First draft of The List

Okay, so there's some real content to the blog now with the addition of the first draft of The List.  With this list, I will not be at a loss for materials that should be included in my specialized anniversary collection.  The List includes stamps and topics that I consider part of the March 4 collecting topic.  Right now, it's more topics than actual stamps, mostly because it takes me quite some time to scour through the catalogs to find stamps that were issued on March 4.  For the topics that fit into this collecting topic, and there are quite a few with stamps honoring those topics, I will list stamps and materials that I know of in the appropriate years.  For example, after the entry for Antonio Vivaldi's birth in 1678, I'll list stamps that relate to that topic (once I have a chance to look them up) at that point in the list.  The topic list was generated mostly from the Wikipedia entry for March 4, with other topics coming from other web searches and a few that I knew on my own, such as the fact that the U.S. presidential inauguration date used to be March 4.

Speaking of inaugurations, that introduces another possible avenue for collecting: inauguration day covers.  I've seen a few come up on eBay but haven't had a chance to bid for them yet.  Looking at covers, we can also include first flights, RPO and HPO inauguration and discontinuation covers, shipbuilding launch covers, and any of a number of other commemorative covers at other events.  Plus, there's also a chance at finding regular mail that was postmarked on March 4; one of my recent acquisitions, in fact, was a cover for a regular mail item that traveled on an RPO and was postmarked from the RPO on March 4.  As I think about all of the material that is within the realm of this topic, from all price ranges down to the 1¢ covers in the dealer's "just take it" bins, I'm even more excited about building this topical collection.

I'll have to leave it at that for now, but watch this blog for updates.  There will be plenty to talk about on this topic as I continue my research.