The Jacksonville Stamp Collectors Club recently distributed flyers promoting the upcoming First Coast Fall Stamp Show & Exhibition. The event is being held at the Northeast Florida Safety Council Building on Art Museum Drive in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday, October 10, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The flyer I received states that “light refreshments will be served”—an interesting amenity that I don’t usually associate with stamp shows.
(As I’ve noted in the past, I won’t be at the show because it’s on Saturday, but if you go, I hope you have a good time.)
A little over a month has passed since my last entry, but I do at least have an excuse. My little family and I recently moved! It was a short move from a one-bedroom unit two to a two-bedroom unit in the same apartment complex, but if you’ve ever moved, you know that even that was a big undertaking.
You probably also realize that it takes some time to get everything put away and put in order after a move, and that has certainly been the case for us. On my desk, I have a couple of stock sheets full of landscape stamps just waiting for me to make album pages for them, but I simply haven’t had time! It is on my radar, though, and I’m hopeful I’ll be able to take care of at least a few of those this weekend.
The fall update for The Philosateleian is ready to go, and should be available for you to download on Sunday, September 6. The next issue of the Post Horn is due out that day, too, so September is going to be a big month. Stay tuned!
Although I’ve been collecting stamps for well over 20 years, it has only been within the past two or three that I’ve had any contact at all with the mail art community. I do not think of myself as an artist; even my Philosateleian Post creations I refer to as local post stamps, not artistamps. There is a fine and sometimes blurred line between the two, but that is perhaps a subject for some other time.
Just because I’m not an artist myself, however, doesn’t stop me from being impressed and sometimes amazed at some of the pieces that individuals in the mail art community create. For example, consider this cover that I received in the mail last week.
Infirmary cover
The cover’s designer, Linda W., took a fragment of an old envelope which was addressed to a patient at an infirmary in Louisville, Kentucky, and combined it with an illustration of a woman on her sickbed, along with an illustration of a human skeleton and several medical-themed stamps.
I’m not even sure how to describe this any further other than to say it is awesomeness. I certainly wouldn’t endorse the destruction of a valuable cover, but the fragment with which Linda started was so ragged that it had no value in philatelic terms. Because of that, it is a joy to see that it could be reused and repurposed to create a work of art.
Grateful Dead on Purgatory Post's first perforated stamps
Psychedelic rockers Grateful Dead are the subject of the newest modern local post stamp from Scott A.’s Purgatory Post. The stamp, which features artwork from a concert poster, commemorates the band’s 50th anniversary.
Purgatory Post Grateful Dead cover
While I’m not the biggest fan of the art style of the 1960s and 70s, I think you have to admit that Scott nailed the lettering!
Purgatory Post Grateful Dead miniature sheet
Although the Grateful Dead stamp is Purgatory Post’s 163rd issue, it is the first to be perforated with Scott’s recently acquired Rosback hand perforator. The results are quite impressive, and I look forward to seeing Scott’s future perforated stamps.
