When I checked my post office box earlier this evening, one of the items inside was the Quarter 1 issue of USA Philatelic, the United States Postal Service sales catalogue.
USA Philatelic
My reaction to most of the new stamps announced so far for this year has been, "Eh." The exceptions to that are the vintage flower stamps being issued this weekend.
My personal opinion is that the whole flower thing has kind of been overdone, but the vintage rose Forever stamp and the 70¢ vintage tulip are being printed from engraved plates! I’m not even certain without consulting a catalogue when the USPS last issued intaglio-printed stamps intended primarily for mail use, but I’m thinking it has been a decade or more. Sure, there was the Inverted Jenny from 2013, and it’s valid for postage, but let’s face it: that stamp was issued primary for collectors like you and me. In the illustrations I’ve seen of the new stamps, at least, they look sharp.
If you’ve received your new copy of USA Philatelic, what’s your take? Did you see anything that particularly strikes your fancy?
A few weeks ago, I bundled up a handful of dilapidated old envelopes and shipped them off to Linda W. of Happy Day Mail fame. Linda is a mail artist who had indicated that she might be able to do something with them, and as they were unsalvageable for philatelic purposes, I figured she could have at it.
The results, simply put, are absolutely delightful.
Happy Day Mail hand cover
As you can see, Linda took pieces of at least a couple of different envelopes, along with some other paper ephemera, and created this lovely piece of mail art. There’s even a visual gag: the scrap of old envelope being grasped by the hand is addressed to Miss Drusilla Hand. Get it? Get it?
I’ve joked to friends in the past that I create stamp album pages because I’m not very creative, and my album pages just involve row after row of squares. Linda’s envelope, on the other hand (pun intended), is very creative, and I’m glad she’s able to give new life to old envelopes that would otherwise be destined for the trash bin.
Along those lines, that’s why I hate to throw away old stamps or covers, and discourage others from doing so. Such material may not be fit for your stamp collection, but unless it’s moldy, there might be someone out there who can make something special.
A couple of weeks ago, I received this envelope in the mail. I’ve covered my mailing address for privacy reasons, but there’s still something obviously wrong that you’ll no doubt spot right away.
Cover mailed without postage
That’s right—this envelope traveled with no postage at all! Oddly enough, it wasn’t even marked postage due.
On the other hand, maybe I shouldn’t say it’s odd. More than once, I’ve seen envelopes at work that seemingly made it through the postal system without ever having a stamp or meter applied to them. They have also had no postage due markings.
I suppose it’s possible that collecting postage due is simply not worth the time for the USPS, but personal observation suggests prepayment (or for that matter, payment) of postage is still enforced in some quarters. If the postage meter machine at work grabs two envelopes at once and the second doesn’t get stamped, it is returned to us, not sent on to the recipient.
Have you received mail without postage paid that wasn’t assessed postage due? Or does your mail carrier mark underpaid or unpaid letters appropriately?
Judging by the inverted postmark, the envelope must have run through the cancellation machine upside down, which means the United States stamps are not tied to the cover. I should probably be thankful it was postmarked at all; Scott A. reports his cover didn't receive any postmark on the front, and only a city and date inkjet (without wavy lines) on the back. The joys of automation, I suppose.
The other WLPD cover I received is from Bob Fritz.
Fritzie’s Flamingo Local Post Penny Black FDC
The label on Bob’s cover actually pictures a pair of Penny Black stamps.
Did you participate in World Local Post Day by mailing covers? Have you received any interesting covers yourself? Let us know!
Most of the places I see stamps pictured online are websites that deal with stamp collecting. Yesterday morning, however, I received an e-mail from the Jacksonville Public Library system highlighting some of the library’s planned activities for Black Heritage Month, and the message’s header was full of stamps!
Interestingly enough, nothing in the library’s message had anything to do with stamps or stamp collecting. Apparently someone there decided the sampling of United States stamps would make for nice artwork, and I can hardly argue with that.
This is not the first time I’ve seen stamps used as illustrations in a non-philatelic e-mail message; I previously highlighted a fantasy stamp pictured in a World Market marketing e-mail. I don’t know that that sort of thing is necessarily going to inspire anyone to take up stamp collecting, but it’s still neat for me as a collector to see.
Have you spotted any stamps lately in e-mails where you wouldn’t expect to see them?
