Steve Levine
P.O. Box 951
Linden Hill Station
Flushing, NY 11354
Phone: 718-939-5788
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Steve Levine |
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FEBRUARY, 2020
HOW TO PLACE AN ORDER:
SOME NEW UPSS LISTINGS
There's no shortage of envelopes sitting around here, waiting to be sorted &
listed. Only time is short. But for now, here's a group of some
of the better/more difficult ones.
19TH CENTURY ENVELOPES BY UPSS#
I saved the best for last.
This is the first wave of my updated listings. Around 250 enveopes,
all 19th Century, all small size, nothing spectacular, but lots of album
fillers. When ordering, please check my descriptions carefully; these
envelopes are all clean, but some of them have Return Addresses (Corner
Cards), and this is so noted.
(CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THESE LISTINGS ON MY
WEBSITE)
It won't be dull over
the next few months, I promise. Best Regards,
1. DINOSAUR STYLE
If ordering Dinosaur Style (thru the mail), you can print out this sheet, then circle the price
of what you want and mail it in with your payment (a check or money order).
This is NOT recommended; website orders are placed immediately, while mail orders can take several days to arrive and sellouts do occur.
2. ONLINE
This page contains a link to a page on my website, stevelevinestamps-plus.com. That
page contains brief descriptions of these items, and is connected to my SHOPPING CART which can accept online payments by PAY PAL or CREDIT CARD (VISA, MASTER
CARD. or AMERICAN EXPRESS).
3. PHONE
IF your order is relatively simple or if you have a few questions, you can
phone me at 718-939-5788.
For me, "business hours" are flexible. I'm usually in, and if I'm not, you get the answering machine. Leave your Phone#; I'll get back to you.
I NO LONGER ACCEPT CREDIT CARDS OVER THE PHONE, but I can set up a special "lot" for you on my website and you can enter your CC Information on my shopping cart.
TERMS OF PURCHASE:
Items from this list may be combined with items from my other lists for a
MINIMUM ORDER
of $15. ALL ORDERS will be shipped via Insured or Registered mail, for your protection. Please add $2 for postage and insurance
to all orders. Smaller orders will carry private insurance and will have NO USPS markings. There's no "handling" fee; just actual
postage expenses. This is for U.S. orders only. Overseas shipments, please e-mail me in advance for shipping information.
New York State Residents, please add the appropriate Sales Tax.
SATISFACTION IS GUARANTEED ON
ALL ORDERS
Dear Friends & Collectors,
Another year, another round of postal rate changes.
I accessed what little remains of my old
pricelists, to see just how badly the USPS has been ripping us over the past 50 years. And here's what I found:
In 1976, I charged 50c for postage/insurance for all U.S. orders under $50.
Over $50, I shipped free. I think my heart skipped a beat (and I don't
mean in a good way...) when I read that I charged $1 for Regsitered Mail on
all worldwide orders....under $50. Over $50, I shipped free.
Today, U.S. Registry is $13.20 (more for shipments over $100); worldwide
Registry is $16.00. This is criminal!
In
1992 I charged $1.50 for postage/insurance for orders under $30.
Larger orders were shipped free in the U.S., as well as Canada and Mexico.
In 2003 I charged $2.00 for all U.S. orders, with worldwide orders paying
the exact shipping cost.
Today I'm still
charging $2.00 for all U.S. orders, but worldwide shipping has gone thru the
roof, including Canada and Mexico...some parts of which are actually closer
to where I live than distant parts of the U.S..
The shipping situation isn't quite what I'd call a "hospital-type
emergency", but it's certainly worse than a bad case of gas. It's
going to take more than popping a few TUMS...
I just hooked up with a "shipping system" which will save me SOME money on
the shipping AND insurance, so my shipping rates will hold where they are
for the time being. AND my MINIMUM ORDER will remain at $15, too.
OK...Rant Over. Time to move on to other matters.
Here's the schedule for the near future.
1. After this mailing, an Ebay Auction.
This will be the biggest
one I've ever done, and may even extend to several. In addition to the
usual run of Illustrated & NON-Illustrated advertising, Postal History,
UPSS-Numbered Envelopes, Used Envelopes, Postal Card Die Varieties and a
pile of EFOs.... I also have the mother lode of UNUSED Postal Buddy cards,
courtesy of Darrell Yeisley, a dealer who lived in Fawn Grove PA, passed
away several years ago, and had a fondness for the Postal Buddies.
Fawn Grove is located at the southeast part of Pennsylvania, and Darrell
made many trips into the heartland of the "Postal Buddy Empire".
2. This
month, I've done a completely new listing of UPSS-numbered envelopes...more
about that below. I currently have enough UPSS envelopes to keep me
busy for a long time. I've been very lucky the past few months..except
for the part where I can't walk 6 feet in this office without bumping into a
carton of something.
3. Then, probably a new UPSS section
for Air Letter Sheets....but that may have to wait awhile.
4.
There's no shortage of Worldwide Stamps and
Cinderella items to be listed.
5. The adding
of new Envelopes to my inventory is followed by the adding of new Cut
Squares and Full Corners, as surely as night follows day. This, too,
will come to pass.
It's going to be a
busy year. And now, let's
get down to business.
BUT FIRST, A USEFUL TIP...
When I began dealing in stamps
,
WAY back in 1971, I had no need of an eraser. The only dealers who needed
erasers were First Day Cover dealers, trying to remove the pencilled
addresses from older FDCs. For the most part, they did a terrible job...
mostly because the erasers were made of a rubbery substance which was much too
hard, and removed paper, along with the writing.
When I
began specializing in U.S. Postal Stationery, I was shocked to see how many envelopes
had extensive writing on them.... mostly on the back, and occasionally, on
the front. There were Thorp Numbers, Bartels Numbers, and later, UPSS
numbers. And occasionally, the name of the owner, date of purchase, Dealer/Auction House
from whom the envelope was purchased, and the purchase price.
The "better" old-timers used paper bands, but for the most part, collectors
just wrote on their envelopes. It was clear to me that I needed to
find a good eraser.
After much expreimenting, I
settled on the Pink Pearl stick eraser. It came in a paper roll, which
you peeled back by pulling on a string. It was good and convenient to
use, though if you were just a bit too aggressive in the rubbing, it would
kill your envelope.
I don't know when, but the
Pink Pearl bounced around a bit, ownership-wise, and in the process, the
"stick" was replaced by a hand-held, small "chunk" eraser.
SO...it was time to go looking again, and I found the above-pictured PENTEL
eraser. It's BETTER than the Pearl. It's softer, doesnt kill the
paper, and comes in a stick. You can find these in many stores and
online. Give it a try; it's under $2, and I recommend it highly.
IF, after giving it a try, you find that yours is better, then please, tell
me about it. I always want to "improve my situation", and I'll be glad
to take a look at what you're using.
...and
now, let's get down to business.
(CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THESE LISTINGS ON MY
WEBSITE.)
THE
POSTAL BUDDY IS BACK
Thanks to some luck, I had a good stock of Postal Buddy Cards for many
years. But eventually, the goodies ran out and more recently, an
empty space on the shelf was screaming at me to find some new inventory.
Well, it took awhile, but it finally happened.
I got lucky again. I now have all 6 cards in stock, plus I have
receipts from some Postal Buddy machines at various locations for the
better cards. AND, I have the mother lode of UNUSED Postal
Buddies.
The basic mint varieties are now up
on my website; the unused ones will have to wait awhile. Sorting
them out will take awhile, as the Postal Buddy universe turned out to be
a lot larger than I thought it was. There are cards for Change of
Address, Meeting Notice, Thank You, and more... and each of these
categories has more than one design!
(CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THESE LISTING ON MY
WEBSITE.)
KNOCKING ONE OFF THE BUCKET
LIST!
I have a Philatelic
Bucket List. These are things I would like to find before I quit,
or die.
I'd like buy some Columbian
envelopes (U348-51) and find a Superb, NH block of 4 of the $5 Columbian
inside one of them. I'm not holding my breath here.
I'd like to buy a junk lot of used Postal Cards and find a card from
Babe Ruth to Ty Cobb. "In Florida for the winter, Weather is
fine. Glad you're not here, you @#$%^%^&*(." Not holding my
breath on this one, either.
Getting
realistic: I'd like to find some UX65s on NON-FLUORESCENT paper.
Allegedly, they exist. I've never seen one in the 40 years I've
specialized in U.S. Postal Stationery.
I'd
like to find a UXC9a, Type 2, with the Eagle having a notch in its beak.
Again, never saw one in 40 years. I don't believe it's a die
variety. Why would anyone put a notch in the beak. What is
it supposed to represent? Personally, I think it's an oil bubble,
like those which are common on UX44s.
And
then, there's the "Surcharge 12a" which we find -- or don't find, as the
case has been for the past 40 years -- on U545. Never saw
one...until now. The image in the 2011 UPSS Envelope catalog is
wrong. You have to go back to the 2004 Catalog to get the right
image...or just check out my scan, above. The right upright of "U"
is definitely shorter. There's a line missing from the top of the
Eagle's head which separates it from the hatching lines in the numeral
"1". The tops of the C and E in "CENT" may or may not be broken.
The right upright of the "N" in CENT has a small break.
What I have is Sc.# U545 UPSS# 3507a
Sz. 23 Knife 116 Wmk. 47
PRICE FOR THIS
ENVELOPE IS $4.00
(CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THIS LISTING ON MY WEBSITE...plus a few more
below.)
UPGRADE - FRENCH SOUTHERN & ANTRARTIC TERRITORIES
There's been a significant upgrade to my stock of the French Southern & Antarctic
Teritories. Many new sets & singles have been added. All
f-vf or better, Never Hinged.
Scott #
UPSS # Size Knife Wmk. Price
U495b 3134 23
106X 24 16.00
U434 3359 10
57 45 80.00
U538 3423 13
78 46 140.00
U538b 3429 10
57w 43 20.00
U540c 3469 10
57w 46 6.00
U545 3507a 23
116 47 4.00
U582 3596 12
69 48A 10.00
U619 3741 23
115 50 32.00
UC1 AM3 13
78 28 4.00
UC7 AM12 13
78 28 24.00
UC8c AM41 10
57 30A 28.00
UC8c AM44 13
78X 29 14.50
UC43 AM103 12
68 48A 3.20
(CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THESE LISTINGS ON MY
WEBSITE)
Steve
Levine
P.O. Box 951
Linden Hill Station
Flushing, NY 11354
Phone: 718-939-5788
email:steve@stevelevinestamps.com
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