BELLEFONTE, Pa. The American Philatelic Society, the nation’s largest organization of stamp collectors, today joined the American Numismatic Society, its counterpart among coin collectors, to announce their joint decision to endorse Republican Nikki Haley for president, saying she is “the most attractive alternative for this nation’s currency, which is declining in value, as well as its stamps, whose price always seems to go up.”
“We are blessed to have such a pretty gal running for the highest office in the land,” said Eugene Stewart, president of the philatelist organization that styles itself “The Nation’s Stamp Club.” “She is stamp-ready on Day 1 to appear in the upper right-hand corner of a №10 legal-size envelope.”
The APA and ANA generally stay out of politics, preferring to stay home and swoon over buffalo head nickels and “first day covers,” a postage stamp on a cover, postal cardor stamped envelope franked on the first day the issue is authorized for use within the country of the stamp-issuing authority “There’s this image that coin and stamp collectors are nerds who can’t get dates,” says Eugene Orthwein, a sociologist who studies male hobbyists in an effort to identify potential “loners” who “never bothered anyone” before going on murderous rampages. “The image is largely true, so I view the endorsement as a coping mechanism.”
The American Numismatic Association has 44,000 members, and its endorsement carries great weight among coin collectors. “The ANA can be a real force in a close election,” says Todd Scarpato, a professor of political science at Salve Regina College in Rhode Island. “If they all moved into this state and cast their ballots for the same candidate they could control one Electoral College vote.”
The last time the stamp and coin collector groups ventured into presidential politics was 2008, when they endorsed Barack Obama over his Republican rival John McCain, saying the then-Illinois Senator was “young and cool” while McCain was “old and chubby.” “It wasn’t even close,” said numismatist Orel Hershgang of Warrensburg, Missouri. “McCain had that gross thing on the side of his head, while Obama was skinny from smoking and basketball.”
I laughed out loud at the title.