first 100 Postal History FLS on Squidoo.

Well, I've been busy again. The first section of 96 Postal History FLS from 1745 to 1832 have been put on a Squidoo lens.

I hope to add the additional covers as time goes on to preserve the collection I am now selling on eBay.

ETNPresentsPostalHistory

The Haertle Auction Begins Thursday

The first batches of lots will be launched on Thursday January 31st. This first segment will consist of 27 Civil War patriotic covers. These will include 17 postaly used patriotic covers and 10 lots of from 3-5 unused patriotics including at least one confederate patriotic.

<- This is one of the covers, a Cure for Rebellion, free franked in Washignton DC by J Buffington, who I take to be a member of Congress from Rhode Island although I did not check.

Free Franks Now Displayed on Squidoo

I have put up a Squidoo page today, displaying all the FREE Frank Covers that will soon be auctioned as part of the Charles Haertel estate.

The link is http://www.squidoo.com/ETNPresentsFreeFranks

There are

• 9 Presidential Free Franks
• 5 Vice presidential Free Franks
• 4 Presidential Widow Free Franks
• 9 Congressional Free Franks
• 6 Federal Officers & Others including Mexican War item
• 10 Post Office Free Franks including Fancy and Patriotic

Be sure to sign up for email notification as to when lots will launch. Send a blank email to
etnPresents@aweber.com to get put on the official email notification list.

I have just published a lens on Squidoo about the upcoming estate auction. There I have published images of 66 of the 650 or so lots that will be offered. It will give you a great idea of the caliber of material being offered. Check them out.

http://www.squidoo.com/ETNPresentsPublish Post

My past week was largely one of anticipation.

Yesterday, I picked up the Charles W Haertel estate’s postal history collection. I will be preparing it for sale on eBay over the coming weeks.

Included in the collection are presidential free franks, many other better free franks, significant stampless era material, ships boats steamers, domestic rates, Civil War patriotics, Confederate covers, postal currency, Well over 100 very attractive fancy cancels on cover, a section of Wisconsin dpo’s, and more. Highlights so far are a Free Franked cover signed by John Quincy Adams as a Senator. A $1 Guam overprint tied on cover (Guam #12). And an 1860 Lincoln the Railsplitter Campaign cover.

There is a lot of better material in this consignment, and I expect to be putting about 5-600 lots up over the coming few months. I will have these scheduled by next week’s newsletter.

I will be blogging about these on a regular basis. I also intend to set up a separate email alert for the various auctions when they get set up. Be watching for details.

I will build some Squidoo lens on each major category to preview at least some of the better items. While I welcome inquiries, my intention is to sell all the items on eBay.

I will run these as ten day auctions starting on Thursday Nights, perhaps twice a month, perhaps more frequently. Many items will start out at $24.99 many will go for $100’s. I expect to see a few $1000+ items as well.

You will want to be paying attention if you are into 19th century and earlier postal history.


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Last Saturday, I went ice fishing with my new son in law from Turkey and 10 year old grandson at my brother’s ice house on Lake Minnewaska in west central Minnesota.

There for the second weekend in a row, I took the honors for the first fish, the most fish, and the largest fish! Unfortunately, it was also the only fish. I guess I’m bad luck for my fishing mates.

Despite the lack of fishing success, everyone had a great time. We started out on the open ice, drilling holes with a power auger through about 2 feet of ice. There we stood in the roughly 14 degree weather with a slight breeze.

We used both wax worms and tiny crappie minnows, starting at just above the bottom and working our way up. If the fish are there and in a feeding mood, one or the other should eventually work, and in one instance it did and I pulled out an okay sunny but that would be the last of the fish for the day.

Standing on the ice, we could see a line of fish houses stretching at least half a mile consisting of 100’s of little portable ice shanties. They curved in an arc to follow the underwater contour.

Most appeared empty, but cars were alongside many, a couple kids here or there to be seen, and some comings and goings as well a couple nice fish being caught within eye or earshot up and down the line.

Part of our expedition was the moving of my brother’s ice fish house from its previously unsuccessful location to the greener pasture. The process took about an hour and a half, which gave us plenty of time to enjoy standing on the ice, jigging away ever watchful for the illusive crappie bite.

Thus Serder was able to experience the contrasting forms of ice fishing, the stalwart stand on the ice approach and then the cushy roast and toast of the indoor fisherman. I think he enjoyed both, and I am sure his mother in Ankara is already wondering about her son’s sanity as the pictures have long been emailed.

Standing out in the fresh air makes one hungry, so we grilled up some brats and wieners in a baby weber. Add some cookies beer and other gedunk and we were happy campers. Not quite a shore lunch of tasty walleye or crappie but delicious nonetheless.

As we packed up for home, I again marveled at the clear cold night sky, so much darker away from the city and so much more full of stars and wonder.

I only wish we had caught more fish.

Maybe next weekend. etn

Panama Canal First Days
10 day eBay auction
ends Jan 20, 2008

How many of these do you have in your collection?

• 856-1t Panama Canal Crosby Cachet
• 856-3 Panama Canal 3c Grimsland
• 856-5 Panama Canal 3c Clifford/lose
• 856-7 Panama Canal 3c Holland Cachet
• 856-10 Panama Canal 3c Cachet Craft
• 856-16a Panama Canal Fidelity Cachet
• 856 -17 Panama Canal Hux Cut Cachet
• 856-19a Panama Canal 3c House of Farnam
• 856 -21 Panama Canal Linprint
• 856 -22a Panama Canal Ioor
  
• 856-23b Panama Canal Ioor
• 856-25 Panama Canal Coulthard
• 856 -29a Panama Canal Torkel Gundel
• 856-29b Panama Canal Torkel Gundel
  
• 856-30 listed unnamed Panama Canal Cachet
• 856-31 Panama Canal CS Anderson
• 856-? Panama Canal Not in Mellone possible Dietz

Click Here prior to January 20, 2008
To Bid on any or all.
Ask for a 20% discount and
free shipping if you buy 5 or more.

Panama Canal First Day Covers

856-25 Panama Canal 3c Coulthard

Merchantilism a 5-7 minute Toastmaster Speech

Tomorrow, I will be giving a 5-7 minute speech at my Toastmasters meeting. I am a strong proponent of Toastmasters and would be happy to discuss why with anyone interested.

I am not an economic historian. The information in the speech if from research I've done recently on the internet. I am trying to be concise. I'd welcome any thoughtful comments.

Merchantilism

The term Merchantilism is like Capitalism and Socialism except that it didn’t have a single “Father” or document out of which it emerged. It refers to the economic policies and practices of the dominant European powers in the period before the Industrial Revolution and the emergence of Capitalism.

It’s important to understand, as this history is prologue to the economic debates of this day, particularly as we head into a contested presidential election.

While some believe Capitalism is written into our Constitution and Declaration of Independence, it wasn’t. In fact, Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations was published in England in 1776, the same year as the Declaration of independence. And while both represented death knells for Merchantilism, it took many decades for Capitalism to take hold in society in general and in turn its excesses to cause the rise of Socialism.

In the next few minutes I will share two of the key aspects of Merchantilism, their ramifications and some remaining vestiges in today’s economic world.

An underlying aspect of Merchantilism was the rise of bullion, specifically, the role of bullion coins, silver and gold. In general, the goal of the state became one of acquiring and hoarding gold and silver. This was in turn used to field permanent armies and navies to protect the merchant interests of a nation.

The need to protect merchant interests from piracy and competition created a self renewing bond between the Crown, the military and the merchant classes.

This process accelerated the consolidation of power, and fueled the transition from feudal states into the rise of the nation state. It also led to the European wars that so dominated that continent for the majority of the past 3-400 years. These wars in turn arguably sped the technological advancement of European states, particularly in the military arts.

When we think of Spanish galleons sailing the seas, pieces of 8, and of pirates and buccaneers sanctioned by differing nations, we are seeing just one vestige of the era.

Within the United States the persistence of this “gold lust” is seen in the fact that it was only in 1972 under President Nixon that the US finally moved off the gold standard. And Fort Knox still sits as an icon to the day when gold reserves were the sole measure of a nation’s wealth.

A second key aspect of Merchantilism was that trade was considered a win-lose proposition, with the winner of the gold - the winner. This led to trade policies which placed high tariffs on imported goods, and low tariffs on imported raw materials. Export was the key and retaining technological advantages was critical. Thus England and other countries forbade not only the transfer of technological know-how, but also prohibited the emigration of skilled people.

It wasn’t until 1793, that Samuel Slater opened America’s first Cotton Mill in Pawtucket, RI using memorized plans and starting the industrial revolution in the US.

The goal of producing wealth from the colonies prevented colonials from trading with other nations even when in the colonial interest, in deference to the Sovereign’s needs to hold that market captive to its merchant interests.

Colonies were considered marketplaces for goods from the home country and hegemony was enforced. Britain for example was successful in prohibiting any ships not of English origin to transport goods around England or her colonies that were not flying the Union Jack, with the exception of direct imports from the source country. That meant a Dutch ship could not transport French goods to an English port, but a French ship could as long as it didn’t also carry goods from Holland or elsewhere.

The Declaration of Independence in part, denounced the crown for “cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world.”

Today in the United States we have a similar law known as the Jones Act which only permits US ships the right to haul materials from one US port to another.

The central need to raise wealth for the crown also led to the taxation that so infuriated the American Colonies, leading up to the Boston Tea Party. Rather than allow direct import of tea, the colonies were obliged to buy tea only after it went through the offices of the Crown Company and additional taxes applied.

One of the breakthrough theses of Adams Smith’s Wealth of Nations was that Trade rather than being a one way street, was actually beneficial for both sides. A fact that is still being debated today in our Free Trade - Fair Trade debates.

Alexander Hamilton is today on the $100 bill because he bought into Adam Smith’s ideas and envisioned a trade economy that bolstered both despite the objections of Thomas Jefferson who favored restrictive trade practices designed to protect the growth of the American agricultural economy.

While one can certainly not do full justice to Merchantilism in a 5-7 minute speech. I hope that I have accomplished two things. First, to inoculate you from any arguments that Americanism = Capitalism based on a spurious belief that American was established as a capitalistic country. And second, to demonstrate that even today, we harbor policies within our country that have antecedents to colonial and pre colonial times that are not inherently capitalistic.

To understand the economic issues of today, it helps to have a perspective on the economic polices of the past, and the why and wherefores. I hope you found the information interesting.

etn

Robin Hunt Squidoo Lens

I took a variety of photos on my New Years day Robin hunt. If you are interested you can get an idea of what my winter walks look like on a Squidoo lens I put together. Its located at: http://www.squidoo.com/1stRobin

Spring Has Sprung!

I saw my first two robins of the year as I hiked along the the Mississippi River gorge between Minneapolis and Fort Snelling, today Jan 1, 2008.

It must be Spring, despite the 0 degree weather.

This walk has become an annual ritual with me. The robins seen however are not returning from the South, but rather wintering over birds. They are easiest to find when its the coldest, as they tend to be near sheltered areas by open running water.

Today's sighting were by a place my family calls the Bridge of Fallen timbers. I am tempted to put together a Squidoo Lens to show some of the photos I took during this walk. The robin doesn't show as it was up in a tree when I go the camera out and I do not have a telephoto lens.

I also saw a mourning dove in the same location. Not sure I've seen one of them over winter before.

I hope you are having a warm New Years Day. etn