Sunday, August 31, 2014

Sunday SIL: Clubbin'!

With luck, many of your readers have signed up for Club PWE. I mean - the link is right up there! I can't make it any easier for you, can I? If you haven't, and you wonder what kind of initiation is required, I can tell you that black gym shoes and turtleneck shirts are optional. And I haven't finalized the plan on the rocket ship yet.

Though the club theme song is "Sailing".

For those that are part of the club, many of you noticed it has been a while since I mailed. In fact, I have about have the list I really REALLY need to get something out. However, many others have received recent mailings, and a couple have made comment on the envelopes. 

See - the summers here at Inn 2x3 Heroes are rough. My wife is a contract worker in a school. She kicks major butt as a speech path, but no worky mean no payee. And year after year, I seem to fail on the budgeting, so we struggle with our finances over the summer. This year was better then most, but there was little extra room. When my mom passed away in December, and we cleaned out her house, I got my hands on all the old stamps she had. My grandma got all the kids into collecting, though I am the only one to whom the collecting gene adhered. (Thanks a frigging lot, GRANDMA!) My grandma did a lot of first day issues and other stuff for us. I think it was as much a hobby for us as for her. Well, my grandma passed in 1986, so some of her stuff came to my mom's house. And now, a lot of it is with me. 

Anyway, there were a few manila folders of loose and sheets of stamps. However, because of their condition, the collector's market on them are pretty much nothing. One of the folders, in fact, is all stuck together. Gotta get steam going on those. But since stamps never lose value and are forever good for mailing (bar a couple specific releases), I figured I might as well get use out of them. While the values are low, and I have to lick (yes - lick) a lot to get one envelope out, I hope those that have received my mailing have enjoyed them. For those yet to get one, or maybe want an incentive to join up, let's scan and show off some of the stamps I have been using. Cuz this blog ain't all about cards.

I play a crucial role, though.


This is a nice two panel stamp, so I have been trying to use both sides , though I do have a few of just the one half I will have to send out. 


I was HUGE into the bicentennial, as was the rest of the US. These are some of the stamps released in 75 and 76. I know there are others in the stuck together folder.


Nope, that is not a 63 cent stamp - it's 6.3. Six and a third. These were more for bulk mailers. 




You may get Christmas stamps in the middle of October. Hell, it's pretty much the holiday by retail standards anyway. Dig Mr. Zip at the right.


Flags have always been a part of stamps with the USPS. 


This one is a nice oddball. Usually, you get 4 different designs - it makes for a nice even block. This particular release had 8, and they staggered the printing for collectors.


Who doesn't like Ike. Well, me right now. Eight cent stamp, so I have to augment the envelope with one of those 6.3 suckers I showed above. 


Sooooooooooooo purple. And use your zip codes, folks!


If I remember, here are a couple from a 4 block set, but I may be wrong. That was many years ago.


Lexington and Concord. Man, I was such a nerd in 1976. And how about a rare 13 cent on the right? Rates increased to 13 cents at the end of 1975. 


Two of my personal favorites. I was a NASA nut as a child as well. These two, plus some others, are classics in the stamp collecting. Like paper money, they are printed by engraving, so the surface is raised. The colors on these are gorgeous.


More classic engraved. Soooooo 70's. 1974 to be exact.


This is probably my favorite stamp of all time. The colors are incredible and the design is tough to beat. They truly don't make them like that used to.


Some real history in these two. On the right is the first nationwide precancelled Christmas stamps released to the public, in 1970. There were 4 images, with the two missing being a riding horse on wheels and a baby buggy. On the left, those are just the first self adhesive stamps the Postal Service dropped on us. Here's the best part - I cannot use either of these. They were doth demonetized by the Postal Service after Jan 31st, 1971. 


This last one I show is one that gives me troubles. I have enough off them, and I would love to use them, but the terminology is harsh. Granted, we are a little too PC in this world, and I tend to agree with George Carlin that when we soften the language, we do a disservice to people. But "retarded" is a little tough to slap on an envelope. If you want one, though, cuz you can mess with someone, let me know and I'll slip one in the envelope.

4 comments:

  1. If you missed it, I happened to notice the stamps (and I appreciated them) on my recent goodies from your PWE Club. http://fanofreds.blogspot.com/2014/08/club-pwe-2-by-3-heroes-delivers-again.html

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  2. i noticed the stamps on the last pwe you sent my way, too. and i'm guessing the postman did as well because he (or she) couldn't bring themselves to cancel them. free stamps y'all!

    and, you're not really confusing lbj with general dwight david eisenhower, are you?

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  3. Christopher Cross! He was on the CBS Sunday Morning show today. He's still making music, living in Austin.

    Please put one of the LBJ stamps aside for me will you? I'll find something to send you for it.

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  4. I had a stamp collection as a kid. Traded them all to my step brother around 1987 for his baseball card collection.

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