Hobbyists meet at Holiday Inn for Vermont State Stamp Show
Toolbox
By Gordon Dritschilo Herald Staff - Published: June 13, 2005
Eighty-five percent of the stamps issued by the U.S. Postal Service never go out in the mail.
Instead, they end up in the hands of stamp collectors around the world.
"It's a world history and a geography lesson and I've been doing it since I was eight," said collector Jerry Weitzenkorn of the Rutland County Stamp Club.
Weitzenkorn, who lives in New York City but has a summer home in Mendon, was one of dozens of hobbyists who gathered at the Holiday Inn in Rutland Sunday for the Vermont State Stamp Show. He was sorting through a massive box of loose U.S. stamps.
"I don't collect U.S. stamps, believe it or not," he said. "I just use them to trade in Europe."
The show, which is held every five years, is put on by stamp clubs from Rutland, Bennington, Brattleboro, Quechee, Burlington and Montpelier.
"In the stamp world, they're constantly having national and international stamp shows," said William Alsop, a member of the Rutland club. "It's a big thing. In Washington, D.C., or New York, or Chicago, you can find stamps worth hundreds of thousands of dollars on display."
While the collections on display in Rutland were more modest, they offered a beautiful array of stamps and post cards, from modern stamps commemorating people like Ronald Reagan and Robert Penn Warren to older stamps from all around the world.
An exhibit titled "Shah of Iran Mohammed Reza Pahlavi — A Philatelic Biography" used stamps and text to trace the history of the deposed monarch, starting when the first stamps bearing his image were issued in his childhood.
Other stamps commemorated the Shah's marriage, visits from foreign rulers including Queen Elizabeth II, and his efforts at social reform. Other stamps were held up as examples of the Shah's vanity and egomania. The record went right up to the last stamp issues bearing the Shah's image in 1978.
Other displays showed stamps from Australia and Brazil. Another showed Vermont cigarette tax stamps, and another showed Polish stamps commemorating the rebuilding of Warsaw after World War II.
One of the larger displays was a collection of antique postcards bearing photos of Vermont. Owner Michael McMorrow of North Clarendon said he had been collecting post cards since 1966.
"I bought a box of postcards at a house auction in Bristol," he said. "I thought they were interesting so I started collecting them."
The pictures on the cards were from all over Vermont during the first half of the 20th century. They included a water wagon on Lake Bomoseen in 1910, a World War II airplane observation post in Poultney, Rutland firefighters testing a steamer in 1909, Center Street in Rutland decorated for a parade in 1915 and workers in a Proctor Marble quarry in 1910.
Others included the Ko-Z-Diner in North Clarendon in 1935, the Trapp family in Stowe in 1955, Christmas dinner at the Women's' Correctional Center in Rutland in 1920, the first graduating class from Pawlet High School in 1914 and workers at a Fair Haven saw mill in 1908.
Gathering a historical record of the state is what McMorrow said appeals to him about collecting.
"It's a look at the way Vermont was 50 to 100 years ago," he said. "It's uncut history."
Many collectors have specific areas they focus on, and Alsop said there were plenty to choose from. Many people, he said, are interested in revenue stamps. Alsop said the U.S. government held on to surplus revenue stamps for many years before deciding to sell them off.
"These included marijuana stamps," he said. "These were from many years ago — to deal in that, you had to have a stamp. Every keg of beer had to have one of these. If you went to the druggist to have a prescription filled with codeine in it, that had to have a stamp."
In addition to their historical interest, Alsop said many of the revenue stamps are quite beautiful.
"Some are really fine 19th century engravings," he said. "They're like little bank notes."
Alsop said stamps also get put out by places that do not officially exist. He pointed to an example that arose from the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
"A big chunk of what Azerbaijan claimed as its territory is now claimed by Armenia — Nagorno-Karabakh," he said. "They put out stamps for it. There's been a big to-do about it, with Azerbaijan complaining to the United Postal Union that Armenia can't put out these stamps."
While some collect stamps or post cards, still others collect postmarks.
"Back in the period from the 1860s to World War II it was not at all uncommon to travel all over the place," he said. "Mail would be forwarded to your hotel. If you had just left, they would forward it again. Some of those envelopes were fantastic. They would religiously forward mail. A three cent stamp would sometimes go all over the world."
Contact Gordon Dritschilo at gordon.dritschilo@rutlandherald.com.
20