The Book
I just wanted to say to everyone here that I have had a philatelic conversation with that, thanks to you all, I've resumed working on "The Book" which has lay dormant since November of 2015. I promised Bill (Weiss) that I would finish it. It's been 8 long years since then, and I finally feel ready to pick up the torch again, and work to finish it.
The premise of the book is to definitively enable the identification of every aspect of a US stamp, with the particular aim of identifying fakes. Every aspect of both front and back of book, is detailed. It also sets out how to identify every paper type, print and perforation methods, and US overprints. It definitively and exhaustively lists every material that fakes have been (or could be) derived from.
My aim is to finish it by the end of this year (2023).
If anybody has a good idea for a title, I'm still struggling with that.
Here's a challenge for you all. If you get me a title that I pick, I'll give you a copy of the book when it's done.
(Who needs Kickstarter.
The premise of the book is to definitively enable the identification of every aspect of a US stamp, with the particular aim of identifying fakes. Every aspect of both front and back of book, is detailed. It also sets out how to identify every paper type, print and perforation methods, and US overprints. It definitively and exhaustively lists every material that fakes have been (or could be) derived from.
My aim is to finish it by the end of this year (2023).
If anybody has a good idea for a title, I'm still struggling with that.
Here's a challenge for you all. If you get me a title that I pick, I'll give you a copy of the book when it's done.
(Who needs Kickstarter.
Comments
Subtitled “Fakes, Phonies, and The Real Deal” in the US Collector Market.
"Farming the Philatelic Garden"
Sub - "Separating the Wheat from the Chaff"
Be sure to let us know when it is available for purchase
Payton US Stamp Catalogue or Payton's US Stamp Catalogue
I've never been interested in being remembered, so much as I am interested in expanding the capability of the collector.
Ask yourself, why does expertizing exist?
Mostly because this industry has has frequently "horded knowledge". My philosophy is that keeping knowledge from the collector is doomed to kill the industry. This is how bogus overprints and forged stamps were perpetuated in the early 1900's, but the practice continues today, with more advanced printing methods available, the more information available to detect these, the better prepared both the collector and dealer are to prevent the perpetration of such scams.
If the collector is properly educated, expertizing isn't necessary.
It's incumbent on each of us as collectors and dealers to share this information as widely as possible.
This was Bill's intention, as it is mine.
or
Payton Specialized US stamp identification, verification guide (or guidelines?)
US Stamps: A Complete Guide to Identification and Validation
US Stamps: A Complete Guide to Identification and Confirmation
US Postage Stamps: A Complete Guide to Identification and Validation
US Postage Stamps: A Complete Guide to Identification and Confirmation
You could change “ A Complete” to Payton’s, which I think makes sense
The insertion of Postage is because I was not sure about your coverage of Revenues etc
The Expert guide to Identifying United States Stamps.
Remember KISS. Or in other words short and sweet.
Bill
Payton's United States Stamp Guide
Phil, you're fired.
Berrien, Luree, Greg (painfully mentioned), Dennis, Ron, Harry, George, Bob, Henry, I can't tell you how inspiring this all is. There is something go like about all of the, and I may end up making a "montage" of those suggestions into a final title, but please keep this rolling. I don't feel like we've quite hit it yet, but it's getting there.
One new rule: Sorry, no names in the title. (Not totally new, but I don't have an ego that will let me put my name in the title, it's already in the By Line.) And in respect to Bill, I won't use his name either (Though that is really my preference).
Aside from that these ideas are really good.
And the book already has 2 new pages.
Thank you all.
-S
US Postage Stamps: Identification and Authentication
Identification and Authentication of US Stamps: A Complete Guide
Identification and Authentication of US Postage Stamps: A Complete Guide
Note : A Complete is different from The Complete so I think it is usable (but with a Light Hinge)
B
If you don’t want to use your name or Bill’s, just use an arbitrary one like Ted or Bentley.
Just kidding Scott! You know I love ya brother!
I've still not landed on a name yet, but it's getting closer.
I want to highlight that this book is also modern, in as much as, there are many other books about identification and checking for soundness and alterations, but I find that many of those are not as helpful as they could have been because they are in black and white images (and/or don't clearly point out features). I've also updated many IDs based on information that is either scattered around or previously undocumented (that I can find, such as the secret mark in the 103 scroll that as far as I'm aware Bill Weiss is the only person to have mentioned it anywhere... perhaps some other Black Jack specialist is aware of this).
There are several additions to identification that don't appear in Scott and that many aren't aware of, which will be included in this book as well.
So I think this is a "modern approach", with "previously undocumented identifiers" for a few issues.
In any case, this is so inspirational. It's keeping me progressing something on the book daily, even if it's just one page, or a few images, I'm finally working on it again.
Please keep going, it is a work that is sorely needed.
Identification and Authentication of US Stamps: A Complete Illustrated Guide
Identification and Authentication of US Postage Stamps: A Complete Illustrated Guide
Scott are you only doing postage stamps and not revenues??
Strap in, this is going to take a while.
A Comprehensive Guide
I couldn't resist.