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  • 2022 Annual meeting PIPEX, April 29-30, May 1 – Embassy Suites by Hilton
    Portland Airport, 7900 NE 82nd Avenue, Portland, OR
  • 2023 Annual Meeting NOJEX, Meadowlands, NJ

Hopkinson Memorial Award 2022

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Congratulations to Greg Ajamian, Robert Rufe and Harry Brittain for being selected to receive the Walter W. Hopkinson Memorial Literature Award for the best article or series of articles published in The United States Specialist during 2021.

The award is presented annually and consists of an engraved plaque and honorarium. This year, the award will be presented during the Society’s annual meeting at PIPEX in April 2022.

“Scott #C23c – The Whole Story” was a six-part series published in six consecutive issues from June to November. The well-written and incredibly organized presentation was true to its title of presenting the whole story of this controversial variety. Each month featured a different aspect of the story and all parts were profusely illustrated with images, tables and graphs. Dr. Brittain and his FTIR absorption spectroscopy again played an important role in providing objective quantifiable data to support the contention that Scott #C23c is a legitimate variety worthy of catalog listing. In the end, armed with the whole story, the reader can draw their own conclusion as to whether Scott #C23c deserves its catalog status.

The Hopkinson Memorial Literature Award selection committee normally consists of the winners of the award for the past three years. Serving as chairman this year was Ken Zierer, 2018 winner for “The Dubious Origins of the Scott Listed Variety 424e.”

Also serving was Steven Altman, 2020 winner for “Al Fluegel and the Missing ‘68s” and “‘Expertizing’ a Unique Fluegel First Day Cover.” Harry Brittain, the 2019 winner for “Kaolin Content in the Paper Used by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to Produce the 1¢ and 2¢ Stamps Between 1894 and 1908”, recused himself from voting this year to maintain the eligibility of his co-authors to compete for the prize.

The award has been presented since 1954 in honor of Walter W. Hopkinson, a long-time supporter of the Society and specialist in plate numbers. His wife, Mrs. Constance B. Hopkinson, established the award based on his appreciation of philatelic scholarship.

A list of previous winners of the award is posted on the Society’s website:

here

 

 

USSS Annual Meeting at PIPEX 2022 April 29 – May 1

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Our 2022 Annual Meeting will be held at PIPEX during the weekend of April 29 through May 1 at Embassy Suites by Hilton, Portland Airport, 7900 NE 82nd Avenue, Portland, OR 97220. The show rate is $139 plus tax per night and this rate is available from Wednesday, April 27th through Monday, May 2nd. Amenities include free shuttle service to and from the airport, free breakfast, free wifi and free daytime parking. Reservations can be made using the hotel link on the PIPEX website (www.pipexstampshow.org.) or by calling the hotel at 888 728 3025
Although April may seem like a long way off, you should make your room reservations as soon as possible.

The Exhibit Prospectus and Application are posted on the show website and if you plan to exhibit, you should submit your applications as soon as possible. PIPEXhas been oversubscribed each year since 2014 and with the pent-up demand for exhibiting opportunities resulting from all of the COVID-related canceled shows, I’m certain these frames will fill up fast. USSS members will have preference until February 12, 2022. The deadline for entries is March 21 or until all frames are taken. Inasmuch as this is our annual show meeting, exhibiting members will be able to compete for our two Society exhibiting awards – The Southgate for the best multi-frame exhibit and The Cleland, for the best single frame exhibit.
The PIPEX organizers have also offered to post the exhibits on their website at no additional cost. Just go to the show website for information as to how to do this.

As is our tradition, we will be holding our Dutch Treat Fellowship Dinner on Friday evening at a site to be determined. Details about the dinner, as well as other show particulars will be announced as they become available. Please let us know if you would like to give a presentation at the show or would be willing to volunteer some time to help staff our Society booth.

Nick Lombardi
President

Please take a few minutes to stop by our booth. It may prove to be the most enjoyable time you spend at the show.

 

 

Shift Hunter Letters

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The Shift Hunter Letters are available now on USSS Resources.

Looking for some philatelic fun, or perhaps a challenge? The United States Stamp Society continues to upgrade our website with additional resources. Just added to widen your knowledge of United States stamps are the “Shift-Hunter Letters.”
Your Society is happy to bring you the SHIFT-HUNTER LETTERS, now posted on the USSS website. Check your stamp collection to see how much fun there can be in spotting the printing shifts on your US stamps!

How did this all get started? Clayton W. Bedford (1885-1933), one of the original members of the Bureau Issues Association, now the United States Stamp Society, was a very active philatelist living in Akron OH. He organized the “The ‘Shift Hunters,” a group of collectors interested in examining early U.S. stamps for printing plate flaws, scratches, dents, extra speck of metal, and shifts of the impression, etc. which would show up on the postage stamp to make it a collectible “minor variety”. The group began the pioneer publication known as the SHIFT-HUNTER LETTERS

Bedford was the true go-to expert on minor plate varieties and chaired the original Plate Varieties Committee of the newly formed Bureau Issues Association. While the formal name of this passion is “plate varieties” it quickly took on the nickname “flyspeck philately,” as these folks were looking for such tiny marks and deviations, usually not noticed by the average eye. It is certainly a branch of our hobby which epitomizes our catch phrase “the thrill of the hunt.” Part of our colorful US stamp history tells the story of the fly that landed on the plate during the printing process, his splattered blood and body making a great variety on the stamp being printed at the time.

Ninety-one issues were published from August 1929 to February 1936 by an Organization of Students of Plate Research Problems. Originally the letters were published as individual mimeograph and lithographed newsletters, and later incorporated into the pages of the The Bureau Specialist. The image above shows the cover pages of letters # 1 and #91.

The complete run of the 91 letters has been digitized as searchable PDFs for viewing or downloading and are available on Resources section of the USSS website. (https://www.usstamps.org/resources/).

If you are interested in further study of Plate Varieties, our Society has published two excellent books:

1. The Bureau Specialist, Volumes 1-3, 1930-32; 450 pages, volume, contents include early reports on U.S. offset plate varieties and copies of some of the later Shift Hunter Letters. This book is available on the USSS website Store

2. Encyclopedia of Plate Varieties on U.S. Bureau – Printed Postage Stamps, Loran C. French, Bureau Issues Association, Inc., 1979, 338 pages. This, no longer in print, is available from philatelic literature dealers.

Have fun….go through your collection today and get out that fly swatter!

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