Sunday, March 29, 2015

Sunday stamps - woodlands, forests, parks or gardens



For today's Sunday Stamps theme I chose the 2012 Ladybird Johnson souvenir sheet issued to commemorate her birth centennial. One stamp is of Mrs Johnson, the other five promote planting trees and flowers. 

I like her quote used on the sheet, "For the environment after all is where we all meet; where we all have a mutual interest; it is one thing that all of us share. It is not only a mirror of ourselves, but a focusing lens on what we can become."




These five stamps are adapted from stamps issued in 1966...



...and 1969.




I haven't used all the stamps on this sheet; here is an envelope sent out using one. 



And one I received.

________________________________

Bonus Sunday Stamps.

USPS issued a set of four stamps featuring water lilies on March 20th. The flowers were photographed at Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens in Washington, DC, although oddly the first day of issue ceremony was held in Cleveland, Ohio.

Here are three of them on outgoing international mail, a perfect match for Easter cards.


The normal run for sets of stamps is around 20-40 million, however in this case USPS expects high demand, and printed 500 million stamps. They are sold in booklets of 20, so this translates to approximately 25 million booklets. The article contains beautiful enlarged images of the stamps. Some of the detail is lost on the stamps themselves, the lily pads and background features being quite dark. 

For even bigger stamp images, go to this link and click on 'zoom". Here's the purple water lily as a teaser (I think this is the one that loses the most background detail on the stamp itself).






14 comments:

  1. Those waterlily stamps are gorgeous!

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    Replies
    1. They are, they're just not quite as gorgeous as the enlarged images.

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  2. You mention Easter cards - is this an American custom?
    I like the idea behind the 'Plant for More Beautiful ...' series.

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    1. I didn't realize when I picked up this sheet that they were reworked from an older design. I'll be interested to see if USPS does anything like this in the future.

      I don't know if Easter cards are a tradition, more of a Hallmark holiday if you ask me - the stores have been full of cards since Valentine's day. I'm not religious, and only send cards to close relatives at Easter.

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  3. I agree the background could be a titch lighter and still not detract from the water lilies.
    I like those 'plant for a more ...' series and didn't know they had been done before. Interesting that they weren't seriously altered over the decades.

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    Replies
    1. Definitely a sign of a good design that didn't need much updating.

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  4. Replies
    1. I wish spring would hurry up and arrive... unseasonable freezing temps this weekend and the only flowers have been crocuses. I guess the stamps will have to do.

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  5. I thought that only "Poste Maroc" recycles designs! ;-)
    I like the "beautiful" series, so I think it's a good idea to issue those stamps again. They look exactly the same, the old and the new stamps? (I mean, in real).

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    1. I don't have any of the old ones - they are scans from the internet. I think that the post office just made minor changes and made use of modern printing techniques to give a slightly sharper image with slightly improved color contrast. And of course they are self-adhesive, so have a different feel to older gummed stamps.

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  6. I've have the attractive '66 stamp and also admired those famous cherry trees (unfortunately only in photographs). I like how they have continued the theme through the years.

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    Replies
    1. Nice! I've seen the trees in person, just not when they are flowering.

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  7. These are absolutely stunning stamps. They are beautifully spring-like!

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    Replies
    1. If only the current weather matched the stamps! Well below average for this time of year, hardly feels like spring at all.

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