I sat down to piddle around with some "other" stamp stuff and happened to see this stamp and it piqued my interest as it was sent on a letter that I received today.
This stamp kind of hearkens back to the days of George Washington. George decided to make his own navy and they flew this flag, as part of his "secret navy". A cool story in its own right...
Appeal to Heaven: "The phrase connotes that after all other alternatives of seeking justice have been exhausted, only an “appeal to heaven” remains."
This flag has a pretty storied history, and started out as Washington's Navy flag, then went to be Massachusetts's Navy flag, and on and on...
Blows my mind how one stamp can send you down a 30 minute road, that you had no intention of going down... I guess that's why there is so much to stamp collecting...
Funny thing is, if you're not a collector, most people don't "get it" as a hobby.
It was part of the Historic Flags Issue that came out in the summer of '68. My Harris plate block album only allowed for the plate block of four, which I thought was a pity, as it was such a beautiful issue and I love American history.
It was my summer between graduating from high school and before starting college and I was working in a grocery store, so I was able to purchase the entire pale/zip/mail early strip. It was, and is still, one of my favorite issues.
That is a very cool set of stamps. Back in the day anything se-tenent was costly, pretty much from the issue date. By the time I wanted these in 1970-1 I couldn't afford them as a kid.
Things have changed... I got a set used as postage on incoming mail recently!
