As I continue to work through the pile of material in my mail tray, I’ve rediscovered a souvenir sheet that I received a few weeks ago. San Diego Local Post issued the sheet containing six stamps picturing various flowers during the Great American Stamp Show in August.
San Diego Local Post Great American Stamp Show souvenir sheet
I have to admit that I’d seen SDLP’s souvenir sheet design earlier this year because Philosateleian Post printed and perforated it! I wasn’t involved in the design process, but I consider it an honor to be involved in the production process for this and other local post and cinderella stamps.
If you’ve been considering creating your own stamps but don’t have a way to perforate them, please keep Philosateleian Post’s services in mind.
Adanaland Hedge Fund stamp promotes keeping real world out
I recently received a letter from Alan B. of Adanaland fame, and inside he enclosed several copies of a non-denominated Adanaland Hedge Fund cinderella stamp. Across the bottom of the stamp is the wording, “Support the national hedge to keep the real world out.”
Adanaland Hedge Fund stamp
There’s something about that sentiment that sounds very appealing some days…but I digress.
Alan notes that the roses are near the top edge of the green stripe across the stamp, whereas a previous printing of the stamp had them near the bottom edge of the green stripe. I don’t think I’ve seen a copy of the original, but it’s something to look for in the future.
Just when I thought I was caught up on business reply envelopes, a couple more arrived that are worth mentioning here.
The first is a very much oversized BRE distributed in an October 2023 fundraising mailing from JDRF. This envelope has three identical preprinted stamp-sized images of a bluebird. Oddly, the border of the image is offset toward the lower right corner of the white block surrounding it. If these were real stamps, I’d call them poorly centered.
JDRF business reply envelope with bluebird designs
The other BRE arrived in a mailing from Helen Keller International, and bears two different stamp-sized images based on photographs of Helen Keller herself.
Helen Keller International business reply envelope with stamp-sized designs
The basic designs were previously used on envelopes enclosed in mailings in July 2021 and July 2022; however, I have not seen the left image used with “Helen Keller” printed on it, and the copy of the right image that was previously used had either no wording or had “Helen Keller” printed on two separate lines instead of on a single line.
After spending a week and a half away from home, my family and I have been back in Texas for over a week. It’s amazing how quickly chores and other responsibilities pile up; I’ve been working my way through my lengthy to-do list, but getting back to blogging has taken some time.
Anyway, it is time to review some recently-received material. For this post, I’m going to focus on a couple of business reply envelopes that have arrived within the past month or so.
First is an oversized blue business reply envelope distributed in a mailing from Navigators. The envelope bears three preprinted copies of an image of an acorn and leaves. The middle of the three has a much lighter border than the other two.
Navigators business reply envelope with acorn & leaves designs
The other BRE in question was distributed by Operation Smile. It has three different preprinted stamp-sized designs picturing a dove, a Christmas tree, and the word “peace.”
Operation Smile business reply envelope with Christmas designs
The really interesting thing about this latter envelope is that each of the designs has a simulated die cut border, which makes them look like they’re stamps from a self-adhesive coil! I’ve seen quite a few BREs of this nature over the past few years, but the simulated coil stamp appearance is something new.
Last week, I received a postal card from Bat’s Private Post’s operator, Scott Z., which bears a 56¢ imprint of Hermes near the lower left corner of the message side of the card.
56¢ Bat’s Private Post Hermes postal card
I’m not sure whether this item was issued on the same date as the aforementioned stamps or whether it had a different issue date, but it’s an interesting piece of postal stationery, something that’s not especially common in the local post world.
