“The report of my death was an exaggeration.” — Mark Twain (June 2, 1897)

In his July 23, 2018, “U.S. Stamp Notes” column at Linn’s Stamp News, John M. Hotchner describes the birth of World’s Fair philately at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.

His article “World’s fair philately: 19th and early 20th centuries” explains how the set of 16 commemorative postage stamps, which at the time cost $16.34 (roughly $444 in 2018 dollars) “caused the philatelic press of the time to suggest that the Columbian issue would cause the death of stamp collecting.” Luckily for philatelists, it did not.