Dear Steven ,
In this issue I want to focus on the need for high value stamps, as I have seen an increased number of these over the past few years. High value stamps have provoked controversy within the stamp collecting community: "How dare they issue a stamp for more than $10!" is the general sentiment.
Truth is, $10 isn't that much any more and higher valued stamps are really needed. When a box can cost upwards of $300 to mail, festooning parcels with so many stamps is time consuming as compared to using a couple of stamps.
And so now enters Samoa into this discussion, which until recently used $20 as its regularly available high value.
The sole meter franking machine in Samoa, used for EMS, packets and parcels, broke down at the end of last year. At the same time, the agreement with their stamp supplier expired. So Samoa Post, taking charge of their own affairs, has issued a set of high valued stamps locally overprinted on March 31st intended for parcel and not philatelic sales. While I am not in agreement with the number of stamps used, here are all ten issued from $30 to $200.
What do you think?
Sincerely,
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