The first fundraising mailing of 2022 from Boys Town contained another item of note if you’re interested in business reply envelopes bearing faux postage.
A light blue envelope in the packet that I received in the mail late last week bears four instances of a stamp-sized design picturing a cardinal.
Boys Town cardinal business reply envelope
Near the left edge of the envelope is an inscription reading, “Postage has been paid for you!” This vaguely implies but does not explicitly state that the cardinal designs are that postage even though they obviously are not.
From a philatelic perspective, actual cinderella labels such as the ones first seen on the business reply envelope included in a 2019 Boys Town mailing are of far greater interest than preprinted designs like the one used on the new BRE, but this latest item is still attractive and might serve to boost donations, which is of course the sender’s hope.
New private local post in Italy releases first stamp
It’s not often that I get to mention a stamp from a brand new local post, but we’re getting 2022 off to a good start with this new issue from Ankon Local Post. The private local post operating in Castelfidardo, Italy, on November 4, 2021, released a commemorative stamp commemorating the 700th anniversary of the death of the poet Dante Alighieri.
Ankon Local Post Dante Alighieri stamp
The stamp has a face value of 1.40, though I have to admit the currency indicator is not one that’s familiar to me.
I’m quite pleased to welcome Ankon Local Post operator Rosalba P. to the local posting community, and look forward to seeing additional creations from her as we move forward.
Update (2022-02-11)
Rosalba commented below that her local post stamps are denominated in fiorino Ankonitano.
Philosateleian Post smashes single-year mail volume record
Taking one final look back at 2021, Philosateleian Post last year set a new record for mail volume, processing 524 pieces of outgoing mail and surpassing the previous record of 485 set in 2019. 13 pieces of mail carried by Philosateleian Post last year received local service only, while the remainder were transferred to the United States Postal Service for dispatch to their final destinations.
As in years past, non-letter business mail (bills, stamps and covers, etc.) comprised the majority of my household’s outgoing mail with more than 320 pieces sent, smashing that category’s previous record of 281 set in 2019. 30 postcards were processed, which was a new record for that category as well.
Also of note is that Philosateleian Post transported 15 packages last year, which is the highest number of parcels carried in a single calendar year since 2015.
Finally, the domestic letter category, which includes both personal cards and letters and those that I sent on behalf of the Local Post Collectors Society, added nearly 120 more pieces to the total. That was almost exactly the same total as in 2020, but fell short of 2019’s all-time high for the category.
And yes, I realize that tracking how many pieces of mail my family and I send is a little weird, but it’s kind of fun in a way, too!
As you’re probably aware, I’ve been issuing quarterly supplements for The Philosateleian since I launched my project in 2006, and if you regularly download and print those, you don’t need the annual supplements; this update is only for those users who have chosen to update their albums only once per year. The first quarterly update for 2022 should be available in early March.
Thank you as always for your support and for your interest in The Philosateleian.
This post may be a few days late, but I’ve been thinking about 2021 and although it probably wasn’t my most active year in stamp collecting or where Philosateleia is concerned, there were definitely some highlights:
I continued zeroing in on what I’ve adopted as my specialty: solo uses of the 14¢ American Indian stamp. These are not common at all, but I was able to acquire no fewer than five —four commercial, one philatelic—for my collection. I’m still a long way off from having enough examples to put together even a single-frame exhibit, but maybe one day.
With a narrower focus, I also spent some time clearing out material that no longer falls within the scope of my collection. Unrelated covers and duplicates that I don’t need? Some of those have ended up as Philosateleian Post Horn giveaways, while I’ve listed others on eBay or in my own online shop. There’s still much to do, but it feels good to clear some things away.
Philosateleian Post issued its 40th different local post stamp last January and is up to 42 as of the beginning of this year. I never seem to get tired of “playing postmaster”!
I also wrote my 500th blog post last year. I’m not the most frequent of posters, but I’ve been at this for a while now, and the posts add up over time.
As for this year? A couple of things I’d like to do include:
Processing more of the pile of unsorted landscape stamps I’ve accumulated into my collection. I created a few landscape album pages in 2021, but not nearly as many as I would have liked. Hopefully I’ll be able to make more progress on that project this year.
Continuing to expand The Philosateleian U.S. Stamp Album with additional pages for fiscal stamps. I don’t think there’s anywhere close to the same amount of demand for revenue stamp album pages as there is for postage stamp album pages, but I like to give you as many options as possible.
