The Punk Philatelist: an irreverent look at stamp collecting
A month or two ago, I somehow ran across a stamp collecting blog that I’d never seen before: The Punk Philatelist. The title itself struck me as curious since “punk” is not a word often associated with us stamp collectors. I think the word my wife used was more along the lines of “dork”—but that’s a story for another time.
The blogger behind The Punk Philatelist is a woman in Australia; beyond that, she offers no clues to her identity, though she does use some salty language in her posts. I personally don’t think that’s necessary at all, but it’s her blog; you’ve been warned.
What the Punk Philatelist does do that I think is worth noting is provide a youth-oriented (by which I mean under 40) look at the hobby in an often irreverent manner. For example, an October entry is titled “Watch a rich person pay $85,000 for something a rat peed on.” That’s not exactly the sort of headline you’ll see in The American Philatelist or Linn’s, but it certainly gets your attention!
The Punk Philatelist is not updated on a daily basis, but new material is posted somewhat regularly. If you can overlook the occasional foul language and don’t mind a fellow collector pointing out a few of philatelists’ foibles, you might find it worth a look.
Adanaland minisheet includes diamond-shaped anniversary stamps
This past March, I shared pictures of a couple of cinderella stamps created by Alan B. of England. A note I recently received from him contained evidence that he has been busy again.
Adanaland Anniversaries of 2015–16 minisheet
I commented previously that Alan does very nice letterpress printing, and these new diamond-shaped stamps are no exception. They commemorate four different events:
60th anniversary of “It’s a Small World”
40th anniversary of Alan’s Hedgehog Press
20th anniversary of Adanaland
15th anniversary of PSO Flatby (design appears to depict a sailboat, but I really don’t know exactly what this is; perhaps Alan will weigh in)
I know from operating my own perforating machine that getting perforations to line up just right is tricky enough, so I can only imagine how challenging it must have been to accomplish that on diamond-shaped stamps. Again, though, Alan has done a very nice job, and his work is the sort of thing I like to include in my collection.
10 years of free stamp album pages commemorated on new stamp from Philosateleian Post
On January 23, 2006, The Philosateleian U.S. Stamp Album was unveiled to the world. On January 4, 2016, Philosateleian Post will issue a special private local post stamp commemorating the free stamp album’s 10th anniversary.
Ten Years of Free Stamp Album Pages stamp
Since its launch, The Philosateleian has been downloaded thousands of times by stamp collectors around the world. The album includes nearly 800 pages with spaces for most United States postage stamps.
“The Philosateleian began as a personal project because I wasn’t satisfied with the commercial stamp albums that were on the market,” says Kevin Blackston, creator of The Philosateleian and proprietor of Philosateleian Post. “I’m glad I’ve been able to give back to the stamp collecting community in at least some small way by offering my pages for others to download for free.”
Format: sheets of 42 (6×7). Design size: 28×28 mm. Separation method: perforated 12. Adhesive: water-activated dry gum. Printing method: inkjet.
Philatelic Services
To receive a mint single of Philosateleian Post’s free stamp album pages stamp, or for first day cover service, send either $2 or a self-addressed stamped envelope and your request to:
Kevin Blackston
Philosateleian Post
PO Box 57622
Jacksonville FL 32241-7622
United States of America
About Philosateleian Post
Founded in 2004, Philosateleian Post transports mail only from the Philosateleian Embassy to the nearest mail receptacle or post office. This private local post exists solely for the enjoyment of its proprietor and does not compete with any official mail service. For more information, please visit http://www.philosateleia.com/post/
A few weeks ago, we spent a week in eastern Tennessee during the Feast of Tabernacles. While there, my wife and I paid a visit to Titanic Pigeon Forge, which if for no other reason stands out in the Pigeon Forge/Sevierville area simply for not being a dinner show.
When you enter the museum, you are handed a random “boarding pass” that has the name and a short bio of one of the individuals who was on board the Titanic on its fateful voyage. I’m sure you can imagine my delight at being handed a card for Oscar Woody, one of the mail clerks who worked on board the ship!
Titanic museum “boarding pass” for Oscar Woody
The museum has hundreds of artifacts ranging from photos to bits of wood from the ship that were found floating on the surface of the ocean after it slipped under the waves. Of particular note to philatelists, however, are a number of letters and post cards mailed by various passengers either just before or in the days immediately following the Titanic’s sinking. The museum unfortunately forbids photography, so I don’t have any pictures to share, but seeing some of that material firsthand was quite an experience.
Sarah and I had only a little more than an hour to explore, but we enjoyed our visit. The presence of philatelic material was the cherry on top!
