I vaguely recall as a kid that Americans could not buy, sell (or own?) Cuba stamps. I also have an image of a Scott's catalog from bygone years with redacted pages or pictures with no values.
Haven't followed it, but I think at some point American political attitudes towards Cuba became more mature and I recently got a Scott's catalog with pictures and prices which would confirm this (I think). So two questions:
1) Can you (Americans) freely buy and sell Cuba stamps and or covers right now?
2) If so, is there a realistic chance that there may be a short window of freedom to do so with your new President?
Thanks (and please, no political rants about us "Dang Commie-lovin' Canucks").
Dave.
P.S. In the interest of transparency, I recently came across a bunch of Cuba including many nice full sheets and may offer them on SoR shortly depending on the answers. I also "Liked" my own post...
Having started a Cuba collection a year ago, I can attest that Cuban stamps on ebay are far more scarce than any of the other countries I collect. I do occasionally find a few here and there from dealers at shows, but they are usually pre 1960's.
Dave, the US embargo against Cuba was created through a law passed by the US Congress. It will literally take an act of Congress to repeal the embargo. The US President has no control over that, be it President Obama, or any other president. Of course a president can recommend that Congress repeal the law, but it is still up to the leadership in Congress to decide what to do and when to do it.
hello lemaven, i meant to say that cover dealers have vintage Cuban postcards and covers in their dollar boxes...many from the 1950s's . I can see no fault in them selling them..it gives no revenue to Cuba.
Thanks for the input, and Randy for the link. I was offside in thinking this was a Presidential Executive Action but certainly Congress could undo what exists if they had the maturity to do so.
At the risk of this being a "political statement" and inflaming some, a ban on the free-flow of stamps (as opposed to, let's say, trading in guns or pardoning a murderer...) reminds me of:
1) Book burning sanctioned by big brother to keep "offensive" ideas from the mentally-vulnerable populace.
2) A 240 lb professional boxer telling his family they can't read any books written by a 90 lb gymnast - for generations - because she spurned his advances back in high school.
What other countries stamps does the US protect its citizens from - or has so in past (and when did it change)?
This is probably more sarcastic than disingenuous, as I actually don't know but am afraid of the answers. But my guesses would be: Russia, North Korea, China, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, France.
Looking up countries that have had their stamps banned (by eBay or the U.S. Government) to protect innocent and vulnerable Americans from owning and being corrupted by them, I just came across this graphic. It helped me understand their policy better.
{Moderator: I think this is social more than political, and can be laughed at by both right-wing and left-wing members - though perhaps not Moderates, New York Intellectuals, or the Elite. Please take it down if it is offensive to anyone}.
Either that or he's off his meds. Don't worry, if he doesn't get that bedroom clear of all those little pieces of paper, I suspect we won't be hearing from him for a long while!
I was laughing especially hard when I posted this as I predicted you'd be first in with a comment. But I'm surprised at how easily you let me off the hook though with that softball. But like you said somewhere else, "I can disagree vehemently with someone but still love them and buy their Auction offerings from banned countries" - or something similar.
Anyway, liquor cabinet still untouched and meds are still being gobbled like candy. And if I don't have more stamps cleaned up soon Michael's prediction may come true. If you hear of a man in Ontario stabbed to death with a pair of stamp tongs, that would be me...
Stamps from banned countries get here on correspondence. I don't believe we have a postal ban on these countries. I have a few Iranian covers, non philatelic, that came in one of the collections I acquired.
That's true, Tom. The embargoes are for unused stamps. I guess that needed to be clarified.
I don't remember, but I think we had an embargo against PR China before Nixon opened relations? I remember the flood of stamps that came in shortly afterwards. Scott didn't list the stamps either.
The referenced Linn's article doesn't seem to un-muddy the waters. This quote…
"...used Cuban stamps can be imported and sold without limitation, and unused stamps may be imported for personal use, but not resold."
seems to be refuted by this quote...
"Until Congress acts to lift the embargo, sanctions remain in effect, preventing U.S. citizens from legally importing or exporting any Cuban philatelic material issued after the 1962 embargo date."
So I'm not really sure what the situation is! I'm sure I'm missing something. My wife often tells me that I'm missing something! Anyway...
I knew there was a good reason to accept a job in Canada in 1969, following graduation from the University of Missouri! Because I live in Canada, I can buy both Cuban stamps. And Cuban cigars in a store just a block from my apartment. Yay! Oh, right, I don't smoke!
I have never doubted my good fortune in being able to live in Canada, and eventually become a Canadian citizen. In recent months I've been especially appreciative of my Canadian identity. In 1962, however, I wasn't sure that I was going to survive past age 19….
In my first week as a U.S. Navy recruit in San Diego, we recruits were told that our enlistments had been extended indefinitely because of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the embargo against Cuba-bound shipping, our four-year enlistments were being extended indefinitely. Then a day or two later, I was, well, sitting on a toilet when air raid sirens started blaring. Instant panic! I imagined that within moments I might be turned into stardust in the middle of a nuclear fireball — San Diego and its huge naval base was a prime target for Soviet missiles. Then I enjoyed great relief, which had nothing to do with sitting on the toilet: the "air raid siren" was just the noon-hour siren. It seemed that I might survive my four years' duty, but I failed to consider the coming war in Vietnam. I knew that there was a "conflict" in Vietnam, but what did that have to do with me? Well...
My tour of duty in the Navy wasn't indefinitely extended, although, as it turned out, I did spend more than four years in the Navy because I was still in hospital recovering from being wounded in Vietnam, a war which was part and parcel of the Cold War, and in terms of propaganda involved Cuba, which supported North Vietnam and the Viet Cong in their effort to unite reunify North and South Vietnam.
After I got back into stamp collecting in the 1980s, I learned that many stamps relating to the Vietnam War had been issued, and that there was a rich treasure trove of Vietnam War-related postal history waiting to become part of my collection. Not long ago I purchased these stamps from sellers on Delcampe:
• Issued July 20, 1964 — According to the Scott catalogue, the 2-centavo stamp shows an American soldier in silhouette in the background, but he looks more like a communist soldier to me. His helmet looks like a communist helmet, and his rifle doesn't look vaguely like any rifle I've ever seen.
If that soldier is supposed to be an American, he'd have to be an advisor, because American Marines weren't committed to Vietnam until March 8, 1965, but they'd been ordered not to engage in offensive operations against the communists. One month and six days later, General Westmorland ordered the Marines to aggressively engage and destroy the Viet Cong. On July 28, eight days after these stamps were issued, President Johnson announced in a televised press conference that the U.S. military strength in South Vietnam would "almost immediately" increase from 75,000 troops to 125,000. My Marine Corps battalion, which landed in South Vietnam on January 28, 1966, was part of that early troop build-up.
• Issued in 1966 — The wholesale bombing and chemical warfare illustrated on the next stamps were already well in place by 1966, nine years before the end of the war:
A Guardian article published in 2003, titled Spectre Orange, explains in depth the long-term affects of Agent Orange and an especially toxic chemical it was spiked with. The corpsman who came to my aid after I was wounded died a few years ago from a type of lung cancer that the Veterans Administration says is caused by Agent Orange.
The quote from Linn's is how the Treasury Department has rules on it. With unused stamps, the key is "for personal use". One can't sell them or give them away. Used stamps one can do with as one wants.