Album pages for playing cards, fermented fruit juice stamps
Earlier today, I uploaded Special 2021 supplement #2 for The Philosateleian U.S. Stamp Album. It includes spaces for two categories of revenue stamps: playing cards and fermented fruit juice. This is part of my ongoing effort to expand The Philosateleian to accommodate many of the fiscal issues of the United States.
In preparing the pages for playing card stamps, I decided to omit spaces for the various surcharges used only by specific manufacturers in the late 1910s and early 1920s. By no means am I saying that those stamps are not collectible, or that I’ll never consider creating pages for them, but they were simply out of scope for this initial effort.
I’m now moving on to pages for silver tax stamps and hope to have those prepared soon.
Last October, I blogged about a business reply envelope that I received in a mailing from Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch. This week, I received another from the same organization.
Cal Farley’s business reply envelope
This yellow envelope has four pre-printed stamp-sized images of yellow roses in a vase against a blue background. An unusual featue is the month and year printed near the lower left corner of the envelope; this self-documents when the envelope was distributed, whereas most business reply envelopes bear no indication of when they were distributed.
This BRE was enclosed in a rather large envelope, and as you can probably tell from the scan, it got a bit banged up in the mail with some vertical and diagonal wrinkles. Nevertheless, it’s another interesting piece.
Bat’s Private Post honors Princess Diana, 2020 Summer Olympics
Bat’s Private Post of Beverly Hills, California, on July 1, 2021, issued a total of eight different stamps commemorating two different subjects.
A set of two stamps marked the 60th anniversary of the birth of the late Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997). Both stamps feature a photograph of Princess Diana.
Bat’s Private Post Princess Diana local post stamps
A release distributed with the stamps indicates the 60¢ value covers USPS and Bat’s Private Post fees to mail a letter up to one ounce in weight or a large postcard within the United States, while the $5 value pays the Bat’s Private Post fee for delivery of articles to locations close to the local post’s normal area of operations.
The second set of stamps issued by the California local post on July 1 celebrates the 2020 Summer Olympics, also known as Tokyo 2020. The games, postponed last year due to COVID-19, have been rescheduled to begin later this month.
Bat’s Private Post 2020 Summer Olympics local post stamps
Two designs are used for each of three different denominations (5¢, 60¢, and $1.25). One is based on a 1920 photograph of Duke Kahanamoku (1890–1968), who popularized the sport of surfing but also earned five Olympic medals in swimming, including gold medals in 1912 and 1920. Kahanamoku was previously honored on a United States postage stamp in 2002.
The other design depicts a geisha, a professional female Japanese entertainer.
According to Bat’s Private Post, the 5¢ stamps pay the fee for delivery of a letter or postcard to the USPS, while the $1.25 stamps cover U.S. and local postage for carrying letters bound for international destinations.
Purgatory Post commemorates astronaut Michael Collins
On July 6, New Hampshire-based Purgatory Post issued a pair of 11-sola local post stamps commemorating astronaut Michael Collins (1930–2021), who died in April following a battle with cancer.
Purgatory Post Michael Collins local post stamps
Collins is probably best remembered as the member of the Apollo 11 crew who stayed on board the command module orbiting the moon while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made the first manned moon landing; however, prior to that mission, he also served as pilot on Gemini 10. He would later servce as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and Director of the national Air and Space Museum.
One of Purgatory Post’s new stamps pictures an Agena Target Vehicle used during the Gemini 10 mission, while
the other depicts the Apollo 11 command module, Columbia.
Helen Keller featured on BRE’s simulated cinderellas
The latest addition to my accumulation of business reply envelopes bearing cinderellas or preprinted stamp-sized images arrived last week in a mailing from Helen Keller International. Besides the organization’s address and typical BRE markings, the envelope bears two black-and-white images with photographs of Helen Keller with simulated printed perforations or die cuts, one with Keller’s name and the other reading “Happy Birthday.”
Helen Keller International business reply envelope
As I’ve commented before, I think BREs with labels affixed are far more interesting from a philatelic standpoint. When it comes to envelopes with preprinted images, however, this is about the best I’ve seen. The subject matter is not just the usual flowers and birds, but an actual historical figure and the mailing organization’s eponym.
To the unknown designer who created this, well done.
