Good morning from the Rocky Mountains! Blizzard yesterday, beautiful today. Wish I had time to go skiing. But instead, I'm slaving over a hot keyboard bringing 16th century letters and 19th century postcards to the internet for the first time. Hoping to go back to Europe in May/June if they'll still let Americans in.

We've posted a new sale with:

More German Offices and Colonies postal history with (again) a focus on historically interesting, used postcards.

Austria -- good Marine mail from their participation in the Chinese Boxer Rebellion to WWI, as well as a slew of airmail covers to/from Poland on the first-issue 1918 flights (plus others).

WWII -- several new KLVs, patriotica, and other wartime history.

And what else? Italian (Tuscany) correspondence to/from the historically monumental Medici family -- all original letters with contents from my personal collection formed over the last 30 years. None are published, to my knowledge, and extremely difficult to find outside a museum or national archive.

It's a cool, sunny day in Colorado. We've had almost no snow this year, which doesn't bode well for the summer, but it's hard to complain in the moment when it's so lovely outside. The last set of auctions are over and I'm waiting for the shipments, with no new trips until maybe May-June.

I've not seen a good propaganda collection offered since before Covid, though there were a couple of good Colonies holdings that were broken up (you're seeing some of them here!). I think the Sieger estate is done, at least for now, and those were the only Zeppelin accumulations of any magnitude offered as lots recently. So... nothing on the horizon right now. And with the expenses for each trip running around $5K, I have to see enough worthwhile collections to buy a ticket.

I'm just hoping tariffs don't hit the EU, because costs will skyrocket, and certain things will just be unbuyable. I've already reduced my sales (as you've no doubt noticed) from weekly, to biweekly, to monthly due to lack of a new stock. What I get is good, but there's not enough of it...

Anyway, fingers crossed. We've posted a new sale with:

Some attractive German Offices and Colonies postal history with a focus on historically interesting, used postcards.

A good selection of Austrian covers, as destination and origin, along with Rohrpost.

WWII -- postal history and cards.

And what else? Zeppelin covers, a few German States, and some immediate post-war postal history.

Just back from Europe, we've just posted our second sale of 2025, with a lot of good stuff that just arrived:

German Offices and Colonies postal history -- dozens of China, as well as some scarce-to-rare Africa (Kamerun, Togo, and DSWA), with multiple Aus Westafrika covers and a WWI Colonial rarity -- a Nuatjae usage at the start of the war.

Austria ship mail with China, Boxer, and Levante. Also WWI with a coupleof Przemysl forerunner usages from the siege in 1914.

WWII -- postal history and cards, especially several scarce Camp covers from Flossenbeurg, et al.

And what else? A Honolulu usage from a KuK SMS Maria Theresia sailor(!). A few Zeppelin treaties. WWI-era postal history. Cholera/Pest stampless covers. After all of the Zeppelins I bought last year, I went out of my way to buy good Colonies, and I have many hundreds(!) of better covers either already here or on the way... stay tuned!

We've just posted our first sale of 2025, ahead of my first trip to Europe of the year. Hoping to get ahead of the (possible) tariffs -- if the idiots in DC put 20-50% duties on everything from the EU, new items will become significantly more expensive. Had to download a (buggy) app from the UK govt and fill out a pre-travel registration form just for the 2 hrs I'll be transiting Heathrow. Anyway, while I'm still waiting on my December purchases, this week we have more from our October trip:

German Colonies postal history and stamps.

The last big batch of Zeppelins from the Sieger estate, mostly less expensive Germany flights and related Sudetenland / Deutschlandfahrt propaganda.

WWII -- postal history and cards (quite a few rare to very rare pieces).

And what else? A group of Venetian AO Lettersheets, considered the world's first postal stationery -- technically a semi-postal, I think, since the 4 Soldi rate was to benefit flood relief. Also, several rare WWI U200 Tauchbootbriefe.

This is either our last, or penultimate sale for the year, since I'm heading back to Europe again. (Dear Lord, the airfares...) I have two decent cover collections on the way (Offices in China and Kiautschou) -- quite the surprise since the pickin's have been so slim... And from recent arrivals already here we have this week :

German Colonies postal history including more Togo and China, along with some Forerunner stamps from a decent size collection we just worked up (more next sale).

More Zeppelins from the Sieger estate (plus some from elsewhere), including many Germany Hindenburgs but also Switzerland, et al.

WWII -- postal history, cards and some Zara stamps along a couple propaganda forgeries.

And what else? A nice group of Weimar-era private postal stationery, quite a bit of WWI and many more 1919 Revolution items, Austria, and others. A good sale after a dry spell.

Since last trip was fun, but didn't yield enough philatelic material, I'm heading back to Europe very soon to look at a few large collections. But before I go, I've completed another sale, with:

German Colonies postal history including more Togo and others.

Zeppelins from the Sieger estate (also some new from elsewhere), including many Germany frankings but also Paraguay, et al.

WWII -- new postal history and cards.

And what else? Disinfected 'Cholerabriefe', Freikorps, WWI, Empire postal history plus some odds and ends.

Just got back from our three week business trip in Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia. It was an awesome trip, especially Slovenia and Croatia, which we'd never visited before. I participated in a software conference in Dubrovnik, a stunning site. There's a Game of Thrones tour there, to Lokrum Island, which was apparently excellent, but I opted for the excursion up Mt Srd, since I've not seen GoT yet (waiting for all the book, first). I'll post links to the articles on these (lots of photos) when I've finished them, for those who are interested.

Highly recommended, and generally reasonable priced (except the 35 Eur/person to walk the Wall of Old Town Dubrovnik, which I thought excessive -- though still worth it). Ljubljana was quite cheap with lots of good Serbian food -- not sure the history of that, but it was great.

Didn't buy as much postal history as I would have liked -- fairly weak material in my areas but strong prices, which has been the usual story for a while now. Got some propaganda coming, a little colonies. Some Austrian Italy (Veneto). Didn't buy any Zepps, but luckily I still have hundreds from the last trip.

In addition to the Zeppelins:

German Colonies postal history including good Togo.

WWII -- new postal history and cards.

And what else? Freikorps, postwar EFOs, Austria Disinfected covers plus other KuK postal history.

We've just posted our last sale before I head off to Europe:

Another great group of Marineschiffspost and Colonies covers from a specialized collection, with German Navy Internee covers (Guam/Hawaii) and a Graf Spee Squadron usages, including a super rare SMS Leipzig sent from Easter Island(!) during the war, just before the Battle of Coronel. Also a number of Colonies stamps.

WWII -- new postal history and cards, especially Feldpost as well as more propaganda (which is getting quite thin on the ground, I must say).

Then: the next batch of Zeppelin covers from the Sieger estate.

And what else? WWI including Czech Legion, Freikorps, some postwar. Lots o' stuff.

Summer is winding down and we have our first fall buying trip coming up -- first we head to Croatia for a software conference then on to Italy and Germany. Meanwhile, we just posted more items with:

New Marineschiffspost and Colonies covers from a specialized collection, including several scarce German Navy Internee covers.

WWII -- postal history and cards.

The next batch of Zeppelin covers from the Sieger estate.

And what else? Austria, lots of WWI, some postwar. It's a busy offering!

Our newest sale has been posted with:

Marineschiffspost and Colonies covers from specialized collections, including a choice Pisa-Provisorum and Blockade covers.

WWII -- postal history and cards including more unique and scarce items.

The next batch of Zeppelin covers from the Sieger estate, again many with BPP certs.

And what else? Check it out...