One of my favorite stamps

From time to time (especially when it's a slow philatelic news day) I like post on The Round-Up one of my favorite stamps.

The semi-postal shown above was issued by France (Scott B106) in 1940. It's part of a set of 4 which raised funds for national relief.

Besides being exceptionally well-designed with a tremendous amount of detail in the engraving, I thought the color was particularly appropriate for a stamp showing workers in the vineyard picking grapes.

It also occurred to me that what with all the talk about how we are going to pay for the damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina and Rita, the U.S. should give some serious consideration to issuing another semi-postal - perhaps even a set - showing life in Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana.

What do you think?

Jim Henson and Muppets stamp pane released

(photo courtesy US Postal Service)

Jim Henson and his beloved Muppets were immortalized on United States postage stamps yesterday in Los Angeles at the Academy of the Television Arts & Sciences located in North Hollywood.

Shown above at the first day of issue ceremony on the left of Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog are Henson's children Heather, Brian and Lisa. On the right are Anita Bizzotto, CMO and Exec. VP, USPS and Dick Askin, Chairman and CEO of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences .

The pane includes a 1986 Norman Seeff photograph of Henson accompanied by his visionary quote: "When I was young, my ambition was to be one of the people who made a difference in this world. My hope is to leave the world a little bit better for my having been there."

Jim Henson died on May 16, 1990, after a brief illness, in New York City. He was 53.

For more on the first day ceremony, Henson, and the Muppets, click here.

Official Universal Postal Union stamp

Earlier this month the Swiss Post issued a new stamp for use by the Universal Postal Union.

The new stamp, which bears the organization's slogan, "Reaching everyone every- where", highlights the UPU's commitment to the universal postal service.

In the words of Edouard Dayan, the UPU's Director General, "Our main mission is to stimulate the development of permanent, high-quality, efficient postal services that are accessible to everyone, everywhere within a single postal territory.

As a specialized agency of the United Nations, the UPU does not have the status of a postal administration so it cannot produce or sell postage stamps bearing its name. The UPU has 190 member countries.

According to a UPU press release, this is the 20th official stamp issued by Switzerland for the International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union which is headquartered in Berne, Switzerland.

For more on the Universal Postal Union, click here.

A good beginner's book

With 16 million philatelists in the United States alone, stamp collecting ranks among the world's most popular hobbies. American stamps reflect our national heritage, heroes, and achievements, and a stamp collection is like a miniature art gallery--a private museum that you can hold in your hands!

Best of all, it's not expensive or difficult to assemble a collection, and it has never been easier than now.

This kit contains everything you need to begin your collection: an album, arranged chronologically according to date of issue, with room for more than 1,000 stamps; a guide booklet that explains how to build and maintain the collection; a catalog, listing hundreds of historic stamps available for purchase; a magnifying glass; adhesive hinges for mounting stamps; and a starter pack of 25 authentic U.S. stamps.

Retail price is $19.95. Click here to order from Amazon.com for $13.57.

Stamp takes the prize

The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio advertisment.

In yesterday's Los Angeles Times' movie section, I couldn't help notice an advertisment for a new film called The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio. What caught my eye was the stamp and cancellation (shown above) that was part of the ad.

Any U.S. collector worth his or her tongs would immediately recognize the stamp as an altered version of Scott #1091. Issued for the International Naval Review and the Jamestown Festival, the festival's seal which was used on the actual stamp has been replaced with '1956.'

I don't mind a bit of artistic license, but come on now.... the stamp wasn't issued until 1957.

Post Office behind bars

According to the Associated Press, a tiny post office inside the Menard Correctional Center is the oldest Illinois post office still in use...and perhaps the only such postal facility in America.

Dating to back to 1884, it is barely the size of a big bedroom. While it is not open to the public, it does sell stamps and money orders to the prison's 3,450 inmates and 860 employees.

Postmaster Tony Hughes said may be the nation's only one behind a prison's walls.

The article quotes, Nancy Pope, a historian with the Smithsonian Institution's National Postal Museum as saying she's unaware of any research done on post offices behind bars.

To read the entire article, click here.

Artist credits stamps for his sense of color

Eugene Andolsek's "Untitled 23" (courtesy of Russell and Martha Elliott)

One of the five artists in a new exhibition, "Obsessive Drawing", at the American Folk Art Museum in Manhattan credits stamp collecting for his sense of color combination and hue.

According to Artnet magazine, Eugene Andolsek, 83, was inspired to start creating "his eye-poppingly patterned abstracts...that the feel of stained glass on speed," after attending an art show in 1950."

"Obsessive Drawing" will be at the American Folk Art Museum, 45 West 53rd Street, New York, N.Y. through Mar. 19, 2006.

For more information, click here.

Hurricane update

Following Hurricane Katrina, a major concern of the USPS was locating and assuring the safety of its employees in the affected area. As of yesterday, all 6,052 missing or unaccounted employees were accounted for — with no serious physical injuries.

One of the many lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina was the importance of having customers file a Change of Address (COA) as quickly as possible after being displaced. This helped them receive vital information and remain in contact with friends and relatives. Change of addresses can be done on-line at the USPS.com Web site as well as by mail or over the phone.

The Houston Chronicle reports that USPS has suspended delivery, collection and other services in areas covered by mandatory evacuations affected by Hurricane Rita which is due to hit the Texas coast sometime late today or early tomorrow.

Simon Wiesenthal 1908 -2005

Austrian cover shown above was designed by Simon Weisenthal who collected stamps.

Simon Wiesenthal, the Holocaust survivor who helped track down numerous Nazi war criminals following World War II, died Tuesday. He was 96.

According to an article that appears on the Telegraph.co.uk Website, Wiesenthal's interest in stamp collecting helped in the capture of the notorious Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann in 1960.

In 1954, a fellow philatelist, showed Wiesenthal a letter from a former German Army officer who lived in Buenos Aires.

The writer recounted that he had met some acquaintances from their regiment, and continued: "Imagine whom else I saw… that dreadful swine Eichmann who commanded the Jews. He lives near Buenos Aires and works for a water company."

Wiesenthal's books included I Hunted Eichmann (1961), The Murderers Amongst Us (1967) and Justice Not Vengeance (1989). He was depicted in the films The Odessa File and The Boys from Brazil.

For more on the life of Simon Wiesenthal, click here.

To see more covers designed by Wiesenthal, and other anti-Semitic and Nazi philatelic material, click here.

Upcoming new book from the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society

1, 3, and 12 cent stamps issued by the United States in July, 1851.

The U.S. Philatelic Classics Society is accepting pre-orders for their upcoming publication of THE 1851 ISSUE: A Sesquicentennial Retrospective.

The approximately 500 page hardbound book will contain more than twenty articles and essays on different aspects of the production, issuance, and usages of the 1, 3, and 12 cent stamps issued by the United States Government in July, 1851

According to Chip Gliedman, USPCS publicist, the book will be published in very limited quantities and pre-publication orders are the only way to guarantee that there will be a copy available for anyone who desires one.

Cost of the book is $80.00 (plus $5 shipping) until February 14, 2006. After February 14, 2006, the retail price of the book will be $125.00. The number of orders received by February 14th will determine the size of the print run.

The U.S. Philatelic Classics Society is the only organization that studies in depth the stamps and postal history of the United States from the Colonial era to 1900.

Members include both collectors and students. Many have written articles that have been published in their award winning quarterly magazine, The Chronicle of the U.S. Classic Postal Issues, and in other publications.

For information about the USPCS, membership, its publications, and articles of interest to collectors and students of the classic period of U.S. philately, click here.

The Simpsons and the 'stamp museum'

Shown above is a souvenir sheet issued by Australia honoring various characters from the "Simpsons."

This past Sunday's episode of The Simpsons revolved around the construction of a stamp museum next to their home in Springfield.

After much protest ("We'll be at the mercy of weekend philatelists...."), the museum is built elsewhere. Apparently daughter Lisa (she's the 'brainy' one) is a stamp collector or was least interested in seeing the newly relocated museum' s current exhibit and lecture on the upcoming "The Wild Beasts" stamp.

Todd Ronnei reports on the Virtual Stamp Club message board, that while there they saw interactive stamps of Frederic Ives (Scott 3063) and Alexander Graham Bell (Scott 893), among others.

According to people who know these sort of things, son Bart has mentioned his stamp collection (which was stolen) in a previous episode.

The Simpsons debut was on December 17, 1989. It has since become the longest running animated television series in American television history.

For more on the Simpsons and their 'down under' souvenir sheet, click here.

A wine to collect stamps by

At the tender age of 20, Thomas Hardy, filled with the early pioneering spirit, left England to carve out his future. He arrived in the newly established colony of South Australia on August 18, 1850.

Eventually he took up fruit growing in the surrounding hills of Adelaide. By 1857 Thomas created his first slice of history by shipping two hogsheads of wine to England. This is commonly applauded as marking Australia's entry into the wine export market.

Hardy's Stamp of Australia offers one of Australia's most popular, easy to drink and affordable range of wines...all with a nice picture of an Australia stamp on the bottle.

Priced at under $15.

For more on other wines in the series, click here.

Joan Mondale

Last spring, Joan Mondale, wife of former Vice President Walter Mondale, became the newest member of the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee. A stamp collector as a child, she's now in search of the perfect stamps for America, which she calls "the nation's calling cards."

According to an article that appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune recently, she's open to the idea of putting the late Jerry Garcia on a 37-cent stamp, but she makes one thing perfectly clear: "I am not a fan of the Grateful Dead."

The proposed Garcia stamp is just one of 50,000 ideas that will be considered this year.

"It would be fine, because they're looking for contemporary subjects," said Mondale, the only Minnesotan to ever serve on the committee. "They want subjects that appeal to all generations, not just the old folks."

The article quotes Mondale as saying the perfect stamp must be attractive, national in scope and have broad appeal.

To read the entire article, click here.

For more on the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee, click here.

Postmaster General visits Gulf Coast

Postmaster General Jack Potter visited the Gulf Coast late this week. He met with employees and toured postal facilities in communities hit hard by Hurricane Katrina.

Potter thanked USPS employees for their contributions to the Postal Service’s “Herculean effort” responding to communication needs, reconnecting customers and employees, and re-establishing service in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Delivery service has been restored to 86% of affected addresses in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Full service is available at 427 Post Offices, with partial service at 53 Offices.

For an updated map showing status of Katrina-affected post offices, click here.

Interesting direct mail piece from Linn's.

Titanic letter

Earlier this week I received an interesting direct mail piece from Linn's Stamp News. On the outside was a photograph (shown above) of an rather beat up letter and envelope. Not being able to immediately identify it, I decided to read what was on the inside. Here's what it said....

"It was nothing out of the ordinary. Just a simple letter dated April 1, 1912, instructing a post office employee named O.S. Woody to take his assignment as sea postal clerk aboard a luxury cruise ship.

"Unfortunately, the ship he was assigned to was --- the Titantic."

"The letter was found on Woody's body after the ship sank."

For more on Titantic stamps and philately, click here.

Got books?

If your local library doesn't have any books on stamp collecting, you can borrow some from the huge collection of the American Philatelic Research Library through an inter-library loan or by becoming a member of the American Philatelic Society.

The APS/APRL are the largest stamp club and library in the United States and offer many services to collectors, including a 100 page monthly magazine, insurance for stamp collections, and a sales division through which members can buy and sell stamps by mail among themselves.
For more information, click here.

Happy National Postal Customer Councils Day!

(photo courtesy USPS)

Today is National Postal Customer Councils (PCCs) Day.

This annual event showcases the work of the PCCs and includes a series of awards recognizing outstanding service and individual achievement. In addition, Postmaster General John E. Potter will deliver a coast-to-coast satellite broadcast on the future of the United States Postal Service and the value of mail to small businesses across America.

Postal Customer Councils (PCCs) are a national network with more than120,000 members that help the Postal Service add value to and make the mail work better for customers. Memberships range in size from less than 100 members to several thousand businesses and nonprofit organizations. But even a one-person, home office business can find value in participating with a local PCC.

For more on PCCs and National PCCs Day, click here.

USPS estimates hurricane damages $100 million

Direct Marketing News reports that Hurricane Katrina has inflicted more than $100 millions in damage...SO FAR.

The estimate includes damage done to buildings, vehicles, processing equipment, retail equipment and vending machines. However, the cost of forwarding mail and the drop in mail volume has not be calculated and losses will probably be much higher when that is added in.

The USPS said it will have a more solid figure by the end of the month.

According to the report, Hurricane Katrina has also dashed any hopes for a delay in the next postal rate increase which was slated early in 2006.

To read the entire article, click here.

Test your philatelic knowledge

I recently came across an interesting trivia quiz site that lets you test your philatelic knowledge. It might make for an interesting activity for your stamp club or scout group.

Called Funtrivia.com, it features quizzes about a variety of subjects including stamp collecting.

The stamp quizzes include philately in general and specific countries such as India and Australia. A couple of them are pretty challenging even for an advanced collector. I suggest you have a catalogue.

To go to the stamp collecting trivia page, click here.

IN MEMORIAM

9/11/2001

Round-Up chosen as "Stamp Site of the Week"

The Stamp Collecting Round-Up has been chosen as the "Stamp Site of the Week" for the week of September 10.

This New Zealand based award site has been established to recognize good Web site design and interesting philatelic content in sites about stamps.

Sites must have:

• Depth of information about the postal history of the stamps, or the design or the items or places pictured,
• Good graphic design,
• Good site navigation,
• Good scans of stamps
  - and be more than just a sales site or club site.

To visit and/or nominate a "Stamp Site of the Week," click here.

USPS.com 'Home Page' design survey

The U.S. Postal Service is inviting customers and others to participate in an online survey to get their input about a new layout and design for the USPS.com Web site.

The designs are preliminary and will evolve based on the feedback received and additional research the Postal Service plans on conducting.

The survey takes about 15 minutes to complete. According to the Postal Service, responses will be private and confidential.

To take the survey, click here.

Computer game about missing stamp collection

"Crime Puzzle" screen shot.

Postage stamps are the key element in a computer game you may not have heard about. It's called "Crime Puzzle," and it revolves around a private investigator searching for a missing stamp collection.

Reasonably priced at $19.95, it has a stylish 1950s setting and jazzy soundtrack.

For more information and free demo, click here.

New Australian stamp celebrates "World's First Commemorative."

First day cover with the latest Australian "Treasures from the Archives" stamp. (photo courtesy Australian Post Office)

The Australian Post Office has just released another in their interesting and well-designed "Treasures from the Archives" series.

The new jumbo stamp features the 1888-9, New South Wales Centennial issue (SC #86, New South Wales). The 20 shilling, Centennial stamp is depicted in multiple format to represent the full sheet of 50 held in the National Philatelic Collection. The sheet is believed to be unique.

The "specimen" overprint was applied to archival sheets to prevent possible misuse of the stamps for postage.

According to Gibbons Monthly, the original stamp is widely regarded as the world's first commemorative since it bears the inscription "100 Years". It was also the first Australian stamp to depict a living person other than Queen Victoria.

To visit the Australian National Philatelic Collection, click here.

UPDATE - Katrina mail delivery

Baton Rouge postal employee sorts New Orleans Social Security checks destined for customer pickup in La Place, LA. (photo courtesy USPS)

Services are gradually being restored in some of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina.

To date, more than 38,000 hurricane victims have filed Changes of Address (COA) — and that number is growing quickly. According to USPS most are using the Internet option, followed by telephone (1-800-275-8777). Others have gone to Post Offices to complete and submit COA forms.

In Louisiana, most of the state is now receiving normal mail delivery. USPS and the Social Security Administration have established temporary, alternative locations for the distribution of Social Security checks to residents who are unable to receive regular mail delivery service.

Customers in the disaster area with Internet access can quickly check the status of USPS services in their ZIP Code area online. A color-coded map on the Web site also shows the status of Katrina-affected Post Offices.

To see a map of the Katrina-affected post offices, click here.

Chief Justice and stamp collector, William Rehnquist

Chief Justice William Rehnquist (2nd from left) outside the "Queen's Own" exhibit on July 2, 2004 with National Postal Museum Curator Wilson Hulme, Director Allen Kane, and Registrar Ted Wilson.

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who passed away yesterday at the age of 80, was a man of many interests.

According to the Orange County Register, stamp collecting was just one of Rehnquist's many hobbies. He also enjoyed art, history, painting, writing, travel, whodunits, tennis, poker, charades, brain-twisters and sports trivia.

Last year, Rehnquist visited the National Postal Museum and was given a tour of the exhibit "The Queen's Own: Stamps That Changed the World," led by Curator of Philately Wilson Hulme. Afterward, the Chief Justice visited the NPM collections vault to view a variety of philatelic rarities including U.S. inverts and errors, U.S. 1847-issue covers and early U.S. proofs.

Happy Labor Day!

Want to have some Labor Day fun? How about designing your own stamp honoring a particular profession or occupation.

When you're finished, send it to us at The Stamp Collecting Round-Up, PO Box 712165, Bunker Hill Station, Los Angeles, CA 90071. You can also e-mail it to us at donschilling@worldnet.att.net.

To get a blank stamp you can use to draw on, click here.

For more Labor Day activities from the Houghton Miffin Education Place, click here.

Now that's what I call customer service!

No need to walk all the way to the post office in Rajahmundry, India to buy post cards and send money orders. There the post office comes to you according to an article found on Newindpress.com.

As part of its efforts to retain its customer base and to attract new users, the postal department has decided to sell post cards, envelopes and stamps through its postmen. The postmen would carry them and sell them on demand. In addition, customers send registered letters and obtain a receipt from the postman at one’s doorstep.

Rajahmundry postal superintendent PSR Prasad is quoted in the article as saying no additional charges would be levied on the customers for the new services.

To learn more about the evolution of postal services in India, click here.

Stamp collecting vs. philately

Are all stamp collectors "philatelists"?

Not necessarily so says Wikipedia, the free on-line encyclopedia.

They make the distinction that stamp collecting is not the same as philately.

"A philatelist often does, but need not, collect the objects of study, nor is it necessary to closely study what one collects. Many casual collectors enjoy accumulating stamps without worrying about the tiny details, but the creation of a large or comprehensive collection generally requires some philatelic knowledge."

So put that in your album and hinge it.

To go to Wikipedia's excellent stamp collecting Web page, click here.

USPS faces challenges in Katrina’s wake

The Postal Service continues to do everything possible to deliver mail to as many customers as can be reached safely in the flooded and wreckage-strewn areas.

Delivery of Social Security checks to elderly residents has become a top priority. USPS is working closely with the Social Security Administration to create processes and identify alternate locations for distributing monthly benefit checks to people in the areas affected by Katrina .

The San Diego Union Tribune estimates that about 30,000 such checks were affected, 10,000 in New Orleans and 20,000 in other areas.

For more on this story, click here.

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The Postal Service is also very concerned about the safety of its approximately 6,000 employees in the disaster area, particularly those who haven’t been in contact.

If you are in contact with any employees displaced by Katrina, please ask them to call 1-877-477-3273 toll-free and answer the questions asked by the USPS Call Center agent so the Postal Service will be able to contact the employee with pay and temporary work assignment information.

Jerry Garcia fans push for stamp

A Jerry Garcia souvenir sheet from who knows where.

Fans of Rock icon Jerry Garcia want a stamp in his honor. They say if Elvis could have one so should Jerry.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, an on-line petition to the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee to consider such a stamp has garnered more than 6,000 signatures.

According to the article, "Several 'postal stamp republics,' countries that print stamps expressly to sell them to collectors, have honored Garcia. These include Mongolia, Tanzania and Niger. "

Supporters even have a Web site - http://www.garciastamp.org.

To read the entire article, click here.

To sign the Garcia stamp petition, click here.