XANTHE'S
STAMP MAGAZINE

Tomorrow is Hallowe'en... so what could be better than talking about Hallowe'en stamps? I'm afraid I don't have many of them in my collection, but I had a chat with Michael Burzan on e-mail a few weeks ago and he gave me some ideas. I decided to take a look at some of the Hallowe'en stamps from around the world. Did you know that Royal Mail once created a Hallowe'en stamp? Not so long ago in fact - in 2019, as part of a set celebrating events and festivals. One of the £1.55 v

Heidi (left) and Xanthe (right) interviewing PTS Chairman Simon Carson This was the fourth time I have been to a large stamp event at the Business Design Centre in London but only the third Stampex as my first time was for London 2022 International Stamp Exhibition. Things have changed in a short time, but some things stay the same. It is always reassuring to see friendly dealers and talk to people who know a lot about philately. I don't think that will ever change so long a

At Stampex, my sister Heidi and I met with Simon Carson, the chair of the Philatelic Traders Society (PTS). The PTS is a very important and influential organisation and one of the many things it does is organise Stampex. Simon very generously agreed to spend fifteen minutes talking to us about the PTS, Stampex and collecting generally. Heidi: What makes Stampex special compared to other stamp shows? Simon: Stampex is a very, very special stamp show because it's the sort of n