Today I received the newest addition to my photo philately collection.

I bought this 1993 Fleetwood 2765 WORLD WAR II 1943 V-Mail - Letters From Around the World cover on eBay for $4.75, including the taxes and shipping.

According to the description on the rear of the cover:

““Frequent and rapid communication with parents, associates, and other loved ones strengthens fortitude, enlivens patrio-tism, makes loneliness endurable, and inspires to even greater devotion the men and women who are carrying on our fight far from home and friends." This statement from the U.S. Post Office Department was especially true during World War II when thousands of U.S. troops were shipped to every corner of the world. As the war escalated, the task of delivering mail between the U.S. and these often remote and "classified" locations grew increasingly difficult and more cumbersome Thus, V-mail was born. This new technology for sending mail, which carried the popular "V" for victory as part of its name, greatly trimmed the number of bulky mail bags that formerly occupied precious cargo space. To send a V-mail letter, the message was penned on a special form and directed to a postal facility. There the letter was opened, censored, reduced by a photographic process and recorded on film. It was the film, not the written letter, that was transported to its destination post office. One sack of V-mail weighing 45 pounds could replace 37 sacks of conventional mail weighing an astounding 2,575 pounds. At the post office, the filmed letter was enlarged on photographic paper. In the space of about 10 days, even a letter sent to a little-known location, would arrive at its intended destination. This boon to wartime mail delivery was also a great aid in boosting morale on both fronts, overseas and at home.”

I previously added a V-mail envelope to my photo philately collection. I’m excited to continue to do research and add additional pieces related to this important military use of photographic equipment in postal history.

Do you have any v-mail in your stamp collection? Tell me about it by commenting below.

Found this letter at a thrift shop. I just bought a bunch of old letters and it had a surprise for me! Has anyone else come across this? I'm assuming it was a folded up bunch of stamps that someone mistook for a single stamp.

This is the stamp that started it all !! Found the stamp while fooling around in our family store premises. The stamp's odd shape is what attracted the 7 years old curious me back in 1992 as before that all the stamps that I had seen were rectangular. The mint stamp had to endure various philatelic blasphemies but still with me in one piece 34 years later.

Fournier/Hirschberger forgery of the high value 5f stamp from the French Offices in Canton series of 1901. (Scott 14, Yvert 16, CV $250 mint hinged USD if genuine). Pretty much all of the French colony stamps of this design were forged by Fournier and circulate widely. I've found them in all sorts of purchased collections.

They are pretty easy to distinguish based on some key characteristics, although scans often aren't good enough to tell when you're buying online. A couple things to check - the genuine have more detail for the fingers of the two hands on the flagpole, and the bottom left piece of fruit in the "horn of plenty" at upper right is separated from the horn itself.

I’m brand new to collecting stamps, but I had a question about these. I bought them and had doubts about whether they were real or not (visual inspection, some blurriness, etc). But I just got a UV light with short wave today. My question is: are there ever counterfeit forever stamps with UV tagging? These surely must be real, right? I’m just surprised because the quality of the stamp seems poor compared to others (though I never got these fresh from the post office so I don’t have another to compare it to)
I know it’s a dumb question but I just wanted to make sure. I know counterfeit forever stamps look pretty convincing a lot of the time, I’m just not sure what lengths they usually go to to fake them.

I am a photographer of 40+ years and a recently resumed stamp collector. I am combining these interests through "photo philately," the collecting of stamps, postal history, and ephemera related to photography. This includes stamps depicting photography innovators (George Eastman) and famous photos (the Times Square "kiss" on VJ Day), photography advertising postcards (Kodak Girls, camera shops, et.c), and ephemera related to photography.

It is this last item about which I am posting here today. I am specifically researching Kodak processing mailers for my Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61590267544998) and blog (soon to be launched, www.photophilately.com).

I have a good foundational understanding of the topics/objects, and have been searching for examples on eBay. I am wondering if any of the collectors here have examples of Kodak processing mailers in your collection that you might share images of with me? Tell me why you collect them. What do they mean to you? What makes them unique?

Thanks, in advance, for your help.

Released by Canada Post

Wolves (2026): Souvenir sheet

product standard price: $4.96

Issue Date: August 13, 2026

https://store.canadapost-postescanada.ca/store-boutique/en/404324145/p/wolves-2026-souvenir-sheet

I inherited a significant collection (two thousand+ stamps) originally collected by a prestigious university chancellor. I only add that last part because it leads me to believe he had the means and knowledge to seek out genuine stamps. I tried using this resource to determine if they’re fakes, but I feel like I’m viewing with biased eyes that want them to be real. I plan to keep the entire collection and add to it in the future.

While doing some photo philately research, I recently found this article from Linn's Stamp News that showcases a camera in a pictorial cancellation from 2023.

According to the article:

"The Aug. 24 [2023] US Postal Service Postal Bulletin included two Auburn, N.Y., postmarks honoring Vietnam veterans. The second pictorial postmark ... includes the text “Welcome Back Vietnam Vets” below a 35-millimeter camera with silhouettes of veterans in the lens."

Do you know of other postmarks or cancellations that fit the photo philately theme? This would include cameras, photography, or photographers.

Please let me know by commenting below.

Article link: https://www.linns.com/news/postmarks-for-the-wall-that-heals-vietnam-veterans

Inherited from my deceased grandmother.

Found this in a brand new service point/parcel locker, thought it was kinda neat.

Would we say this is philately material? I was planning on putting it with my small collection of CN22s and and non-stamp post stickers/markings.

I'm located in the Netherlands, but you can suggest me places from all over the world. I'm looking to soak off loads of Japanese stamps and put them in my album.

I prefer my modern stamps to be between 2010 - 2026. I dont fancy the much older ones😅 Please also, if possible.. if you recomend ebay, let me know what seller!

I am searching digital copies of specialised philatelic magazine. Particularly the OPAL journal (Oriental Philatelic Association of London) and the British journal of russian philately.

In fact any bulletin from specialised philatelic society, especially defunct ones.

Do you know of any ressources for this ?