Rocky Mountain Stamp Show Ghost Post celebrates blue columbine
This year’s edition of the Rocky Mountain stamp Show took place in Aurora, Colorado, last month, and as part of the festivities, the show’s organizers released a Rocky Mountain Stamp Show Ghost Post stamp picturing the blue columbine, a flowering plant that is native to the Rocky Mountains.
I recently received a pair of the stamps on a cover with a Rocky Mountain Stamp Show cancellation dated May 26, 2024, and a Denver, Colorado, machine cancellation dated May 31.
Rocky Mountain Ghost Post blue columbine stamps on cover
These stamps would go well in any thematic collection of flowers on stamps. Denominated .01-dwt Au each, they were printed by Purgatory Post, the New Hampshire-based local post.
Philosateleian Post accordion stamp on first day cover
I began using Philosateleian Post’s new accordion stamp on May 30, and to mark its release, I prepared a first day cover bearing the stamp that I mailed to myself. That arrived in my post office box the next week.
Philosateleian Post Accordion stamp first day cover
To pay United States postage, I used one of the Ansel Adams stamps issued in May, the one picturing Monument Valley in Arizona. It’s tied to cover by my mailer’s postmark for Floresville, Texas.
Overall, the cover survived its journey just fine except for one thing: most of the lower quarter of my Philosateleian stamp was scraped and curled up by mail processing equipment! I was able to uncurl the scraped portion of the stamp and used some glue to affix that strip back to the envelope so that it doesn’t look so bad at first glance, but it’s too bad it didn’t make it through unscathed.
Fourth example of registered 14¢ solo use added to collection
A few months had passed since I added anything to my 14¢ American Indian collection, but I recently had the opportunity to pick up another cover that fits right in. This envelope, which was mailed from Los Angeles to San Diego in October 1924, bears a single copy of the 14¢ stamp.
14¢ American Indian cover mailed to the Union Trust Company of San Diego, California
This is a fine example of the 14¢ stamp paying postage on a registered two-ounce piece of mail. I’ve long suspected that rate, which was in effect from the stamp’s release in May 1923 until the middle of April 1925, should be the “easiest” solo use of the American Indian stamp, and my collection is finally beginning to show that. This is my fourth such usage!
I continue to look for other solo uses of this stamp. If you have anything you think might be of interest, please send me a note.
San Diego, Angeles City Local Posts release joint issue
San Diego Local Post and Angeles City Local Post recently released a very unusual joint issue: setenant 15p local post stamps issued April 26.
The San Diego Local Post stamp pictures the famous “Inverted Jenny,” while the Angeles City Local Post stamp pictures a stamp produced by the Philippine Revolutionary Government. I recently received a postcard bearing copies of the stamps.
San Diego Local Post & Angeles City Local Post 15p Stamp stamps on postcard
The stamps are imperforate but are separated by a column of simulated printed perforations.
I don’t even begin to claim to know all there is to know about what local post stamps have been issued over the years, but this is the first time I can recall seeing setenant stamps from local posts on completely different continents! Quite an interesting production, and one worth looking for on your incoming mail.
American Kidney Fund inserts bear faux stamp designs
I’ve written many times over the past few years about receiving fundraising mailings containing business reply envelopes bearing preprinted stamp-sized designs. That’s a little touch a lot of nonprofits appear to have adopted in an effort to improve response rates.
A May mailing from the American Kidney Fund contained something similar but ultimately different: two printed inserts designed to look like airmail envelopes, each with a preprinted stamp design.
American Kidney Fund insert with preprinted stamp-sized lantern designAmerican Kidney Fund insert with preprinted stamp-sized lantern design (reverse)American Kidney Fund insert with preprinted stamp-sized backpack designAmerican Kidney Fund insert with preprinted stamp-sized backpack design (reverse)
Unlike the BREs, these inserts were obviously never intended to be mailed, but the graphic designer responsible for creating them still have them a philatelic flair.
This sort of material obviously falls well outside a normal stamp collection’s boundaries, but one of the great things about our hobby is that we can collect whatever we like. At any rate, these are certainly among the more inventive fundraising mailing contents I’ve personally received.
