Como Park Post issues two stamps including Ukraine semipostal
It has been a few months since I mentioned any new stamps from Minnesota’s Como Park Post, but there are a couple of relatively recent issues that I’ve received or at least heard about.
The first of the stamps is a red 1¢ design that was enclosed in a cover postmarked March 29, 2022. There appear to be some black overprints, though I’m uncertain of the significance of those.
Como Park Post 1¢ stamp
The second new issue is a 3¢ + $1 semipostal stamp, with proceeds from the surcharge being earmarked to support various Ukrainian relief organizations working in the country during the ongoing Russian invasion. According to Como Park Post operator Tom Betz, the stamps are being printed and perforated by Purgatory Post, another private local post whose stamps I’ve featured here in the past.
Como Park Post 1¢ stamp
Semipostal local post stamps are not unheard of—I previously wrote about a Bat’s Private Post stamp issued in 2020 to raise funds for the Lebanese Red Cross—but they’re certainly not common.
If you’re interested in either of these stamps, you can write to:
Tom Betz
1337 Avon St N
Saint Paul MN 55117-4005
For the Ukraine stamp, Tom does request a minimum donation of $1 per stamp (i.e., the amount of the surcharge).
I’m running a week late with this, but I’m happy to announce that as of last Sunday, the Summer 2022 Supplement (107 KB, 2 files, 7 pages) for The Philosateleian U.S. Stamp Album is online and ready for you to print and download. This update includes spaces for United States postage stamps issued between early March and May of this year.
Within 24 hours of when I uploaded this update, eagle-eyed user Steve R. contacted me to let me know that I'd omitted spaces for the coil varieties of the Mountain Flora stamps. In the words of former Texas Governor Rick Perry, “Oops.” I’ve rearranged a few things to fit those in, and the updated updated pages in question are also available as of today.
If you spot any other errors or omissions, please let me know. In the meantime, enjoy!
This spring, I received a mailing from Miro J. of New South Wales, Australia. Miro has created a new private local post, Bermagui Local Post, which he launched with the release of a pair of new stamps.
The 20¢ stamp pictures the Torres Strait Islander Flag, while the 40¢ stamp pictures the Australian Aboriginal Flag. Both stamps were issued on March 1.
Bermagui Local Post Torres Strait Islander and Australian Aboriginal Flag stamps
In addition to the irregularly perforated examples pictured here, Bermagui Local Post also issued perf. 12 examples of both designs.
I’ve been slow to publicly welcome Miro to the local post community, but I’m happy to share these creations and look forward to seeing more of his stamps in the future!
April brings additional decorative business reply envelopes
Mailings from nonprofit organizations have brought a couple of different decorative business reply envelopes to my post office box over the past few weeks.
An envelope from Doctors Without Borders bears three preprinted images of a bird, flowers, and fruit, each of which has the outline of die cutting around it to give it the appearance of being an actual postage stamp.
Doctors Without Borders business reply envelope bearing three stamp-sized designs picturing a bird, flowers, and fruit
Meanwhile, a second envelope from Feeding America also has three preprinted images picturing flowers, fruit, and a tree- and bush-lined path. Like the images on the Doctors Without Borders envelope, each of these images has a printed simulated die cut border, but that border is rougher in appearance than on the first envelope. In addition, two of the designs are in landscape orientation, which is unusual for this sort of envelope.
Feeding America business reply envelope bearing three stamp-sized designs picturing flowers, fruit, and a bush-lined path
Postally used copies of BREs such as these probably don’t exist since the charities would have no interest in the envelopes once they’ve served their purpose of delivering donations, but as I’ve written before, this sort of material would probably fit into a collection of cinderellas. At the very least, it makes opening the “junk mail” more interesting!
Recycle bin find turns out to be postal counterfeit
During a stop at my local post office to check my PO box earlier this month, I spotted in one of the recycle bins a fragment of an envelope that had a stamp on it. Even though it looked like a common flag definitive, I retrieved it; after all, modern used stamps of any sort are a welcome treat! Something about the stamp didn’t feel quite right to me, but it wasn’t until I got home and had a chance to take a closer look that it clicked: I’d fished out a postally used counterfeit.
Counterfeit United States Forever flag stamp
I mentioned something didn’t feel right about the stamp, and I mean that literally: the surface of the paper is way too slick, almost soapy feeling. The color is off a bit, too. But the real clincher? The stamp has two USPS microprints! One is near the right edge of the first white stripe below the top right corner, while the other is near the right edge of the second red stripe from the bottom right corner. Genuine copies of this stamp have a single smaller microprint in one of those two locations, but not in both.
Sadly, as I mentioned, this counterfeit was on a fragment of an envelope rather than on a complete cover, so I couldn’t identify who mailed it, or from where.
I’ve heard from other collectors that they find a number of postal counterfeits when going through incoming office mail or processing kiloware, so it certainly pays to pay attention. In many cases, the people using the stamps bought them on eBay at a discount off face value and don’t even realize they’re bogus, which was the case with a different counterfeit version of this stamp that I received on a mailing nearly three years ago. It’s a pity because the people printing the counterfeits are stealing, out and out defrauding the United States Postal Service of revenue, and that can only make things more expensive for the rest of us.
