Whole number 181 May 2013 WPL Auction Program he Sequoia Stamp Club will host d Laveroni will speak at the May T the Western Philatelic Library’s E 1st meeting on the South Pacific auction in an effort to help raise funds for Coast Railroad, its philatelic importance the library’s move scheduled for this and its economic importance to the 9 - 11 ̴ WE WILL NEVER FORGET summer. The library must vacate the Santa Clara Valley. 2013 Club Officers Raynor facility by June 30th, 2013. We Ed is a seasoned exhibitor who researches President understand a building is being purchased his subjects extensively and can convey up the peninsula but have no details. the story with élan. Brian Jones. 408.927.6861 [email protected] The auction will take place May 14 at Munchies and coffee will be available, Vice President the Community Activities Building, so mark your calendar and look forward David Occhipinti . 408.723.0122 1400 Roosevelt Avenue, Redwood City. to a fun event. Doors open at 7:05 pm. Some 50 to 60 Secretary lots are expected and there are normally Bonin Islands David Gilman . .408.264.1953 [email protected] many good values that can be had at WPL n page four is a short history of the Treasurer auctions and this auction should prove to Bonin Islands found on the internet. be more of the same. O Richard Clever . 408.238.0893 The main island in this group is Chichi-jima [email protected] which, in WWII, was the scene of a Mail Call Newsletter Editor number of horrors, including cannibalism James Sauer . 408.445.2694 he effort to arrange a field trip to the and beheadings by the army CO, Major [email protected] museum in Santa Rosa to see the T Sueo Matoba, and described in Flyboys Filatelic Fiesta General Chairman traveling exhibit “Mail Call” was not very by James Bradley. Bradley is better known Steve Schumann . 510.785.4794 successful—too bad. This didn’t prevent for Flags of Our Fathers , the story of the [email protected] Dave Gilman and Jim Sauer from going battle for Iwo Jima. Bradley is the son Exhibits Chairman there themselves to see it. of one of the flag raisers on Iwo Jima. Dr. Edward Laveroni . 408.356.7561 On Saturday April 20th we were on the It should be noted that the Japanese Bourse Chairman road by 9 am and arrived at the museum Navy’s dealing with POWs was quite Wayne Menuz . 408.265.5539 around noon. Built in 1909 by local the opposite of the army’s. This is borne firms, it’s one of the first 12 buildings built Visit our website at: out in Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, by the federal government in California. The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors by filatelicfiesta.org It opened as a post office in 1910 and James D. Hornfischer and The Battle of still features the historic marble and oak Leyte Gulf by Thomas J. Cutter. Even in Founded 1927, Club show since 1928 st rd ornamentation. In 1979 the Post Office Flyboys there are marked differences in Meets 7:00 PM, 1 & 3 Wednesdays rd moved 750 feet to its present location on Hilltop Manor in 3 floor dining room the treatment of POWs by the army and 790 Ironwood Drive, San Jose, California 7th Street. The building was renovated navy personnel. All three of these books Driving instructions on the website. as a museum space and placed on the are outstanding reads for any history or Annual dues: National Historic Register. It’s really Adults/families $12 ~ Youths $6 WWII buff. quite beautiful, and the ladies staffing With hardcopy of newsletter $20 I think you will be fascinated by this APS chapter # 0264-025791 the facility are very helpful. very short history of some very remote This run of the newsletter This “Mail Call” exhibition comes from and isolated rocks in the Pacific.-ed. commenced January 1998. the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum Correspondence to: P O Box 730993, San Jose, CA 95173 and explores the history of America’s military postal system. It documents how military mail communication changed Contents throughout history and we learned about Pot-pourrie & The Prez Sez . 2 the armed forces postal system from the Succeeding At Succession . 3 American Revolution to the present day. “Let These People Go” . 4 David and I enjoyed the exhibit very much which seemed to be the norm for The Bonin Islands . 5 veterans according to one of the docents. Dixie . 6 There were any number of letters and Firsts in the Civil War . 6 photographs plus artifacts from most of Covers, Cards, Stamps, etc. 7 our nation’s conflicts. As stamp collectors, much of the information was familiar, Show Calendar, Want ads . 8 but much was added in many areas.-ed. ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ Northern California Trivia he more I talk with non-collectors about stamps, the more T I realize our hobby suffers from a severe perception problem. Q What does the name Palo Alto mean? Too many people don’t realize the diversity and variety of modern A “Tall Tree” collecting. When many learn about the possibilities, some become seriously interested in getting started. Q Where is the Bok Kai (Bomb Day) Festival held? First, let’s get the obvious out of the way—stamp collecting is A Marysville. not going to return the glory days (after WWII to the mid 1960’s) when a large number of people collected stamps. That’s ok, and From Northern California Trivia by Ernie & Jill Couch I prefer it not just become a short lived craze. Developing a larger and stronger base of committed collectors should be our The Virtual Stamp Club Joins Forces With bidStart goal, not to become the next fad to go boom and bust. Collecting bidStart and The Virtual Stamp Club (VSC) are excited to appeals to some and not others. The “trick” is to show those announce that they are joining forces in the next couple of who could be interested in collecting stamps the possibilities. weeks, following the recent acquisition of VSC by bidStart. We To bring stamp collecting to its potential, it will take a coordinated intend to bring our community closer together, with better effort by many in the philatelic community. I wrote about this in content that aims to enrich and engage us all. my message in the March newsletter. We need to reach out to VSC founder and owner Lloyd de Vries joins bidStart the public in engaging ways that break up the stogie perception. immediately as our new Head of Community. Lloyd will I believe the biggest obstacles to this are the existing leaders work for bidStart on a permanent basis, and will be able to of the philatelic community. Why? Because they are stuck in devote more time to the philatelic community, both for the the past. Expecting a better result from doing the same old things combined message board and on the Web. is getting us nowhere. It will take doing new things that will Our shared vision: "I couldn't be more excited to bring the VSC grow the hobby, not expecting new growth doing the same old to bidStart. It's a giant leap in the right direction for bidStart things. The goal should be to get new collectors started and not becoming the best place for all things stamps and collectibles," worry about what or how they collect. There is far too much said Mark Rosenberg, founder and CEO of bidStart. snobbery amongst the elite in the hobby. Making stamp These are exciting times as we look to bring together this collecting fun doesn’t lead to exhibits that earn gold medals. broader philatelic and collectibles community. So what, why care? Let’s get more people engaged and having VSC and bidStart will have more resources and opportunities; fun collecting. As people develop in the hobby, a few will bidStart's Community section will be more active. Both Lloyd develop into serious collectors. and the managers of bidStart (and parent company Stanley Attracting those brought up in the new millennium will require Gibbons) think that the Internet has been good for stamp philately embracing new technologies. One good example that collecting and is intrinsic to the future of the hobby. Philately already exists is the ability to purchase Scott catalogs on an IPAD. doesn't have to wait for the next issue of a magazine to arrive Being able to take the equivalent of a stack of catalogs to a show or the next stamp show: It's now 24/7. is wonderful—no more lugging around those back breaking VSC will get a new, more robust message board platform printed volumes. While I haven’t seen anyone bring a tablet with many features that were lacking before. The bidStart to a SJSC meeting, tablets are an exploding market especially community forums will get more activity and more members, for the younger generation. with a cleaner, more user-friendly environment. The bidStart Philately should embrace social media. Yes, really. Ok, you community will be broader thanks to the VSC acquisition. don’t have to personally participate, but if the hobby wants to The VSC community will get a better user experience, and throw off the stigma of being for fuddy-duddies we need to go more news and information than has been possible in the past. where young people go. I’d like to see a diverse set of Facebook Next steps: On Monday, April 22nd, we will merge the two accounts promoting a variety of collecting types.