Author Archives: VSC

Global Poinsettia (U.S. 2018)

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Announced by the USPS July 24th
The Scott Catalogue number is 5311.

Updated August 2nd, from the Postal Bulletin:
On August 26, 2018, in Kansas City, MO, the U.S. Postal Service® will issue the Global Poinsettia stamp (Global Forever® priced at the First-Class Mail International® rate) in one design, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of 10 stamps (565900). The stamp will go on sale nationwide August 26, 2018.

Global Poinsettia is a new Global Forever international rate stamp that can be used to mail a 1-ounce letter to any country to which First-Class Mail International® service is available. A striking photograph of a poinsettia arranged against a white background graces this round holiday stamp. Taken from above, the photo captures the beauty of the green leaves, the red bracts, and the yellow flowers in the center of the plant. Text repeated twice around the circumference of the stamp reads “GLOBAL” in bold red letters and “USA,” “FOREVER,” and “2018” in black. William J. Gicker was the art director and Greg Breeding designed the stamp with an existing photograph by Betsy Pettet.

How to Order the First-Day-of-Issue Postmark:
Customers have 120 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office or at The Postal Store® website at usps.com/shop. They must affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

FDOI – Global Poinsettia Stamp
USPS Stamp Fulfillment Services
8300 NE Underground Drive, Suite 300
Kansas City, MO 64144-9900

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service™ will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark up to a quantity of 50. There is a 5-cent charge for each additional postmark over 50. All orders must be postmarked by December 26, 2018.

Technical Specifications:

Issue: Global Poinsettia Stamp
Item Number: 565900
Denomination & Type of Issue: Global Forever International Rate
Format: Pane of 10 (1 design)
Series: N/A
Issue Date & City: August 26, 2018, Kansas City, MO 64108
Art Director: William J. Gicker
Designer: Greg Breeding
Typographer: Greg Breeding
Existing Photo: Betsy Pettet
Modeler: Sandra Lane/Michelle Finn
Manufacturing Process: Offset, Microprint
Printer: Banknote Corporation of America
Printed at: Browns Summit, NC
Press Type: Alprinta 74
Stamps per Pane: 10
Print Quantity: 100,000,000 stamps
Paper Type: Phosphor, Block tagged
Adhesive Type: Pressure-sensitive
Processed at: Banknote Corporation of America, Browns Summit, NC
Colors: 186 Red, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black
Stamp Orientation: Round
Image Area (w x h): 1.2 x 1.2 in./30.48 x 30.48 mm
Overall Size (w x h): 1.414 x 1.414 in./35.916 x 35.916 mm
Full Pane Size (w x h): 8.4 x 4.041 in./213.36 x 102.641 mm
Plate Size: 120 stamps per revolution
Plate Numbers: “B” followed by five (5) single digits
Marginal Markings:
Front: Plate number in four corners of pane
Back: ©2018 USPS • USPS logo • Barcode (565900) on each stamp • Plate position diagram • Promotional text

Original July 24th announcement:
Celebrate the holidays with Poinsettia, a new Global Forever stamp. This stamp can be used to mail a 1-ounce letter to any country where First-Class Mail International service is available. As with all Global Forever stamps, this stamp will have a postage value equivalent to the price of the single-piece First-Class Mail International 1-ounce machineable letter in effect at the time of use. These stamps can also be used domestically.

The stamp art features a photo of a poinsettia. Taken from above, the photo captures the beauty of the green leaves, the red bracts, and the yellow flowers in the center of the plant.

Poinsettias are now as much a part of the holidays as evergreens and mistletoe; tens of millions of plants are sold during the season.

The art director for this stamp was William J. Gicker. Greg Breeding designed the stamp with an existing photograph by Betsy Pettet.

The new Global Forever stamps are being issued in self-adhesive panes of 10.

Updated July 26th:
This stamp will be issued August 26th with no ceremony and a Kansas City postmark.

Updated August 18th:
Here’s is the Digital Color Postmark for this issue: It measures 2.47″ x 1.49″. Here is the B&W pictorial postmark:It measures 2.94 x 1.44″.

Editorial: Statue Stamp Verdict Is Just Wrong

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by Lloyd A. de Vries

What were they thinking? Awarding $3.5 million dollars to the sculptor of a Las Vegas replica of the Statue of Liberty, because the U.S. Postal Service used a photograph of it on a stamp.

I’m often critical of the USPS, but this decision makes no sense to me. The justices say the agency made $2.1 billion from the sale of 4.9 billion stamps. That’s the gross, at 44 cents per stamp. The printing cost is a small fraction of the selling price, but a stamp represents a payment, whether it’s a tax on alcohol or playing cards, or, in the case of postage stamps, for delivering a piece of mail.

Stamps like this one are called definitives, and are the workhorses of postage stamps: Unlike stamps for celebrities or ice pops or other pop culture, which are aimed at collectors and aficionados of the subjects, definitives are intended to carry the mail. Yes, first-class mail service shows a profit, but not 43 cents out of 44!

Perhaps Judge Eric Bruggink’s dog was bitten by a mailman.

Most of us would be thrilled to see our work on a postage stamp, nationally distributed through more than 30,000 retail outlets and ending up in millions of homes and businesses.

Davidson and his attorney were no doubt encouraged by another sculptor’s successful lawsuit against the USPS. He created a sculpture for the Korean War Veterans Memorial on the National Mall in Washington. The USPS showed the sculpture — which was commissioned and purchased by the U.S. Park Service — on a stamp, the artist sued, and the USPS was ordered to pay damages.

Did Davidson pay royalties to the Park Service for his version of the Statue of Liberty? No, of course not. Legally, he is not required to do so. A purely federal agency like the Park Service can’t copyright anything. (The Postal Service is a corporation owned by the government, and therefore can claim copyrights.) Parody — such as a half-size replica using your mother-in-law’s face — is also protected from copyright.

Apparently, the USPS was faulted by the Federal Claims Court not so much for using the wrong image, but for not immediately pulling the stamp off sale and out of its tens of thousands of retail outlets. The mistake, as well as other incorrect stamp designs (the wrong African-American cowboy’s picture, putting the Grand Canyon in the wrong state, and, of course, the Korean War Veterans Memorial stamp), are affecting my part of stamp collecting: The USPS now triple-checks everything, runs it all past attorneys, then triple-checks everything again, and first day cover collectors and servicers are getting information about new issues later and later. “Even though George Washington had no children of his own, have we checked all the descendants of his stepdaughters to see if we have permission to use ‘Washington’ in a postmark?”

The Postal Service is everyone’s favorite whipping boy. It’s even part of our lexicon: “The check is in the mail,” we say, when it really hasn’t even been written.

Conservatives in particular love to attack the Postal Service. They would like to see it privatized, as in other countries, although it hasn’t always worked well. The U.S. Constitution requires that the federal government provide mail service. The USPS also delivers to every address in one of the biggest countries in the world, and for far less than most other countries’ postal agencies.

Listen to what Judicial Watch, a conservative foundation which has described climate science as “fraud science,” had to say about this case:

“Even for the beleaguered U.S. Postal Service (USPS), a bastion of mismanagement, this appears to be a new low…

“Profiting from an artist’s stolen work is simply the latest of many transgressions committed by the USPS in recent years.”

In the article, Judicial Watch calls the USPS “a perpetually troubled government agency notorious for its egregious spending sprees and dire financial woes” and “a bastion of mismanagement.”

Ouch!

But even the liberal Washington Post couldn’t help smirk about the decision. Three days after running the just-the-facts-ma’am Associated Press story, a WaPo “Post Nation” column played it as a soap opera.

“They met totally by accident … It was like the premise of a rom-com,” wrote Avi Selk, referring to a romantic comedy.

Even non-collectors have come up to tell me, and perhaps chortle, about the USPS mistake that may cost it $3.5 million.

I hope it doesn’t. I hope the U.S. Postal Service appeals the decision, or at the very least, sues Getty Images (to whom it paid $1,500 for use of the photograph on the stamp) for failing to label it properly.

And when Judicial Watch or the Washington Post wonder why its mail is taking longer to arrive, someone will point out the USPS had to cut corners somewhere to come up with that $3.5 million.

Atlanta-Area Stamp Collecting Show Celebrates Summer and Ice Pops

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The new Frozen Treats stamps will be dedicated during the Americover 2018 stamp collecting show, Friday, August 3, at the Hilton Atlanta Northeast, 5993 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard in Peachtree Corners. The ceremony is at 11 a.m. and is free and open to the public. The Forever stamps, showing frosty, colorful ice pops on a stick in a variety of shapes and flavors, went on sale earlier this summer, and are the first scratch-and-sniff stamps ever issued by the U.S. Those attending will be able to come away with these stamps, and possibly sticky fingers, too.

Americover 2018 is the annual show and convention of the American First Day Cover Society, a not-for-profit international stamp collecting organization. Americover is held in a different part of the country each year. This is the first time it is in Georgia. Last year it was in Ohio, and next year Americover will be held in Missouri. The AFDCS also held a dedication ceremony for the Soda Fountain Favorites stamps two years ago in Virginia.

Besides the dedication ceremony, Americover 2018 features dealers, exhibits of rare material, seminars and meetings. There is also a youth table with hands-on activities, including making first day covers. Admission is free, as is parking.

A “first day cover” (FDC) is an envelope postmarked on the date that a stamp goes on sale. Many modern collectors add decorations to their FDCs, which are called “cachets.”

The three-day show’s hours are 10 to 5 on Friday and Saturday and 10 to 4 on Sunday. There is also a second marketplace on Saturday from 3:30 to 7:00 p.m., featuring just recent first day covers and cachets.

For more information on Americover 2018, visit www.afdcs.org/show or e-mail showinfo@afdcs.org

Hotchner: Value and Its Lure

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By John M. Hotchner

When my children were in the 8- to 12-year-old range, each one in turn tried stamp collecting. Three of the four even did exhibits. They did not have to be cajoled into it by a clearly involved helicopter father. Rather they were I think curious what I found so attractive, and got involved through participation in a Ben Franklin Stamp Club established at their school (a system the USPS sponsored nationwide; providing a monthly multi-color newsletter and other support materials such as membership cards, etc.). I was the adult sponsor for the local school’s club.

Unfortunately, the hobby did not stick with them. And I can list several reasons why not. First, while there were lots of stamps available to collect, and they were all given free, one of the major areas of interest they had about stamps was their value. I contrast this to my earliest years in the hobby, where the value of my collection was the last thing on my mind.

Now, by the time I was 12, and going to club meetings with my father, I was spending my paltry allowance on stamps. But I was a confirmed collector, and my concern was in filling the blanks in my album, not with what I might get if I sold the stamps.

Some might fault me for allowing my kids to grow up thinking about possessions in monetary terms, but I contend that by the 1980s, the social fabric of our country was intensely intertwined with money and its value/what it could buy. We have in fact bred generations of children who have grown up with ever increasingly targeted advertising, telling kids what they should have; a relative rarity in the days when I grew up with a ten-inch black and white TV screen.

So, in this day of $200 sneakers, $75 jeans being sold new with ripped knees, must-have electronics, and designer tops for kids that adults can’t afford, is it any wonder that money is high on the radar screens of kids who are probably not told enough, “No, we can’t afford that!”

The result is that kids have learned to monetize everything. And when they learn that their entry-level collection is essentially worthless, a reasonable question is “Why do I want to be involved in this?”

That phenomenon was just beginning to kick in when my kids were approaching their teenage years. Also kicking in was the advent of a wider range of TV channels, and one of the great time-wasters of the 20th century, TV video games. My kids were far more interested in how high they could score playing Pac-Man and the immediate feedback that offered, than in spending time on the laborious process of building a stamp collection; which offered no element of competition among their peers, and little in the way of immediate feedback.

Yes, there was some enjoyment in trading stamps with their friends, but nothing compared to the status gained in the “friend community” by playing Pac-Man well. If anything, this challenge to our hobby has increased exponentially with the multiplicity of electronic gadgets, and the ability to communicate instantaneously with friends and acquaintances; now with both words and images. stamp collecting could be addictive if one got serious about it, but today’s electronic gizmos are both instantaneously addictive, and the social pressure to engage in using them is enormous.

One of my grandchildren said to me a couple of weeks ago, “Grandpa, you may know the basics of how to use your iPhone, but you really need to take a course to understand the power it has and the things it can do.” My reaction is that I don’t want to get involved in additional functionality. I already spend more time on it than I find comfortable. But, I, like them, I suspect, can’t seem to help myself! And they are pressured by their peers to obtain and use the most recent gadgets and their full power.

My observation of the behavior of my grandkids, who range from 2-years old to 21 years, is that they spend so much time with their noses buried in their electronic devices it is a wonder they have time to eat or do homework. There is just no time for working with physical objects like stamps.

We did it as kids because we had time on our hands, with few other distractions, and we enjoyed the act of organizing our collection, and the pride of learning about other nations, and American history from stamps.

The other thing we enjoyed was sharing the hobby with others in our circle. With the Postal Service’s murder of its Ben Franklin Stamp Clubs in the early 1990s, it became increasingly unusual for kids to find other kids who collect. Why did they kill the BFSC? The proximate costs of developing collectors for the future were not being covered by young people buying stamps. So the program was a net financial loss, and the bean counters insisted that the budgeting process could not justify those costs. Guess they never heard of what private industry knows as “loss leaders.”

So, the practical result was that more than ever before, kids were suddenly reliant for support on adults; but how to find an adult collector if kids develop an interest? This makes the network of local clubs especially important. But keep in mind that available evidence is that the number of adult collectors has been falling in this country for many years if measured by numbers involved in organized philately, and subscription numbers for philatelic periodicals. There may still be a lot of collectors, but it seems a good share of them are lone wolves; not being involved in local philately, and not available to be mentors.

Add to this that regrettably, all adults are now suspect; so much so that formal mentoring programs for their own protection are vetting mentor applicants against law enforcement databases. Parents without that resource are often not pleased with the thought of having their child interacting with an adult stamp collector whom they don’t know.

Then there is the cost of the hobby which has been on an upward curve for many years. Stamp collecting implements such as catalogs and albums (with thousands more stamps being issued worldwide each year) are beyond the reach of most kids’ allowances. The cost of a first-class mint stamp has gone from 3¢ when I was a kid to 50¢ today, and the number of issues and postal products has mushroomed. I tend to discount this as a major reason for kids dropping out for two reasons: First, the actual cost of a year of single U.S. mint stamps is still way less than a pair of stylish sneakers, a couple of trips to the movies, or a few meals out at your local fast-food outlet.

Second, as they make a fine and relatively inexpensive gift for parents and grandparents to give, mint U.S. stamps need not be beyond the reach of kids. But the adults must be willing to navigate the USPS Internet ordering system, as limited numbers of commemoratives, and sometime none at all, are available from local post offices.

These phenomena are driving kids in the direction of used stamps, and I would have no great problem with this; in fact it could be a positive, but it isn’t. Why? Used is less expensive, but more difficult to acquire; not to mention more difficult to store and house in an album because they can no longer be soaked free of the paper they went through the mail on. And there is another major problem that has been developing for the last 40 years: Though a few remain, local stamp stores have gone the way of the Dodo, stamp clubs are not thriving for the most part, buying used stamps from dealers by email is complicated, and the Postal Service in its zeal to keep collectors from clogging the lines at local post offices has done everything possible to push collectors to buy their wants on the Internet.

This has the predictable effect of keeping commemoratives off daily mail. So, current stamps, which should be a major focus for kids who get many of their stamps from friends and family, get little more than the current definitives from those sources.

No one set out to make collecting more difficult for kids; but we are dealing with 50 years of actions and phenomena that have had a deadly set of unintended consequences.

And some of those consequences are also affecting adult collectors and dampening our ardor for stamp collecting. Do we just lie down on the tracks and let the train run over us?

Should you wish to comment on this editorial, or have questions or ideas you would like to have explored in a future column, please write to John Hotchner, VSC Contributor, P.O. Box 1125, Falls Church, VA 22041-0125, or email, putting “VSC” in the subject line.

Or comment right here.

Weather Wonders (Canada 2018)

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Issue date: July 26, 2018

From Details magazine: These photos reveal the awesome power and beauty of nature.

Visitors to Canada could be excused for thinking that an intense interest in the weather – not hockey – is our national pastime. Too cold, too hot or just right – Canadians always have something to say on the subject. Yet nothing inspires meteorological murmurs more than some of the fleeting (but fabulous) phenomena that can appear when weather permits.

These stamps, which follow our first weather- themed issue from 2015, showcase five other weather wonders: steam fog, a moon halo, a waterspout, lenticular clouds and light pillars. Captured in Canada by amateur and professional photographers with endless patience, keen eyes and some luck too, these photos reveal the awesome power and beauty of nature.

Timmy Joe Elzinga, a resident of North Bay, Ontario, used his smartphone to shoot the otherworldly photo of light pillars – ethereal bands of light that appear when tiny ice crystals in the air reflect light from artificial sources. Awoken one cold January night by his young son, Timmy noticed the strange lights out the bathroom window. “Red, blue, green, yellow, purple and pink lights seemed to beam up in to the air,” Elzinga explains. “It almost looked like something out of Star Trek.”

 


Day of issue press release:
Weather Wonders stamps feature five stunning image
New stamps follow up on popular first instalment released in 2015

NORTH BAY, ON, July 26, 2018 /CNW/ – We talk about it in the elevators and hallways of our work. We monitor it morning, noon and night, dress up for it and plan our days around it. We obsess about it, and are captivated by its beauty and force. The weather – in all its wonder – takes centre stage again in Canada Post’s latest stamp issue.

Weather Wonders, Part 2 is a five-stamp issue that showcases some of Canada’s most awe-inspiring weather phenomena in photographs taken from across the country. This year’s release follows up on the wildly popular first weather wonders issue of 2015, which featured striking images of hoar frost, early-morning fog, a double rainbow, lightning and sun dogs.

This year’s collection features five new photos of unique and distinctly beautiful weather events:

  • Mark Newman’s photograph of a thick layer of steam fog over an unidentified British Columbia lake was taken just as an icy wind caused humid air to condense over the warmer surface. The image beautifully captures a moody, almost ghostly, scene.
  • Garry M. Cass photographed a magnificent, if not menacing, waterspout over Lake Ontario near Toronto. These swirling funnels of water can be just as dangerous as land-based twisters.
  • Marilyn Dunstan’s bucolic photo of lenticular clouds – some call them UFO clouds because of their disc-like shape – was taken in Jasper National Park in Alberta.
  • Timmy Joe Elzinga snapped spectacular light pillars reflecting the city lights of North Bay, Ontario. These can appear when ice crystals in the air reflect light drawn from artificial sources.
  • David McColm’s photograph forever freezes a moon halo in Whistler, B.C. The weather phenomenon is the result of airborne ice crystals refracting the moonlight on a chilly night.

Elzinga recalls first seeing “dancing beams of light” in the winter sky after waking to tend to a crying child. It was “like something out of Star Trek,” prompting him to open his bathroom window, remove the screen and take “as many pictures as possible.” When posted online, the images went viral, drawing worldwide attention.

Newman’s steam fog shot adorns the cover of the booklet of 10 stamps. The souvenir sheet and Official First Day Cover include all five weather-themed stamps designed by Parcel Design of Toronto.

Sharks in Canadian Waters (Canada 2018)

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Issue Date: July 13th.

From Details magazine:This issue, featuring five sharks in Canadian waters, is fearsomely fascinating.

Despite being demonized by popular fiction and movies, sharks are some of the most fascinating and diverse creatures on Earth. Sharks are also among the world’s oldest surviving species. Their earliest ancestors are thought to have swum the seas at least 420 million years ago.

Canada’s coastal waters serve as a permanent or temporary home to nearly 30 shark varieties. The five we’ve chosen to highlight in this issue, designed by Andrew Perro and illustrated by Julius Csotonyi, have their own unique story.

The endangered white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) – known more dramatically as the “great white” – inhabits Atlantic waters and occasionally travels to our west coast, making rare visits around Haida Gwaii during warm-water events.

Native to Canadian waters, the basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) can grow up to nine metres long on a diet of plankton and other tiny organisms. The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) has also assessed this species as endangered in the Pacific region and as a special concern in the Atlantic.

Once assessed as a special concern by COSEWIC but no longer considered at risk, the blue shark (Prionace glauca) (right) makes its home in the Atlantic.

The slow-swimming Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) (left), found on the Atlantic side of the Arctic, enjoys a longevity greater than any other vertebrate on Earth, more than 400 years, in fact!

A visitor to our Atlantic coast, the shortfin mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus) is the fastest shark on the planet, reaching speeds of 50 km/h or more. from Canada Post:
Canada Post and the Vancouver Aquarium®, an Ocean Wise® initiative, will unveil five stamps that honour sharks in Canadian waters to special guests as well as Aquarium members and visitors on Thursday, July 12. WHAT: Presentation of five stamps featuring sharks found in Canadian waters

WHO:

  • Clint Wright, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Vancouver Aquarium, an Ocean Wise initiative
  • Jessica McDonald, Chair of the Board of Directors and Interim President and CEO, Canada Post

WHEN: Thursday, July 12, 12:15 p.m. (Media arrival by noon)

WHERE: Vancouver Aquarium
Teck Engagement Gallery (lower level)
845 Avison Way, Vancouver
(Media check in at Aquaquest Reception)

Canada Post is offering an uncut press sheet:

Updated July 12th, from Canada Post:

Stamps celebrate sharks in Canadian waters
New issue showcases mysterious marine creatures

VANCOUVER, July 12, 2018 /CNW/ – Experts note that between 400 and 500 shark species inhabit the world’s oceans and waterways. These fish can be less than a foot long or larger than a bus. From fierce hunters that breach waves and ambush prey, to gentle giants known to nudge kayaks and bask with scuba divers, sharks are compelling and often misunderstood.

Canada Post has released a new stamp issue starring these fascinating yet oftentimes feared creatures just in time for Discovery Channel™’s Shark Week. They were unveiled today at the Vancouver Aquarium®, an Ocean Wise® initiative.

Nearly 30 shark species are native to Canadian waters or known to visit our shores. This stamp set highlights five of them:

  • The blue shark is native to the Atlantic and often spotted around Newfoundland, the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
  • The shortfin mako is the fastest shark in the world. It hits speeds up to 50 kilometres an hour, usually when attacking. A visitor to Canada, the Grand Banks off Newfoundland, along the Scotian Shelf, is the northernmost edge of its migratory range.
  • The basking shark glides through the ocean open-mouthed, feeding on krill, plankton and fish eggs. This gentle giant has been assessed as endangered (Pacific population) and as a special concern (Atlantic population) by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC).
  • The white shark, a threatened species, has seen its numbers decline significantly in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean.
  • The Greenland shark lives deep in the Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans. One of the longest-living vertebrates, some have reached 400 years old.

The five stamps, designed by Andrew Perro and illustrated by Julius Csotonyi, will be available in a booklet of 10, as a souvenir sheet of all five stamps, a souvenir sheet Official First Day Cover and a dramatic 25-stamp uncut press sheet. The stamps will be issued July 13 and available at post offices and online. They can be ordered online at canadapost.ca/shop.

Birth Of A Prince (Australia 2018)

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[press release]
Australia Post commemorates birth of a prince

Australia Post is celebrating the birth of His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge with the release of a new commemorative stamp.

Prince Louis Arthur Charles was born on 23 April at 11.01am BST, weighing eight pounds, seven ounces (3.83 kilograms).

The commemorative stamp features the royal newborn as he was introduced to the world, in the arms of his proud parents, Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, on the steps of St Mary’s Hospital in London.

The design is a similar style to the stamps used to commemorate the birth of his siblings, HRH Prince George in 2013 and HRH Princess Charlotte in 2015.

“Australia Post is thrilled to celebrate the birth of a baby boy to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and a new brother to his two older siblings,” Australia Post Philatelic Manager Michael Zsolt said.

“We have a proud history of honouring the royal family and we expect this new stamp will be well received by collectors and followers of special events.”

Prince Louis’s birth was announced by a town crier outside the hospital, and later that day, according to tradition, two footmen placed the official declaration of the birth on an easel outside Buckingham Palace. Flags were also raised at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle to mark the birth of the new prince.

Prince Louis is fifth in line to the British throne, after his grandfather, Prince Charles; his father, Prince William; and his two siblings, Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

Jo Muré of the Australia Post Design Studio designed the stamp, which features gold-coloured ink through the typography and frame to emphasise the royal theme.

The stamp issue is available from 3 July 2018 at participating Post Offices, via mail order on 1800 331 794 and online at auspost.com.au/stamps while stocks last.

Astronomy (Canada 2018)

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[press release]
Astronomy stamps showcase Milky Way, Northern Lights
Canadians provide stunning photos of celestial phenomena

CALGARY, June 29, 2018 /CNW/ – Celestial events like meteor showers, solar and lunar eclipses, comets and asteroids make headlines because they inspire a sense of wonder. Canada Post’s latest stamps are sure to do the same. They showcase the majestic splendour of two spectacular phenomena: the Milky Way and the Northern Lights.

The stamps feature stellar photographs from two Canadian night sky photographers who have been drawn to the magic and beauty of the heavens throughout their careers. Matt Quinn’s stunning photo of the Milky Way was taken at Bruce Peninsula National Park in Ontario, while Alan Dyer captured a magnificent image of the Northern Lights in Churchill, Manitoba. Both photographs were taken in 2016.

Thanks to the darkness created by our country’s vast wilderness, Canadians enjoy some of the greatest night sky viewing in the world.

The Milky Way, a spiral galaxy containing our solar system and hundreds of billions of stars, manifests as an ethereal band of light in Quinn’s ghostly image. The brilliant colour of the Northern Lights is green in Dyer’s photo but can also appear in undulating reds, blues, yellows, pinks and purples. The phenomenon occurs when charged particles released by the Sun interact with the Earth’s magnetic field and upper atmosphere.

The stamps were issued on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and salute its commitment to educating Canadians about the wonders of the universe. Founded in Toronto in 1868, the society has more than 5,000 members across Canada.

The cover of the booklet of 10 and the Official First Day Cover include decorative astronomy-themed illustrations – a satellite, a celestial body and an observatory, a subtle tribute to the National Research Council of Canada’s Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Victoria, B.C., which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.

Designed by Parcel Design of Toronto, each stamp includes metadata – the date and time the photograph was taken, coordinates and type of camera lens used for the photo – in special ink in the borders, making it visible only under a black light. Lines and names overlaid on the images highlight constellations.

The stamps were issued June 29 and are available at post offices and online at canadapost.ca/shop.

It’s Official: No More U.S. Press Sheets without Die Cuts

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“It won’t be a surprise to anyone (since the USPS hasn’t issued one in two years),” reports Foster Miller in The Stamp Collecting Forum, “but Mary-Anne Penner (Director, Stamp Services) confirmed to me today that, while the USPS will continue to issue press sheets with die cuts, there will not be any issued without die cuts.”

Penner answered questions during a seminar June 27 at American Philatelic Society headquarters in Bellefonte, Pa.