The Gulf Coast Stamp Club will meet in the St. Martin Library meeting room on Saturday, October 5. The General Club meeting is at 2 pm. After the meeting a presentation by Elaine LeGros on "security features on stamps" will be given. Click here for a map to our meeting. We urge all members to attend our monthly meetings to greet fellow philately enthusiast. Learn new information and enjoy presentations from members bringing information to you.
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The U.S. Postal Service recently announced the Purple Heart Medal Forever stamp will be dedicated on October 4, 2019 at INDYPEX, sponsored by the Indiana Stamp Club in Noblesville, IN. The stamps will go on sale nationwide the same day.
The stamp dedication ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. E.D.T. on the first day of INDYPEX in the Annex Building of the Hamilton County Fairgrounds and Exhibition Center, 2003 Pleasant St., Noblesville, IN, 46060. Dedication ceremony attendees are welcome to enjoy the remainder of the annual INDYPEX Stamp Collectors Show, which will be open October 4-6. Show hours are 10-6 on Friday, 10-5 on Saturday, and 10-3 on Sunday. |
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Something spooky this way comes . . . the U.S. Postal Service recently announced that the upcoming "Spooky Sihouettes" stamp issues will be released just in time for Halloween, on October 11, 2019. Spooky Silhouettes Forever stamps are digital illustrations created by artist Tyler Lang and art director and designer Greg Breeding. The U.S. Postal Service has scheduled the stamp dedication ceremony for October 11th at 5 p.m. EDT, at the Milford Pumpkin Festival in Milford, New Hampshire.
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OCTOBER CIRCUIT
- USA Back of Book (Early Airmail, Postage Due, Revenues)
- US Coils with Plate Number Strips of 3 and 5
- Italian Colonies
- Italian Colonies
- British North American (New Brunswick – Nova Scotia)
- USA Coils (Plate Number Strips)
- World Wide Airmail
- USA Back of Book
- Newfoundland and Nova Scotia
- USA Mint 1900 forward
- Great Britain
- World Wide Airmail
- World Wide Airmail
- World Wide Airmail
- Australia and Australian States
- Great Britain (Queen Victoria – Mostly Penny Reds)
Use the following form to post messages of philatelic interest to members or post information about stamps, envelopes, or other philatelic items you are looking for. The messages will be monitored by the GCSC Webmaster and any content considered inappropriate or offensive will be removed and the email address will be blocked from this web site. Be short and to the point. Accurately describe the product you want to buy or sell so the reader does not mistake what you want.CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT A POST
Name Bob Marousky Email marouspy@yahoo.com
Looking to trade, I have several country collections, Belgium, Swiss, Great Britain and more. Interested to trade for philatelic or non philatelic items. Contact Bob at marouspy@yahoo.com
Name john Barrett Email jstrubelboy@aol.com
Comment
The recent Notre Dame disastrous cathedral fire prompted me to consider doing a 4-page exhibit on the subject; I would try to locate: 1) the First stamp issued picturing Notre dame 2) history of the structure 3) stamps issued by any country picturing it 4) related material,etc.
I will purchase or trade( I have extensive Swiss,Austria,Liechtenstein for trades) for any of the above! Mint or fine used is OK. Get lookin!
Thanks! Dr. Barrett
Name Bob Marousky Email marouspy@yahoo.com
Looking to trade, I have several country collections, Belgium, Swiss, Great Britain and more. Interested to trade for philatelic or non philatelic items. Contact Bob at marouspy@yahoo.com
Name john Barrett Email jstrubelboy@aol.com
Comment
The recent Notre Dame disastrous cathedral fire prompted me to consider doing a 4-page exhibit on the subject; I would try to locate: 1) the First stamp issued picturing Notre dame 2) history of the structure 3) stamps issued by any country picturing it 4) related material,etc.
I will purchase or trade( I have extensive Swiss,Austria,Liechtenstein for trades) for any of the above! Mint or fine used is OK. Get lookin!
Thanks! Dr. Barrett
PHILATELIC TERM of the month
Grill: A pattern of parallel lines (or dots at the points where lines would cross) forming a grid. A grill is usually: 1) the impressed breaks added to stamps as a security measure (United States issues of 1867-71 and Peru issues of 1874-79); or 2) a grill-like canceling device used on various 19th-century issues.
Missile mail ???
One of the two containers used to hold the envelopes on the Regulus I missile flight. Both containers are in the National Postal Museum’s collection; one is currently on exhibit
On June 8, 1959, the U.S. Post Office Department went way beyond their standard mail transportation systems. They did not use horses or dogs, trains, trucks, planes or trucks. They used a Regulus I nuclear missile.
For the sake of the trial, the nuclear warhead was filled not with bombs, but with two red and blue metal containers holding 1,500 envelopes each. In the midst of the Cold War, Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield approached the Secretaries of Defense and the Navy with the idea of test firing a mail-carrying missile. The Department of Defense agreed to work with the Post Office on what today we can only term a wacky idea for carrying mail. At the time, the idea of shooting off a mail-carrying missile made sense to the parties involved. For the Post Office, it was a chance for Postmaster General Summerfield to try one more method of moving mail in his drive to modernize the postal system. For the military, it was a subtle signal to the Russians that the U.S. military was capable of such accuracy in missile flight that one could used by the post office.
For the sake of the trial, the nuclear warhead was filled not with bombs, but with two red and blue metal containers holding 1,500 envelopes each. In the midst of the Cold War, Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield approached the Secretaries of Defense and the Navy with the idea of test firing a mail-carrying missile. The Department of Defense agreed to work with the Post Office on what today we can only term a wacky idea for carrying mail. At the time, the idea of shooting off a mail-carrying missile made sense to the parties involved. For the Post Office, it was a chance for Postmaster General Summerfield to try one more method of moving mail in his drive to modernize the postal system. For the military, it was a subtle signal to the Russians that the U.S. military was capable of such accuracy in missile flight that one could used by the post office.
Summerfield was excited about the missile mail trial, but nervous enough about a successful outcome that he had press releases created for the event, but not released until he knew it had succeeded. Summerfield along with several postal officials and military officers gathered where the USS Barbero (SSG-317) was docked at Norfolk, VA, turning 3,000 envelopes over to the ship’s crew. The envelopes were split into two piles and placed into the two metal containers. Sailors then placed the containers into the Regulus I missile’s nuclear warhead hold.
Summerfield was excited about the missile mail trial, but nervous enough about a successful outcome that he had press releases created for the event, but not released until he knew it had succeeded. Summerfield along with several postal officials and military officers gathered where the USS Barbero (SSG-317) was docked at Norfolk, VA, turning 3,000 envelopes over to the ship’s crew. The envelopes were split into two piles and placed into the two metal containers. Sailors then placed the containers into the Regulus I missile’s nuclear warhead hold.
Summerfield was excited about the missile mail trial, but nervous enough about a successful outcome that he had press releases created for the event, but not released until he knew it had succeeded. Summerfield along with several postal officials and military officers gathered where the USS Barbero (SSG-317) was docked at Norfolk, VA, turning 3,000 envelopes over to the ship’s crew. The envelopes were split into two piles and placed into the two metal containers. Sailors then placed the containers into the Regulus I missile’s nuclear warhead hold.
Regulus I blasting off from the USS Barbero.
The Barbero sailed about 100 miles out to sea and, just before noon on June 8, 1959, successfully fired off the mail-carrying missile. A crew manually guided the missile immediately after firing until they lost sight of it as the missile traveled over the horizon. At that point, chase planes guided the missile through the rest of the flight. It was guided to a successful landing 22 minutes later at the Mayport, FL, Naval Auxiliary Air Station near Jacksonville, FL. Summerfield and the naval officers had made their way to the station. After the missile was towed to the waiting officials, Summerfield opened the warhead hatch and removed some of the letters for show.
The letters were all identical. They were from Summerfield to President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, cabinet members and top federal officials, all members of congress, Supreme Court justices, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, U.S. governors, postmasters generals from around the world and the officers and crew of the Barbero.
Summerfield made sure to be on hand when the missile mail letter was delivered to President Eisenhower. Letter carrier Nobel Upperman is on the right.
Summerfield’s letter was an enthusiastic announcement of the experiment. The Postmaster General was ecstatic over the possibilities of technology for postal use, claiming that, “This peacetime employment of a guided missile for the important and practical purpose of carrying mail is the first known official use of missiles by any Post Office Department of any nation. Before man reaches the moon, mail will be delivered within hours from New York to California, to Britain, to India or Australia by guided missiles.
Because the missile flight had not been announced beforehand, Summerfield’s office received several letters from stamp collectors who complained that they had not been given the opportunity to place items aboard the flight. Other letters complained that the envelopes had regular stamps, when obviously they should have used airmail stamps. Many writers asked when the next flight would take place and asked that they be allowed to place a letter on that flight.
Posted by Smithsonian National Postal Museum on 06/08/2019 at 12:30 PM
Posted by Smithsonian National Postal Museum on 06/08/2019 at 12:30 PM
