Hotchner: Presidential Memorial Stamps Waiting in The Wings

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When a U.S. President dies, the usual waiting period is waived and a commemorative stamp in his (or someday her) honor is issued on that person’s next birthday. John Hotchner looks at the history of this practice.

This is a tradition that has its roots in the 19th Century, with the issuance of the first presidential mourning stamp of the United States in April 1866, a 15¢ stamp in black (Scott #77, plus later grilled issues) honoring Abraham Lincoln, who had been assassinated a year earlier. The earliest known use, per Scott, is April 21, 1866.

A mourning stamp was a novelty in 1866, though earlier presidents had been included in the stamp program after their passing. But Lincoln set a new standard: a stamp in black, issued within a year of death, or shortly after.

We would not see such an issuance again until the passing of Warren Harding from a heart attack on August 2, 1923. A mourning stamp in his honor – a flat plate-printed, perf. 11 version (Scott #610) – was released just a month later, on Sept.1, 1923. It was followed by three more versions (perf. 10 flat plate, imperf., and perf. 11 rotary press; Scott #s 611-613) within a couple of months.

After this there was a hit-or-miss period. Woodrow Wilson, who passed away in 1924, after he left office, was given a 17¢ memorial stamp in black almost two years after he died. William Howard Taft whose presidency ended in 1913, left us on March 8, 1930, and was included in the Fourth Bureau issue with a brown 4¢ sheet stamp and a coil just three months later.

But Calvin Coolidge, who passed in 1933 was not placed on a stamp until the presidential issue of 1938, where he was the honoree on the $5 (Scott #834).

The next president to die was Franklin D. Roosevelt, on April 12, 1945; at the start of his fourth term. Four stamps were issued in his honor – none of them black – within a year of his death. The first was released on June 27, 1945; a 3¢ purple (which can be considered as a mourning color). It was followed by a 1¢ blue green, a 2¢ carmine rose, and a 5¢ bright blue (Scott #930-933). They broke the mold by including illustrations of more than just the picture of the president. See Figure 3.

The next president to die was John F. Kennedy, the victim of an assassin, on November 22, 1963. And here is where the modern system of memorial stamps was inaugurated. On May 29, 1964, a 5¢ blue-grey commemorative was issued showing JFK and his eternal flame (Scott #1246). His birth date was May 29, 1917.

Presidential deaths after Kennedy, and the date of their memorial stamp (on or near their birthday), are shown here:

President
Herbert Hoover
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Harry S Truman
Lyndon B. Johnson
Richard Nixon
Ronald Reagan
Gerald Ford
George H.W. Bush		 Date of Death
Oct. 20, 1964
March 28, 1969
Dec. 26, 1972
Jan. 22, 1973
April 22, 1994
June 5, 2004
Dec. 26, 2006
Nov. 30, 2018		 Stamp Issued
Aug.10, 1965
Oct. 14, 1969
May 8, 1973
Aug. 27, 1973
April 26, 1995
Feb. 9, 2005
Aug. 31, 2007
June 12, 2019

We are long past the times when the U.S. Postal Service was simply reactive to a presidential passing. Wouldn’t be prudent. They now have “in the bank” an approved image of each president who has left office, ready for use on the memorial stamp. It has been selected by the president himself and discussed with the immediate family as well.

Also gone are the grim black stamps that celebrate death, in favor of brighter colorful portraits. This is not to say that all the presidential memorial stamps are beautiful – or popular. Richard Nixon’s stamp was not expected to do well, so the USPS ordered only 80 million printed. Compare that to the 511,750,000 stamps ordered for JFK, and 170 million for Ronald Reagan.

[The USPS, however, has cut back on the number of stamps produced for all its issues. The initial print run for George H.W. Bush was 40 million, still significantly more than the production of other single-stamp issues in 2019.]

Should you wish to comment on this column, 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.

And John has a new book: Philatelic Royalty of the 20th Century: Stories behind modern-era U.S. Treasures. Order direct from the author; click here for details.

75th Anniversary of Caribbean Migration (UK 2023)

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[press release] [click on any of the pictures for larger versions]
New Stamps Celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Arrival of MV Windrush

  • The stamp images celebrate the contribution of the Windrush generation and their influence on life in the UK
  • The original artworks were exclusively designed by five Black British artists: Bokiba; Kareen Cox; Tomekah George; Alvin Kofi and Emma Prempeh
  • The stamps are now available to pre-order at www.royalmail.com/windrush, by telephone on 03457 641 641 and at 7,000 Post Office branches across the UK

Royal Mail is marking the 75th Anniversary of the arrival of MV Empire Windrush to the UK on 22nd June 1948. Eight new stamps featuring vibrant illustrations, created exclusively to celebrate the occasion, were revealeded at a launch event at the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton on 15 June.

The MV Empire Windrush arrived at the Port of Tilbury on 21 June 1948 and its passengers disembarked a day later. It carried several hundred West Indian migrants, many of them veterans of the Second World War. It has come to symbolise the mass migration of people from the Caribbean to the United Kingdom in the post-war era.

The original artworks were created by five Black British artists – all with Caribbean heritage: Kareen Cox, Bokiba, Tomekah George, Alvin Kofi and Emma Prempeh and Alvin Kofi. Cox, Bokiba and Prempeh designed two stamps each.

The artists were commissioned to create illustrations which celebrate the contribution of the Windrush generation and their influence on life in the UK.

The stamps depict the artists’ personal interpretations of the following themes: arrivals; education/Saturday schools; music/carnival; working life/everyday life in the UK; political activity/peaceful protests; sports; food/markets; and sound systems/dancehall scene.

For the wider product range, Royal Mail also worked with Colin Grant – a British writer of Jamaican origin who is the author of several books, a historian, associate Fellow in the Centre for Caribbean Studies and a BBC radio producer, and Sonia Grant, an independent historian, writer, researcher and photographic exhibition curator.

[That “wider product range” includes FDCs, postcards, presentation packs, framed stamps and three different coin covers: Uncirculated, silver proof, and gold proof. The latter is selling for £1,220, or about US$1,564. The gold coin is shown on the right. See other images below. — VSC]

Revealing the stamps at the Black Cultural Archives, Winnie Annan-Forson, Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Royal Mail, said: “As Britain marks the 75th anniversary of the 1948 arrival of the MV Empire Windrush, we are honoured to mark this key event with a set of Special Stamps, featuring vibrant illustrations from talented artists that celebrate the culture and contribution of the Windrush generation and those who followed. We are delighted to have brought their stories to life in this special way, passing their legacy on to future generations.”

In addition to the stamps, Royal Mail will be applying a special postmark to stamped mail from 21 to 26 June. The postmark will read:

MV Empire Windrush
Port of Tilbury
22nd June 1948
Windrush 75:
Following the arrival of MV Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks in June 1948 the period between 1948 and 1972 saw over 500,000 Commonwealth citizens settle in the UK; they are often referred to as the Windrush generation. Peter Fryer, a young reporter who at the time was working for the Daily Worker, captured the spirit of the passengers who had disembarked at Tilbury as “five hundred pairs of willing hands”. Indeed, the newcomers were clear-eyed about what they had to offer the ‘Mother Country’. In so doing, they made notable contributions to every sphere of British life, including in the fields of entertainment, education and sport, as well as in the National Health Service (NHS). It can be argued that West Indian nurses paved the way for a multiracial and multicultural NHS, whose current workforce is made up of staff of more than 200 nationalities.

Despite numerous challenges – including race riots and discrimination in housing, employment and education – the Windrush generation left an indelibly positive mark on the UK, thanks largely to the character, fortitude and resilience of those early migrants. Their legacy can be felt in almost every sphere of life in today’s multicultural Britain. In June 2022, the National Windrush Monument, featuring a bronze sculpture by Basil Watson and accompanied by a poem by Professor Laura Serrant OBE, was unveiled at London’s Waterloo train station to offer a place of reflection and to celebrate the contribution of the Windrush generation to the UK.

The Official First Day Cover with Tilbury postmark:The Gold Proof Coin Cover:

3 More Show Lose WSP Status For 2023

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Three more World Series of Philately exhibitions will not be held in 2023. The American Philatelic Society Board of Directors in mid-June approved “bye” requests for NOJEX and the Minnesota Stamp Expo and suspending SEAPEX for violating the World Series of Philately rules.

The World Series of Philately is the APS-accreditation process for national-level competitive exhibitions in the United States and Canada. The shows which host these exhibitions are usually the top stamp collecting shows in North America. A complete list of WSP shows, their dates and other information, can be found here.

NOJEX is held in northern New Jersey (“NOrthern Jersey EXhibition”). According to the APS, “n requesting the 2023 bye from the World Series of Philately, NOJEX Chair Robert Rose informed the APS that the ASDA withdrew from the partnership in April and the NOJEX Committee could not secure a venue at that late date. He also noted, ‘We are committed to returning in 2024.'”

Minnesota Stamp Expo has been held at the Crystal Community Center in Crystal, Minnesota, taking a bye in 2020 due to COVID.

Earlier this year, the City of Crystal began major parking lot renovations to the Crystal Community Center with an expected completion date months before the scheduled dates of the show. In early June, the show committee learned that unexpected construction delays would push completion back to August 2023. After investigating relocating the show or alternative parking options, the show committee determined either action would negatively impact the show’s success.

Both requests were recommended unanimously by the APS’ Committee on Accreditation of National Exhibitions (CANEJ).

CANEJ also found that SEAPEX, in the Seattle area, had violated three separate WSP Rules, including failure to meet reporting deadlines, failure to maintain the level of excellence expected of a WSP show, and violating one or more WSP Exhibition rules. It recommended suspending SEAPEX pending reforms of the committee organization, website, and proof of a venue for 2024 by January 1, 2024.

SEAPEX is the second WSP suspension in the last year. In November 2022, the APS Board of Directors unanimously approved suspending the WSP status for ARIPEX for 2023. If it has not made the changes stipulated by CANEJ by August 1, its status as a WSP show may be revoked permanently.

COLOPEX, in Columbus, Ohio, earlier received a “bye” for 2023, because of its proximity to Great American Stamp Show 2023 in Cleveland, only about 140 miles away and two months later.

A bye or suspension does not necessarily mean canceling the entire show, only the sanctioned exhibition.

Remembering Janet Klug

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by Lloyd A. de Vries

Janet R. Klug, the first woman president of the American Philatelic Society, has died at the age of 72. She served 16 consecutive years on the APS Board of Directors, the longest of anyone in its history.

She also served as member of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum’s Council of Philatelists, its New Initiatives Committee, the U.S. Postal Service’s Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee, and in many of the committees and programs of the APS.

She received many awards in her lifetime, including the Elizabeth C. Pope Award for Lifetime Contributions to Philately (2011), the Luff Award for Outstanding Service to the APS (2014) and the Smithsonian Philatelic Achievement Award (2019). She was a gold-medal exhibitor, with several Grands to her credit, as well as an accredited philatelic judge.

She had been in declining health for several years, following a serious automobile accident. She lived in a Cincinnati suburb and is survived by her husband Russell.

I had the privilege of knowing Janet personally, since I served on the APS board with her for eight years, from her first election to it in 1997 as Secretary. We were two of the five first-time Directors elected then. The others were Wayne Youngblood, Ann Triggle and Jeanette Adams. We were amazed by some of what we saw and exchanged emails frequently, calling ourselves “The Gang of Five.”

Many of the accolades now pouring in, in my opinion, miss two of her important accomplishments.

Before her election to the APS board, she had campaigned for greater openness and less secrecy in the leadership of the largest U.S. stamp collecting organization. That you can now attend meetings in person or online is largely due to her efforts. It also set a precedent for other philatelic societies.

At the same time, she worked hard to broaden the scope of “serious” stamp collecting. Her earliest gold-level exhibits involved Tonga’s Tin Can Mail. The South Pacific country was too small and unimportant to merit regular visits from ships and, later, airplanes. Mail to Tonga therefore was placed in tin cans and dropped into the water, to float ashore with

American Philatelic Center dedication, June 2004

the currents. If I recall correctly, some of her exhibits even included actual cans that had been used.

Janet wrote columns in several publications aimed at beginners and helping them get to the next level. She embraced the online world, too, allowing her APS president’s columns to be repeated here on The Virtual Stamp Club, using email, and participating in pre-video “chats.” (Two of those chats on VSC can be found here and here.)

Two of the books she wrote are available on Amazon: Smithsonian Guide to Stamp Collecting and 100 Greatest American Stamps with Donald Sundman.

She also made stamp collecting and our annual conventions fun. As her 2014 Luff citation noted, “Janet would often lead APS members in song at APS events around the country.”

A running joke when she spoke at philatelic events was that she would threaten to break into song at any moment. She was always stylish and attractive. As you look at the photographs here, she looks pretty much the same in all of them. In all the years I knew her, I never saw her appear frumpy or “thrown together” — not always easy when you are on the road for a week or more, with one public event after another.

The APS announcement of Janet’s passing includes this quote from her:

“Collecting stamps and letters from bygone days is a way for me to connect on a very personal level with people and events from those times. History is not just about famous people and events. It also encompasses ordinary people doing ordinary things, overcoming the challenges that happen in their lives, surviving, and thriving.”

Janet was far from ordinary, but she is an important part of stamp collecting history.

I interviewed Janet in 2010 shortly after she was appointed to the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee and I asked her about joining CSAC. The complete interview runs just under three minutes and you can hear it (unedited) here.

75 years of Solex Mopeds (Netherlands)

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[from PostNL handouts] [click on any of the pictures for larger versions]
75 Years of Solex Mopeds

Date of issue: 26 May 2023
Format: sheet of 10 personalised stamps in 10 different designs,
denomination 1 for post weighing up to 20g with destinations within the Netherlands
Item number: 830046
Design: Jan van Mechelen, ZEE [typo]graphic design, Rotterdam
Photography: Hans Tak, Rotterdam
Lithography: Marc Gijzen, Voorburg For the post-war generation, the iconic front-wheel-drive moped became synonymous with the reconstruction period. PostNL is commemorating this special anniversary by publishing 75 years of Solex Netherlands stamp sheet on 26 May 2023, designed by Rotterdam-based graphic designer Jan van Mechelen. The denomination on these stamps is ‘1’, the denomination for items weighing up to 20g with destinations in the Netherlands. A sheet of ten stamps costs €10.10.

The Solex entered the Dutch market in 1948, at a time when the word ‘moped’ was not yet in common usage or in covered by regulations. The authorities still viewed the first models as motorbikes that required a driving licence, a rear-view mirror and a horn.

The black moped manufactured by French company VéloSoleX near Paris stood out for its typical gooseneck frame, front-wheel roller drive with two-stroke engine and a fuel consumption of 1 litre/100km (about 235 miles per gallon, if we’ve done the arithmetic correctly).

Over 8 million Solexes have been produced worldwide, and almost 700,000 of those in the Netherlands. Sales in the Netherlands were dealt with by R.S. Stokvis & Zonen, while production took place under French licence at the Nederlandsche Kroon Rijwielfabriek owned by the firm Van der Heem. The Dutch Solex is directly derived from the French models, but frame parts such as the chain guard, luggage carrier and saddle are their own designs. The Dutch models were manufactured until mid-1969. After that, only French Solexes were supplied, until the factory in France closed in 1988. (See the Wikipedia entry.)

The 75 Years Solex Netherlands stamps feature the following Solex models:

  • model year 1948, engine number H1000-H2330, 45cc engine, Peperbus
  • model year 1955, engine number 125861-206384, 49cc engine, Suikerpotje/Sleutelgat
  • model year 1962, engine number 446412-491000, 49cc engine, OTO round frame
  • model year 1969, engine number 4003301-5142999, 49cc engine, OTO square frame
  • model year 1980, engine number unknown, 49cc engine, Westerterp

The Solex stamp sheet has 10 vertical stamps, presented in two rows of five. The upper row of stamps features black-and-white photos of 5 iconic Solex models, with a perspective shot at an angle from the front. In the background of each stamp, the model year is visible behind the Solex model, with large numbers covering the total image area of the stamp. Each year has a different colour with a gradient running from bottom to top. The lower row of stamps shows a close-up photograph of the handlebars and engine of the same models, taken from the side. The background of the lower row shows a similar colour gradient to the upper row of stamps, but this time from right to left.

Jan van Mechelen, the designer of the sheet, himself rides a motorbike, but he was introduced to the Solex at an early age. “The boy next door had one,” he says. “I was 10 or 11 at the time, so obviously far too young to ride it,” but he was taken for rides on the Solex. “We had a lot of fun adventures.”

To familiarize himself with the subject, van Mechelen went to the Solex Museum in Colijnsplaat. “It’s extremely interesting to step into a world where people are so passionate about Solex and know so much about it.”

The Solex came to the Netherlands in 1948 and was soon put into production here. The last Dutch Solex rolled off the conveyor belt in 1969. The stamp sheet features the 1948 model and three other models manufactured in the Netherlands, from 1952, 1962 and 1969. “The last model, from 1980, comes from France,” says Van Mechelen. “I knew that there was also an electric version, for example. But that just turned out to be too ugly to put on a stamp.”

The five Solexes were photographed at the museum. “To a layman, they may look similar, but to an enthusiast: of course they don’t,” says Van Mechelen. “Each Solex has been neatly polished, but the images have not been edited to disguise damage and other imperfections.”

Technical Details:
Stamp size: 30 x 40mm (wxh):
Sheet size: 170 x 122 mm (wxh)
Paper: Normal with phosphor print
Gum: Gummed
Printing technique: Offset
Printing colours: Cyan, magenta, yellow, black
Edition: 5,000 sheets
Format: Sheet of 10 personal stamps in 10 different designs
Denomination: Denomination 1 for post weighing up to 20g with destinations within the Netherlands
Design: Jan van Mechelen, ZEE [typo]graphic design, Rotterdam
Photography: Hans Tak, Rotterdam
Lithography: Marc Gijzen, Voorburg
Item number: 830046

Note: PostNL does not sell directly to collectors in North America. Its website refers to a company called Nordfirm, which says it sells Dutch new issues at face value. The Virtual Stamp Club has no connection to this company.

Prehistoric Animals (Netherlands 2023)

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[from PostNL handouts] [click on any of the pictures for larger versions]
Prehistoric Animals

Issue dates: 13 June 2023, 26 September 2023, 14 November 2023, 19 March 2024

On 13 June 2023, the first three stamp sheets in the new Prehistoric Animals series — the Fox whale, the woolly mammoth and the sabre-toothed cat — will be published. Each stamp sheet contains five stamps featuring the animals and their fossils.

The entire series comprises 12 stamp sheets. Each quarter, PostNL will publish three stamp sheets at a time. The denomination on these stamps is ‘1’, the denomination for items weighing up to 20g with destinations in the Netherlands.

All 12 prehistoric animals featured on the stamps inhabited the area that is now the Netherlands. Their presence has been inferred from fossils found in Dutch soil, including in the North Sea, in the Eastern and Western Scheldt, along rivers and in quarries. The fossils predominantly comprise bones, skulls, jaws, teeth, molars and horns. Based on the shape of the fossils, palaeontologists can deduce how large the animals were and their other external features. Comparison with surviving related species also provides useful information.

Each stamp sheet includes five personal stamps in five different designs. Three stamps feature various images of the prehistoric animal in its natural habitat. The other two stamps feature fossils of the same animal, surrounded by drawn earth layers in which that fossil was found. The sheet edge features one of the animal photos in large. This photo runs underneath the stamps. Each stamp sheet has a base colour referring to the geological epoch in which the prehistoric animal existed. The timeline of all these epochs is shown vertically on the left-hand side of the stamp sheet, above the series title. The name of the prehistoric animal appears on each stamp and in the top right-hand corner of the sheet. The bottom right-hand corner features a short text about the species and its fossils.

After Velp-based studio026 was commissioned to design 12 stamp sheets about prehistoric animals, Anne Schaufeli and Huub de Lang first of all visited the Natural History Museum Rotterdam. “This museum has a great collection of fossils, mostly from Dutch soil,” Schaufeli said. “Bram Langeveld, the curator, had inspiring stores to tell. He told us about prehistoric animals that we didn’t even know existed.”

However, the Museum did not have visual material, so Schaufeli and de Lang turned to ManimalWorks, also in Rotterdam, which produces models of prehistoric animals based on scientific data and information from sources such as cave drawings.

ManimalWorks builds life-size reconstructions for educational purposes such as museums and scientific exhibitions, said Schaufeli. “It’s just amazing how life-like his animal models look. They’re so life like that you could just encounter them somewhere. Before the models go to the client, they are photographed in an environment that is as close as possible to their original habitat. These photos were used on the stamp sheets.”

The overall design concept is based on the stratification of the earth. “We wanted to show not just the animal and the fossil, but the connection between them as well,” said Schaufeli. “Our narrative is that by looking into the earth, you travel back in time.”

Technical Details:
Design: studio026, Velp
Animal models: ManimalWorks, Rotterdam
Stamp size: 30 x 40mm (wxh):
Sheet size: 170 x 122 mm (wxh)
Paper: Normal with phosphor print
Gum: Gummed
Printing technique: Offset
Printing colours: Cyan, magenta, yellow, black
Print run: 5,000 sheets per issue
Format: Sheet containing 5 personalised stamps in 5 different: designs

6 June 2023
Item number 830032 Prehistoric Animals, the Fox whale
Item number 830033 Prehistoric Animals, woolly mammoth
Item number 830034 Prehistoric Animals, sabre-toothed cat

26 September 2023
Item number 830035 Prehistoric Animals, Nothosaurus
Item number 830036 Prehistoric Animals, woolly rhinoceros
Item number 830037 Prehistoric Animals, aurochs

14 November 2023
Item number 830038 Prehistoric Animals, blunt-snouted dolphin
Item number 830039 Prehistoric Animals, mastodon
Item number 830040 Prehistoric Animals, great auk

19 March 2024
Item number 830041 Prehistoric Animals, large baleen whale
Item number 830042 Prehistoric Animals, giant beaver
Item number 830043 Prehistoric Animals, steppe bison

Note: PostNL does not sell directly to collectors in North America. Its website refers to a company called Nordfirm, which says it sells Dutch new issues at face value. The Virtual Stamp Club has no connection to this company.

2023 Minnesota Stamp Expo Canceled

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From the show committee:

We regret to announce that circumstances have forced us to cancel the 2023 Minnesota Stamp Expo. This is very disappointing to the show committee and our sponsoring clubs.

Our show is held at the Crystal Community Center, the show venue since 1999. This spring we were informed that the City of Crystal elected to undertake a major renovation of the Center’s main parking lot, with space for 300 vehicles. The renovation is more than a simple repavement; it involves installation of a large storm water collection tank under the parking lot. We were told the project would begin in early spring and take about a month. With that timetable the project should have been completed well before our show dates of July 21-23. On that basis we continued to plan for the show as scheduled.

Last week we were informed the project is behind schedule and will stretch into August. While the Community Center remains open, there is no parking available in the main parking lot (see above), and only minimal parking available in an adjacent lot that also serves the Crystal Aquatic Center (which is always busy during the summer months).

The show committee considered options for holding the show as scheduled, including staying at the Community Center and trying to come up with alternative parking options, or relocating the show to another suitable venue. Unfortunately, no options appear viable. Suitable alternate venues are not available on short notice. Telling show dealers, exhibitors, judges and attendees to find their own place to park in the surrounding community was deemed to be very undesirable. A remote parking and shuttle service was also considered but, if the details could be worked out (not assured), would still be a major inconvenience to anyone wanting to attend the show. Many would no doubt simply skip the show completely, resulting in poor attendance and disappointing sales for our dealers.

Given all the obstacles, the committee made the difficult decision to not hold the 2023 show. We have asked the APS to grant a bye for our show for this year, thus preserving our World Series of Philately status for future years.

Thanks for your past, present and future support of the Minnesota Stamp Expo.
We look forward to seeing you in 2024!

Martin Kent Miller Is New AFDCS Exec

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[press release]
Martin Kent Miller Is New AFDCS Executive Secretary

The American First Day Cover Society has chosen Martin Kent Miller as its new Executive Secretary and contracted with his firm The Image Forge to manage the AFDCS Central Office. The new address is P.O. Box 27, Greer, SC 29652-0027. The office telephone number remains (540) 940-1629 and the email address still is afdcs@afdcs.org.

Miller, 55, succeeds David Lorms, who became Executive Secretary in November 2020 and resigned to pursue other interests. Miller has been married for 33 years to Jennifer Miller, the executive director of the American Topical Association. They have three children and one granddaughter.

He currently edits First Days, the official journal of the AFDCS; Topical Time (American Topical Association), The U.S. Specialist (United States Stamp Society), The Philatelic Exhibitor (American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors), and the Pennsylvania Postal Historian (Pennsylvania Postal History Society). He is a past editor of The American Philatelist (American Philatelic Society) and was chief content officer of the APS.

Miller holds a BFA in Computer Graphic Design from Harding University. He created The Image Forge firm in 2003 so that he could work in design, graphics, printing, marketing, and communications, all in one job.

For the first time, he will have a cachetmakers bourse table at Great American Stamp Show 2023, for his new Philatelic Press line of cachets and stamp art. He also collects Fluegel cachets and FDCs of the 1934 National Parks issue, as well as Bohemia and Moravia (Czechoslovakia in World War II). His exhibit of the latter, Böhmen und Mähren: Nazi Propaganda in World War II Czechoslovakia, will be his first competitive exhibit. His major topical interests are emus on stamps and Albrecht Dürer, and the postal history of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

The AFDCS Central Office process membership and other records, coordinates activities and handles other administrative tasks. Miller and The Image Forge are also charged with providing the AFDCS with a new integrated records system and website.

“I see the job as an opportunity to make a contribution to one area of philately that I truly love, FDCs and cachet making,” he says. “While I enjoy editing, my professional experience is in integrated communications. This gives me an opportunity to make a bigger contribution.”

In addition to First Days, the AFDCS also publishes handbooks, catalogs and multimedia programs. It is also a cosponsor of the big annual national stamp collecting show, Great American Stamp Show, which is scheduled this year for August 10-13 in Cleveland, Ohio.

For more information on the society, visit www.afdcs.org or write to the AFDCS.

Stephen D. Ross, VSC Webmaster

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Virtual Stamp Club behind-the-scenes webmaster Stephen Ross has passed away at the age of 73. He had begun hospice care due to the rapid spread of merkel cell carcinoma.

Steve was not a stamp collector; he put together and did the HTML work for The Virtual Stamp Club website, starting in December 1996 when Delphi told its moderators we had to create websites or be dismissed. I balked. I didn’t think the World Wide Web was necessary. His wife Leigh, then the moderator of Delphi’s Arts ‘n Crafts Forum, put us together.

He was still doing the bulk of the HTML work until May 2023 — the last remaining VSC “staffer” from our glory days on Delphi.

Strangely, although we both lived in New Jersey, I have never met Steve. He lived “down the Shore” as we say, and I invited him to StampShow 2002 in Atlantic City, but he declined. This photo, from the funeral home’s website, is the first time I’ve seen him.

However, we “talked” frequently by e-mail, and and not just about the VSC website. His outside-philately observations helped me greatly during some of the unpleasantness 10 years ago. (“What is it with you stamp collectors?” he asked, and then admitted his wife’s artists could be just as…vehement.) He also came up with the WordPress blog as a way I could post news stories quickly, after VSC had lost its message boards. He named the WP section, “The LloydBlog.”

Leigh, who passed away a few years ago, partly as a result of the pandemic, also designed the look of the website and the border. She liked the then-new 1998 Remember the Maine stamp (Sc. 3992). It was my decision, though, to make the website simple, never the latest HTML tech: I wanted it to be accessible by as many stamp collectors as possible, not all of whom were technically proficient. That’s still true.

In recent years, I’ve been doing all the updates to the U.S. stamp program myself and simple updates to the home page. He did the more complex updates, and earlier this year when the “RSS feed” (the list of the most recent pages in the LloydBlog) broke, Steve figured out a low-cost way to replace it. (The Virtual Stamp Club hasn’t broken even in years.)

I’ll miss him, and not just for the technical support. When he entered hospice, I asked his daughter to let him know how much I appreciated his help and friendship over the past 26+ years.