Steps Newsletter

Change of Business

2009-02-09T15:38:00.000-08:00

Earl Netwal has been forced to sell off his philatelic inventory. He is now building a new business helping other micro and larger business effectively use atypical eCommerce tools to grow their customer bases. For more information go to http://MicroBusinessSpecialist.com/blog While there get a free copy of Earl's new report, Why Most Small Business Web Sites StinK!

Scott 65 Fancy Cancel Collection

2008-05-12T11:46:00.000-07:00

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Scott 65

This three cent rose colored stamp was the backbone of postal service during its period of use which ran from 1861-1868. During this time period the postage rate was 3 cents for up to 3000 miles, and prepayment by postage stamp was
mandatory. Thus most every letter required a Scott 65 or one of its cousins.

There are a variety of stamps with the same design engraved by Joseph
Ourdan for the National Bank Note Company.

Other Scott numbers exist for the Pink, Lake,Brown Red & Scarlet none grilled examples and 7 different grill variations of the Standard Rose. Other than the Pink Scott 64, the others color varieties are all listed as "special printings."

The common 65 rose has a catalog value of $3 used, but with a nice clear
fancy cancel they can go much much higher.

Grill varieties ran from a small of 9X13 mm to all over. Distinguishing grills can be challenging eye work. Various Grilled examples can be very pricy, with or without a fancy cancel.

I will be offering many better individuals cancels as singles, but also quite a few as album pages, to give the buyer a chance to acquire a significant enough group upon which to build a larger collection.

The album pages below will be offered for sale this week, possibly by the
time you get this, but more likely Thursday evening, May 15, 2008 at my traditional 9:30-10:30 PM EST launching time.

1861-1862 Cancellations with various Stars all on Scott 65.

1861-1862 Cancellations with various Numerals and one Free all on Scott 65. The top left cancel of a 3 in a Big C is identified as being from Wasioja, MN. The middle cancel has a small numeral three in the middle of the Maltese cross.

1861-1862 Cancellations with various Compass Point or Rosettes all on Scott 65.

1861-1862 Cancellations with various Circular styles including cog wheels all on Scott 65.

1861-1862 Cancellations with 20 Circular wedges all on Scott 65./>

1861-1862 Cancellations with various Squares, Crossroads & Bars all on Scott 65.

1861-1862 Cancellations with various Targets & Circular all on Scott 65.

1861-1862 Cancellations with various Blue and One Red Cancellation all on Scott 65. Notation on album page suggests the red cancel was for overseas use. Blue cancels are less common than black in this period.

1861-1862 Cancellations with various town cancels including a few manuscript all on Scott 65.

1861-1862 Cancellations with various Numerals all on Scott 88 with a 11 X 13 grill. Scott 88's catalog $25 used vs. $3 for a Scott 65.

1861-1862 Cancellations with various crossroads, circular cancellations all on Scott 88.

1867 Cancellations with various rosettes and crosses all on Scott 94.Scott 94 is red and has a 9 x 13 grill. A 94 used catalogs $10.

1867 Cancellations with various designs including a masonic fez all on Scott 94.

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Procrastinator's
Tune

Tangled up line fills the bottom of the boat

Fishing opener with frustration's sour note

Preparation prevents things going wrong

Would of, could of, procrastination's song

-Robert A. Swart

*=============================================================*

Court Jester

Why did the chicken cross the road, roll in the mud and
cross again?

He wanted to be a dirty double crosser.

Why did the chicken cross the park???

To get to the other slide

Why did the chicken cross the road??

Too long to go around.....

What is:

peck, peck, peck, BANG, peck, peck, peck BANG??

A chicken in a minefield...

I was too chicken to leave it to the above chicken jokes
this week so I'm adding this groaner.

The poor guy walks up to the rich guy's house. He's down
on his luck and needs some money. He rings the doorbell. "Hi there, I'm
down on my luck, need some money, and I was wondering if you have any work I
could do for you?" The rich Guy decides to give him a break, and says:
"Sure, my porch needs painting. I'll pay you 50 dollars to do it for
me." "Sure thing, Mister, I'll get started right away!" Time
passes, until... "Hey Mister, I'm all done painting!" "Well,
here's your 50 dollars" "Thanks, and by the way, it's a Ferrari,
not a Porsche."

*=============================================================*

CONTACT US: Contact and Subscriber Information

Keep Those Comments Coming!

Editorial contact
(General Comments / Advertising)

Earl Netwal: enetwal@gmail.com

Mailing address:

ETN Covers

5344 36^th Ave S

Mpls., MN 555417

612-724-4392

Please forward this to anyone you think might
appreciate this newsletter.

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MarketplaceAdvisor : Sellers : Image Hosting : Image Edit

2008-03-30T11:22:00.000-07:00

MarketplaceAdvisor : Sellers : Image Hosting : Image Edit

2008-03-28T15:15:00.000-07:00

2008-03-13T22:24:00.000-07:00

Seriously behind in blog posts. But did want to make sure to remind you that the r-run of Haertel Estate unsold covers ends this Sunday. Almost all the minimum bids were cut in half. Many great deals throughout. Don't miss out.

Wow, some nice results for Haertel round 3

2008-02-24T22:23:00.000-08:00

The details will need to wait for my newsletter, but the quick news is we had a great results on several items in the third round of the Haertel postal history estate sale. Two items topped $1,000, one topped $3000. A good dozen items in the 200 +/- range.

My favorite fancy cancel was not the top bid getter among the Fancy Cancel group, although it did bring in excess of $150.

Colonial material is hot!
----
Also the fourth and final week is off to a great start with over $3,000 in bids on the books already and many items on the move. The Lincoln Campaign letter has climbed steadily from 9.99 to $360 last time I looked. I suspect its got a ways to go yet. The Steamboats appear to have caught peoples eyes. Many others are getting hits and watchers, but no bids yet.
---
Last Sunday most of the high bids on the top $ getters were made in the final 5 minutes, probably with sniper programs. That's fine with me, just bid what your willing to pay and make sure you don't wait too close to the end. I'm aware of bids not getting processed properly in the final minute or two. (It's happened to me.) Word to the wise, use a sniper if you wish, just make sure the bid gets in on time, give yourself at least a 5 minute buffer. If someone's going to over bid you, they are going to do it anyway, you at least will be making sure they pay full fare. Sounds like a good plan to me.

---
Don't forget most of the unsolds will be re-listed March 6th for 10 days ending the day before St Patrick's Day. The minimum bids on most items have been halved. Should lead to plenty to brisk action. A few lots may get combined. I am particularly thinking of putting some groups of Fancy Cancels together. We'll see if I find time to actually do it.

Final session of the Haertel Estate is now LIVE

2008-02-21T20:30:00.000-08:00

The fourth and final section of the Haertel Estates Postal History Collection is now live. It over laps the third section which has been live all the past week and ends this Sunday.

Both session contain outstanding postal history. Material that does not often find its way to eBay.

Ending Sunday are the fascinating array of fancy cancels and a nice selection of stamp less folded letters to and from foreign destination in the colonial to civil war era. Some exceptional items in both groups.

Newly listed are the Lincoln Campaign Letter, About a dozen confederate and or Civil war realted covers, not the least of which is a Free Frank from A H Stephens as Vice President of the Confederacy. Steam Boats, Domestic Ship Mail, Stamped covers from Scott #1 in 1847 through 1900 with domestic and international rates represented with some better stamps as well as better covers. Also a valuable little group of Local Posts on the East Coast and better Express Covers from out west. Also a few 20th century items, including Siberia AEF, Crosby Atom Bomb, US Possessions covers including Guam #12 on cover, Porto Rico Mil Stat, and a few stray items that should have launched in earlier sessions., etc.

Postal History

My Project X Speech First Draft

2008-02-18T21:07:00.000-08:00

Below is the draft of my project X speech I gave at toastmasters this week. I didn't give the speech as it was written, and will be making significant changes as I prepare this theme for our annual international Serious Speech Contest. I mentioned this in my newsletter and said I would post it here. So here it is>

Mr. Toastmaster, fellow Toastmasters, welcome guests, At the end of my talk today I will ask each of you a question regarding your “Project X.” Specifically, I will ask you to name your “Project X.”

But first, I want you to think back to about 1 hour ago. Remember what it was like to drive to Toastmasters this morning? Can you see yourself behind the wheel? Now to shift gears a little, may I ask you to see yourself just driving down the free way on a long drive.

Do you ever get to the point while driving where you just zone out? Have you ever arrived at a destination and not actually remember the drive getting there? Or is this just my own personal dementia?

Now, if you will, can you imagine standing on the shoulder of that same freeway, moderately busy with traffic and intent on crossing it on foot.

Quite a contrast of mental attitude, don’t you think?

In the routine of driving the freeway we tend to drift off and operate on auto pilot. And yet in that very same place, in a very different way we are far more engaged when doing that which is out of the ordinary.

In the first case we are in the flow, in the second, we’re not.

Instead, we are acting purposefully. We are particularly paying attention to our personal preservation as we prepare to pedestrian our way across the pavement. We are in full control of our actions. We are alive, if only in a mundane matter.

Our lives are like that freeway trip. To stretch the metaphor, the journey out of the neighborhood starts at 16 with the first car and first accidents. Life is sometimes messy getting out of our childhood family neighborhood. It may take any number of years before a person settles into gear and enjoys cruise control on the family life freeway with all its rewards and merits.

But along the way, our roles in life, as varied and noble or base as they may be, become just a freeway trip.

I suggest we all need to grab a “Project X.” Something outside us, something short, specific, and extraordinary. Something like standing on the shoulder of the freeway, with risk and perhaps no lasting importance.

Something that takes your life off auto pilot and puts you back in charge. Crossing the freeway, but NOT like the chicken with an unknown mission.

Rather, your Project X is something definite. It’s a project that not only can, but will be done. Because, you said so.

And so fellow Toastmasters, the time has come. For me to ask, What will you call your Project X? Select a project outside of everything you are now doing. Give it a name. Make it real to yourself, and then do it.

If your project hasn’t already sprung to mind, name it Project X. Your first project is to find a worthy Project X.

Fellow Toastmasters, while it’s wise to look both ways when crossing the street, it’s imperative that you take the steps required to make it happen.

So, when you settle in behind the wheel of your car later today, start thinking about your Project X.

Let your cockpit be your incubator. (Repeat)

Presidential Free Franks Last Minute Report

2008-02-16T22:24:00.000-08:00

With less than 24 hours left five of the presidential free franks have at least minimum bids. Three remain without a bid yet. My minimum on these is 249.99 each, which would be a real steal if anyone actually got one that cheap. Yet stranger things have happened so I'm a little nervous. My expectations are that these should bring 1000+. Lots of lookers, lots of people "Watching" the auctions.

John Q Adams Minimum bid entered at 249.99, 104 people have visited this auction.
James Madison Minimum bid entered at 249.99, 91 people have looked.
Martin Van Buren dual autographs on letter and as free frank. 249.99 bid, 73 looked.
Millard Fillmore no bid, min 249.99, 72 have looked
John Tyler, $260.00 bid, 69 have looked
James Buchanan, no bid, min 249.99, 55 have looked
Martin Van Burn on piece, 249.99 bid, 53 looked
James Garfield, no bid 249.99, 44 looked.

I am surprised by the lower interest in the Garfield item. According to my sources, there are no
known presidential free franks from Garfield, who was assassinated early in his term. As such this Senatorial free frank from him should be a hot item.

I fully expect the bidding to be concentrated in the last couple of hours with a hot and furious final hour and a half starting just before 9:30 PM EST. Less than a third of the items offered have bids, all have moderate to high viewers, and the majority have between 2-10 watchers according to my ebay data.

Its going to be fun to watch. Be sure to get you bids in. Expect a little competition, but last batch almost 30% did not hit their minimums, so expect some bargains as well. Happy hunting!

Postal History

Fancy Cancels up Maritime Stampless Up

2008-02-15T10:00:00.000-08:00

Haertel Estate Postal History Auction Update

On Thursday January 31st we launched 50 Folded Letters from
Colonial to 1809 time period. These closed on February 10th. 70 %
of the lots sold. Many at high multiples of their minimum bids. The
unsold will be repriced and auctioned on March 6th.

On February 7th we launched another 120 stampless covers and FLS
from 1810 to 1855, with a number of restored rate covers and other
very desirable rated covers. Also launched February 7th were the
Free Franks, including the presidential free franks from James
Madison, John Quincy Adams & others as well as over 50 other free
franks of all descriptions, many exceptional items. Added to the
mix is a nice collection of better Wisconsin Territorial and DPO
Covers.

All of these will Close this Sunday evening, February 17th.

Yesterday, on Valentines Day we launched a sweetheart of a
collection of over 120 Better Fancy Cancels on cover. This
exceptional selection has some real winners.

Included are a few early precancels including a Glen Allen,
Va red Precancel Star with Cert. Also listed on Valentine's
day was a selection of international stampless covers to and from
the US from colonial times to 1860s with sea postage rates. These will close on February 24th.

The Balance of the Collection will be coming up on the 21st if
I can get it all done on time. That will Include the Lincoln
campaign cover, Confederate covers, stamped postal history to
1900, Express, and some other goodies.

Go now to: Haertel Estate Postal History Auction

Best wishes, etn

2008-02-12T21:25:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday evening 77 lots closed with a little over 70% selling for a gross sales amount of $5,482.37.

The remaining lots will be rerun March 6th with any additional unsold lots that occur between now and then. The biggest total for a single cover was $275 for a stampless letter from Hudson NY to Clermont NY rated 6 cents. I have no idea why this cover brought more than some of the others that I would have valued higher.

The next best price went for one of the Civil War patriotic covers showing Uncle Sam Spinning Rope to Hang the Traitors which got $270. In contrast, the unused civil war patriotics brought prices between $10-20 each grouped in lots of 3-5.

I am happy with the results, and confident most of the unsold items will eventually sell. I'll bet several will sell at more than the minimum set the first time around. Time will tell.

Currently, I have the balance of the domestic stampless covers, the Free Franks including the presidential and the Wisconsin Postal History live on eBay. That's a total of 230 lots. I have adjusted my listing policy for this auction having lots close 1 minute apart instead of them all closing at the same time. Several bidders suggested this, and I think it will result in higher bids. With any luck it will help stir up some last minute bidding ferocity.

Later this week, the Fancy cancel collection will be offered. They are all queued and ready to go. I may add additional material, or hold everything else for the 21st. At that point everything from the Haertel estate should be up. Each auction is 10 days so I will probably rerun all the unsolds on March 6th.

I will eventually prepare a prices realized report, but may require people to join my newsletter to access it. Why not just join now, and enjoy my reports from the tundra. That way you can get the prices realized when it's published.

Send a blank email to stepsnewletter@aweber.com to join the weekly newsletter. You can quit at any time. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

120 More Lots now Live on eBay Haertel Estate

2008-02-07T19:31:00.000-08:00

The free franks, Wisconsin Territorial and DPO's, and the continuation of the stampless era from 1810-1850's are now live on eBAy. They will close on Sunday February 17th around 10ish EST.

Several potential bidders prevailed upon me to list items sequentially to permit them to bid on alternate items easier. I have listened and as a result listed items in each category at 1 minute apart. I move the initial starting time for the largest category, the stampless covers, up to 9:30 instead of my previously announced 10PM.

Easiest way to access the collecting is through my eBay store. Just look for the Haertel Auction Category to the bottom of my category list on the left of the page.

Don't forget the items launched last Thursday will close this Sunday. In this case they will all close at 10:00. Lots of lookers, few bids so far. I suspect a lot of sniper bids have been set. Thats fine with me, just be sure to have them launch early enough so an not to get frozen out.

I've had that trouble before with snipe I had placed to end only a few seconds before the auction ended. In more than one case, eBay would accept them because they came to close after another sniper bid or some such. Any way I've been told you need to set you snipe for 30 seconds to minutes before the auction ends or you may get frozen out. Just word to the wise, as there will be some heavy bidding on many of the offerings.

First Postal History Lens Done

2008-02-02T18:13:00.000-08:00

I have finished adding covers to the Domestic Stampless FLS and Cover collection from the Haertel Estate. It is on a Squidoo lens. http://www.squidoo.com/etnpresentsPostalHistory

I think it can stand on its own as a basic primer in Domestic Postal History rates in the United States. I welcome your comments, and may at some point invite your submissions to flesh out any weak spots and build a true virtual reference collection online.

I also finished listing the fancy cancels, which will launch on Valentines day night at 10PM.

I hope to build a Fancy Cancel Lens soon. In the meanwhile, I've attached one to help you remember that Fancy Cancels launch on Valentines day. It's got a heart in a bold White Hall, NY star fancy cancel from 1867.

first 100 Postal History FLS on Squidoo.

2008-01-29T19:03:00.001-08:00

Well, I've been busy again. The first section of 96 Postal History FLS from 1745 to 1832 have been put on a Squidoo lens.

I hope to add the additional covers as time goes on to preserve the collection I am now selling on eBay.

ETNPresentsPostalHistory

The Haertle Auction Begins Thursday

2008-01-29T13:51:00.000-08:00

The first batches of lots will be launched on Thursday January 31st. This first segment will consist of 27 Civil War patriotic covers. These will include 17 postaly used patriotic covers and 10 lots of from 3-5 unused patriotics including at least one confederate patriotic.

<- This is one of the covers, a Cure for Rebellion, free franked in Washignton DC by J Buffington, who I take to be a member of Congress from Rhode Island although I did not check.

Free Franks Now Displayed on Squidoo

2008-01-24T14:57:00.000-08:00

I have put up a Squidoo page today, displaying all the FREE Frank Covers that will soon be auctioned as part of the Charles Haertel estate.

The link is http://www.squidoo.com/ETNPresentsFreeFranks

There are

9 Presidential Free Franks
5 Vice presidential Free Franks
4 Presidential Widow Free Franks
9 Congressional Free Franks
6 Federal Officers & Others including Mexican War item
10 Post Office Free Franks including Fancy and Patriotic

Be sure to sign up for email notification as to when lots will launch. Send a blank email to
etnPresents@aweber.com to get put on the official email notification list.

2008-01-18T14:39:00.000-08:00

I have just published a lens on Squidoo about the upcoming estate auction. There I have published images of 66 of the 650 or so lots that will be offered. It will give you a great idea of the caliber of material being offered. Check them out.

http://www.squidoo.com/ETNPresents Publish Post

2008-01-15T09:40:00.000-08:00

My past week was largely one of anticipation.

Yesterday, I picked up the Charles W Haertel estate’s postal history collection. I will be preparing it for sale on eBay over the coming weeks.

Included in the collection are presidential free franks, many other better free franks, significant stampless era material, ships boats steamers, domestic rates, Civil War patriotics, Confederate covers, postal currency, Well over 100 very attractive fancy cancels on cover, a section of Wisconsin dpo’s, and more. Highlights so far are a Free Franked cover signed by John Quincy Adams as a Senator. A $1 Guam overprint tied on cover (Guam #12). And an 1860 Lincoln the Railsplitter Campaign cover.

There is a lot of better material in this consignment, and I expect to be putting about 5-600 lots up over the coming few months. I will have these scheduled by next week’s newsletter.

I will be blogging about these on a regular basis. I also intend to set up a separate email alert for the various auctions when they get set up. Be watching for details.

I will build some Squidoo lens on each major category to preview at least some of the better items. While I welcome inquiries, my intention is to sell all the items on eBay.

I will run these as ten day auctions starting on Thursday Nights, perhaps twice a month, perhaps more frequently. Many items will start out at $24.99 many will go for $100’s. I expect to see a few $1000+ items as well.

You will want to be paying attention if you are into 19th century and earlier postal history.

---------
Last Saturday, I went ice fishing with my new son in law from Turkey and 10 year old grandson at my brother’s ice house on Lake Minnewaska in west central Minnesota.

There for the second weekend in a row, I took the honors for the first fish, the most fish, and the largest fish! Unfortunately, it was also the only fish. I guess I’m bad luck for my fishing mates.

Despite the lack of fishing success, everyone had a great time. We started out on the open ice, drilling holes with a power auger through about 2 feet of ice. There we stood in the roughly 14 degree weather with a slight breeze.

We used both wax worms and tiny crappie minnows, starting at just above the bottom and working our way up. If the fish are there and in a feeding mood, one or the other should eventually work, and in one instance it did and I pulled out an okay sunny but that would be the last of the fish for the day.

Standing on the ice, we could see a line of fish houses stretching at least half a mile consisting of 100’s of little portable ice shanties. They curved in an arc to follow the underwater contour.

Most appeared empty, but cars were alongside many, a couple kids here or there to be seen, and some comings and goings as well a couple nice fish being caught within eye or earshot up and down the line.

Part of our expedition was the moving of my brother’s ice fish house from its previously unsuccessful location to the greener pasture. The process took about an hour and a half, which gave us plenty of time to enjoy standing on the ice, jigging away ever watchful for the illusive crappie bite.

Thus Serder was able to experience the contrasting forms of ice fishing, the stalwart stand on the ice approach and then the cushy roast and toast of the indoor fisherman. I think he enjoyed both, and I am sure his mother in Ankara is already wondering about her son’s sanity as the pictures have long been emailed.

Standing out in the fresh air makes one hungry, so we grilled up some brats and wieners in a baby weber. Add some cookies beer and other gedunk and we were happy campers. Not quite a shore lunch of tasty walleye or crappie but delicious nonetheless.

As we packed up for home, I again marveled at the clear cold night sky, so much darker away from the city and so much more full of stars and wonder.

I only wish we had caught more fish.

Maybe next weekend. etn

2008-01-10T20:27:00.000-08:00

Panama Canal First Days
10 day eBay auction
ends Jan 20, 2008

How many of these do you have in your collection?

856-1t Panama Canal Crosby Cachet
856-3 Panama Canal 3c Grimsland
856-5 Panama Canal 3c Clifford/lose
856-7 Panama Canal 3c Holland Cachet
856-10 Panama Canal 3c Cachet Craft
856-16a Panama Canal Fidelity Cachet
856 -17 Panama Canal Hux Cut Cachet
856-19a Panama Canal 3c House of Farnam
856 -21 Panama Canal Linprint
856 -22a Panama Canal Ioor
856-23b Panama Canal Ioor
856-25 Panama Canal Coulthard
856 -29a Panama Canal Torkel Gundel
856-29b Panama Canal Torkel Gundel
856-30 listed unnamed Panama Canal Cachet
856-31 Panama Canal CS Anderson
856-? Panama Canal Not in Mellone possible Dietz

Click Here prior to January 20, 2008
To Bid on any or all.
Ask for a 20% discount and
free shipping if you buy 5 or more.

Panama Canal First Day Covers

856-25 Panama Canal 3c Coulthard

Merchantilism a 5-7 minute Toastmaster Speech

2008-01-09T11:54:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, I will be giving a 5-7 minute speech at my Toastmasters meeting. I am a strong proponent of Toastmasters and would be happy to discuss why with anyone interested.

I am not an economic historian. The information in the speech if from research I've done recently on the internet. I am trying to be concise. I'd welcome any thoughtful comments.

Merchantilism

The term Merchantilism is like Capitalism and Socialism except that it didn’t have a single “Father” or document out of which it emerged. It refers to the economic policies and practices of the dominant European powers in the period before the Industrial Revolution and the emergence of Capitalism.

It’s important to understand, as this history is prologue to the economic debates of this day, particularly as we head into a contested presidential election.

While some believe Capitalism is written into our Constitution and Declaration of Independence, it wasn’t. In fact, Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations was published in England in 1776, the same year as the Declaration of independence. And while both represented death knells for Merchantilism, it took many decades for Capitalism to take hold in society in general and in turn its excesses to cause the rise of Socialism.

In the next few minutes I will share two of the key aspects of Merchantilism, their ramifications and some remaining vestiges in today’s economic world.

An underlying aspect of Merchantilism was the rise of bullion, specifically, the role of bullion coins, silver and gold. In general, the goal of the state became one of acquiring and hoarding gold and silver. This was in turn used to field permanent armies and navies to protect the merchant interests of a nation.

The need to protect merchant interests from piracy and competition created a self renewing bond between the Crown, the military and the merchant classes.

This process accelerated the consolidation of power, and fueled the transition from feudal states into the rise of the nation state. It also led to the European wars that so dominated that continent for the majority of the past 3-400 years. These wars in turn arguably sped the technological advancement of European states, particularly in the military arts.

When we think of Spanish galleons sailing the seas, pieces of 8, and of pirates and buccaneers sanctioned by differing nations, we are seeing just one vestige of the era.

Within the United States the persistence of this “gold lust” is seen in the fact that it was only in 1972 under President Nixon that the US finally moved off the gold standard. And Fort Knox still sits as an icon to the day when gold reserves were the sole measure of a nation’s wealth.

A second key aspect of Merchantilism was that trade was considered a win-lose proposition, with the winner of the gold - the winner. This led to trade policies which placed high tariffs on imported goods, and low tariffs on imported raw materials. Export was the key and retaining technological advantages was critical. Thus England and other countries forbade not only the transfer of technological know-how, but also prohibited the emigration of skilled people.

It wasn’t until 1793, that Samuel Slater opened America’s first Cotton Mill in Pawtucket, RI using memorized plans and starting the industrial revolution in the US.

The goal of producing wealth from the colonies prevented colonials from trading with other nations even when in the colonial interest, in deference to the Sovereign’s needs to hold that market captive to its merchant interests.

Colonies were considered marketplaces for goods from the home country and hegemony was enforced. Britain for example was successful in prohibiting any ships not of English origin to transport goods around England or her colonies that were not flying the Union Jack, with the exception of direct imports from the source country. That meant a Dutch ship could not transport French goods to an English port, but a French ship could as long as it didn’t also carry goods from Holland or elsewhere.

The Declaration of Independence in part, denounced the crown for “cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world.”

Today in the United States we have a similar law known as the Jones Act which only permits US ships the right to haul materials from one US port to another.

The central need to raise wealth for the crown also led to the taxation that so infuriated the American Colonies, leading up to the Boston Tea Party. Rather than allow direct import of tea, the colonies were obliged to buy tea only after it went through the offices of the Crown Company and additional taxes applied.

One of the breakthrough theses of Adams Smith’s Wealth of Nations was that Trade rather than being a one way street, was actually beneficial for both sides. A fact that is still being debated today in our Free Trade - Fair Trade debates.

Alexander Hamilton is today on the $100 bill because he bought into Adam Smith’s ideas and envisioned a trade economy that bolstered both despite the objections of Thomas Jefferson who favored restrictive trade practices designed to protect the growth of the American agricultural economy.

While one can certainly not do full justice to Merchantilism in a 5-7 minute speech. I hope that I have accomplished two things. First, to inoculate you from any arguments that Americanism = Capitalism based on a spurious belief that American was established as a capitalistic country. And second, to demonstrate that even today, we harbor policies within our country that have antecedents to colonial and pre colonial times that are not inherently capitalistic.

To understand the economic issues of today, it helps to have a perspective on the economic polices of the past, and the why and wherefores. I hope you found the information interesting.

etn

Robin Hunt Squidoo Lens

2008-01-02T17:47:00.000-08:00

I took a variety of photos on my New Years day Robin hunt. If you are interested you can get an idea of what my winter walks look like on a Squidoo lens I put together. Its located at: http://www.squidoo.com/1stRobin

Spring Has Sprung!

2008-01-01T12:25:00.000-08:00

I saw my first two robins of the year as I hiked along the the Mississippi River gorge between Minneapolis and Fort Snelling, today Jan 1, 2008.

It must be Spring, despite the 0 degree weather.

This walk has become an annual ritual with me. The robins seen however are not returning from the South, but rather wintering over birds. They are easiest to find when its the coldest, as they tend to be near sheltered areas by open running water.

Today's sighting were by a place my family calls the Bridge of Fallen timbers. I am tempted to put together a Squidoo Lens to show some of the photos I took during this walk. The robin doesn't show as it was up in a tree when I go the camera out and I do not have a telephoto lens.

I also saw a mourning dove in the same location. Not sure I've seen one of them over winter before.

I hope you are having a warm New Years Day. etn

2007-12-31T13:24:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

I hope you have had a chance to reflect on the plusses and minuses of the past year, and have set for yourself a clear plan for the coming year.

For me that means making a variety of changes. One of which will be less popular as I explain below, I am raising my shipping and handling charges.

Another change is my continuing move into the internet marketing arena. This will take time away from the cover business, but will hopefully help me work down down my accumulated debt. It seems I’ve more inventory than dollars these days, but the gas company won’t take first day covers for the heating bill.

This past few months, I’ve had some success with my various adwords campaigns during the Christmas buying season. I don’t expect to do as well in the off Christmas season, but I hope to build up to the Christmas levels over the coming months, and set myself up for a very busy Christmas this coming year.

My repeated new year’s resolution revolves around my ever so large middle which I need to shrink. Again, I have had some recent success, but that was largely negated by the holidays. So I am going to try, try again.

Initially I am going to do the same diet that brought me some recent success. This involves eating frozen entrees, 3-6 times a day. It’s a bit pricey, but allows me to eat often, which I’ve come to understand is a good thing.

Even though I may eat up to six of them, most have low calorie counts. More importantly, they usually contain a meat portion and vegetables with relatively few high glycemic starches.

One to two weeks of that will enable me to drop 10 pounds or more based on past experience. But I will get bored.

My next step will be to either repeat after a period of time or explore a new diet I’ve been hearing about that takes a radically different approach to eating.

I’ve liked what I have read about it, and my wife (who has bought and read every diet book ever written) tells me it is getting a lot of positive press. It’s called calorie shifting. I haven’t bought the eBook yet, but I intend to. If any of you have had any experience with it, I’d welcome your comments.

I have other plans as well, including a planned trip to Turkey this summer to visit the new in laws. Can’t afford it at the moment, but will do my best to sell a ton of covers between now and then. Your help, as always, is appreciated.

Among my goals from the past year was to get all my covers up and listed on eBay. I didn’t get that one done. I still have several thousands covers in boxes that have not made it online. While many are cheapies, there are still many better covers, primarily space and flight oriented that need to get processed.

You can expect to see most of them in the coming three months.

My plans for New Year’s day include a board game day with family and a hike along the river in my annual Robin hunt. I like to be the first to see signs of Spring and the robin certainly has that cachet. Even though I know I am hunting for wintering over robins, it’s fun to claim the bragging rights. I’ve been successful almost every New Years day for over a decade now. I’m confident I will be successful again this year.

I hope the coming year will be one of your most successful years as well.

Best wishes,

etn

Recent and Future eBay Listings:

You can find all my current eBay auctions and my eBay Store items in my store by searching the following link.

ETN Covers eBay Store

I also have a significant collection of ship covers at …

www.shipcovers.com

Colorado

I continue my States Series with a look at Colorado Covers today. Two are New Years related. These and several other Colorado Covers are now on eBay.

1711 Colorado Centennial Issue First day cover Medallion cachet.

http://images.marketworks.com/hi/33/33063/fdc5065.jpg

USS Colorado BB45 Ship Cover New Years Day 1/1/1934.

http://images.auctionworks.com/hi/33/33063/ship1186.jpg

USS Colorado ACR 7 (1901-1916) Picture postcard

http://images.auctionworks.com/hi/33/33063/ship6941.jpg

UX27 Loveland Colorado Last day 1cent rate 12/31/51

1001 -15 Colorado WM Grandy Cachet

etn

Map Cachets

Over the years I have encountered a number of first day covers made out of old maps.

I once had a clipping attributing these to a particular person, but the idea once out has been copied by others. The process is simple enough. Find an old map which shows a location appropriate to the stamp in question, cut it to shape, and create an envelope out of the map, and get it first day stamped.

At one time I had almost 70 of these. Now I’m down to less than a dozen and a half examples. Those I have are now listed. Map Cachets

Below is an example. Makes for a colorful first day cover.

1274 International Telecommunications Union on a Map cachet

Cargo Ships

Cargo Ships come in a wide variety of designations. I tend to lump them all together. Though somewhat less “sexy” than Battleships, destroyers etc, the cargo ships were the true lifeline for the fleet and its mission. After all, its not just the Army that travels on its stomach.

I am featuring Cargo ships this week in my ebay store and at auction.

USS Mount Hood AE-29 with a Mermaid Ship Cachet Mar 22, 1996

Advice

Every year I'm starting to ask myself why
I see friends who'll waste away and die
Each new season I'll try to live it with flair
Not tied to a TV and a stuffed easy chair

Never letting my mind and body feel old
Challenging myself facing Winter's cold
Spring renews, in it's lakes and streams
Calendars turn, I'll be living my dreams

-Robert A. Swart

Court Jester

You can't take it with you

Trying to disprove the saying "You can't take it with you," a stingy old lawyer, diagnosed with a terminal illness, finally figured out how to take at least some of his fortune with him when he died. He instructed his wife to go to the bank and withdraw enough money to fill two pillowcases. He then told her to take the bags of money to the attic and leave them directly above his bed. When he passed away, he planned to reach out and grab the bags on his way to heaven. Several weeks after the funeral, his wife, up in the attic cleaning, came upon the two forgotten pillow cases stuffed with cash.

"Oh, that old fool!" she exclaimed. "I knew I should have put the money in the basement."

The Cowboy and the Preacher

One Sunday, a cowboy went to church. When he entered, he saw that he and the preacher were the only ones present. The preacher asked the cowboy if he wanted him to go ahead and preach.

The cowboy said, "I'm not too smart, but if I went to feed my cattle and only one showed up, I'd feed him."

So the minister began his sermon.

One hour passed, then two hours, then two-and-a-half hours. The preacher finally finished and came down to ask the cowboy how he had liked the sermon.

The cowboy answered slowly, "Well, I'm not very smart, but if I went to feed my cattle and only one showed up, I sure wouldn't feed him all the hay."

Shopping Frenzy

I was browsing in a souvenir shop when the man next to me struck up a conversation. Just as he was telling me that his wife was getting carried away with her shopping, a brief power shortage caused the lights to flicker overhead. 'That,' he sighed, 'must be her checking out now.'

To Subscribe to my Steps newsletter send a blank email to stepsnewsletter@aweber.com You will get a request to confirm. Once you confirm you will be on the list for all future newsletters. You may unsubscribe at any time.

Shipping Price Increase

2007-12-30T15:31:00.000-08:00

I have decided to increase my shipping and handling charges on all future eBay lots. For years I have been charging $1.50 for the first item and 25 cents for each additional. While this covers postage costs, it doesn't come anywhere near the time cost of handling.

I will now charge $2 for the first items and 35 cents for each additional lots sold to US Addresses. The rate to Canada will be $2.25 for the first items and 35 cents for each additional. To the rest of the world, I will charge $2.50 for the first item and 35 cents for each additional.

Last month and for January, 2008, I am running a special offer, where I will pay the shipping and handling charge for any order of three or more lots.

My goal is encourage more multiple unit purchases. More purchases theoretically means more of a profit margin per mailing.

As I have reported previously, I figure I have 15 minutes handling time invested into each lot on average. That said the new rates mean I am giving myself a raise from $6 and hour to $8 an hour for my time, less actual mailing costs.

I currently offer thousands of items with minimum bids below $10. The economics just don't work unless I can get a greater percentage of people to buy multiple lots.

It may seem like nothing, but the time it takes to print out an order, pick it from inventory, stuff the envelope, address it, stamp it, file feedback, record the transaction, and mail it add up quickly.

When people ask for special services, like insurance or registered mail, I only charge what the post office charges, and nothing for the time it takes me to stand in line at the post office.

I understand that this is not a popular move from my customers point of view, but it's something I need to do. I hope you understand. etn

2007-12-28T08:57:00.000-08:00

eBay 10 cent listing day

Thursday December 27th was a 10 cent listing day on eBay auctions.

In past years eBay had free listing days. These were big hits at first and gave a real advantage to dealers like me who have automated inventories. I used to do wholesale dumps of my inventory on eBay.

The problem was that while it didn't cost anything to list, the number of items sold as a percentage of those listed tanked. Since it was free it didn't matter. For some years now though, eBay has been having fewer such promotions and not free.

That is probably a better idea. When they were free the site would just become overwhelmingly cluttered. Since I now have to pay a dime, I am using a bit more discretion as I load the site.

Rather than dump 16,000+listings, I took advantage yesterday and listed 316 items in the $25-$300 range from virtually all categories of material. Then since listings were cheap, I added gallery view so my images would show to viewers. That brings the auction listings to 45 cents each which is cheaper than a straight listing without gallery normally would be.

With so many others taking advantage of the cheap listings, I am hoping my better priced items will stand out in the sea of cheap un-galleried items.

If I am able to sell over 9.5% of the items, I will deem the experiment of adding the gallery expense worth while. Thats 2% more than the average sold in past big blizzard listing days, which covers the additional gallery charges at $25 per items sold.

We will find out next Thursday if I am able to sell 30 of 316 items. Should be easy. But to help it out, I am extending my free shipping and handling deal till the end of January.

If you buy three or more (non bulk) listings, and pay for them at the same time, I will pay for shipping and handling worldwide.

This deal applies not only to items at auction on eBay but also any items in my eBay store or on my ship cover web site.

Use these links to go there: Naval Covers

eBay Store

2007-12-28T08:16:00.000-08:00

Inventory Time

It's year end and time to take stock of my cover inventory for the tax man as well as my own information. Turns out I have a total of 24,314 items with 16,163 unique listings in my internet inventory. Total value at my minimum prices of about $187,000.

That represents about two work years of labor if I use my standard estimate of 15 minutes per item on average for handling. The 15 minutes includes time on the shipping and handling end, so the two years estimate includes yet to be done work.

I'd be happy to give someone a 10% discount if they want to buy the entire inventory, perhaps a bit (lot) deeper if anyone were seriously interested. Not included are the boxes of yet to be processed material.

One of my goals for the coming year is to decrease the total number of items significantly, while increasing the average dollar value per item.

2007-12-24T14:06:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas.

I hope you and your families and friends are enjoying all the blessings of the season.

As I write this Sunday, the house is still in a high state of chaos, with presents yet to be bought, wrapping behind schedule, and countless last minute errands to run as well as greetings to write.

And yet somehow it will all come together ready or not by tomorrow eve. We celebrate Christmas eve with my wife’s family, and the day with mine.

Christmas eve traditionally was at Joan’s parent’s house. There, in a small stucco bungalow, the MacKenzie clan would gather for T-bone steaks, mashed potatoes, fruit soup, and ever so much more.

Hazel would never sit down, pushing mountains of food at any plate half empty. Art offered everyone a glass of Mogan David wine, perhaps the only day of the year such beverage was shared in the house.

The kids table was always loud, in the now ever so small living room. It’s dimensions indented by the gloriously lit, always perfectly decorated Christmas tree.

Even more constricting were the mounds of presents in every other corner and stacked along the walls.

After dinner, Hazel required a carol or two to be sung before the presents could be opened.

And then the walls would reverberate with the shredding of wrappings, giggles of excitement and politely pronounced thank yous crisscrossing the room.

As the loot was unwrapped, each item was exclaimed about and thanked for and stashed into piles, every so careful to make sure the to-from tags were neatly tucked within each box.

The bedlam would last till nearly eleven when it was time to sneak out and start warming the frozen cars, and load the trunks with the incoming, now that the outgoing was dispersed.

Got to get the kids ready for bed, cause Santa Claus is yet to come. Mrs. Claus always managed to whip up a great reason for the kids to wake us the next morning. Even with fresh piles of yet to be played with gifts from the night before, there was always something special under the tree.

I hope that you were able to both give and find something special under your tree this year.

Best wishes and Merry Christmas.

etn

2007-12-23T12:13:00.000-08:00

Recent and Future eBay Listings:

You can find all my current eBay auctions and my eBay Store items in my store by searching the following link.

ETN Covers eBay Store

I also have a significant collection of ship covers at …

www.shipcovers.com

2007-12-23T11:51:00.001-08:00

USS California

USS California ACR 6. It's keel was laid 5/7/1902 and commissioned August 1, 1907. It's named was changed to the San Diego on 9/1/1914. As the San Diego, it was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-156 off Fire Island Inlet, July 19, 1918. Postal markings from the California or San Diego are scarce to rare.

Above is a postally used non philatelic cover from a crew member of the USS California BB44. The cancel is a machine cancel. Battleships, in essence small floating towns, handled enough mail to warrant automated canceling equipment.

In this example the ships name is in the top of the dial which gives this particular cancel a designation as a type 7t for those who are interested in not just getting a cancel from each ship, but also examples of all the different types of cancels used. This particular cancel rates a “C” value in the ship cancel catalog which puts it in the scarce category.

The California BB44 was launched in 1919 and was on battleship row on Dec 7^th 1941 where she was sunk, killing 100 crew members and wounding an additional 62.

She was refloated in early 1942 and largely rebuilt in time to participate in the May 5^th 1944 invasion of the Marianas. During subsequent action she was hit by shore fire and suffered a Kamikaze attack, both with fatalities. But not put out of action again until being put into the reserve fleet in 1946 and ultimately sold until 1959.

The above cover is from the USS California CGN 36. It celebrates the 200^th anniversary of the US Navy. This ship was originally designated as DLGN 36 but was changed to the Cruiser class July 1, 1975. This California, nicknamed the Golden Grizzly, was deactivated in August of 1998. An excellent web page about her is located at http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/6636/. The CGN36 was the 7^th US Naval ship to bear the name USS California. Four others pre-dated the ACR6.

etn

2007-12-21T17:07:00.000-08:00

The Battleship

A battleship is a large, heavily armored warship with a main battery consisting of the largest caliber of guns. Battleships are larger, and better-armed and better-armored than cruisers and destroyers.

Battleship design continually evolved to incorporate and adapt technological advances to maintain an edge. The word battleship was coined around 1794 and is a shortened form of line-of-battle ship, the dominant warship in the Age of Sail. The term came into formal use in the late 1880s to describe a type of iron clad warship whose design culminated in the 1890s with the generation of ships now known as pre-dreadnought battleships. In 1906, HMS Dreadnaught heralded a revolution in battleship design, and for many years modern battleships were referred to as dreadnaughts. The key distinction being the focus on being a platform for strictly big guns.

USS Texas BB35

Battleships were the subject of a major arms race in the early 1900's and remained so until World War II when the aircraft carrier emerged as the primary vehicle to extend military power at sea.

For more information on Battleships go to Wikipedia.

I am currently featuring a nice selection of 127 Battleship Covers Battleship covers on eBay. A number of these majestic ships were placed in and out of service multiple times, coming back for the Korean and Vietnam wars, primarily as gunfire platforms.

Covers and post cards from these ships are not uncommon, after all they had crew comparable in size to many small towns. At the same time, because of the volume of mail and time in service there are many opportunities to collect different postmark types as well as events. Dread naught the battleship, it makes a fine collecting topic.

etn

2007-12-21T09:21:00.000-08:00

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

The best blogging techniques.
How to get traffic to your blog.
How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

2007-12-21T09:12:00.000-08:00

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Steps Newsletter - an ETN Covers Publication

Featuring this week:

Alabama, Nuke Boats, and Christmas at Sea

Squidoo Stamps Group

Colorano Christmas Collection

& misc topics

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Volume 2 Issue #50 December 18, 2007

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Table of Contents

This Past Week.

Recent & Future eBay Listings:

Alabama, Nuke Boats, and Christmas at Sea

Squidoo Stamps Group

Colorano Christmas Collection

Poem: Two Inches by Robert A Swart

Court Jester: The Definitive "Why did the Chicken Cross the Road?"

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This Past Week:

I had a great week since my last newsletter. I hope you did as well.

Made a few forays into my neighborhood mall, the Mall of America and to the former local champ, Southdale, with few acquisitions. After all it's not shopping day yet, aka Christmas Eve.

Went to an enjoyable Christmas party with my fellow Toastmasters last Saturday. If you are either terribly afraid of or enjoy the prospect of public speaking, I recommend Toastmasters. Great environment in which to conquer fears, and learn valuable skills. And you can't help but make friends.

I have been negligent in advising my newsletter readers that I am running a sale this month. If you buy three or more covers from my eBay store, eBay auction or my Ship cover site, I will pick up the shipping and handling charges. Free Shipping and Handling on all non bulk lots till the end of December when you buy three or more lots.

Much of my time lately has been focused on my non philatelic pursuits. It's Christmas time and I have been experimenting with pay per click advertising using Google, Yahoo, MSN and others.

I'm still in the learning stages, but have done quite well, particularly with a campaign focusing on products from the Discovery Channels online store. My best seller has been the Planet Earth Series DVD's. They made it on Oprah's list and sales have been brisk.

I started by promoting Meerkat Manor after being captivated by the show a couple of months ago. While my sales of Meerkat did okay, the landing page also showed the Planet Earth product so I decided to promote that as well. I'm glad I did.

I've also been having success with the Amazon Kindle, although it's harder since they are only taking waiting list orders as their first production run was immediately sold out.

This newsletter is intended to capture the journey I am on, which includes non philatelic side adventures. But the major focus will remain on the philatelic front.

I welcome your feedback on content and format or anything else for that matter. Let me hear form you.

etn

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Recent and Future eBay Listings:

A lot of material is currently online. At the time of writing this I have over 400 items listed on eBay auction as well as a ton of stuff in my eBay store.

The mix includes some higher value Artcrafts, a blizzard of better used UX's with various varieties and usages. I'm still pushing my Magazines of course and have many listed on auction. This week I added a ton of Nuclear Submarines . Then in keeping with the season I searched my entire inventory and came up with just about everything I could find with Christmas in the title. You will find that was quite a bit. Of special note is a Colorano Silk Cachet Christmas Maxi-Card Collection , but I discuss that below.

You can find all my current eBay auctions and my eBay Store items in my store by searching the following link.

ETN Covers eBay Store

I also have a significant collection of ship covers that dwarfs my eBay store at

www.shipcovers.com

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Alabama, Nuke Boats, and Christmas at Sea

It turns out I have next to nothing in my inventory readily identifiable as being from

Alabama. What I do have are submarine covers from the USS Alabama SSBN 731 and a few others. Alabama Covers

The above cover was launched not just because it is the

Alabama, but because I am featuring Nuclear submarines this week to follow up on last weeks diesel boat focus.

There's a lot of dolphin food listed I hope those of you interested will take a good look. See all my eBay Ship covers.

Next week, I will dig though my inventory to see what I can find from

California. Should be able to find a bit more than I did for

Alabama.

etn

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Squidoo.com

As you know, I have generated a number of Squidoo lens over the past year. Just as I am prepared to crank this newsletter out each week full of error and faults, I haven't waited to understand the best way Squidoo works before I dove in. I'm no slave to perfection. My strength and weakness is in my willing to push ahead beyond my limits and my willingness to not have to do everything right.

Let me tell you why I like Squidoo, and then let you know about the Squidoo Stamp and Coin Group, and finally why I think you should do a lens of your own.

Squidoo was set up to make it possible for anyone to easily create meaningful web pages on anything they had a little or a lot of knowledge about. If you have a collection of any type, you have some knowledge that caused you to organize it in a certain way. That's all that is required, a tidbit of organized knowledge.

It's set up so that if people want to build their sites to earn money, they can. In fact, it's encouraged that you do so for charity even if your site is a purely non-commercial effort.

Now frankly, I've made less than $20 off my Squidoo sites in the past year. So it's not just for money, but rather as a place to display material and showcase our hobby. That said, I understand that others who take the time to design and build their sites properly are doing extremely well. My efforts will improve over time in quality and hopefully financially.

Most importantly, Squidoo offers a free open format for anyone- whether interested in profit or not - to share their accumulated knowledge in what ever field they may choose.

I show philatelic topics and would like to encourage you to do so as well. I'd love to see examples of your collection. Show me your favorite covers. Tell me a story about some aspect that I could refer to and learn. You don't need to do a 16 frame exhibit or have material to win the World Series of Philately. (Although if you have such an exhibit, why not make it available for the public to see, admire and learn from?)

Recently, as I was exploring Squidoo more I came across it's Stamp and Coin Group. I applied for membership and now several of my various philatelic lens are officially members of the group. Unfortunately it is a very lonely place. There are only 17 lens and some of these are on coins.

I want you to consider learning how to join us. It may require learning a new skill or two, but basically it's all very simple. It's a busy time of year, but if you have some time, check out Squidoo. Check out my simple lens. See how all you really need to learn is how to take a few pictures or scans and tie them together with a bit of narrative.

I think you will find it fun, and a great way to share your hobby. etn

Colorano Christmas Collection

This week I am featuring a Colorano Collection of Christmas Maxi Cards. This collection includes an early pre-silk cachet from 1965. Colorano did not start their famous silk cachet line until the American Wool issue of 1971 (Scott 1423) Prior to 1971 they produced a line of maxi cards for almost six years. These pre-silk maxi-cards are not all common.

From the beginning Colorano made maxi cards, so when they started their silk cachet lines they continued with the maxi cards along with traditional first day covers. In my experience there are far fewer Colorano Maxi-cards than covers in the secondary market. As such this collection has a scarcity factor going for it.

The

US has been producing Christmas stamps only since the early 1960's. Over the years, a tradition of a secular and religious themed stamp has developed. In recent years issues of four and more stamps have become more common.

The collection I'm offering is starting at $250. I expect it will sell at the minimum bid to the person who sees the beauty and value of this collection. It is almost complete for the period 1971 to 1995, and has a pre silk Christmas Maxi Card.

It is thematic, and as such will always command a collector interest. It includes pioneer cards from a modern classic first day cover producer.

Any missing elements, while they may be difficult to readily find are findable and not so dear as to be out of the question financially.

These would display nice in vario sheets in three ring binder.

The auction closes Wednesday. If necessary, I could priority or next day mail if you want to give a philatelic gift appropriate to the season. Just email me that you need it for Christmas, paypal me and I will hand carry it to my neighborhood post office.

The first scan shows five cards, the 1971 and 1972 Colorano Christmas issues and the Pre-silk card. They are worth the asking price by themselves. The remaining 9 scans of 8 cards each are gravy.

Early Silk Coloranos from 1971 and 72 retail from $25 to $300 each. Although over a decade old I think the values are appropriate. Far fewer people subscribed to these in the early years, and their desirability continues to grow. The values I quote are from 1995-96 Colorano's catalog. Considering it's over a decade old, the values may be a bit higher today.

http://images.marketworks.com/hi/33/33063/fdc7968m.jpg

etn

Two Inches?

Sitting on thin ice hoping it will freeze

No sudden movements, don't sneeze

The first ice of Winter I just had to fish

A dry walk to shore is all that I'll wish

-Robert A. Swart

Court Jester: (My humor file needs help. Send me suggestions, I need them. )

Why did the chicken cross the road? Well, it depends who you ask:

PAT BUCHANAN:

To steal a job from a decent, hardworking American.

JERRY FALWELL:

Because the chicken was gay! Isn't it obvious? Can't you people see the plain truth in front of your face? The chicken was going to the "other side." That's what "they" call it-the "other side." Yes, my friends, that chicken is gay. And, if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too. I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberal media whitewashes with seemingly harmless phrases like "the other side." That chicken should not be free to cross the road. It's as plain and simple as that.

DR. SEUSS:

Did the chicken cross the road?

Did he cross it with a toad?

Yes! The chicken crossed the road,

but why it crossed, I've not been told!

ERNEST HEMINGWAY:

To die. In the rain.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.:

I envision a world where all chickens will be free to cross

roads without having their motives called into question.

GRANDPA:

In my day, we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Someone told us that the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough for us.

ARISTOTLE:

It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.

KARL MARX:

It was a historical inevitability.

SADDAM HUSSAIN:

This was an unprovoked act of rebellion and we were quite justified in dropping 50 tons of nerve gas on it.

CAPTAIN JAMES T. KIRK:

To boldly go where no chicken has gone before.

FOX MULDER:

You saw it cross the road with your own eyes. How many more chickens have to cross before you believe it?

FREUD:

The fact that you are at all concerned that the chicken crossed the road reveals your underlying sexual insecurity.

BILL GATES:

I have just released eChicken 2008, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook -and Internet Explorer is an inextricable part of eChicken.

EINSTEIN:

Did the chicken really cross the road or did the road move beneath the chicken?

BILL CLINTON:

I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What do you mean by "chicken"? Could you define "chicken" please?

GEORGE W. BUSH:

I don't think I should have to answer that question.

LOUIS FARRAKHAN:

The road, you will see, represents the black man. The chicken crossed the "black man" in order to trample him and keep him down.

THE BIBLE:

And God came down from the heavens, and He said unto the chicken, "Thou shalt cross the road." And the chicken crossed the road, and there was much rejoicing.

COLONEL SANDERS:

I missed one?

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CONTACT US: Contact and Subscriber Information

Keep Those Comments Coming!

Editorial contact (General Comments / Advertising)

Earl Netwal: enetwal@gmail.com

Mailing address:

ETN Covers

5344 36^th Ave S

Mpls.,
MN 555417

612-724-4392

Please forward this to anyone you think might appreciate this newsletter.

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