Message from the Chairman (2009)
By way of introduction, let me say that I have been newly-named to
coordinate the study of the Washington-Franklin Series (or Third Bureau
Issue) for the United States Stamp Society, and I want to thank
President Nick Lombardi for giving me this opportunity.
Study of the Washington-Franklins is a labor of love for me as I
collected them as single stamps way back when and then, about 35 years
ago, began collecting them in the context of postal history. In the
intervening years, I have accumulated what I consider to be a
representative holding of the material. As an exhibit, the material has
been awarded gold medals on several occasions, and I am pleased to say
that the album remains open and active, as I have been able to acquire
no fewer than eight “must show ’em” examples since the most recent
exhibit, last spring at Philatelic Show in Boxboro, MA, where it was
awarded a gold.
Readers also may remember my by-line from The United States
Specialist, as it has been the venue for many of my
Washington-Franklin articles over the past several years, including a
long series a few years back that detailed the various postal uses of
the stamps. Luckily, as noted, there always seems to be something new
waiting to be found and properly identified.
My favor lies with the postal history of the stamps, a topic that I
think has been long-neglected in philatelic circles. I would like to
change this, in the near-term at least, by asking for volunteers to help
conduct a census of stamps on cover and unusual uses of the stamps in
order to form an omnibus data base of what is out there. For example, I
think it would be valuable to know how many 50¢ and $1 Washington heads
are known on cover, tag, piece or whatever. I would make the same
comment about the AEF Booklet Pane stamps, or the 13¢ Franklin head
paying an exact rate – such as first class postage plus registry or
special delivery fee – during the War Emergency rate period; you may be
surprised at how few there are. Similarly, I would like to know how
many examples of things such as foreign parcel post with customs fee are
lurking out there, along with similarly interesting things that most
people don’t know about. The point is that elementary research is the
first step in understanding a topic and here is our great chance.
Anyone with a specific interest who would like to work as a point-person
in our survey, please let me know.
As to the stamps themselves, I certainly do not intend to ignore
them. I recall that some months back, a writer used The U.S.
Specialist to challenge the existence of the so-called China Clay
paper stamps. Someone interested in this sort of research may want to
volunteer to keep records.
In a nutshell, that’s where I stand and what I hope to accomplish. I
also absolutely agree with the premise that nobody has a monopoly on
good ideas and I always welcome yours. Let’s stay in touch.
—Paul Bourke
Chairman
