Shopping in a WESTPEX wonderland

[Alyson Kuhn] April 23–25 was the 50th annual WESTPEX stamp show, held at the Marriott Hotel by San Francisco International Airport. WESTPEX is the big West Coast show for stamp dealers, stamp collectors and enthusiasts like me. I don’t actually collect stamps; I acquire them to use on my correspondence. And I enjoy the hunt — it’s a little like having my philatelic fortune told. At WESTPEX, my stamp stars aligned!

My very first stop was A to Z Stamps & Coins from Arizona (a state whose postal abbreviation is AZ!). At WESTPEX 2009, I had bought a lot of vintage postage at face value (meaning the denomination printed on the stamp) from A to Z. So, I optimistically asked if they were offering any postage at face value at this year’s show … and was rewarded with an even better offer: a small stack, barely a quarter-inch thick, of unused postage at 90 percent of face value. The incredible thing is that almost everything in the stack was something I wanted. So kuhnvenient. It took me roughly two minutes to make my selections. A sheet of 150 tiny square 13¢ Indian Head Penny stamps (1978). A sheet of Hanukkah stamps (1996) — about which I wrote last December. A three-strip of Soil and Water Conservation stamps (1984), which I am currently using a lot, because they are great with my AOK stationery. And a handful of 60¢ Coverlet Eagles (2002), which come in handy when I’m mailing a small box and have covered too much of the available real estate in low-denomination stamps. So, at face value, my total would have been $32.50. At 90 percent, I paid $29.25. But wait, I have saved the best news for last.

You, yes you, can buy a marvelous mixture — a magnificent mélange — of vintage postage from A to Z … for 78 percent of face value. Start here and then scroll down to find the link for “DISCOUNT US MINT POSTAGE.” You’re welcome!

Photo: Wm. M. Senkus, my incomparable stamp guru.