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Chapter 4

Century of Progress (airmail)—issued October 2, 1933

Known as the Baby Zeppelin.

The post office worked with the Graf Zeppelin Company in a plan to bring attention to the Exposition in Chicago with a special postage stamp. The Postal Service estimated $10,000 in revenue from the sale of the stamps. FDR refused to allow the stamp. A diplomatic incident was avoided when FDR allowed the agreement to continue.

August 2, 2001, at 4:54 p.m.—Oroville, California

The afternoon had been slow, as usual, except for Stan. Just as Ed was about to close up shop for the day, the bell on the door rang, and a tall customer walked into the store. Ed appeared out of the back room to see who it was.

“Can I help you?” asked Ed, not recognizing the customer.

“I am just passing through town and saw your shop,” said the man. “I am somewhat of a novice stamp collector and thought you just might have something of interest for me.”

Ed looked over to the end of the counter where the blue international album still lay. He moved his head in the general direction. “There is this one album I was preparing for display that might interest you.”

Both men moved to the end of the counter to look at the book in question. Ed sized up the man and surmised that he probably had some money. Although not ostentatious, he was neatly groomed. Probably from San Francisco, Ed thought. I might want to start with a higher price.

“This is one of my more prized collections,” Ed boasted as if he were the proud daddy of a new baby. Ed lowered his voice and continued conspiratorially, “I had planned on selling the stamps individually, but if it interests you, I might be persuaded to sell it as a package.”

The stranger picked up the album and looked through it carefully. Ed looked at the clock on the wall. Although it had been a long day, Ed would wait until midnight to make a sale. After a few minutes, the stranger put down the book and asked Ed for the price.

“I could let you have it as a set for five thousand dollars,” Ed said, trying to be matter of fact. Hoping the price had not been too high to scare the customer off. Yet, if he could sell it at that price he would have a quick profit of $3500 with no wasted time pricing the stamps.

The tall man stood silently for what seemed to Ed like an eternity. Then he responded, “That is more than I wanted to spend, but you have a sale. Will you take a check?”

“Absolutely!” Ed answered, trying not to give away his excitement.

The stranger pulled out his leather checkbook and made out the check. So as not to offend his wealthy customer, Ed took the check and did not ask for any identification or references. “Thank you for your business, Mr. Hall,” Ed said. The customer picked up the stamp album and walked out of the store. Ed neglected to make a record of the purchase.

The stranger smiled as he got into his car, as though he felt pleased with his purchase. He leafed through the album briefly. Not only would some of the stamps fit nicely into his album at home, he figured there must be over $50,000 retail value in stamps in the album. Then he started his car and pulled out, smiling broadly. There is still gold in these little towns.

Ed again stood at the window and watched his good fortune drive away. Then we walked out the door and locked it, once again feeling cheated. He jumped at my first offer! Ed scolded himself. When will I ever learn? But I did make a tidy profit. Maybe I’ll treat myself to dinner at Greta’s!