations, 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:34.800 they're called imperforate imperforate, and then you know, I talked 0:20:34.800 --> 0:20:38.040 about the little strips of stamps, the coils those obviously 0:20:38.040 --> 0:20:40.080 you're just gonna have the perforations on the sides and 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:44.479 not the top or the top, just not both. Uh. 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:47.159 Oh interesting, I've never really. I guess it depends on 0:20:47.200 --> 0:20:50.800 which way the art is oriented, right. Uh. And then 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:54.720 you've got the sheets or the pain, and if it's 0:20:54.720 --> 0:20:57.480 on the outer edges of that sheet or pain, it 0:20:57.560 --> 0:21:01.479 probably won't have those perforations either. And uh, it is 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:04.359 a big deal. You'd be surprised. Yeah. And those outer 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:08.440 margins even have their own word, chuck, salvage, which also 0:21:08.480 --> 0:21:11.320 applies to like, you know, the the hem of like 0:21:11.400 --> 0:21:13.880 your shirt or something that's that's sewn in a certain 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:16.520 way to keep it from unraveling. That's called salvage too. 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:18.919 But in the stamp collecting, it's basically the margins, the 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:23.119 sheets um and sometimes they have you know, um registration 0:21:23.200 --> 0:21:25.879 marks or dates or you know, the number of the 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:29.320 print run printed in there. Some people collect that of 0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:34.080 course as well, salvage stamps. I love learning new words salvage. 0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:40.000 I learned one yesterday. Parapet mm hmm, you know what 0:21:40.040 --> 0:21:44.679 that is? No, I mean, I've seen it before. I 0:21:44.720 --> 0:21:46.760 just cannot bring to mind what it means. It's like 0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:50.320 the little And I learned this because uh oh, and 0:21:50.359 --> 0:21:51.760 it was gonna tell you this anyway. I had our 0:21:51.800 --> 0:21:55.679 buddy Wyatt Sinek on movie Crush yesterday. Oh cool, what 0:21:55.760 --> 0:21:59.919 do you talk about Blazing Saddles? And there's a scene 0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:04.359 where and I've seen Blazing Saddles probably three dozen times. 0:22:04.400 --> 0:22:06.960 It's up there with spinal tap as far as comedies 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:10.280 that I've seen, and I know it basically by heart. 0:22:10.320 --> 0:22:13.000 And there's a scene where mel Brooks's Governor Lepetta Maine 0:22:13.080 --> 0:22:16.080 comes into the room and he said, sorry, gentlemen, I 0:22:16.119 --> 0:22:19.480 was just out walking the parapet and I never bothered 0:22:19.480 --> 0:22:21.960 to look up what that meant until yesterday. And it's 0:22:22.000 --> 0:22:24.520 the little if you're on top of the building, it's 0:22:24.560 --> 0:22:27.119 the little half wall that goes around the top of 0:22:27.160 --> 0:22:30.439 the building to keep you from falling off off you 0:22:30.480 --> 0:22:35.119 know more interesting. Yeah, right, really banks up maschins on 0:22:35.200 --> 0:22:38.000 your way down. So I never knew that before walking 0:22:38.000 --> 0:22:41.720 the parapet. Yeah, okay, So he was saying like he 0:22:41.800 --> 0:22:44.800 was basically walking on the edge of a high wall. 0:22:44.960 --> 0:22:47.960 I guess a low wall, Yeah, low wall, high up 0:22:48.320 --> 0:22:53.760 with his selvage. I got you. Oh boy, so um, 0:22:53.840 --> 0:22:57.760 let's say Chuck that you said I care about perforations. 0:22:57.840 --> 0:23:00.680 I want to know more about these registration marks on salvage. 0:23:01.000 --> 0:23:05.400 How do I get into this filati um as a hobby, Chuck? 0:23:05.720 --> 0:23:08.399 What would what would you recommend people do to start? 0:23:08.920 --> 0:23:14.040 Get a bank loand no, you know, it is really 0:23:14.480 --> 0:23:16.480 one of the cool things about stamp collecting is it's 0:23:16.520 --> 0:23:19.880 a very low barrier to entry. You need to get 0:23:19.880 --> 0:23:24.159 these little special tongs, these little baby tweezers with rounded tips, 0:23:25.040 --> 0:23:28.200 and you know, if your your skin oils can mark 0:23:28.320 --> 0:23:30.960 a stampa, you want to try and handle them with 0:23:31.000 --> 0:23:34.640 these little little tweezers so you don't ruin them. That's 0:23:34.640 --> 0:23:37.320 a good little tool to have. Uh, you're gonna want 0:23:37.320 --> 0:23:40.200 to get an album or a binder, and they make 0:23:40.240 --> 0:23:42.879 them especially you know, don't get on one for like photographs. 0:23:42.920 --> 0:23:46.280 They make them specially for stamps. And sometimes they have 0:23:46.320 --> 0:23:48.840