Some of the latest stamps issued by Beverly Hills-based Bat’s Private Post honor a late Mexican artist.
Jesus Helguera (1910–1971) developed an interest in art at a young age, and he enrolled in an art school at age 14. By the time he reached his twenties, he was already teaching art as well as creating works of his own. The new local post stamps ranging in face value from 10¢ to $3, plus $10 and $20 stamps issued as a souvenir sheet, feature several of his most famous paintings.
Bat’s Private Post stamps picturing Jesus Helguera paintings
I have seen a copy of the 10¢ stamp (not illustrated here) and the souvenir sheet postmarked August 31 and a first day cover with the stamps from the strip of five postmarked September 5. It’s unclear to me if the strip of five was issued on a different date than the other stamps or if the cover received first day markings in error, but either seems possible.
Last month, my family and I were on a trip away from home for about a week and a half. When we got back, our post office box and home mailbox were stuffed absolutely full of mail including a big stack of nonprofit mailings. Many of those had colorful business reply envelopes enclosed, no fewer than seven of which were new to me! I’ll get through these as quickly as possible.
First up is an unusually small business reply envelope from Shriners Children’s. The front of this envelope has two preprinted stamp-sized images depicting a teddy bear. This is a design Shriners has used since at least as early as November 2022, but the original version had a blue background while the new version is red.
Shriners Children’s business reply envelope with preprinted teddy bear designs
Shriners also sent a mailing containing an envelope with three different designs picturing a snowman, a house, and a deer printed on it. Unlike the first entry, this envelope is a standard size.
Shriners Children’s business reply envelope with preprinted winter designs
Next is a BRE from Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch. This example, which features three designs picturing floral arrangements, is the fifth different business reply envelope I’ve received from this organization this year.
Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch business reply envelope with preprinted floral designs
Fourth, we have a debut appearance from the Society of the Little Flower, which appropriately used four copies of a pink flower design of its own on this envelope.
Society of the Little Flower business reply envelope with preprinted pink flower designs
National Jewish Health distributed a BRE featuring two copies of each of two images of children dressed as medical professionals. These designs have simulated printed die cutting which does make them look a bit more like stamps.
National Jewish Health business reply envelope with preprinted children designs
Operation Smile used new variants of artwork that appeared on a BRE that I reported from a September mailing, but without simulated die cutting to make the designs appear to be coil stamps. Additionally, the first two of the designs have been modified from that earlier envelope: on the first, the dove now faces to the left rather than to the right, and on the second, all four tiers of the Christmas tree appear to be the same shade of green.
Operation Smile business reply envelope with preprinted Christmas designs
And finally, an Edmundite Missions mailing included a business reply envelope with four designs that looked familiar. That’s because they originally showed up on a BRE enclosed in a May 2024 mailing, but on that envelope, all the designs were printed in blue rather than the purples and dark red that we see here.
Operation Smile business reply envelope with preprinted Christian designs
Whew! That was quite a haul, and quite a list to work our way through. That does, however, bring us up to speed, at least for now. We’ll see what the post office box holds when I go to check it this week, then go from there.
Mistral Local Post stamp features snowy winter scene
In my capacity as treasurer for the Local Post Collectors Society, I recently received a mailing bearing a stamp from Mistral Local Post out of Medford, Oregon. This is a private local post with which I was not previously familiar.
The stamp was tied to cover by a Rogue Local Post postmark with an indistinct date. The stamp appears to depict a snowy landscape with a rock wall with perhaps a building or buildings in the distance.
Mistral Local Post stamp
Due to damage incurred during mail processing, the stamp’s denomination is unclear. What was its original face value? What is the location of the scene on the stamp? These are questions for which I have no answers, but I’ve written the sender to request more information. If I receive a response, I’ll be sure to post an update here.
Update (2024-11-28): I recently received an update regarding this stamp from its creator, John Z. It’s a 50¢ stamp, and its design is based on a Claude Monet work, The Magpie, Snow Effect, Outskirts Of Honfleur, which is a town in northwestern France.
50¢ Mistral Local Post Outskirts of Honfleur stamp
Mistral Local Post, which is based in Medford, Oregon, was established in 2009 and has issued no fewer than 50 different local post stamps, all of which reproduce various paintings including several by Monet. John sent the mint copy of the stamp pictured above and several other Mistral Local Post landscape stamps to me for my collection, and I thank him for that!
Letter Branch Post issues multiple local post stamps
It’s not all that often that I get to report on a brand new private local post, but a fellow member of the Local Post Collectors Society, Crystal T., recently sent me a sampling of stamps that her very own Letter Branch Post has issued this year, and I wanted to share a scan of them.
Letter Branch Post local post stamps
Letter Branch Post is based in Newport News, Virginia. All its stamps appear to be denominated 5¢, and they are all printed on self-adhesive paper or label stock, if you so prefer. A couple of the stamps have rounded corners which appear to be cut by hand.
I don’t “do” Halloween myself, so the bird and bat and jack-o’-lantern designs in the bottom row don’t do much for me, but it’s not like that’s all Crystal has done. We’ve got flowers, a cottage, mushrooms, paw paw fruits—that may be a first for a local post stamp, certainly an unusual topic—and right in the middle is a stamp picturing a waterfall. That one will fit right in with my landscapes collection, but I’m going to have to write to ask for more information such as what waterfall it is that the stamp pictures.
For a new local post, this is an excellently diverse group of featured subjects, and I’m looking forward to seeing what else is issued by Letter Branch Post in the coming months! If you’re interested in Instagram, you can find posts by Crystal @theletterbranch.
Native American Rights Fund BRE bears stamp-sized designs
When I checked my post office box today, it was stuffed nearly to capacity. The latest issue of The American Philatelist was in there along with one piece of “real mail” and a stack of nonprofit mailings several inches thick.
While a few of the nonprofit mailings contained the usual things like notepads and return address labels, only one contained a business reply envelope with stamp-sized images I hadn’t seen before. It came from the Native American Rights Fund.
Native American Rights Fund business reply envelope with various preprinted designs
The designs picture a horse, a dreamcatcher, flowers, feathers, and a turtle.
I’ve seen more stamp-like designs on other envelopes, but I have to admit the bright yellow paper of which this BRE is made certainly does stand out.
