The new facility is luxurious in comparison with the austere, somewhat shabby KofC Hall. There were many comments about how easy it was to reach from I-95. The eighteen dealers, including a new coin dealer, seemed to have a brisk trade, especially in the morning hours. The new venue attracted a few first timers.

Please note that there will not be any shows in October, November and December because of hall conflicts and the Holidays. The next show will be on 22nd January 2006.

Assistance to Clubs Offered in Hurricane Ravaged Areas

Club Librarian, Jim Haglind, said he has located some stamp clubs in the areas affected by the recent hurricanes. He will contact them and offer the duplicate books and journals in our library to replace any that may have been lost or damaged during the storms

Christmas Dinner at The Graduate Club

The Christmas Dinner will again be held at the Graduate Club, New Haven on 13th December. This is always a fun evening and a good opportunity to meet members’ spouses and partners. Put this date in your diary.

Highlights of Recent Club Evenings

September 13, 2005: Philippines Old and New – Gerry Miller
Gerry brought some photographs that he had taken in the Philippines and compared them with more recent postcards that showed almost identical views. An early B&W photograph showed the desolate ruins of the old Manila Cathedral which was bombed along with the rest of the Walled City during the Battle of Liberation in 1945. Contemporary postcards show the rebuilt cathedral – unfortunately with much poorer workmanship because of limited finances.

A recent postcard of Pagsanjan Falls showed the same view as one of Gerry’s family photographs, and his photograph of a bullock cart was a carbon copy of an early postcard view, except the carts now have rubber tires!

September 20, 2005: El Salvador - Brian McGrath
Brian gave an entertaining presentation of some of his El Salvador collection. He has a tremendous depth of knowledge in areas where few collectors dare to venture, including Cinderellas, forgeries, and early South America.

September 27, 2005: East India Company - Jack Rotteck
Jack showed the different varieties issued by East India Company Administration between 1854 and 1864, and explained the historical significance of the East India Company. His collection included two 4 anna stamps with inverted heads, one of which was an obvious forgery complete with a bogus postmark.

October 4, 2005: Hungary “Porto” Local Postage Dues - Frank Chasney
Frank brought along a collection of 1918 Hungarian postage due stamps. He explained that this was a time of rampant inflation which resulted in a lot of underfranked mail. Post offices created their own postage due stamps by overprinting “T”, “P” or “Porto” using rubber stamps. Frank is looking for a reference so that he can identify the myriad varieties, and to weed out the bogus items.

Youth Stamp Club Thriving in East Haven

A chance request from the Children’s Librarian at the Hagaman Memorial Library in East Haven has resulted in a very active stamp club that serves children in the area. The library contacted Anthony “The Judge” DeMayo to give a talk on stamp collecting at a regular children’s library function. Tony said that the room was packed to the doors with children and parents, and there was a tremendous amount of enthusiasm, so much so that he was asked to return for a another presentation. One thing led to another and he offered to conduct a regular stamp collecting meeting at the library.

There are nineteen members of the junior club with ages ranging from 6 to 12 years and they meet once a month on a Saturday morning. The kids are given projects to research – such as “the making of stamps” – and they are expected to make a presentation on their findings. Prizes are given for their accomplishments.

“The kids are amazingly polite and well behaved,” says Tony, “but it’s quite a challenge to monitor fifteen or more youngsters at one time.”

Stamps Are Always Needed
Tony is always on the lookout for stamps that can be given to the youngsters. He supplies a number of youth stamp clubs, including one in Australia where his grandchildren are very active in a stamp club. If anyone has any stamps to donate please contact him at 203-469-0889 or bring them around to the club. The kids love bright souvenir sheets with topics such as dinosaurs, animals, and space themes.

Hats off to Tony. The future of the hobby depends on efforts such as this

Mail Humor (with apologies to blondes) …

A blonde is speaking to her psychiatrist.
"I'm on the road a lot, and my clients are complaining that they can never reach me."
Psychiatrist: "Don't you have a phone in your car?"
Blonde: "That was a little too expensive, so I did the next best thing. I put a mailbox in my car."
Psychiatrist: "Uh ... How's that working?"
Blonde: "Actually, I haven't gotten any letters yet."
Psychiatrist: "And why do you think that is?"
Blonde: "I figure it's because when I'm driving around, my zip code keeps changing."

Auction Committee “Wins” a New Auction Lot

The Auction Committee has managed to acquire a small but worthwhile collection which will provide some sought after material for the weekly auctions. Some of the better stamps from this lot will be kept aside for the main Club Auction in November.

Our weekly auctions now have reserves, but this is usually around 10% of catalog so there are still bargains to be had. Remember that we have new bidding rules -- bids must be in incremental steps of 25¢ up to $5, 50¢ up to $20, and $1 increments above $20.

Don’t forget the Club Auction will be held on November 15, 2005 at our Wall Street location. Auctioneer Brian McGrath said that he will limit the lots to around fifty instead of the usual hundred lots to make sure the auction is less rushed than in previous years.