WESTMORELAND COUNTY PHILATELIC SOCIETY
 NEWSLETTER

P.O. Box 76, Norvelt, PA 15674

Volume 22, Number 1

January 2008

USPS ANNOUNCES 2008 ISSUES

MEETING DATE

Next Meeting will be on February 10

The next meeting of the stamp club will be February 10.  We will vote in the Linn’s Most Popular 2007 Stamp Poll.  Please bring cookies for the table.  The hall is open from 1 pm, the meeting starts at 2:15 pm.  

DUES ARE DUE

Don’t forget to pay your dues.  Dues are $5.00 for adults and $1.00 for junior members (18 years old or younger).  Dues can be mailed to the above address.  Make the check out to the Westmoreland County Philatelic Society.

 UPCOMING EVENTS

York County Stamp Show – Friday, January 25, 2008; 11am to 6pm; Saturday, January 26, 2008; 10am to 5pm, White Rose Philatelic Society, York Fairgrounds, Horticulture Hall, 334 Carlisle Ave., York. Contact John Hufnagel, glenrockotts@comcast.net; 717-235-1528.

 COLOPEX 2008 – Friday, February 1, 2008; 10 AM to 6 PM; Saturday, February 2, 2008; 10 AM to 6 PM; Sunday, February 3, 2008; 10 AM to 4 PM; Veterans Memorial Auditorium, 300 West Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43062.  Sponsored by the Columbus Philatelic Club.  About 20 dealers.  http://www.colopex.com/

Lunar New Year – Jan. 9

On January 9, 2008, in San Francisco, California, the Postal Service will issue a 41-cent, Celebrating Lunar New Year commemorative stamp in one design in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) commemorative sheet of 12 stamps. Designed by Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, Maryland, the stamp goes on sale nationwide January 9, 2008. The $4.92 Celebrating Lunar New Year commemorative sheet may not be split, and the stamps may not be sold individually. In observance of the Lunar New Year holiday, the U.S. Postal Service introduces a new series of Lunar New Year stamps beginning in 2008. The series will continue through 2019 with stamps issued consecutively to celebrate the Year of the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar. Ethel Kessler worked on the new series with illustrator Kam Mak of Brooklyn, New York, and chose festive red lanterns that are common decoration at such celebrations where they are frequently hung in rows. Kessler also incorporated elements from the previous series of Lunar New Year stamps designed by Clarence Lee of Honolulu, Hawaii, who created paper-cut designs for all of the twelve animals associated with the Chinese lunar calendar as well as the calligraphic Chinese characters drawn by Lau Bun, also of Honolulu. First day address:

CELEBRATING LUNAR NEW YEAR STAMP 

POSTMASTER

SPECIAL CANCELLATIONS 

PO BOX 880066 

SAN FRANCISCO CA 94188-0066

There are seven philatelic products available for this stamp issue:

Charles W. Chesnutt – Jan. 31

On January 31, 2008, in Cleveland, Ohio, the Postal Service will issue a 41-cent, Charles W. Chesnutt commemorative stamp in one design in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of 20 stamps. Designed by Howard E. Paine of Delaplane, Virginia, the stamp goes on sale nationwide January 31, 2008. With the 31st stamp in the Black Heritage series, the U.S. Postal Service honors Charles W. Chesnutt, a pioneering writer recognized today as a major innovator and singular voice among turn-of-the-century literary realists who probed the color line in American life. Art director Howard Paine wanted a stamp that emphasized Chesnutt’s intelligence and dignity; the portrait painted by stamp artist Kazuhiko Sano of Mill Valley, California, is based on a 1908 photograph from the special collections of Fisk University’s Franklin Library. First day address:

CHARLES W CHESNUTT STAMP

POSTMASTER

2400 ORANGE AVE

CLEVELAND OH 44101-9998

All orders must be postmarked by March 31, 2008. There are four philatelic products available for this stamp issue:

US Announces 2008 Stamp Subjects and Images

The new issues announced are:

Selected Images of 2008 Stamp Issues

Flags of Our Nation

 

Frank Sinatra

 

Love: All Heart

 

Bette Davis

The Art of Disney: Imagination

 

Olympic Games

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

 

Albert Bierstadt painting “Yosemite”

 

Nature of America: Great Lakes Dunes

Christmas Madonna by Botticelli

Holiday Nutcrackers

 

 

 


 

Breast Cancer Research Semipostal Stamps to Remain on Sale Through December 31, 2011

On Friday, December 21, 2007, President Bush signed Public Law No. 110-150 that extends the sale of the Breast Cancer Research semipostal stamps for four years until December 31, 2011.

 

Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Fallingwater”

 The Edgar Kaufmann Residence at Bear Run, Fayette County, is probably one of the world’s best-known homes.  Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the late ‘30s, the dynamic, cantilevered “House on the Waterfall” with its careful articulation of space and mass and fine detailing, is considered a major landmark in the history of architecture.

 

Canada No. 1

 

Great Britain transferred the operation of postal services to several of the Canadian provinces on April 6, 1851.  Prior to this, the British Post Office had full control over the postal services in Canada.  The Post Office Act of Canada, dated August 10, 1850, established the postal rates.  Prepayment of postage with adhesive stamps was optional according to the act.

Canada issued its first stamp, a 3-penny denomination, on April 23, 1851.  The stamp, printed in red, features a beaver, Canada’s national animal.  Sanford Fleming, a civil engineer, designed the issue, which also shows the royal crown with the letters V and R (Victoria Regina) on either side along with a rose, thistle and shamrock.  Picturing an animal on a stamp was a new concept at the time when only heads of state appeared on stamps.  This is the first stamp ever issued to picture an animal.

The New York firm of Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson engraved the stamps.   They were printed from plates of 100 subjects (10 x 10) and are imperforate.  The first stamps can be distinguished from later printings by the paper.  The first printing was on laid paper while later editions are printed on wove paper (#4), ribbed paper (#4c) or thin paper (#4d).  The laid lines of the first issue are sometimes hard to detect.

Several varieties of Canada’s first issue exist.  The colors of the stamp range from dark brick red to orange-vermilion.  Re-entries have also been identified.  The stamp is relatively common in used condition but is extremely scarce in mint condition.  Scott’s current catalog prices are $13,500 for a mint single copy and $800 for a used single copy.  Only two mint blocks of four are known to exist. 

A perforated issue of the 3d beaver stamp was printed in 1858 (#11).  The design was reused again in 1859 with the denomination changed to 5 cents (#15) to meet the currency change to cents.

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