Apollo 11 gets all the fame for putting the first men on the moon; Apollo 13, for returning its crew safely to earth despite near catastrophe. But Apollo 12? Not so much recognition, which Purgatory Post addressed earlier this month with a pair of stamps commemorating the second mission to put men on the moon.
The first of the 12-sola stamps pictures crew members Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon, and Alan Bean, plus their launch, while the second stamp reproduces the Apollo 12 mission patch and features a photo of Bean stepping down from the lunar lander.
Purgatory Post Apollo 12 stamps
Purgatory Post is commemorating the 50th anniversary of each of the United States’ space missions, so we can expect the next stamps in the series commemorating Apollo 13 in April 2020.
Principality of Thanatos stamps picture Guard, cats
I wrote a little more than a year ago about receiving a “registered” cover from the Principality of Thanatos, a micronation supposedly based on an island off the coast of Scotland. Recently, I received another mailing, this time containing copies of the Principality’s newest stamps.
One of the stamps, a £2.50 value, pictures the Thanatos Guard. According to documentation from the Principality, the 12-member Guard serves as the island’s police force in addition to fulfilling ceremonal duties such as escorting the prince’s horse-drawn carriage between settlements.
Principality of Thanatos Thanatos Guard stamp
A completely unrelated set of 50p, £1, £1.50, and £4 stamps features various images of cats. According to a release from the Principality, five cats were recently acquired to help bring a rodent infestation under control; one might presume the new stamps picture those very same felines, but that was not specifically stated.
Principality of Thanatos cat stamps
Micronation stamps are similar to local post stamps, and depending on how they’re used could be categorized as local post stamps. Some material of this sort drifts right on over into pure fantasy territory, of course, but I think it’s interesting nonetheless.
My family and I spent a couple of weeks away from home this month, and I’m still playing catch up on letters and emails. One of the pieces of mail that I received right before heading out of town was a note from Purgatory Post’s Scott Abbot, complete with copies of his newest stamp picturing the Loon Island Lighthouse.
Purgatory Post Loon Island Lighthouse stamp
Scott writes that the Loon Island light, one of five functional lighthouses in New Hampshire, was built in the 1890s to aid steamboat traffic on Lake Sunapee. The original structure burned in 1960 after it was struck by lightning, but it was soon rebuilt.
If you follow Purgatory Post at all, you know there’s a new stamp or set of stamps released every month. I wish I could keep up with that kind of schedule for Philosateleian Post, but I do well to get two or three new designs done each year.
Boys Town holiday mailing features four stamp-sized designs
Boys Town has begun their holiday fundraising for the year, and the business reply envelope included in a packet that I received last week has four more preprinted “faux” stamp designs with Christmas themes.
The designs include a wreath and angel (faith), a child at a window (hope), two children in front of a mantel (love), and two children walking along a snowy path (believe).
Boys Town business reply envelope with faux Christmas stamp designs
I think the images used for these particular designs are perhaps a bit busy for the size at which they were printed, but they are colorful and might catch the eye of an average recipient.
Update (2019-10-28)
Upon returning home from a couple of weeks out of town, I found a new Boys Town mailing in my post office box, and inside was another business reply envelope. This cover reuses three of the four preprinted designs from the previous BRE that I received in September, but they are carefully aligned instead of slightly rotated as on the first envelope.
Boys Town business reply envelope with faux Christmas stamp designs
This is the first time that I’ve seen Boys Town reuse any of their faux stamp designs. We’ll have to wait and see if it happens again.
Purgatory Post celebrates 50th anniversary of Abbey Road
On September 3, New Hampshire-based Purgatory Post issued two new stamps celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ Abbey Road. One of the stamps features the iconic photo of the band’s four members walking across Abbey Road in London, which was used for the album cover, while the second stamp features an alternate shot that was not used.
Purgatory Post Abbey Road stamps
The stamps are printed in miniature sheets of four using a slightly shiny silver-colored paper. The miniature sheet’s design means it is possible to identify singles as coming from the top pair or bottom pair of stamps based on slight differences in the colors of the corners of each of the four stamps, but as the differences are very minor and there are equal numbers of each variety, that is likely of interest only to specialists.
Purgatory Post Abbey Road miniature sheet
Purgatory Post’s operator, Scott Abbot, notes that although Let It Be was the last album released by The Beatles, Abbey Road was actually the last recorded by the group before they disbanded.
