Post by mourningdoves on Nov 15, 2017 22:11:51 GMT -5
I spent another day sorting my United States duplicates, this time concentrating on the 4¢ era, 1958-1962.
It's been said that all fans of science fiction get to the point of griping about how "they don't write 'em like they used to". And I think it's true; no matter what age you are, the Golden Age of Science Fiction is always 12. And so it is with me and American stamps of the 1960s; I was still in single digits for much of the 4¢ era, but stamps like the Apprenticeship one of 1962 (which I think is the first stamp I ever bought at a post office just to have it) still look good to me. Many of them tell a story, either narrative (the Homestead Act, Project Mercury), accessibly symbolic (Higher Education), or just plain self-explanatory (Forest Conservation, Soil Conservation, etc.). There are exceptions, of course; I still don't know what Wheels of Freedom was about, and those squarish ones (Walter F George, Ephraim McDowell) that look like they're from another era give no clue to what the subject ever did to deserve a stamp.
A few random notes:
I cut up another few sheets of Jugoslavia Vario tags, and that's what I'll work on next time the implacable fates look the other way and I have a chance to be stampy.
(Edited to add:) kacyds, those stamp club pickups look extraordinary. I don't have much by way of British West Indies, but the colors on those copies look extremely rich and vivid, more than I've seen on most British colonial issues. That's cool beans!
It's been said that all fans of science fiction get to the point of griping about how "they don't write 'em like they used to". And I think it's true; no matter what age you are, the Golden Age of Science Fiction is always 12. And so it is with me and American stamps of the 1960s; I was still in single digits for much of the 4¢ era, but stamps like the Apprenticeship one of 1962 (which I think is the first stamp I ever bought at a post office just to have it) still look good to me. Many of them tell a story, either narrative (the Homestead Act, Project Mercury), accessibly symbolic (Higher Education), or just plain self-explanatory (Forest Conservation, Soil Conservation, etc.). There are exceptions, of course; I still don't know what Wheels of Freedom was about, and those squarish ones (Walter F George, Ephraim McDowell) that look like they're from another era give no clue to what the subject ever did to deserve a stamp.
A few random notes:
- Of the six Credo stamps, the one quoting Thomas Jefferson looks like it had different printing, or was on different paper, or something; I've got at least half a dozen of each, and the Jeffersons look the oldest and most discolored - that despite having a gray theme that you'd think would be less prone to the ravages of time.
- Almost every copy of Arctic Exploration, in a vibrant teal, looks like it was printed three weeks ago.
- I haven't done a census, but American stamps of that time had a more internationalist tone than those before or since, excepting the Occupied Nations series. There's the St. Lawrence Seaway, Mexican independence, friendship with Japan, and the Champions of Liberty series, which is much bigger than I remembered.
- Was 3¢ to 4¢ the only rate hike in U. S. history that wasn't accompanied by any new definitives? When postage went up to a nickel, we got that strange flag stamp that didn't say "United States" or "US" anywhere on it, and the hazy, semi-mythological 5¢ Washington and 1¢ Jackson. And we've gotten at least a new flag stamp, and recently a lot more, ever since.
I cut up another few sheets of Jugoslavia Vario tags, and that's what I'll work on next time the implacable fates look the other way and I have a chance to be stampy.
(Edited to add:) kacyds, those stamp club pickups look extraordinary. I don't have much by way of British West Indies, but the colors on those copies look extremely rich and vivid, more than I've seen on most British colonial issues. That's cool beans!
Stamps - the bear necessities of life.
)
