Wednesday, Stamps

I spent most of the day sorting stamps. Dad left several boxes of stamp related things, and I'm trying to figure out what it is and what to do with them. It appears that despite the volume and apparent diversity, there are really only a couple of different things. Most of these things are what are know as "first day issue" or "first day covers". I'm not sure if there is a difference. Someone takes a stamp, and on the first day that it is available (the issue day), puts it on an envelope -- generally a specially decorated envelope with a decoration appropriate for the stamp -- and has it postmarked at some special place. Dad has several different types of first day issues:

1. A collection of Normal Rockwell first-day-issues, complete with a special holder. Each stamp and envelope has a display page and all 100 display pages are put in a special album. Dad has all 100 first-day-issues and the book.

2. A set of 200 first-day-issues for the Philatelic History of the U.S., a four-volume set of albums, plus the 200 first-day-issues.

3. A set of more generic first-day-issues for stamps from 1976 to 1978.

4. A set of first-day-issue "art" posters.

On each of these you can see the stamp, the special cancellation, with the date and generally a place, and the extra stuff to make it special.

This is the bulk of the stamp stuff. There are additional things, but the rest takes up less space.

Also, today, we took the ten boxes of postcards that Dad had -- unused cards manufactured by Ashville -- and sold them to a dealer for $50 a box -- 5 cents a card. That money went right into Mom's checking account.

I made reservations to fly home on Feb 4.

While Mom was out to dinner with a neighbor, the dermatologist called. I asked her to call my sister Sue, who is on the "friends and family" list that can be told the details. Sue called back to say that both of the biopsy's that Mom had taken on Monday are cancerous. One is basal cell carcinoma and the other is squamous cell carcinoma. So we need to have both of these scheduled to be removed. I'll call to do that tomorrow, trying to get it done before I leave.

I'm making a list of all the stuff I want to do before I leave.