Jim Carrey Gets His Own Stamp

Jay Bigalke writes on the Linns.com website, "Five funny Canadians are being honored Aug. 29 on new commemorative permanent stamps from Canada Post. The five stamps in the Great Canadian Comedians set pay tribute to Jim Carrey, Mike Myers, Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short and Olivier Guimond."

All are living honorees except for Guimond, who died in 1971 according to Jay.

Jay goes on to say, "The stamp designs pictured with this article are Canada Post publicity images. The stamps were designed by Kosta Tsetsekas, Mike Savage and John Belisle of Signals, a design firm in Vancouver. Canada Post stamp design manager Alain Leduc organized the stamp project."

The stamps come in a booklet of 10. with each stamp repeated twice. A souvenir sheet is also available with all five stamps along with an uncut press sheet of four souvenir sheets.

 To learn more, click here.

Underwater Post Offices Honored with New Stamps

Denise McCarty writes on the Linns.com website, "Underwater post offices of yesterday and today are featured on two recent stamp issues.The Bahamas commemorates the 75th anniversary of the world’s first undersea post office on four stamps issued Aug. 16. Vanuatu pictures its underwater post office, opened a little more than 10 years ago, on an unusually shaped self-adhesive stamp issued July 23."

Shown above, newly issued stamp from the Bahamas honoring the world’s first undersea post office and the pioneering underwater photography work of John Ernest Williamson.

To read her entire article, click here.

Stamp Collectors- No Fans of Pop Culture on Stamps

"Harry Potter, Elvis and Bugs Bunny share one thing in common: Traditional stamp collectors are no fans," writes reporter Marianne Levine of the LA Times.

She goes on to pen, "Some philatelists say the committee that helps the postmaster general pick new stamps is favoring pop celebrities and fictional characters over cultural sites and historical figures, undermining a long tradition.

 Ken Martin, executive director of the American Philatelic Society, a nonprofit stamp-collecting foundation that claims 44,000 members is quoted as saying, ""Harry Potter is a perfect example,"

"Why do you honor a British author's book?" Martin asked. "Wouldn't it be much more appropriate to honor something that reflects our country's heritage, not the product of another country?"

Levine concludes, "The answer, by all accounts, is money. Spider-Man and "Star Wars" stamps vastly outsell those commemorating the Civil War, insects and spiders, and Pacific Coast lighthouses."

To read the entire article, click here.