Welcome to C&H Stamps

C & H Stamps

PO Box 855
Dewitt, NY 13214

Specialists in Canal Zone since 1979

Dealer Member APS, Member CZSG, USPPS, ICC

IMPORTANT NOTE: WE ARE NOT RELATED TO a “C&H Stamps” in Quakertown, PA!!!!!!!

2012 -- OUR 33rd Year!!

Happy Winter 2012 to all our great & loyal customers!

We specialize in Canal Zone stamps and postal history for beginners to specialists! We also sell Danish West Indies stamps and covers; please email for information.

NEW as of 1/24/12: Recovering from major PC failure. New mint block of 2, 11, 65/66s. Added J10 VF OG, 19 NH, 99 VF NH, 97 F/VF NH in a block, 52a (see “Varieties” below), 46 F/VF NH, J7 XF used, J1 mint, J11C mint block (extremely rare) under “Postage Dues” below, 78 almost VF mint, 20 NH, 84.1a (narrow spacing) in strip and block, as well as 24 & 27 with spaced C-A in CANAL and J17b & J20B (see “Postage Dues”) as well as 9b and 12b and 19 Panama 15/16 mm long (see Varieties below), 48 mint toned, 19 NH, 57 huge mgns., J15 mint OG! Recently added 46 F/VF NH and J18 corner block with initials! New 14 alm VF OG, 14 F/VF NH, 46 F/VF used, 52-3 mint no gum, 54 used intense color, J8-9 mint! O8 just F+, J7 VF, J6 mint and J12-13 mint no gum blocks, 11 huge mgns., 67 alm F/VF extremely light cancel, 19 F/VF, 25 huge mgns., 47 alm F/VF LC and 59 VF NC, mint J3, nice mint J15, 7 with red cancel, 18 VF used with repair, J1 mint block of 4! We acquired the CZ stock of Conroy Philatelic, the #2 (to us) CZ dealer; we wish to thank Judy Conroy, and are excited to offer a wider stock to our customers. We have THE MOST CZ specimens anywhere – see “Officials” page!! Added 164a used and 164 used blocks, 13 with rare Spaced A-L in CANAL (see Varieties page)! CZ UX6 used (see just below), 39c mint pane! Any stamp can be scanned and emailed/sent to you; this is easier than my learning html!

We wish to highlight these 6 rarities:

CZ UX6, the 1c embossed post card from 1924 (the only embossed postal card ever issued by the US!), extremely fine mint copy of this seldom offered card. It is a hard item to scan, since the scanner tries to darken it, so I apologize for the light color. Rest assured this card is strongly printed and in beautiful condition. Undercatalogued at $1050 in “usual” condition, which this is not! http://canalzonestamps.com/images/czux6mint.jpg $1085

UX6, the 1c embossed post card, USED from Gatun 11/14/24 on a printed International Association of Machinists’ meeting notice card, extremely fine example of this scarce used card, as with scans of this card, the “stains” on the front are NOT stains but a spot gum mark (on the left) and a very light finger mark with postmark ink (below the “stamp”), really a beautiful card and rarely seen http://canalzonestamps.com/images/czux6used.jpg $1000

46 two corner blocks with split overprint, the top two stamps from each block show the rare “ANAL ONE” variety (CZSG 46.4) of which only 10 were issued! However, the way these were located makes me thing they could me a new find – still, these represent either 40% or 20% of all those that exist! Both moderate to have severe tropical gum stains, have no or partial gum, the right bock has a creases affecting all but the left ANAL variety. Nonetheless, these are very rare, Scott catalog $1450 as normal for the blocks, and these might be worth $3500 in good condition. http://canalzonestamps.com/images/cz46anal.jpg http://canalzonestamps.com/images/cz46anal2.jpg $500

94 used block of 5! Yes, this is a used block of 4 with an additional stamp attached on the lower right -- it has straight edges at the bottom, heavy cancel, the perfs touch at right, there are a few creases, a few missed perfs – in general, it’s pretty tough, BUT…..it is very rare in such a multiple, and has a catalog value of $800+!! See scan at: http://canalzonestamps.com/images/cz94block.JPG $55 net

117 vertical pair with dramatic misperf through center of stamp! CZ freak perfs like this are never common, especially one like this! Light bend in top selvage, otherwise NH and fresh! http://canalzonestamps.com/images/cz117misperf.jpg $88

CZ UC1 first airmail envelope, first day cover 5/21/28 with pair of #72 and #103 (scarce used!) added, to Kelso, WA (backstamped Pasco WA 5/29/28). F/VF, small UL corner bend, rare and Scott $175, http://canalzonestamps.com/images/CZUC1fdc.JPG $90 net

Please note these ABBREVIATIONS are used in these lists:
adh adherence prtd printed blk block PU postally used bot botttom PPC picture- ccl cancel post card cert certificate ppd postpaid cr crease pr pair DG disturbed gum reg registered dmg damaged RG regummed DSG dry shiny gum rev reverse env envelope rnd rounded flt fault	gsk gum skip SE str. edge CDS circ. date stamp SF space filler HC heavy ccl. sh sheet LC light ccl. sl slight LL,LR location s/l str.line LH light hinge sm small mc machine ccl. SON socked on NC normal ccl. nose ccl. NG no gum sp short perf.	NH never hinged st stamp np nibbed perfs. stn stain OG original gum TG tropical gum ovpt overprint tr tear pf perforation tth tiny thin pp pulled perf. UL,UR location PG part gum VLC very light ccl. PF Philatelic Fdn. WG waxy gum wr wrinkle

PLEASE NOTE WELL:

Unless otherwise noted, unused stamps have OG and may have hinge remnants. OG NH means NH!
Mint stamps are denoted by NH, WG, PG or OG. Used stamps are denoted by LC, VLC, MC, NC or HC.
Used with normal cancel unless noted LC/HC. Normal cancel = an average amount of ink per postmark - not light enough to stand out, nor heavy enough to cover the stamp’s design. VLC = very light cancel, barely enough to be noticed.

Please order by centering and condition. (ie: VF LC, or F/VF OG sm th). PLEASE GIVE ALTERNATE CHOICES (or email us first) since many items may be unique. Thank you!

OUR STRICT CZ GRADING STANDARDS – view our scans to get a visual definition!

VF = PERFECT CENTERING – NOTHING LESS

F = off-center perfs that do not cut into design

F/VF = centered VF one direction & F in the other, (ie: Scott VF)

F+ is between F/VF and F (ie: our F+ = Scott F/VF). VG = perfs cut on 1 or 2 sides

If you want other dealers’ VF, then order F/VF! One reason we have so many “almost VF” is that it’s hard to find perfectly centered CZ!

Winter 2012 PRICELISTS:
TO ENTER EACH LIST, PLEASE CLICK ON ITS SECTION BELOW:

CZ Regular Issue stamps #1-20

CZ Postage Due Stamps

CZ Officials and Airmail Officials – includes Official Seals (OXs) and CZ SPECIMENS!!

CZ Booklets and Booklet Panes

CZ Postal Stationery, Last Day Covers and CTC PanCanal FDCs – includes CZ POSTAL STATIONERY!

CZ Plate Blocks - Regular Issues

CZ Plate Blocks - Airmails and Postage Dues

CZ Precancels and Perfins

CZ Varieties

CZ Books and Manuals

Pricelists updated through 1/24/12-- I’m still raising prices to reflect the strong market for CZ.

Terms of Sale!

Check or money orders (no credit cards) please – but we accept Paypal (either a transfer of your Paypal balance, or credit/debit card-funded Paypal accounts!)
Also, please add 50c for orders under $10. We pay postage, but please add for insurance or we send at your risk!!!
NY Residents please add tax!

SECONDS!!!!! Yes, we have seconds (boy, do we have seconds!!) Should you like to fill a space with a stamp with slight faults, please write us.

Sheets? Yup, we got ‘em! Send your want list for our quotes. We also have many mint blocks, if you collect them

Certificates? Why does the stamp need one? The CZ first issue, CZ #1-3, were heavily forged, even during their period of use! Therefore, it is imperative that an authority – usually the American Philatelic Society (APS), Philatelic Foundation (PF) or Professional Stamp Expertisers (PSE) – certify the stamps; they issue certificates of genuineness that include a photo of the stamp, or buy with my gurantee and then obtain a certificate. (2^nd best are copies signed by Perry, Bartels and Colman, who used or sold them within days of issuance.) I have also seen a forged #15 at auction (May 2011), so that’s important. CZ #46-8 and 67 are often hard to identify and certificates are a good idea; I don’t usually get certs for 46-8 and 67, but if you purchase one of these, you may submit them for certificates and, if not genuine, I will always refund the purchase price, cost of certificates and your postage paid to get the cert.

Waxy gum? What’s with the wax!? The climate in Panama is so humid that stamp gum absorbs moisture from the air; wax paper was placed between sheets in post offices to prevent sheets adhering to each other. This wax often stuck to the gum; for some issues, Scott 15 and 18-20 for example, almost no copies survived without waxy gum (unless they were regummed later).

Organizations:

If you invest time and energy to build a strong CZ collection, you should also invest time to learn more about CZ stamps and postal history through the great organizations that research and publish information on it all! We strongly encourage customers to join the Canal Zone Study Group. Its resources are a great way to learn about CZ collecting. Write us for an application, or visit their website: www.czsg.org . Another group, the Isthmian Collectors Club, distributes a great deal of historic information of Panama and the Canal Zone through a monthly newsletter; email us for information. The US Possessions Philatelic Society (USPPS) is active in other Possessions with many of the same CZSG researchers. Write us also for info on the USPPS.

This website is dedicated to my father Howard, who passed away in 2002. We both cofounded C&H Stamps in 1979, and he was an important participant in CZ postal history and philatelic research. We still miss him greatly.

Chris