WALTHAM STAMP CLUB

Minutes of the meeting of May 19, 2009

 

President Shufrin opened the meeting at 8:03 with 25 in attendance.

 

Treasurer Mark Butterline reported a positive balance including an escrow.

 

The Minutes of the meeting of April 21, 2009 were approved.

 

The President welcomed back Bill Maxwell as he recovers from back surgery and noted that Dan Ladd remains seriously ill.

 

Old Business

     James Hencke is selling his father’s stamp collection for the benefit of the Boy Scouts and invites club members to review the material and make offers.

     There was a considerable discussion of equipment the club could purchase. The club approved up to $1000 to purchase a Dino Light system, a laptop computer, and a dual wavelength UV lamp. The purchases will be delayed until a plan for administering the use of the equipment is developed and Mike Morris has agreed to be the administrator.

 

New Business

     James Hencke wants club members to make up bourse books and enjoy the financial results.

     The next meeting will feature George Norton’s talk about labels and associated other material.

 

The meeting closed at 8:38 and was followed by a well prepared and well presented talk by Chris Brouady on grading. He noted that three agencies do professional grading. Centering is perhaps the most important aspect of grading, but the back of the stamp also influences the grading. He projected images from scans of stamps to illustrate centering and involved the club members in assigning grades.  He also discussed automatic stamp grading and showed what one grading program, EZ Grader, did with a stamp that he scanned  live. This produced much discussion. He received an appreciative applause from the club members.

 

Minutes submitted by Richard Spencer – approved at a meeting on June 2, 2009