It's Officially Christmas
You only need to take a quick look in your mailbox to know it's that time of year again. Christmas is here, and the official USPS Christmas stamp is once again on the cover of holiday cards, letters, and packages. The 2007 USPS Christmas stamp is the newest entry in a long line of government-issued holiday collectibles.
The official Christmas stamp is a fine old tradition... but just how old is it? The answer really depends on how old you are. If you're a baby boomer, the release of the first Christmas Stamp is a treasured childhood memory. So it can't be that old... or can it? Yes it can.
The United States Post Office Department issued its first Christmas stamp in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on November 1, 1962. The news understandably did not achieve front page status. A few days earlier, the world had been teetering on the brink of nuclear war. Then, on October 28th, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev authorized the dismantling of his country's weaponry on the island of Cuba in exchange for President JFK's assurances that American missiles along the Soviet border with Turkey would be removed.
The release of the first official USPS Christmas stamp went largely unnoticed in light of world events. With the return to 'peace on earth,' however, Americans were free to focus on the holidays and on holiday mail. They were delighted with the red and green, 4-cent stamps that featured a wreath, two candles, and the words "Christmas 1962." More On Christmas Stamps...
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| A Message from Don |
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Well it's hard to believe Christmas is only a few days away and 2008 is closing in fast too. I hope all of you will get a chance to spend this holiday season with the ones you love.
Since this will be the last newsletter of 2007 I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your business and support throughout 2007.
I have been working hard to find new and interesting material for 2008. Over the past few months I have been lucky to find some really nice covers and they will start showing up over the next few months.
Larger sized lots of good material is getting harder and harder to find. In most cases when I buy a large lot 70% of the material just get repackaged and sent off to some wholesaler. In 2008 I promise I will work hard for you to find those interesting covers and not to waste your time.
Happy Holidays and have a safe New Year.
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| Christmas Stamps Worldwide |
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Christmas stamps, American and international, deliver their own brand of holiday spirit. And while there are now thousands of Christmas stamps printed in countries around the world, the 'birth' of the first Christmas stamp comes, perhaps surprisingly, from America's neighbor to the North. The stamp is the 1898 Canada two-cent with the Mercator map. (Gerhardus Mercator was the most notable geographer of his time, and his world map of 1569 won lasting fame.) Most properly referred to as the Imperial Penny Postage issue and sometimes The Map Stamp, the historic Christmas stamp was reissued by Canada Post in 1998 as a stamp-on-a- stamp commemorating its 100-year anniversary.
Other countries proved slow to follow Canada's lead. The next specifically designed Christmas stamps came from Austria, but not until 1937 with two stamps referred to in the Stanley Gibbons catalogue as Christmas Greeting Stamps. (The stamps feature a rose and signs of the Zodiac). Next on-board was. Brazil. The South American country issued four semi- charity stamps in 1939 depicting the three Kings and the star, an angel and child, a southern cross and child, and mother and child.
With the world at war Hungary issued a Soldier's Christmas semi-postal depicting a soldier and emblem in 1941. It would be another ten years before Cuba issued its two-stamp set of Poinsettia and Bells. Haiti followed in 1954 with two stamps - Fort Nativity and Star of Bethlehem. As the 1950s progressed, Luxembourg and Spain produced Christmas stamps in 1955 while Liechtenstein, Korea and Australia started what has become a fashion with Christmas issues in 1957.
When it comes to an official Christmas stamp, America was something of a johnny-come-lately. The United States didn't 'get with the program' until 1962 with its four-cent Wreath and Candles stamp.
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| What's On eBay? |
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Weekly Auctions now closing every Sunday.
Only have a couple of lots at auction this weekend due to the holidays. I love selling on ebay but this time of the year I want to spend with family.
Check out new items in my eBay store and look for another BIG 25% off sale coming in January 08'
Check out the new look on my eBay store home page. I would love to hear what you think about the new look.
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| Christmas Seals |
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In addition to festively designed Christmas stamps that 'pay the freight,' Christmas seals are a common sight on holiday covers. Decorative in their design and charitable in their intent, Christmas fundraising seals have given rise to a unique niche in collecting.
The 'bible' of U.S. Christmas Seal collecting is Green's Catalog of Tuberculosis Seals of the World. It has been published since the 1930's. The non-profit Christmas Seal and Charity Stamp Society, founded in 1931, issues a quarterly journal, Seal News. The Society's mission is to make seal collecting information available to the public. Check out their website.
The original Christmas seals were created in Denmark in benefit children with tuberculosis. In 1903, a postal clerk who would late become postmaster (Einar Holboll) had what Oprah Winfrey would call 'a lightbulb moment.' With so much holiday mail on the move, he felt it would be possible to raise a great deal of money to help sick children by simply adding an extra charitable stamp to envelopes containing Christmas greetings. A year later the world's first Christmas Seal was launched and the funds raised were beyond anyone's expectations.The success did not go unnoticed.
The first U.S. Christmas seals were the work of Emily Bissell. She hoped to emulate the success she'd read about and bring support to a small TB facility in Delaware. Bissell found a powerful ally in Philadelphia newspaper man Leigh Mitchell Hodges who helped her promote the campaign. They seal were issued in 1907, featuring a classic wreath of holly in bright red. Public support was instantaneous and overwhelming. $3,000.00 was earned that first year.
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| Did You Know? |
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The Canadian Map Stamp of 1898 bears an inscription "XMAS 1898", but was not originally intended to be a Christmas stamp. The stamp was actually issued to mark the inauguration of the Imperial Penny Postage rate. The Uniform Penny Post had been established as a flat rate for mail throughout the UK in 1840. In 1898, the Imperial Penny Post extended that rate throughout the British Empire.
In 1962, the USPS delivered a holiday gift of its own in its official Christmas stamp. During the stamp dedication ceremony, Postmaster General J. Edward Day said that the new issue was created in response to demand from postal customers. In previous years, stamps that conveyed the spirit of the season had proven popular with card senders who favored the 1958 Forest Conservation stamp with a deer in a wooded clearing and the 1960 stamp commemorating the 5th World Forest Congress, showing a stylized green tree resembling a fir.
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