As a local post stamp producer, I always enjoy seeing what other local posters have created, and Purgatory Post’s latest stamp issues are a real treat! The 2- and 5-sola stamps issued earlier this month commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, and are appropriately inscribed “Peace.”
Purgatory Post Peace Centennial stamps
Purgatory Post’s operator, Scott Abbot, based the designs of his stamps on a pair of United States stamp essays originally prepared with the idea of commemorating 100 years of peace between the U.S. and Great Britain. Those stamps were shelved due to the outbreak of World War I, of course, and the 1919 Peace stamp used a completely different design. It’s nice to see these designs actually being put to use.
The centennial of the end of World War I was the subject of World Local Post Day back in January of this year, but Scott opted to delay issuing stamps marking that anniversary until this month since the armistice ending the war was signed in November 1918.
Bicolored reproductions reimagine 1934 National Parks stamps
It has been a long time since I did any stamp production beyond printing and perforating additional copies of Philosateleian Post’s Contemporary Art stamp issued earlier this year. Last week, however, I finally got around to working on something that had been on my want-to-do list for a long, long time: bicolored reproductions of the 1934 National Parks Year stamps.
National Parks Year bicolored reproductions
I scanned a mint set of stamps that I picked up from the local stamp dealer, then modified each of the designs to remove any references to U.S. postage or face values; these are not real stamps, and I don’t want to give the false impression that they are! After that, I turned the frame of each stamp black, and modified the color of the vignettes for the Acadia and Great Smoky Mountains stamps since the originals were printed in black.
Beginning in the 1930s, United States stamps tended to minimize frames in favor of a larger vignette, so bicolored variations are arguably less impressive than they might otherwise have been. Nevertheless, I had fun doing these, and it got me back into some stamp production work, so I think it was a worthwhile project.
If you like what I’ve done, copies of this sheet are available through my online shop.
