November 28, 2006

10-year rule for stamp honorees eliminated

In a move that is likely to increase the number of suggestions for new stamps considerably, the USPS has announced it's changing the 10-year rule for selecting people to honor on U.S. stamps to five years. (U.S. presidents are already exempt from the rule; they can be honored on the first anniversary of their birth after they die.) The new rule is effective Jan. 1, 2007.

Linn's Stamp News speculates in its Dec. 4 report on the change that it might have been encouraged by the many calls for a stamp for Rosa Parks, who died in 2005. She is the African-American who gained fame when she refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Ala., for a white rider in 1955. The USPS release (see below) says the change has been discussed for some time. Here is the full text of the Nov. 15 release from the USPS Web site:

POSTMASTER GENERAL POTTER ANNOUNCES HISTORIC RULE CHANGE FOR STAMP HONOREES
WASHINGTON — It’s official. Postmaster General John E. Potter today announced the U.S. Postal Service is reducing the time it takes a person to become eligible to appear on a stamp following death from 10 years to five.

“Stamps are the signature of the Postal Service,�? Potter said in remarks prepared for delivery at today’s Board of Governors’ meeting. “For more than three decades we have had a rule requiring notable Americans be deceased 10 years before they could be recognized for commemoration on a postage stamp. We created this rule to make certain their legacy stood the test of time,�? he said. “The Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee has been discussing this issue for some time and now has recommended that we reduce that wait time to five years.

“In this era of instant communications, I think this is a reasonable suggestion and it will allow us to honor a subject’s lifetime achievements while their memory is still relatively fresh in the public’s eye,�? Potter said. “This new approach will take effect Jan. 1, 2007.�?

The Committee will not accept or consider proposals for a subject until at least three years after his/her death. The change does not affect deceased U.S. presidents, who may be honored with a memorial stamp as soon as the first birth anniversary following their death.

The Postal Service receives 50,000 cards and letters with stamp ideas each year. To narrow the selection of stamp subjects issued annually, the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee — a cross section of designers, historians and educators — reviews the suggestions and makes recommendations to the Postmaster General for final approval. The time between submitting a stamp idea and issuing the stamp can take several years.

The Postal Service encourages individuals with stamp ideas to submit their suggestions in writing to:

CITIZENS’ STAMP ADVISORY COMMITTEE
STAMP DEVELOPMENT
U.S. POSTAL SERVICE
1735 NORTH LYNN ST RM 5013
ARLINGTON VA 22209-6432
For additional details on the stamp selection process, visit this link: http://www.usps.com/communications/organization/csac.htm

Since 1775, the United States Postal Service and its predecessor, the Post Office Department, have connected friends, families, neighbors and businesses by mail. An independent federal agency that visits more than 144 million homes and businesses every day, the Postal Service is the only service provider delivering to every address in the nation. It receives no taxpayer dollars for routine operations, but derives its operating revenues solely from the sale of postage, products and services. With annual revenues of $70 billion, it is the world’s leading provider of mailing and delivery services, offering some of the most affordable postage rates in the world. The U.S. Postal Service delivers more than 46 percent of the world’s mail volume — some 212 billion letters, advertisements, periodicals and packages a year - and serves ten million customers each day at its 37,000 retail locations nationwide.

"http://www.usps.com/communications/organization/csac.htm ">http://www.usps.com/communications/organization/csac.htm

Posted by jweigle at 3:31 PM

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November 25, 2006

Inverted Jenny apparently a phony

The possibility that a rare U.S. inverted Jenny (Scott C3a) was used to help pay postage for an absentee ballot in Florida in November's election got a lot of publicity when it was announced by Broward County elections officials, but it's almost certain the stamp is a counterfeit.
The story is told on the Web site of the American Philatelic Society, an international organization for stamp collectors.
The inverted Jenny is a 1918 U.S. air mail stamp. One pane of 100 stamps was printed with the airplane that is the central part of the design upside down. The stamp is in two colors, red and blue, and at the time it was printed, the paper had to be run through the press once for each color. The paper was inadvertently turned around, and the mistake was missed during the inspection process and sent to a post office. In theory, because the stamps were printed on a large sheet containing four panes, there had to be 300 other stamps with inverted centers, but only the one pane was found.
The full story of the stamp is told in the book "Jenny!" by George Amick, published in 1986.
Here are some excerpts from the APS report:

"On November 13, interested parties got a closer look at the controversial stamp in a warehouse in Fort Lauderdale. An image of the invert was transmitted to Mercer Bristow, Director of Expertizing at the American Philatelic Expertizing Service (APEX), at the American Philatelic Center headquarters of the APS in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.
"It requires direct physical inspection of any stamp, including its paper and the printing method used, to pass judgment on its authenticity with absolute certainty. However, judging from the computer-scanned enlargement that was provided, Bristow concluded that the stamp was a fairly well executed forgery of the rare Jenny invert that has been known of for about the last decade.
"Bristow described the adhesive as 'a questionable item' based on five criteria. The transparency and thickness of the paper are not consistent with those of genuine stamps, nor does the blue color precisely match that of the originals. In addition, the number and therefore the spacing of the perforations along the vertical and horizontal margins do not tally with those of the 1918 air mail stamps, and do not even match one another along the left and right margins."

Assuming the analysis is correct, and there's no reason to question it, the good news is that there isn't a stamp collector somewhere trying to suppress the proverbial "urge to kill" a hapless spouse, employee or friend.

Posted by jweigle at 3:56 PM

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November 1, 2006

Design a stamp winners

For the past several years, The Star has run a design a stamp contest in conjunction with the Youth Stamp Fair sponsored by the Ventura County Philatelic Society and the Anacapla Middle School Stamp Club. Last year was an exception because I was hospitalized with a gallbladder problem at the time the contest would have been arranged.

Unfortunately, although the contest has attracted many entries, there has been no way in the past to show the winning entries to anyone other than those who attended the Youth Stamp Fair or the awards night. This year, with the establishment of The Stamp Stump, we can finally share the winners with others.

The designs come as classroom projects and individual entries and are judged by members of the Venetura County Philatelic Society. Winners are selected in three age groups, which have varied from year to year based on the number and distribution of entries. This year, the categories were 7 and under, 8-11 and 12 and over.

The prizes for the design a stamp, cachet (pictorial envelope) and guess the number of stamps in the jar contests will be presented at the Ventura County Philatelic Society meeting at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 20 at the Church of the Foothills, 6279 Foothill Road, Ventura. By now, all the winners should have received their invitations in the mail.

7 and under
Gabrielle Wright Stamp.jpg
First: Gabrielle Wright of Ventura.