There is one thing I wanted to mention with regard to the 2019 Cactus Flowers page that’s included in this update. You’ll note that the spaces for the stamps are rotated horizontally. That’s because on page 51 of the January 3 issue of Postal Bulletin, the design orientation is listed as “horizontal.” The “Forever USA” text on the stamps implies that they should be rotated vertically, but the Postal Bulletin documentation confirms that the USPS considers that that text runs up along the right side of the stamps rather than across the bottom.
I hope you enjoy this update. Thank you for your interest in The Philosateleian!
Purgatory Post celebrates moon landing anniversary
Purgatory Post celebrated World Local Post Day just a few days late this year, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing with an 11-sola February stamp issue. The denomination is a nod to the fact that it was the Apollo 11 mission that finally put human beings on the moon’s surface.
Purgatory Post Man on the Moon stamp
“The design is pretty much the Life magazine cover from 1969 with added text and the denomination where the Life logo was,” writes Scott Abbot, who produces Purgatory Post stamps. The red certainly pops against the almost monochrome photograph of Buzz Aldrin in his spacesuit.
I understand from Scott that he plans a second moon landing issue closer to the actual moon landing anniversary date in July, but I’m glad he did one for World Local Post Day, too. My very own Philosateleian Post moon landing stamp is the only other WLPD issue of which I’m aware this year.
On a related note, the cover in which Scott mailed the stamp pictured here took more than two weeks to get from New Hampshire to my post office box. I’m not sure if the delay was related to winter weather or if something else was going on, but that seems like an unusually slow journey.
I am very tardy in making mention of this, but I want to publicly thank longtime Philosateleia fan James F. James recently sent a generous cash gift that will help cover a good chunk of my expenses for keeping Philosateleia running this year, and it isn’t the first time he has contributed. Thank you, James!
Since I launched The Philosateleian U.S. Stamp Album in 2006, more than 20 people including James have sent cash, stamps, or covers to show their appreciation, and I appreciate the contributions from each one. It’s much easier to justify keeping my project going when it doesn’t impact the household budget, so thank you again.
Letter Writers Alliance releases Year of the Pig artistamps
I’ve been a bit tardy getting this posted, but Donovan from the Letter Writers Alliance recently sent me a note inside a colorful envelope bearing one of their new Year of the Pig artistamps.
Letter Writers Alliance cover bearing Year of the Pig artistamp
There are two variations of this stamp: the one shown here with pig facing to the right, and a second with pig facing to the left. You can download the artwork for a sheet of these stamps for free from the LWA website.
As you can see above, the cover got postmarked twice, probably due to the selvage that Donovan used as an address label. And although Donovan is not a stamp collector, she did place the air mail centennial commemorative postage stamp well away from the top edge of the cover, which I very much appreciate since it saved the stamp from getting totally obliterated by the inkjet cancellation!
This past Monday, January 28, was World Local Post Day 2019, and I participated by issuing Philosateleian Post’s new stamp commemorating the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing. I mailed a first day cover to myself, and it arrived in my post office box yesterday.
50th Anniversary of the First Moon Landing first day cover
As you can see, the cover arrived reasonably unscathed, and although it got the usual blurry injket cancellation, the cancellation is at least on the United States stamps, not upside down on the lower left corner of the envelope. I’ve had some problems with that in the past—the sorting machinery apparently detects my local post stamps over the real thing—but I guess my Philosateleian stamp is high enough that there was no confusion this time.
