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Planets on Stamps, 1970s
Since the Artemis I launch was postponed today, maybe some space stuff here instead. I’ve sold or given away most of the collections I began in childhood. Still, they interest me. Stamps and space combined, yay. It was the 1970s … Continue reading
USPS: A Decade In Space
My favorite moon mission, Apollo 15, is somewhat depicted in the image above, reproducing the 1971 USPS issue honoring a “decade.” Ten years prior, Alan Shepherd went into space for a brief 15-minute mission–that’s the reference. By 1971, interest in … Continue reading
USPS: First On The Moon
I suppose the USPS figured it had to depict the Earth in this representation of Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the Moon. But it’s another inaccuracy in philatelic art. The Moon’s rotation is locked relative to the Earth–the same half … Continue reading
Christmas Stamps 1973: Needlepoint and Madonna
I know it’s just an artistic design on a stamp from 1973, right, but if your tree ornaments were at this scale … well, that’s a nicely huge gingerbread cookie for munching. You can have those 18-inch candy canes. The … Continue reading
Christmas Stamps 1972: A Coronation and a Santa
Check that painting above. Venture a guess as to what it might depict? For Catholics, it’s easy: the feast celebrated on the 22nd of August. This was the inspiration for the USPS “traditional” Christmas stamp. Specifically, a pair of musicians … Continue reading
Christmas Stamps 1971: Shepherds and a Partridge
Another 16th century Venetian, the one known as Giorgione, gave the US mail his Adoration of the Shepherds, once again courtesy of the National Gallery of Art. The USPS edited out the accompanying landscape. Obviously, way too large for such … Continue reading
Christmas Stamps 1970: Joseph Debuts, Plus Some Toys
Thanks to Lorenzo Lotto, a 16th century painter from Venice, we get a full Christmas scene in 1970 for cards and letters courtesy of the US Post Office. The National Gallery of Art supplied the art. Check the full original here. … Continue reading
Christmas Stamps 1969: Winter
After four years of Gabriel, Mary, and Jesus, the US Post Office pulled back a smidge from explicit figures of Christian importance. The last edition of the Christmas stamps of the 1960s might be my favorite. It marks a further … Continue reading
Christmas Stamps 1968: Return of the Angel
For Catholics, the Annunciation (right, painted by Jan Van Eyck, and in possession of the National Gallery of Art) is an Advent Fourth Sunday event. Or March 25th. Not Christmas as such. The US Post Office didn’t care in 1968. … Continue reading
Christmas Stamps 1966-67: Madonna and Child
People lobbied the US Post Office for Christmas issues for a long time. After the feds acquiesced, they found themselves with a boon in stamp sales. Some citizens criticized the honoring of a religious holiday. Others complained that there was … Continue reading
Christmas Stamp 1965: The Gender Controversy
It was 1965, and the sexual so-called revolution was almost on the horizon. Also, before the so-called War on Christmas, a little controversy was stirred up in year 4 of the US Post Office’s Christmas series. It wasn’t the figure … Continue reading
Christmas Stamps 1964
Stamps, plural. Catch this? Other nations had a long tradition of issuing stamps for Christmas. (Check the world’s first, from north of the border and all the way back to the 19th century.) The US Post Office was late … Continue reading
Christmas Stamp 1963
A year after the Christmas stamp from the US Post Office debuted, they did it again. In 1963, still no Jesus, no Mary, no Santa. Left, note that a few lights in the White House are on. Huge tree in … Continue reading
Christmas Stamp 1962
US people lobbied for years for Christmas-themed postage stamps. Their wish finally came to pass 49 years ago: Anticipating a huge demand for the new Christmas stamp, the (US Post Office) Department ordered 500 million printed — the largest number … Continue reading
Mary Did You Know You Would Be On A Christmas Stamp?
That’s a rhetorical question, by the way. Almost as heralded as the Hallmark Christmas Movie event is the release of seasonal stamps by the US Postal Service. If they ever get to your little house in the country, that is. … Continue reading
Catholic Sensibility 