Stamp Collection
larsdog

"Airmail" began with early domestic U.S. Airmail stamps - issued specifically for the premium airmail service (versus standard surface mail). Eventually, International Airmail became available, so stamps were also issued at International Airmail rates. In 1979, domestic Airmail as a separate service ended. All domestic mail was being sent via the fastest route anyway, so a separate designation for domestic Airmail was no longer needed. Airmail stamps were issued from 1980 through 1991 (plus a redesign issued in 1993) for International Airmail. Although International Airmail officially ended in 1995, the United States began issuing stamps specifically for the International LC (letters and cards) rates. Beginning in 1999, most of these stamps were marked with the silhouette of a jet airplane, and those stamps with a jet silhouette were designated with an "Airmail" prefix in the Scott Catalog. However, there were several stamps issued between 1991 and 1999 that were clearly intended for International letters and cards use. Even thought they were not designated with "Airmail" or a jet silhouette (and therefore given an "Airmail" prefix for their catalog number), they clearly belong in a comprehensive "Airmail" collection.

There have also been at least two issues since 1999 that were clearly intended for International use: #3771 Special Olympics and #4123 International Polar Year. If we are to adopt the logical progression for "Airmail" stamps as beginning with domestic airmail, progressing to domestic and international airmail, then just international airmail and finally - simply - International LC (letters and cards) mail, then there are several stamps without a "C" prefix in the catalog that should be included.

One notable exception is the 46c Ruth Benedict stamp (#2938) issued October 20, 1995. Even though there is no logical reason for the issue of that stamp other than fulfillment of the then current letter rate to Canada, definitives that are part of a long-running series are not included here.

See page 25 for a chart of domestic and international rates that was useful in determing if a stamp that doesn't have a "C" prefix belongs in the Airmail album.

Highlights

• Used some early White Ace pages, but mostly made my own pages.
• All major catalog numbers included, including the re-designed William Piper stamp (C132).
• Wet and dry printings shown since it indicates a different press (Stickney v. Huck). Plate singles and partial plate booklet panes are used since they are self-authenticating.
• Plate singles may also be used as self-authenticating varieties.
• Selvage can sometimes show the perforation variety (e.g. Bull's Eye v. EE perf) and differentiate two varieties without having to measure perforations.
• C105-108 has two perforation varieties, but that block is displayed in both the Airmail section and the Commemorative section, so one perferation variety is shown here and the other is shown in the Commemorative album.
• Booklet panes include all slogan varieties. I generally don't collect slogan varieties, but this was a good opportunity to show most of the various slogans. The only slogans missing are slogans 6, 7, and 9. Examples of those can be found on page Z123 in MISC volume 1.
• Coils are in pairs since that's how they are depicted on pages. All coil pairs are joint line pairs
• White Ace included #1341 on page 13, which is where I think it belongs, so I removed the duplicate copy from the Regular Issue album.

Missing

• 100% Complete.

Click on any thumbnail image below to view the page full screen.

page 1	page 2	page 2a	page 3	page 4	page 5
page 6	page 6a	page 7	page 7a	page 8	page 8a
page 9	page 10	page 10a	page 11	page 11a	page 11b
page 12	page 12a	page 13	page 13a	page 14	page 14a
page 15	page 15a	page 16	page 17	page 18	page 19
page 21	page 22	page 23	page 24	page 25	page 26
page 27	page 28	page 29	page 30	page 31	page 32
page 33	page 34	page 35	page 36	page 37	page 38

END OF COLLECTION (12-31-2014)

Beginning in 2015 I only collect modern U.S. in a limited way by purchasing the annual USPS Stamp Yearbook supplemented with the "Mail Use" and "High Value Mail" stamp packets. Prior to 2023 there we several issues with perforations trimmed off so I replaced those with intact examples. I also replaced several examples from USPS with ones I created making sure the stamps were in SNO (Scott Number Order). Finally, in 2023, I replaced the example provided by USPS for "Tulip Blossoms". USPS sent two coil strips of 5. I bought a booklet and used that instead.