Minnesota’s Como Park Post last month issued a new 5¢ local post stamp featuring an interesting “punched-out” design. It’s a feature I’ve never previously seen on a local post stamp.
Como Park Post 5¢ stamps with punched-out designs
Como Park Post operator Tom B. explains that each stamp is comprised of two layers of paper, and he did the punch-outs from the top layer prior to gluing the two layers together. While the bottom layer appears to be a consistent orange, Tom used several different colors and textures of paper for the top layer, and in my opinion, the lighter colors show off the punch-outs most clearly.
I’ve shared examples of Tom’s work here in the past, and his dedication to handcrafting each of his designs is impressive.
Jefferson Territory Ghost Post celebrates LPCS anniversary
World Local Post Day came in January, but new stamps commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Local Post Collectors Society are still showing up in the mail. The latest entry is from Colorado-based Jefferson Territory Ghost Post, which on February 22 issued a black and red .01-dwt Au stamp celebrating the LPCS’s golden jubilee.
Jefferson Territory Ghost Post Local Post Collectors Society 50th Anniversary stamp
This update naturally include spaces for the postage stamps issued by the United States Postal Service from January through early March of this year. In addition, for the revenue collector, there are also new pages for the motor vehicle use tax stamps that the United States used from 1942–1946.
It has been slow going, but I still plan to add additional pages for fiscal stamps as time permits, so stay tuned for more…and I hope you enjoy The Philosateleian’s spring supplement.
VFW, American Lung Association distribute new BREs
Inbound nonprofit mailings over the past two or three weeks have brought a couple more business reply envelopes with faux stamp designs my way. I found the envelope shown here from Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States sitting in one of the recycle bins at my local post office, while the American Lung Association BRE arrived in my PO box last week.
Veterans of Foreign Wars business reply envelope with preprinted poppy stamp-sized designsAmerican Lung Association business reply envelope with preprinted bird and flower stamp-sized designs
The single design picturing poppies that appears five times on the VFW envelope is interesting in that its borders have an irregular look to them, almost as though they were imperforate stamps that had been roughly torn apart. It’s not even a simulated die cut look. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that particular effect used on one of these preprinted business reply envelopes.
The ALA cover has five different designs depicting various songbirds with flowers, and each design is slightly rotated giving them the appearance of being stamps that were somewhat haphazardly applied to the envelope. I occasionally receive BREs with real stamps applied to them, but that work invariably appears to have been done by a machine with the stamps more or less perfectly aligned. I would rather like to have seen the bird and flower designs here applied in a straight line as well, but that’s just me.
Purgatory Post issues stamp picturing Prentiss Bridge
Purgatory Post continued its series of stamps commemorating New Hampshire covered bridges with the release on February 2 of a 19-sola stamp picturing Prentiss Bridge in Langdon. The design features a black vignette of the bridge set within a blue frame of a type used for the 1901 Pan-American Exposition issue of the United States.
19-sola Purgatory Post Prentiss Bridge stamp
At less than 35 feet long, Prentiss Bridge is the shortest covered bridge in the state of New Hampshire.1 The bridge is the third known to have existed at the site; the first was replaced in the late 18th century, while the current structure was built in 1874.
If you’re new to this blog, Purgatory Post is a private local post based in New Hampshire.
