It has been just over a month since I last shared any business reply envelopes that I’ve received. The artwork on used a couple that arrived in my post office box last week isn’t exactly brand new, but both envelopes are worth mentioning.
First is a BRE from Helen Keller International. The front of the cover bears two preprinted stamp-sized images picturing Keller, one with the inscription “Happy Birthday” at the bottom.
Helen Keller International business reply envelope with Helen Keller images
The second envelope showed up in an American Parkinson Disease Association mailing. The three preprinted designs picturing flowers were used on the BRE enclosed in an October 2022 mailing.
American Parkinson Diseases Association business reply envelope with flower images
The designs on this example look washed out, though, as if perhaps the magenta ink had been exhausted and only cyan, yellow, and black were still printing. I’m not sure we can call this a true color omission, but it’s still an interesting variety.
Nearly a month has passed since the release of the second issue of the American Philatelic Society’s digital magazine, StampEd, but life has been busy as always, and it wasn’t until this week that I finally had a chance to peruse it. As with the first issue, I found some interesting things inside.
First, there was a reference to a Postmaster Finder tool on the USPS website. You can find a list of postmasters for your city or town going back as far as the 1700s! If I ever knew about this, I’d forgotten about it, but I can see how it could be useful for postal historians.
There’s also an interesting introduction to the private die proprietary revenue stamps used in the United States in the 1800s, as well as some amusing descriptions of the “remedies” and miracle cures on which they paid taxes.
And last but not least, there’s even a short blurb from me in the “Direct Messages” section in which I describe how I shared the news about the first issue of StampEd with Philosateleian Post Horn subscribers. It’s always fun to see my name in print…but this isn’t actually a print publication…but anyway…
There’s much more, of course, but rather than give a complete summary here, I’ll simply recommend that if you have the time, you check out the latest issue of StampEd and see what you might learn!
Mick’s Local Post of Oregon recently released a new local post stamp. The 1s design pictures Maurice W. Moe (1882–1940), an amateur journalist and poet who corresponded with the writer H.P. Lovecraft. I received a copy of the stamp pictured here on a cover postmarked in Portland on June 14.
Mick’s Local Post Maurice W. Moe stamp
This is not the first Mick’s Local Post stamp related to Lovecraft. The Oregon-based local post last year issued a stamp picturing Rheinhart Kleiner, a poet who was another of Lovecraft’s correspondents.
And with that, I think we’re caught up on local post stamp news at least for now. Stay tuned for more!
Rocky Mountain Stamp Show Ghost Post celebrates blue columbine
This year’s edition of the Rocky Mountain stamp Show took place in Aurora, Colorado, last month, and as part of the festivities, the show’s organizers released a Rocky Mountain Stamp Show Ghost Post stamp picturing the blue columbine, a flowering plant that is native to the Rocky Mountains.
I recently received a pair of the stamps on a cover with a Rocky Mountain Stamp Show cancellation dated May 26, 2024, and a Denver, Colorado, machine cancellation dated May 31.
Rocky Mountain Ghost Post blue columbine stamps on cover
These stamps would go well in any thematic collection of flowers on stamps. Denominated .01-dwt Au each, they were printed by Purgatory Post, the New Hampshire-based local post.
Philosateleian Post accordion stamp on first day cover
I began using Philosateleian Post’s new accordion stamp on May 30, and to mark its release, I prepared a first day cover bearing the stamp that I mailed to myself. That arrived in my post office box the next week.
Philosateleian Post Accordion stamp first day cover
To pay United States postage, I used one of the Ansel Adams stamps issued in May, the one picturing Monument Valley in Arizona. It’s tied to cover by my mailer’s postmark for Floresville, Texas.
Overall, the cover survived its journey just fine except for one thing: most of the lower quarter of my Philosateleian stamp was scraped and curled up by mail processing equipment! I was able to uncurl the scraped portion of the stamp and used some glue to affix that strip back to the envelope so that it doesn’t look so bad at first glance, but it’s too bad it didn’t make it through unscathed.
