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The  members and officers of Gulf Coast Stamp Club would like to thank everyone who worked on and/or attended our Spring Gulfpex show held on April 16, and 17, 2021. We had 10 dealers from five states. All had to brave bad weather, but all came and stayed for the duration of the show. Our exhibits were fantastic! A special "Thank You" to all members of the public who came to check us out. Our next show is October 1 & 2, 2021.
Rob O'Dell, President, Gulf Coast Stamp Club
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GULFPEX 2021 Spring Show was a resounding success!  Thanks to all the GCSC Board Members and local members who pitched in to help.   Cathy M. was helping everywhere at the same time.  She was the glue that helped stick the whole thing together.  Tom A. was like a Post-It note.  First he was stuck over there then over there.  Wherever he went, he and his gracious wife, Pat, lent a hand in all activities.  Thanks to all the dealers who made our show a success.  They traveled far to bring their philatelic goods to our local buyers.  Let's do this again In October. Watch our website for details.
​Gordon Nelms, Director, Gulf Coast Stamp Club
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The June 5th meeting of GCSC will take place at Mercy Housing, 1135 Ford St., Gulfport.  The Board Meeting will be at 1:30 pm with a 2:00 pm Member Meeting. Directions:  from I-10 Exit 38 (Cowan/Lorraine Rd.), south to Pass Rd., left to 2nd stop light, right onto Ford St.
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Gulf Coast Stamp Club Celebrates Mother's Day

​     President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a stamp collector in his own right, received a request for a stamp to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of U.S. artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler, and another for a stamp to honor mothers, for mailing cards and letters for Mother’s Day.
    FDR combined the two subjects as he took pencil to paper to sketch his proposal for a stamp design. He handed the design to Postmaster General James A. Farley, who, Baur said, was visiting the White House. The date was Feb. 16, 1934.
    The sketch showed an inelegant rendition of Whistler’s Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, better known as Whistler’s Mother.
     Max G. Johl writes in The United States Commemorative Stamps of the 20th Century, Vol. 1, “Seventeen designs were submitted by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.”
     Victor S. McCloskey Jr. designed the stamp, reproducing Whistler’s painting and adding carnations in the lower left corner. McCloskey used Roosevelt’s suggested inscription, “In Memory and in Honor of the Mothers of America,” placing it to the left of the seated subject.
​    The stamp was engraved by J.C. Benzing (vignette), and E.M. Hall and W.B. Wells (lettering).     The BEP printed the stamps on two presses. More than 193 million stamps were printed on the Bureau’s rotary press, and more than 15 million stamps were printed on the flat-plate press.
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     Stamps from the rotary press (Scott 737) are perforated gauge 11 by 10½. Stamps from the flat-plate press (738) gauge perf 11.
     The stamp was issued May 2, 1934, but as is often true today, stamps were sold prior to the issue date. Covers exist to document the early releases.
     The first uncut press sheet was presented to President Roosevelt, and the second press sheet was given to first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Other dignitaries also received press sheets.
      When word got out that one of the press sheets was offered to the Scott Stamp & Coin Co. to be sold, stamp collectors protested.
      To calm the protests, Postmaster General Farley ordered a special printing of 20 issues in sheets without gum or perforations to be made available to the public. The special printings, issued in sheets of 400 (Scott 752) or 200 each (753-771), became known as “Farley’s Follies.”
​      The special imperforate printings were issued March 15, 1935, and included the flat-plate 3¢ Mothers of America stamp (Scott 754).  

​https://www.linns.com/news/us-stamps-postal-history/2017/april/1934-cent-mothers-day-played-important-role-in-stamp-history.html#:~:text=For%20collectors%20of%20United%20States,part%2C%20by%20a%20U.S.%20president.

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The Post Office Department issued a stamp honoring Gold Star Mothers - mothers who have lost a child in service to the nation - in 1948. The stamps became available on September 21. Mrs. Thomas F. Sullivan of Waterloo, Iowa, who lost five sons when an enemy torpedo sank the cruiser Juneau on November 13, 1942, received the first sheet of stamps. The Gold Star Mothers stamp was the first in eight years to honor women or a women's organization. Until 1948, only ten US postage stamps had celebrated women.
https://www.mysticstamp.com/Products/United-States/969/USA/
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The World Celebrates Mother's Day

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