National Postal Museum destruction of stamps

Randy Neil, Past President of the American Philatelic Society says:

2004-08-09T17:37:00.000-04:00

Being a very devoted amateur historian and follower (and member, actually) of various museums, I am very dismayed at the precedent that will be set in this instance by the National Postal Museum.

All the proclivities of stamp dealers and other interested parties aside, the fact that a museum hasn't come up with a game plan to stay the executioner's striking of the match is repulsive to me.

It is the PRECEDENT that is the rub here. All other issues pale in comparison. Institutions (and their directors) have and will make decisions that the public will decry (and loudly, sometimes...look what the NY Public Library did with the Miller collection, causing a huge outcry in the hobby). It happens. But what the NPM is doing in this instance is something that sets a exceedingly bad historical precedent.

The American Philatelic Society Board of Directors needs to speak out on this issue---and put our Society on record as not supporting the destruction of any philatelic holding that is the property of a museum---for ANY reason. This is not an issue that the APS Board can allow to lie fallow without action on their part.

Randy L. Neil
Past President
American Philatelic Society

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2004-08-05T12:21:00.000-04:00

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Marking or overprinting the stamps

2004-08-04T15:39:00.000-04:00

Should the stamps be marked or overprinted with "NPM" or "Specimen" or "Smithsonian" or something similar? This is a remedy that has been suggested by a number of people as a way to release all of the stamps while "protecting" the owners of valuable stamps that stand to be impacted if all the stamps are sold.

My reaction to this is that it must not be done. It is just another form of destruction that would greatly impact the value of the stamps.

First is the cost of marking the stamps. There are probably at least 100,000 sheets of stamps in various perforations and roulettes, so this will be a rather expensive process.

Second, how does marking the stamps impact the value of the stamps? The museum originally estimated that they could obtain between $1 million and $2 million dollars for the stamps. Frankly, the holding is worth more, as it is. Marking the stamps will reduce the market value of the stamps considerably downward to the point that there will be minimal dealer support for them in the marketplace. In essence, they would be a drug on the market, assuming the museum, after spending the money to mark them, could even recover the cost of marking the stamps. Since the goal of the museum is to raise money, why take a step backward by marking the stamps?

Let's face it, if the stamps are to be sold successfully, it is going to require support of the dealers to make a market. With the quantities involved, it is important for a healthy market to be established and that means the stamps are going to have to be saleable at a profit. If not, the dealers will abandon that market and go where he or she can earn a living.

We are all stamp collectors and/or dealers and it is in our own best interests that a strong and healthy markeplace exist for our stamps. The museum is going to sell the stamps and we are going to feel the impact. It is unavoidable. But if done properly, it can be a very positive situation for all of us. Destruction of stamps and manipulation of the marketplace to benefit the museum is not in the best interest of philately as a whole. Organized philately, through the American Philatelic Society, can and should send the message to the National Postal Museum that since they are going to do something that is going to impact us, it should be done in a manner that will benefit all of us in the long haul. This means no destruction, no manipulation of the market, and no marking of the stamps.

On the rare stamps that stand to be impacted in a big way, those in collectors hands are in used condition. The museums stamps are in mint condition. Those rare stamps will always distinguishable from the museums stamps because they are "marked" by a cancel. It is unknown how the market will treat the used stamps when they come on the market, but in my opinion they will trade at a good premium over the mint stamps. But here is something to think about: If you are the owner of the unique used RE182D, is it going to make any difference to you if there are 50,000 mint copies of the stamp in the market or 50,000 marked mint copies in the market? Marking the stamps protects nothing.

I own a very large inventory of stamps that includes a number of stamps that will be impacted downwards in value when the stamps are released. I probably stand to lose as much, if not more, than any other individual. Financially, in the short term, I am better off if the stamps are all destroyed and never come on the market. But long term, I believe the interest in revenue stamps can be increased substantially and all of us who currently own large holdings of revenue stamps will benefit in many ways, including financially.

The philatelic market is a resilient market. Large hoards coming to market disrupt the market in exciting ways, causing attention and bringing new collectors into the fold. Let the market work and we are all winners.

John Hotchner, U.S. Notes Column

2004-08-04T15:01:00.000-04:00

In the Aug. 2 issue of Linn's Stamp News, Mr. Hotchner opines about the discourse concerning the National Postal Museum's plan to destroy stamps being destructive to the hobby. But he misses the point. It is the destruction of stamps by the museum that is destructive to the hobby. Without the planned destruction, we would not be having this conversation. Discourse never hurt anything, but destruction of stamps is final.

He also states that the museum has, at every step, explained its rationale. But they have not done so with regard to the destruction except to say that it prevents disruption of the market. Selling over six million stamps from the museum hoard is going to disrupt the market, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Destroying stamps also disrupts the market because it denies collectors from buying those stamps at a reasonable price because destruction manipulates the quantity available and the sales price.

Mr. Hotchner is a member of the National Postal Museum's Council of Philatelists.

Donald Sundman, ASDA flip-flop?

2004-08-04T14:49:00.000-04:00

Donald Sundman, in a Readers' Opinion letter in the August 2 edition of Linn's Stamp News, questions whether or not the ASDA has committed a "flip-flop" on the question of stamp destruction. That has not happened.

There is a major difference between the Legends of the West error sheet and the National Postal Museum's proposed destruction of revenue stamps.

The USPS is a government stamp issuing entity that routinely destroys stamps in the course of its business. What they destroy has commercial value for its intended purpose, in this case to move the mail. If I remember correctly, the USPS was going to destroy all of the error Legends of the West sheets, so the release of 150,000(?) sheets was good for philately and a favor from the USPS. Both stamp dealers and stamp collectors have benefited from this sheet being an item of value. If the USPS had released the entire holding, they would be nothing but discount postage today. The ASDA supported then, and still supports, the normal everyday business practices of the USPS.

On the other hand, The National Postal Museum is not a government stamp issuing entity, but a museum entrusted with the preservation of objects. The stamps that the museum wants to destroy have no value for their intended purpose. The only value they have is as collectible, historical items. Destruction of items by a museum serves no valid purpose and is just plain wrong. The ASDA opposes destruction of stamps by a museum.

Additionally, Mr. Sundman, along of James Helzer, CEO of Unicover Corp., filed a lawsuit in the state of Wyoming against the USPS in an attempt to force the USPS to release all of the Legends of the West stamps and save them from destruction.

Mr. Sundman also points out that as a stamp dealer, I have a self-interest in the offering of the stamps by the museum. That is true, I am a professional philatelist earning my living as a specialist in revenue stamps. However, for the record, I am vehemently opposed to the destruction of any of these stamps by the National Postal Museum and this opposition trumps any other interest I may have in these stamps.

Lastly, for the sake of accuracy, Mr. Sundman's letter should have revealed that he is president of Mystic Stamp Co., chairman of the National Postal Museum's Council of Philatelists, and a member of the ASDA.

What you can do to help stop the destruction

2004-08-04T14:00:00.000-04:00

The Smithsonian Institution’s National Postal Museum, in spite of overwhelming public opposition, still plans to destroy approximately 1.4 million revenue stamps. Mr. Allen Kane, director of the National Postal Museum, reiterated his intention to destroy the stamps in a recent letter published in the July 18 edition of Linn’s Stamp News. He states that their “plan is based on the premise that at least some of the duplicates will have to be destroyed to prevent major price fluctuations in the revenue stamp market.” In reality, the only reason to destroy any of the stamps is to manipulate the market value of those stamps that they plan to sell.

As many of you know, I have been leading the opposition to the destruction of stamps by the museum. Recently, a member of the museum’s Council of Philatelists accused me of embarrassing the museum. If the museum officials thought they were going to make public this plan involving destruction of stamps and manipulation of the market and not receive criticism, they were sadly mistaken. If the museum is embarrassed by any of this, they should look to themselves as the source of embarrassment.

The American public is offended by the museum’s plan. Museums exist to preserve objects, not to destroy them. Furthermore, it is our tax dollars funding the museum and the proposed destruction.

The public overwhelmingly opposes the destruction of stamps or anything else by a museum. The support for the museum’s plan to destroy stamps is negligible outside the museum employees and the Council of Philatelists. It is time for the museum to pay attention to what is happening in the real world.

As an example, in the real world, a company that depends upon the consumer for its very existence will reverse course as a result of negative public opinion. Remember the Coca-Cola fiasco with New Coke about ten years ago? Consumers voiced their opinions about New Coke and it wasn’t long before the New Coke plan was junked and Classic Coke was back.

But the museum is a part of our Federal Government and relies on our tax dollars and donations for funding. Bureaucratic arrogance rules. The opinions of the taxpayers who financially support the museum do not seem to matter to the museum officials.

The National Postal Museum is a showcase for our hobby. Allen Kane has shown promise as an effective leader of the museum. But if Mr. Kane follows through with the proposed destruction of stamps, I believe it will be his undoing and the museum will be tarnished as a result. It will be remembered as the stamp museum that destroys stamps and will serve as a case study for museum science students for decades. This has all the ingredients for a public relations disaster for philately. Certainly the museum can do better than this.

In order to stop this destruction of stamps, we need to take this to a higher level. Please consider writing to your Senators and Congressmen. Give them a brief history of this issue and tell them what you think of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Postal Museum destruction of stamps.

U.S. Senate contact information is available by clicking here.
U.S. House of Representatives contact information is available by clicking here

Due to irradiation of mail to government offices in Washington, D.C., it is best to contact members of the Senate and the House of Representatives by email or fax or by writing to their home offices.

The American Philatelic Society is the advocacy group for philately in the United States, but they have been very quiet on this issue. Perhaps it is because the President, Janet Klug, and the Immediate Past President, Peter McCann, both serve on the National Postal Museum’s Council of Philatelists. In any event, they were elected to represent the interests of the APS membership. At the APS Board of Directors meeting next month, I have presented two resolutions for discussion and a vote. They are as follows:

Resolution one: Be it resolved, that the American Philatelic Society opposes the destruction of stamps for any reason by any group, individual, or organization. The only exception is government stamp issuing agencies which routinely destroy excess stamps in their normal course of business.

Resolution two: Be it resolved, that the American Philatelic Society opposes the planned destruction of revenue stamps and inherent manipulation of the stamp market by the Smithsonian Institution's National Postal Museum.

I urge you to contact the APS board members and let them know your opinion and how you want them to represent you on this issue.

APS Board of Directors contact information is available by clicking here.

--

Also, it might be helpful to write the Smithsonian Institution’s Board of Regents and the National Postal Museum’s Council of Philatelists.

Smithsonian Institution Board of Regents members:

William H. Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the United States, ex officio, Chancellor
The US Supreme Court Justices
The Supreme Court of the United States
One First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20543

Richard B. Cheney, Vice-President of the United States, ex officio
Fax: 202-456-2461
vice.president@whitehouse.gov

Thad Cochran, Senator from Mississippi
Contact Senator Cochran, click here.

Bill Frist, Senator from Tennessee
202-228-1264 (fax)
Contact Senator Frist, click here.

Patrick J. Leahy, Senator from Vermont
202-224-3479 (fax)
Contact Senator Leahy, click here.

Sam Johnson, Representative from Texas
972- 470-9937 fax
Contact Representative Johnson, click here.

Robert T. Matsui, Representative from California
202-225-0566 fax
Contact Representative Matsui, click here.

Ralph Regula, Representative from Ohio
202-225-3059 fax
Contact Representative Regula, click here.

Hanna H. Gray, Harry Pratt Judson Distinguished Service Professor of History at the University of Chicago and former President of the University of Chicago; a resident of Illinois
Hanna H. Gray
SS Box 109
Harry Pratt Judson Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus
Dept. of History, 501 South Ellis Ave.,
The University of Chicago
Chicago, IL 60637
Phone # (773) 702-7799, Fax # (773) 702-4600
h-gray@uchicago.edu

Anne d’Harnoncourt, the George D. Widener Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; a resident of Pennsylvania
Anne D'Harnoncourt
Director
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Benjamin Franklin Parkway and 26th St.
Philadelphia, PA 19130
Tel. 215-763-8100 and/or 215-684-7600
FAX: 215-236-4465
pr@philamuseum.org

Manuel L. Ibáñez, President Emeritus and Professor Emeritus (Biochemistry), Texas A&M University in Kingsville; a resident of Texas
Manuel L. Ibanez
Phone: 361-854-5818 7737
Starnberg Lake Dr
Corpus Christi TX 78413-5288
Manuel.Ibanez@tamuk.edu
M-Ibanez@tamuk.edu

Walter E. Massey, Physicist and President of Morehouse College in Atlanta
Dr. Walter Massey
Morehouse College
830 Westview Drive SW
Atlanta, GA 30314
wmassey@morehouse.edu

Roger W. Sant, chairman emeritus and cofounder of the AES Corporation and chairman of the board of The Summit Foundation in Washington D.C.
Roger W. Sant
The Summit Foundation
2100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 525
Washington, DC 20037
202.912.2900
202.912.2901 fax

Alan G. Spoon, managing general partner in Polaris Venture Partners, former President of The Washington Post Company; a resident of Massachusetts
Alan G. Spoon
Polaris Venture Partners
1000 Winter Street
Suite 3350
Waltham, MA 02451
781.290.0770
781.290.0880 fax
aspoon@polarisventures.com

Patricia Q. Stonesifer, co-chair and president of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; resident of Washington State
Patricia Q. Stonesifer
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
PO Box 23350
Seattle, WA 98102
Phone: (206) 709-3100
info@gatesfoundation.org

Wesley S. Williams Jr., of Washington, D.C., Partner in the law firm of Covington & Burling
Wesley S. Williams, Jr.
7706 Georgia Ave.
NW Washington, DC 20090
202.662.5628
wwilliams@cov.com

--
National Postal Museum’s Council of Philatelists members

Thomas J. Alexander talexander@kcrr.com
Harvey Bennet info@bennettstamps.com
Guido Craveri investphila@bluewin.ch
Harry Hagendorf harryhagendorf@aol.com
Tim Hirsch thirsch@spinkandson.com
John M. Hotchner hotchnerjm@state.gov
Alvin R. Kantor bobmar47@aol.com
Marjorie Kantor bobmar47@aol.com
James Kloetzel jkloetzel@amospress.com
Janet Klug tongajan@aol.com
Van Koppersmith van@acsaccess.com
Curt Livingston wclinc@aol.com
Thomas Mazza tommazza@interport.net
Peter P. McCann 103226.706@compuserve.com
Arthur Morowitz championstamp@aol.com
Elizabeth C. Pope elizcpope@aol.com
Wade Saadi wadesan@pencom.com
David Sundman dsundman@littletoncoin.com
Donald Sundman dsundman@mysticstamp.com
Patricia Stilwell Walker walke96@attglobal.net
Irwin Weinberg 952 Mellon Bank Center, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701
Richard Winter rfwinter@bellsouth.net

–

National Postal Museum
Allen Kane, Director, National Postal Museum kanea@npm.si.edu
Wilson Hulme, Curator, National Postal Museum whulme@npm.si.edu

Lastly, forward this email to other concerned stamp collectors and citizens and ask them to act as well.

Comments about the proposed first sale

2004-08-03T14:04:00.000-04:00

The Museum posted the Request for Proposals on their website on June 18. This is the beginning of their process to sell some of the excess stamps and destroy many of them. After reading through it, I doubt that many stamp dealers will be willing to jump through the hoops the Smithsonian requires in order to sell the stamps.

Of the 132 different stamps they propose to sell, in a total quantity of about 35,000 stamps, 49 are not known to exist outside the National Postal Museum. They still plan to destroy about 1.4 million stamps, many of which not known in collectors hands.

One of the real tragedies in this planned destruction is that it includes more than 34,000 (in thirteen different varieties) of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 stamps. This is one of the most fascinating, but unknown, tax acts ever passed by the U.S. Congress. It had a lot of social implications. The use of these stamps was tightly controlled; I know of six that have survived in collections. The museum plans to sell 3,594 examples and destroy more than 34,000 additional examples. Why?

Those of you who subscribe to Linn's Stamp News saw my advertisement in the June 28 issue in which I offered to pay One Million Dollars for the 1.4 million stamps the museum plans to destroy. Of course the museum turned the offer down. I guess a pile of ashes serves their purposes more than a million bucks. Figure that one out.

Destruction of stamps by a museum sends the message that stamps are worthless and have no value. If the museum does destroy the stamps, it will be a public relations disaster for all of philately.

To vote in our poll on this issue and read comments left by others, CLICK HERE

Dealer Eric Jackson: ‘Sell all the U.S. revenues’

2004-08-01T16:12:00.000-04:00

Here is my editorial which is printed in the March 15th edition of Linn's Stamp News, and re-published here with their permission. It concerns the impending disposal of a large archive of revenue stamps deposited by the Internal Revenue Service with the Smithsonian Institution between 1957 and 1977. [Special note: you can get full information on this subject by going to the National Postal Museum's page on the "Revenue Stamps Project."

[Headline as it appears in Linn's:]
Dealer Eric Jackson: ‘Sell all the U.S. revenues’

In a press release dated Jan. 6, 2004, the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum announced that they will sell some of the revenue stamps transferred to them by the Internal Revenue Service between 1954 and 1977. The holding comprises approximately 7.8 million stamps of which there are nearly 1,900 distinct revenue stamp varieties. In many cases, there are up to 50,000 copies of a stamp.

In the transfer to the Smithsonian, the IRS stated that the National Postal Museum utilize the revenue stamps for its collection and for such exchange purposes as it may deem proper and that any surplus copies may be destroyed. Proceeds gained from the sale of the revenue stamps are to be used to add to the National Postal Museum collection.

The proposal has sparked much discussion in the stamp collecting community. In my position as a dealer specializing in revenue stamps and as president of the American Revenue Association, I have heard from more than one hundred collectors and dealers via email, letters, phone calls or in person. There are three points that make up most of these communications: the destruction of stamps, the decision to sell, and the arbitrary selection of stamps to be sold.

The proposed destruction of the stamps is philatelic vandalism. I am appalled that the National Postal Museum, a part of the Smithsonian Institution, would even consider such an action. As philatelists, we are charged with the preservation of these items for future generations. Museums have the same responsibility. In fact, the mission statement of the NPM includes this line “The National Postal Museum, through its collections and library, is dedicated to the preservation, study and presentation of postal history and philately.”

The National Postal Museum is advised by its council of philatelists, a group of prominent stamp collectors that includes the current president and two past presidents of the American Philatelic Society. Wilson Hulme, curator at the museum, is a prominent philatelist and an APS member. Allen Kane, the director of the museum, is also an APS member. How and why such a prominent group of philatelists could advocate the destruction of stamps is beyond comprehension. Can you imagine the black blot that will hang over the National Postal Museum should they move forward with the destruction of most of the stamps?

The sale of the stamps has generated much discussion. Most collectors I have spoken with favor the sale. As a dealer, I always like to see new material on the market, especially a large hoard such as this. Properly marketed, we could see the number of revenue stamp collectors increase greatly. As a result, activity will increase, bringing more material to the marketplace, a winning situation for all.

Assuming the museum could scrap the plan to destroy the stamps (and I think it should scrap the destruction), it will have to do something with the stamps. Storage of the stamps presents problems and costs money. The museum also is seeking funds so that it can add to its collection.

Let’s be realistic. The museum wants to sell these stamps, and I believe that they will sell them. The sooner it does, the sooner we can enjoy them. For the sake of the philatelic community, let us hope that the museum sees the error of its way and releases the entire holding.

In the fact sheet on the museums’s website, one of the goals of the deaccession is to not adversely affect the market. The sale of the entire holding of stamps will not adversely affect the market, but will have a positive impact. A small group of people will feel a negative impact as a result of the sale. The only way the museum adversely affects the stamp marketplace is when it buys an item, thereby depriving collectors and dealers the opportunity to buy and sell that item, probably forever.

Next to the proposed destruction of the stamps, the second biggest mistake the museum is making is the arbitrary manner it is using to pick quantities to sell. The question most often asked by collectors about the sale of the stamps is “Why is the museum trying to protect a few rich collectors?”

For example, there is only one recorded example of the 1 7/10c Wine stamp (Scott RE182D) in private hands. The museum has 50,000, but its fact sheet states that only three examples will be sold. The owner of the one stamp is not pleased, but neither are scores, or possibly hundreds or thousands, of other collectors who might like to own one of these stamps. The museum is attempting to manipulate the rarity of this stamp.

Furthermore, its arbitrary attempts at manipulation are not consistent. Two groupings of $30 through $10,000 stock transfer stamps in imperforate pairs without serial numbers exist. (For the record, I am the owner of one of these sets along with several other stamps that will be impacted by this sale). The fact sheet states that 50 examples of such stamps will be sold. In this case with two known groups, the museum is willing to sell 50, but if only one stamp is known, they will sell only three. Such arbitrary quantities are another example of poor judgment.

The philatelic market is a resilient market. In the past 20 years, we have the seen American Bank Note Co. archives and the United Nations Postal Administration archives come to the marketplace and be readily absorbed. While the museum hoard of revenue stamps is slightly different, it too will be welcomed in its entirety by the marketplace.

The support by the philatelic community for the museum to discard its plans for destruction and sell all of the stamps is overwhelming. It is also just plain common sense. There is a ready market for the stamps, and the museum will realize more funds as a result of the sale of the entire holding.

Furthermore, it will avoid the costs of destruction and the labor involved in accounting for sales of small quantities. Lastly, the museum will be seen as a friend to the philatelic community by allowing this material to come to the market and avoid the black blot that it is currently heading toward.

Introduction

2004-08-01T16:11:00.000-04:00

As many of you know, I have been leading the effort to stop the destruction of stamps by our National Postal Museum. It has become very time consuming, so in an effort to streamline responses, I have created this blog. I will start with a few introductory articles about the issue. If you have any questions: Email me!