I figured I'd start something a little different and fun for a post.
I'm not sure how other feel about privacy, I'l a little more easy going than most so I'll share. As I'm cataloging some duplicates, I stumbled across a stamp that was issued on the day I was born.
1971 6c Gen. Douglas MacArthur Issue Date: January 26, 1971 Scott Catalog # 1424
(Message edited by pdougherty999 on November 04, 2010)
President - West Essex Philatelic Society www.wepsonline.org 04 Nov 2010 09:53:11am
re: Was there a stamp issued on your birthday?
I collect FDC's of stamps issued on my birthdate. I try to get all the different cachets. Check this website if you would like to take a look (you need to click on the First Day Cover link)... http://home.comcast.net/~parkinlot/
Here is the stamp issued on the day I was born...
Brazil Issue Date June 26, 1962 Scott Catalogue Number 940
(Message edited by parkinlot on November 04, 2010)
(Message edited by parkinlot on November 04, 2010)
It's the Allied Nations issue of January 14, 1943. On the same day the stamp was issued, the Casablanca Conference opened.
From Wikipedia:
The Casablanca Conference (codenamed SYMBOL) was held at the Anfa Hotel in Casablanca, Morocco, then a French protectorate, from January 14 to 24, 1943, to plan the European strategy of the Allies during World War II. Present were Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin had also been invited but declined to attend in light of the ongoing conflict at Stalingrad.
General Charles de Gaulle had initially refused to come but changed his mind when Churchill threatened to recognize Henri Giraud as head of the Free French Forces in his place. Giraud was also present at Casablanca, and there was notable tension between the two men during the talks.
American president Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill The conference's Casablanca Declaration called for the Allies to seek the unconditional surrender of the Axis Powers. It also called for Allied aid to the Soviet Union, the invasion of Sicily and Italy, and the recognition of joint leadership of the Free French by de Gaulle and Giraud. All the terms were agreed upon.
Roosevelt presented the results of the conference to the American people in a radio address on February 12, 1943. Also decided during the Casablanca Conference was that there would be no "across channel invasion" in 1943. Instead of invading Europe across the English Channel, an invasion into Sicily and then Italy would take place."
If I had been born just 13 days later, that day would have marked the halfway point between the beginning of the Second World War (taking Germany's invasion of Poland as the beginning and the surrender of Japan as the end).
"My" stamp is not spectacular but its art deco "Allegory of Victory" design has grown on me. There apparently was not a rate that called for two cents postage, At least I've never found a cover franked with just one stamp. Normally, it seems to have been combined with other stamps to make up the postage for higher rated items. Perhaps someone could expand my knowledge of U.S. postage rates at that time.
Here's the information I found doing a search on US postage rates.
From 1933 to 1958 the first class postage rate in the USA was 3 cents. This rate continued until 7/31/58.
From 1883 to 1932 the first class postage rate in the USA was 2 cents.
I have no idea what the 2c stamp would have been used for in 1942 other than for additional postage over and above the 3c rate. This is just a guess on my part.
US did not issue a stamp on my birthday which bums me out because it was the 100th anniv of the Penny Black. GB did issue a set comemorating the 100th. Wasn't the 2cents for third class mail??? Tom C.
Thank you for that research, Liz. Where did you find it? Tom's question is valid. I have a wartime cover from Britain to the U.S. It was not sealed (third class?), and is franked with a 1d stamp, which would be roughly equivalent to a U.S. 2-cent stamp, and I assume that U.S. and British postal rates were similar.
seems like I remember mailing Christmas Cards for 2cents in the forties (unsealed) could be wrong my memory isn't what it used to be and it was never very good. Tom C.
Thank you for the links. I've saved them in Evernote (nifty web site, take a look at http://www.evernote.com).
I've always been a bit puzzled about why many collectors are so concerned about postal rates. If a cover has more postage than necessary, what's the fuss? For convenience, I often put more postage than necessary on letters; I'd rather spend a bit more on postage than stand in line for 20 minutes at the post office. At the same time, it's interesting that there may have been no need "my" two-cent stamp to have been issued.
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy.. 02 Dec 2010 08:25:48am
re: Was there a stamp issued on your birthday?
I suppose we all overpay postage at times to be able to use some interesting combination to a friend. The rate from the US to our neighbor to the horth is about $0.68, but I often just affix two local rate $0.44 stamps such as the recent Negro League baseball pair as a matter of convenience. But collectors obsess over different things. Those who collect particular stamps on cover often seek out the stamp being used during its period of validity. They do not want the cover that was put together years later when the stamp in question was consigned to some dealer's discount postage bin. Others could not care less about that aspect of usage. I have several international correspondents who trade envelopes that consentrate more on the attractiveness of the set of stamps used on their mail and ignore any relationship to the current postagte rate. Interestingly some of the same stampers who will disparage a stamp used on cover three weeks after the rate was changed will get all excited about a cover that was inadvertantly used three weeks before its scheduled issue date. Once again that is all up to the collector and what it is that he, or she, thinks is important. I have met people who collect foot long strips of barbed wire and others for whom bananna stickers are exciting. There is really no explanation for why one person collects matchbox cars and another enjoys some obscure aspect of postal service.
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".... You may think you understood what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you think you heard is not what I thought I meant. .... "
Keep Postal systems alive, buy stamps and mail often 24 Jul 2013 10:57:19am
re: Was there a stamp issued on your birthday?
There was only one stamp issued the year I was born and definitely not on my birthday. The second world war was on in Europe and Japan attacked days after I was born. The government had more on it's mind than issue a new stamp. I really would like one however. I have one for each of my children who were born years later. Pure luck on those.
What I have had trouble finding is my b-day: July 4th (any year, any country...). Cancels are easier to find than stamp issues--I even have a couple US July 4 cancels.
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy.. 01 Aug 2013 09:52:42pm
re: Was there a stamp issued on your birthday?
" .... Yes, but I'm not posting my birthday. Sorry, I just don't trust identity thieves, and anyone can see these posts. ...."
Fortunately it turns out that the "...handle ..." I use on-line corresponds exactly to my date of birth; 11/22/'39.
Isn't that a coincidence ???
JFK was shot by Oswald on 11/22/1963.
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".... You may think you understood what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you think you heard is not what I thought I meant. .... "
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