MexiMail

The long awaited 2016 Follansbee Event/weekend in Reno turned out to be beyond everyone's expectations for material,viewing,learning,socializing and just a tremendous philatelic experience(Depth, Breath,Accurate Descriptions so seldom seen). Mr Follansbee put on the broadest auction material present for a long time(? ever, without taking any credit for the expansive material presented) included were : "large lots",stampless covers, colonial mail,republic mails, Sellos Negros,1856 issue,1861 issue,Spanish intervention,Eagles,Maxis, Guadalajara Provisionals, Gothics, 1868,1872,1874,Foreign Mail,1884-1910,"Revolution",US Occupation VCZ, Oaxaca,Coach/Anvil Seal Issues,Airmails,Officials,Revenues,Postal Stationary, Yucatan Issues,Revenue Stamped Paper, and Literature. Believe me there was not time to see 1/2 of all the materials even if you worked at as I did! There were so many highlights I will only mention a few: #10 Monterrey(probably less than 5-10 known),#7A-CE(on white paper-less than 5-10 known), Spanish Intervention Stamps used at VCZ(RR ? 2 sets),multiple Guadelupe Hidalgo Eagles(6 different)-will never be any sale with these in that number again, Tacubaya eagles--6 different,Texcoco eagles--5, Tlalpam 2r first period(only known copy), 1868 50c blue color error(2 stamps!), 1872 Durango sub number 1, on 2 stamps on piece,"extraordinary"(rarely ever seen in auctions), Sonora 321 cover,#327 sheet-only known copy outside the Smithsonian, many beautiful cancels, watermark varieties and other covers. Additionally the Mexico Philatelic experts were sharing their knowledge such as Mark Banchik, Martin Spufford, Pete Taylor,J. Winerman, Dave Pietsch, Dexter Matoon, Bubba Bland,Manuel Inglesias, Mike Hart, Rich Daffner, Tad Mackie, others and of course Mr Follansbee who remains a wealth of knowledge. The socializing was always appreciated by those in attendance since we rarely are able to spend time with their fellow philatelic collectors.  Any opportunity to attend a Follansbee "event" in the future would be most worthwhile both from a philatelic and social standpoint in my opinion. RRGRACE

The Grand Opening of the new William Gross Stamp Gallery at the National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C. occurs on 9/22/2013 and has been a long awaited event for philatelist as it will exhibit rarities of the world. There is a first day of issue ceremony for the U.S Postal service Inverted Jenny Souvenier sheet also the same day. The importance for collectors of Mexico is that among some of the rarities on exhibit will include the A.O. Tittman #324a mint stamp one of the rarest stamps (possibly 2 known)of Mexico(the only stamp from the collection chosen to exhibit as best I know) and if anyone is nearby in the future a visit to this Gallery would be of significant interest.
 
 

Congratulations are in order for the Mepsi members awards at the  National Philatelic Exhibitions of Washington meeting held in McLean, Virginia June 1-3, 2012: Ron Mitchell's Mexico's Denver Printing of 1914 (Reserve Grand and Gold for Handbooks), Michael Roberts for Mexico's Revenue Stamps (Vermeil for Handbooks and Special Studues), Michael Roberts for Mexicana (Vermeil for Periodicals). Mepsi members  probably represented the largest number of awards in this literature contest, ie 3 of 25 available competitive awards.These awards do enhance Mepsi in Literature circles. My personal thanks to both author's for their significant literature contributions which provide all of the Mepsi members with important information in these areas. I recognize the effort, time and concerns provided that cannot be sufficently repaid. RR GRACE

In the April 2011 Mexicana there are several excellent articles that makes the Mepsi membership worth the dues just for these single gems. Congratulations to these authors and Mr. Mike Roberts for this issue in color. Mr. Rodriquez's article on the Guadalajara Provisionals is the most comprehensive review of this difficult area ever attempted. It is clearly written, illustrations are profuse and educational, the vast area is covered so well it leaves little else to be said. The enormous work to accumulate, study, exhibit and write about  any focused area of Mexico is difficult but since this area had little information prior to these studies it makes them all that more challenging and outstanding. Not only that, but the separate addition of the study of the various types of forgeries of these Provisionals in color (as is the proir article) will serve as an excellent guide for collectors of this issues for many decades to come. All collectors of classic Mexico are indebted to Omar Rodriquez for his sharing his knowledge and experience with the Guadalajara Provisionals and these articles should be valuable in your reference files for Mexico.   RR GRACE

Since how we describe classic Mexico depends on common agreement of the terms, an area that I have not seen reviewed or discussed recently,  & offers an opportunity to make sure we all know what we are saying as we so commonly describe these items. These are variously noted in all the sales catalogues and perhaps for some these terms are unclear. So I wanted to get some viewpoints on my definitions of "letter, letter sheet, circulars, fronts, and folded wrappers". Since all letters were made from folded papers in early Mexico mails adding "folded" does not improve the description to me.
"Letter"--complete outside cover with address+cancel+stamp/stampless and complete inside letter with docket, "Complete Letter"
"Letter sheet"--Outside complete cover with address+cancel+stamp/stampless and no inside letter, also same as "Folded letter sheet"
"Circulars"--Outside complete address+cancel+stamp at reduced circular rate and inside usually advertisement of product but no letter
"Front"--Outside cover with address+cancel+stamp/stampless but exists as only a single sheet of paper without a backing or letter
"Folded Wrapper"--Outside cover no contents
Comments and further education of terminology will be appreciated by all. RR GRACE
 
 
 

Recently I noticed that Mexicana had recieved two awards for literature:1) APS-8/09 , Silver and 2) Napex- 6/09 Vermeil . This continues to reveal the hard work Mike Roberts is rewarded by the philatelic judges and we should all be thankful for the improving Mexicana. R R GRACE