Would You Like A Trip With Your Stamps?

Reporter Angela Saurine writes on the News.com.au website that Australia Post is set to open travel agencies and currency exchanges inside post offices around the country.

According to the report, "Australians will be able to buy a stamp and a trip to Bali at the same time..."

She goes on to pen, "The Brisbane GPO in Queensland became the first of hundreds of stores to open a Harvey World Travel outlet today where customers can book domestic and international flights, accommodation, cruises and tours.

"Australia Post has also launched its own travel insurance product and is partnering with American Express to offer currency exchange outlets in 200 of its post offices."

Australia Post CEO Ahmed Fahour is quoted in the piece as saying there was a boom in Australians travelling overseas thanks to the strong dollar and it was the perfect time to launch the new services, which would be a "one-stop-shop'' for travellers.

Shown above, the new travel desk at the Brisbane GPO.

To read the entire article, click here.

Grandpa's Stamp Collection

Click on picture above to see a stamp collectors dream come true.

Being a Stamp Dealer Runs in The Family

The San Francisco Chronicle posts a story on its about Warren Sankey (shown here) who owns and operates "the oldest independent stamp store of its type west of the Mississippi River."

Opened in 1928, United States Stamp Co. was started by his father, Frank, who bought the business in 1955 from its founder, Earl Hamilton. The younger Sankey bought the business from his dad in 1980 and has being running it ever since.

According to the article by Edward Guthmann, "There used to be a couple dozen stamp dealers in San Francisco, each with its own storefront. San Francisco was a tremendous hub for stamps. One by one, most of the dealers went the way of the Internet. Or they just do the large stamp shows."

Sankey is quoted in the piece as saying, "I'm one of the last ones left. My compelling reason for being this lone duck is my interest in dealing with people directly and having a nuts-and-bolts operation where customers can handle the merchandise - see the stamps they're buying."

He goes on to say, "I also buy a lot of stamps. People bring in childhood collections a lot, hoping they'll be able to put their kids through college by selling them. Usually, I can open up to one page and know right away that it's not worth anything. A lot of times it's a collection they might've purchased from an ad on a Wheaties box: '100 stamps for 25 cents.' And it's still worth 25 cents."

"I used to have a staff of eight, but now it's just me and my daughter, Catherine, who works three days a week," according to Sankey. "We actually have three generations, because she just had a baby. My grandson, my daughter and myself hold down the fort."

To read the entire article, click here.

"North Pole" Postmark Available

The Postal Service is once again  offering “North Pole” postmarks.

To receive the special holiday postmark, customers should affix the correct postage to addressed envelopes and cards; then pack them in a larger envelope, box, Priority Mail or Express Mail package and send them to:

North Pole Holiday Cancellation
Postmaster
4141 Postmark Dr.
Anchorage, AK 99530-9998

To ensure delivery by Christmas, all requests must be received in Anchorage by Dec. 10. The service is provided at no cost.

For a list of other places, Santa might mail a letter from, click here.

Scout Magazine Features Piece on Stamp Collecting

The December issue of Boys' Life, the official magazine of the Boy Scouts of America, features an article about collections to include stamp collecting. As shown in the illustration above by Steve Sanford, two Scouts are seen working on their collections. One appears to be very organized, the other not so much.

The text that goes along with the article says, "The great thing about stamp collecting is that there are lots and lots of stamps to collect. The bad thing about stamp collecting is that there are lots and lots of stamps to collect."

It goes on to encourage would-be stamp collectors to collect stamps that have a similiar theme and goes on to briefly discuss topical collecting. It also discourages newcomers to the hobby to avoid trying to collect all of the stamps of a specific country.

The text indicates that trying to do so can be "an expensive, exhausting effort," and shows the disorganized Scout as if he's pulling his hair out in frustration.

The piece does make some good points about collecting in general and discusses...

1. Deciding What to Collect
2. Knowing Where to Look
3. Keeping Track of Your Collection
4. Displaying Your Collection
5. Preserving Your Collection

To visit the Boys' Life website, click here.

Father Keeps Memory of Daughter Alive Through Stamps

India's IBN Live website reports, "On February 23, 1999, Dr. R. G.Sangoram lost his daughter, a fellow-philatelist. In her memory, he visits schools to educate kids about philately, thus keeping alive a hobby she was so intensely devoted to."

According to the article, Keerthi Sangoram was just 26-years- old when she died following adverse reactions to antibiotics. She left behind a remarkable stamp accompanied accompanied by handwritten explanatory notes.

Dr. Sangoram, a retired professor in chemistry, is quoted as saying,"Before I am her father, she is my Guru first. I developed an interest in philately because of her. I also learned how stamps have to be exhibited from Keerthi. I now visit schools, conduct workshops and encourage kids to take up this noble hobby."

Dr. Sangoram says philately goes beyond the mere act of collecting stamps.

"It involves collating knowledge about different countries, their history, politics and also economy. Keerthi took her stamps to 12 international exhibitions, winning silver prizes in all of them. She is probably the only Indian to have an exclusive stamp collection on Nobel laureates since 1901."

To read the entire article, click here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

To all our readers and their families, here's wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Chinese Stamp Exhibition Attracts Huge Crowds

The China Daily website reports, "The 27th Asian International Stamp Exhibition was the largest in its history, attracting philatelists from 53 countries and regions. At least 202,200 people attended during the weekend session.  A total of 1,324 sets of stamps were shown for competition, and 89 additional sets were displayed, in addition to 24 sets of stamps from overseas."

Xu Jianzhou, deputy director of State Post Bureau, is quoted as saying, "Visitors were fortunate enough to get a look at the six most treasured stamps collected by China National Post and the Postage Stamp Museum, as well as stamps from Thailand's Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn."

According to the article by Shi Jing, postmarks were collected in an exhibition passport including one that featured effort a silhouette of President Obama.

Shown above, one of the rare stamps on display at the exhibition - a 1896 unsurcharged 3c Red Revenue stamp. It is thought that less than 100 of these are in existence today

To read the entire article, click here.

Eight Reasons To Collect Stamps

The All Women's Talk website lists eight reasons why people (just not women) should collect stamps.

They are...

1. For the joy of collecting
2. For the price value
3. For the pride of building a comprehensive collection
4. To meet people with a common interest
5. To further an existing interest
6. To take forward something that was handed down
7. To learn and understand about different cultures
8. To have a personal passion

To read the entire piece, click here.

John F. Kennedy Remembered On Stamps

Today marks the 48th anniversary of the death of President John Kennedy.

According to an entry on Wikipedia, "John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was fatally shot while traveling with his wife Jacqueline, Texas governor John Connally, and the latter's wife, Nellie, in a Presidential motorcade."

Since then two U.S. postage stamps have been issued in his honor. One in 1964 and one in 1967.

According to the Historical Archive website, "The first stamp [shown above] was issued on May 29, 1964. On that day, the U.S. Post Office released the five cent John F. Kennedy memorial stamp on what would have been Kennedy’s 47th birthday. The issue was designed by Raymond Loewy/William Snaith, a New York firm. It was based on an initial sketch by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing artist Robert L. Miller. His widow, Jacqueline Kennedy, was given the honor of making the final selection for the artwork from the many Postage stamp designs that were submitted."

The second stamp seen here was issued on May 29, 1967.

For a list of other Kennedy stamps from around the world, click here.

Children Create "Don't Close Our Post Office" Stamps

New York's Three Village Patch Editor Christine Sampson posts the picture shown here of Sixth graders at Setauket Elementary School. According to Sampson,  the students created stamps in an effort to prevent the closure of the Setauket Post Office.

"It's one of three Long Island post offices being reviewed for possible closure," writes Sampson. "The project was completed by students in Renee Cain's art class; the artwork is on display at Emma S. Clark Memorial Library and some local businesses."

For more on this story, click here.

Stamp Collecting - Down But Not Out

In advance of this weekend's Chicagopex stamp show and exhibition, Chicago Tribune reporter Naomi Nix pens, "By many appearances, the more than century-old tradition of stamp collecting has lost its place among American leisure activities. Newspapers like the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times no longer carry weekly stamp columns. Most of the 20 or so brick-and-mortar stamp shops that populated the Loop in the decades between the 1950s and the 1980s are gone."

Nix says Berg's shop, Stamp King, is one of the last in the city to line its shelves with binders full of collectible stamps.

Nix goes on to say, "Berg took over the shop two decades ago, but said he believes it first opened about 30 or 40 years ago. Nowadays, Berg said the shop generates enough money to pay the bills, but it is not always easy."

He quotes Berg as saying, ""I have more people wanting to sell stuff then buy."

"But," Nix points out, " the growth of the Internet in recent decades has meant that collectors and dealers no longer have to depend on stamp shops, auctions or local associations to buy or learn about stamps. Blogs like The Stamp Collecting Round-Up offers hobbyists news and information about stamps, while sites like eBay, craigslist and dealers' personal websites give collectors access to thousands of stamps from vendors around the world. "

To read the entire article which also talks about why people collect, click here.

Why Aren't There More Jewish Stamps?

"Ronald Scheiman, 74, of Boynton Beach, has been fighting the lonely fight for more Hanukkah stamps for nearly 20 years now," writes  Frank Cerabino in a column that appears on Florida's Palm Beach Post website.

Scheiman, a former postal clerk on Long Island, got involved with his stamp suggestion efforts after the U.S. Postal Service started issuing a Chinese New Year stamp according to Cerabino.

Cerabino goes on to say, "So Scheiman lobbied for the Hanukkah stamp in 1993, and three years later the postal service issued its first one, a colorful menorah design."

Scheiman wonders why have only been four different Hanukkah stamp designs since 1996 unlike Christmas stamps which have new designs each year. He also says that they don't get the same distribution as Christmas stamps and would like to have more post offices make them available.

Scheiman has created a website, www.Hanukkahstampquest.com,  in an effort "to get the United States Postal Service to issue a new and different Hanukkah stamp every year it issues a new stamp for Christmas."

On the site, Scheiman is also promoting the idea of having an American Jewish Heritage stamp and says there is a precedent for such a series of stamps citing the Black Heritage series which started in 1978.

"There are so many American Jews who could, and should, be recognized on such a series of stamps," Scheiman says, "The list includes Justices of the Supreme Court, Senators, Scientists, Patriots, etc. For a list of many of them please visit the website: www.fau.edu/library/depts/judaica9.htm. It is one of a few sites with listings of famous Jewish Americans."

The History of Mr. Zip

The Smithsonian.com website reports, "One of the most important breakthroughs in modern communication lies in an overlooked place. It’s printed onto envelopes, just below the address. Although we think nothing of the ZIP Code these days, when it was rolled out in the 1960s, it was a novel and challenging concept for many Americans. And so, to help sell the ZIP Code, the Post Office Department introduced a friendly new mascot for the public campaign: the grinning, lanky Mr. Zip."

According to the article, "The National Postal Museum has now launched a new site, created by museum curator Nancy Pope and intern Abby Curtin, that celebrates the history of the ZIP Code campaign and its speedy mascot."

Pope is quoted in the piece as saying in the early 1960s growing mail volume and suburbanization had strained the mail system. The Postmaster General at the time, J. Edward Day, and others were convinced of the need to automate the sorting process. So the Post Office came up with the idea of having a unique five-digit number to each post office in the country. Sorting machinery could then use the codes to directly route mail from one city to another. The concept became known as the Zone Improvement Plan or ZIP.

To help promote the use of ZIP codes, an advertising campaign was developed around the amateurish cartoon figure known as Mr. Zip which was originally created to be used in a Chase Manhattan Bank 1950’s bank-by-mail campaign .

To read the entire History of Mr. Zip article, click here.

To visit the new Mr. Zip site, click here.

How About Just One Common Stamp and Some Mobile Post Offices?

During a public hearing held by the Postal Service regarding the proposed closure of a popular post office in St. Paul, Minnesota, one resident asked, "Why don't they, instead of having all these fancy stamps, just go to one common stamp?" as a way of saving money.

According to an article by Madeleine Baran that appears on the Minnesota Public Radio website, postal employee Margaret Campbell replied, "I think the collectors would probably disagree with you on that. Stamp collecting is still one of the major hobbies in the world, and actually, stamp collectors more or less give us the money because they never use those stamps."

Baran reports, "Another woman suggested the Postal Service consider using a mobile post office, similar to a bookmobile, that could make up for the loss of a permanent station. Several Postal Service employees said they're considering that and think it's a good idea, although they cautioned that the mobile service would probably struggle to be as consistent as they would like."

To read the entire piece, click here.

Old D.C. Post Office May Become a Hotel

Jonathan O'Connell of the Washington Post reports Ivanka M. Trump, the international model and television star, and Christopher J. Nassetta, the homegrown executive who now runs Hilton Worldwide,  have proposed luxury hotels for the The Old Post Office Pavilion.

The Old Post Office Pavilion (also known as Old Post Office and Clock Tower)  was built between 1892 and 1899 and is a few blocks away from the White House in downtown Washington, D.C.

O'Connell also says Carpenter & Co., a Boston firm which turned a 150-year-old jail in that city into the 298-room Liberty Hotel, has proposed a similar makeover for the Post Office.

A decision regarding the buidling's future which is currently owned by the Federal goverment will be reached this week.

The New York Times reported that as of 2011 that  the building costs the government $6.5 million each year to operate.

To read the entire article, click here.

Christmas Island Gears Up For the Holidays

The Canada News Wire reports, "Christmas Island Postmistress Hughena MacKinnon is busy gearing up her tiny post office for the anticipated influx of holiday mail set to arrive from all over the world—all in search of a very special postmark."

MacKinnon says she stamps personally on about 1,000 letters a day—2,000 on busiest days—during the peak holiday timeframe.

According to the article," For over 16 years now at this time of year, the Christmas Island post office gets almost as busy as Santa's workshop. The amount of mail received at the office jumps almost 1,000% during the holidays. The thousands of letters come from around the world from collectors and holiday enthusiasts anxious to get the official postmark from Christmas Island."

The Territory of Christmas Island is a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. According to an entry on Wikipedia, Captain William Mynors of the Royal Mary, a British East India Company vessel, named the island when he sailed past it on Christmas Day in 1643.

To read the entire article on the Digital Journal website, click here.

Readers' Pick: Best U.S. Stamp of 2011

Beyond The Perf, a USPS publication, is asking readers to pick their favorite U.S. stamps that were issued this past year. Only one choice is accepted. Last day to vote is December 5, 2011.

To cast your vote, click here.

Budget Cuts Threaten Holiday Greeting Cards For Troops

Kansas television station KAKE reports, "The librarians at McConnell Air Force Base have gathered holiday greeting cards for deployed troops for years, but this year, they were told there was no money in the budget for postage to send the cards to Afghanistan for our homesick troops to enjoy."

McConnell Air Force Base is the home of the 22nd Air Refueling Wing, the 931st Air Refueling Group and the Kansas Air National Guard's 184th Intelligence Wing. They are one of only three supertanker KC-135 Stratotanker wings in the Air Force. Their primary mission is to provide global reach by conducting air refueling and airlift where and when needed.

Click here to watch video.

Post Office Wants Its "Stuff" Back

Columnist Ed O'Keefe on the Washington Post's "Federal Eye" webpage reports the U.S. Postal Service  is giving customers two weeks to return stolen pens, tape guns, letter trays, mail tubs and pallets - or else!

According to O'Keefe, "USPS spent nearly $50 million last year replacing equipment that was stolen or inadvertently taken and never returned by customers."

"Postal inspectors have recovered more than 200,000 pieces of equipment worth more than $4 million since 2008," O'Keefe  says. He also points out, "It is a federal crime to steal postal equipment and can lead to up to three years in prison or up to $250,000 in fines."

He goes on to say, "According to postal inspectors, one of the worst offenders was a Georgia man who worked for a major mailer and was arrested for stealing and selling almost 10,000 Postal Service pallets to a pallet supply company. The company in turn provided USPS’s equipment to a freight company shipping to South America. The man paid $10,129 in restitution to USPS."

To read the the entire article, click here.

DAR Collecting Stamps For Veterans

Today is Veteran's Day.

It's a time to remember the service and sacrifice of those who served in the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Air Force as well as their family and loved ones.

Mary Collins, a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), writes on her webspage, "Many Veteran groups collect used stamps that have been sent to them from all over. Some of the groups send these contributions to a central clearing house where the stamps are soaked and resold to dealers, collectors, etc. The Veteran groups that do this then take the money raised and spend it for various Veterans needs.  Some stamps are also kept back and distributed to patients as a hobby to help them recover or pass the sometimes many lonely hours in the hospital.  There are six or seven of these collecting agencies for the veterans."

She goes on to say, "....your spouse, or your children have accumulated and are not interested in anymore and don't want to be bothered to find a buyer! Donate them to one of these groups and say 'thank you' to a Vet who needs them now. If you choose, and you know the approximate value of the items and have an inventory, you can receive a receipt for tax purposes."

To read the entire article, click here.

To locate a DAR chapter near you if you would like to donate your unwanted stamps, click here.

November Mystery Stamp Contest

Can you identify the American Philatelic Society "Mystery Stamp" shown above?

If so, e-mail the Stamp Collecting Roundup at donschilling@att.net with the name of  the country and Scott Catalogue number.

The first and 11th person to correctly identify the stamp will win a beautiful commemorative "presentation pack" provided courtesy of Royal Mail.

Congratulations to our October "Mystery Stamp" winners Fred Gamarsh of Gardner, Massachusetts and Ruth Hughart of Kenna, West Virginia. They correctly identified the stamp shown here as Nepal 29a.

Your prizes are on their way!

Donated Collection Sheds Light on Jewish Plight In Nazi Germany

Los Angeles' Jewish Journal reports "a rare collection throwing new light on the paper trail of the Holocaust bureaucracy" has been donated to Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. 

According to the article by Tom Tugend, the collection consists of some 2,000 stamps, letters, ID cards, visas, currency receipts and other assorted documents from the Nazi era.

Tom says, "Valued at $260,000, the collection was painstakingly acquired and organized by Victor, a retired Los Angeles lawyer, over a 30-year period. In many cases, the content tracks the fate of a given Jewish family from the very beginning of the Nazi regime in 1933 to its demise in 1945."

Shown above, a postcard sent from Dachau concentration camp. The collection documents how newly arrived prisoners at Nazi concentration camps were forced to sign similiar postcards and send them to friends and family with the inscription - “Things are going well and we are enjoying ourselves.”

The Germans called this “Operation Briefkarte” (Operation Postcard).  Its goal was that of "lulling the others into the belief that they had nothing to fear when their turn for deportation to the east arrived," according to the piece.

Click here to read the entire article

How to Outfox "Foxing'

Keijo Kortelainen, Finnish blogmaster of the Stamp Collecting Blog website asks, "What do you do with stamps that show signs of  brown foxing /rust stains like the one shown here?"

Keijo pens, "Foxing, rust, staining… The arch nemesis of stamp collectors has about as many names as forms. Though I try to be very picky with what I include into my stamp albums, every once and awhile I notice that some stamp in my collection has developed the dreaded red brown spots. Usually I just go sigh, and bin the stamp… But sometimes it’s not so easy, especially if the stamp in question is not so common."

He goes on to point out, "I’m very well aware that there are also lots of chemical methods / solutions (like Foxit, Chloramine-T, Hydrogen Peroxide etc) to stop the foxing process, and remove/ lessen the signs of foxing. Sometimes a simple quick bath in boiling hot water is enough to remove any signs of the staining… But this is where I draw the line. I acknowledge a lot of these methods are used to restore old books, paintings etc. without larger issues by conservation specialists. But I’m not a specialist, and as such I very little interest to storing and using chemicals in my home."

Click here to read the entire piece along with readers thoughts and ideas.

"The Adventures of Tintin" Philatelic Exhibition Opens in Singapore

Rarely seen original stamp artworks of the comic series, "The Adventures of Tintin", will be on display for the first time at the Singapore Philatelic Museum from Friday till May of next year according to an article that appears on the ChannelNewsAsia website.

According to reporter Wendy Wong, the exhibit will feature a full range of Tintin postage stamps issued by Belgium, France, the Netherlands as well as from the Permanent Collection at the museum. The exhibition will also feature rare stamps, colour trials and other philatelic materials from the Museum Voor Communicatie in the Netherlands and L'Adresse Musée de La Poste in France.

The exhibition coincides with the release of the animated movie "The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn." "The Adventures of Tintin" series of comic books has sold more than 200 million copies worldwide.

Shown above, 1979 stamp from Belgium featuring Tintin and his dog Snowy, a white Fox terrier.

For more on this story, click here.

Janet Klug: Stamp Collecting's Ambassador-at-Large

The Beyond The Perf website features a nice article about past APS president and current Citizens  Stamp Advisory Committee member Janet Klug.

The site reports, "Six-year-old Janet was a little jealous when her two older brothers were given stamp collections one Christmas morning. So she waited until her brothers lost interest and then “confiscated” their collections, hiding them under her bed. Once the coast was clear, a lifelong passion was born."

It goes on to say, "She specifically remembers a Canadian issue, a 'pretty lady stamp' of young Queen Elizabeth. On a map, Canada was not far from Klug’s native Ohio, but to the elementary-school student, it was a million miles away.

As regards the recent USPS decision to put living persons on U.S. stamps, Janet is quoted as saying, “The United States is late out of the gate doing this. I think it’s a great idea. Why not honor people during their lives?” After all, the Postal Service has, after a fashion, recognized a living person on a stamp. The First Moon Landing, 1969 stamp (issued in 1994) doesn’t name Neil Armstrong, but, she says, 'who else could it be?' Further, the very first postal stamp honored a living person — Queen Victoria, issued in England in 1840."

To read the entire article, click here.

USPS "Scribble Specialists" Sort Out The Nixies

Wall Street Journal reporter Barry Newman pens a piece on the "Remote Encoding Centers (REC)" of the U.S. Postal Service— "...where hundreds of clerks sit in silence, day and night, staring at America's worst-addressed envelopes."

There are two RECs— one in Salt Lake City, Utah and one in Wichita, Kan. where 1,900 clerks cope with machine-unreadable mail from the whole country. Last year there were 714,085,866 chicken-scratch "nixies"  according to the article.

"A nixie (it's in the dictionary) is a letter with an illegible or incorrect address," writes Newman,  "Salt Lake's nixies land on a table where nixie clerks take a last stab at divining where they're supposed to go."

If they can't figure out the nixie's return address and/or destination, the nixie's next stop is a hamper  marked "dead letter office." From there it goes to the last remaining 'Mail Recovery Center' in Atlanta. There clerks will open any letters that might look important or contain cash. After that, it's "hand-delivered to the shredder," according to the article.

Shown above, Debbie Holender and Jonathan Berry, at the Salt Lake processing center, try to decipher an address.

For more on this story, click here.

A Post Office Exhibits Paranormal activity

The Postal Podcast website reports, "We've all heard of haunted houses -- some people even seek them out, looking for hints of the paranormal. But a haunted Post Office?"

In this month's Halloween edition, the site features a podcast about a Southern California Post Office that many believe is tended to by a friendly ghost.

Shown above, San Pedro Post Office employees Brian Bundy, left, and Lance McCall stand in one of the hallways in the facility's basement.

For more on this spooky story and and other interesting articles, click here.

Inverts Make for Favorite Philatelic Flips

The Inverted Jenny is the world's most famous stamp - but it's just one of many classic inverts according to an article that appears on the Paul Fraser Collectibles website.

The site points out, "Stamp errors in general and inversions in particular have been a fascination for collectors since the hobby began and continues to be so today."

It then goes on to list some famous and not-so-famous inverts. These include....

~ The Western Australia 1854-55 4d blue inversion error (inaccurately described as the 'Inverted Swan', when actually it is the frame around Swan which is inverted).

~ The 1854 inverted Queen Victoria from India.

~ Belgium's  Inverted Dendermonde (or Termonde in French) which shows one of the town's buildings upside down.

~ 1920 Jamaican 1 shilling which is shown above.

To read the entire article, click here.

Collector Puts Heart and Soul Into Postal Museum

"With the art of letter-writing seemingly consigned to the dustbin of history by global internet usage, you could be forgiven for thinking that the sound of the death knell for stamp-collecting cannot be far behind.But for philatelist and director of the Cyprus Postal Musuem Ploutis Loizou, nothing is further from the truth," writes reporter Zoe Christodoulides on the Cyprus Mail website.

According to Christodoulides, "Loizou has put his life and soul into making the museum an alluring place ever since it fell under his auspices in 2004. Originally set up at a different down town location in 1981, it took a lot of work to get the new space organised when Loizou took over. But it was a labour of love for Loizou who has collected stamps ever since he was a young boy when relatives in Africa would send letters back home."

About the Cyprus Postal Museum, Wikipedia says, "Situated within the walled city of Lefkosia (Nicosia), this museum is home to an exhibition dedicated to the development of postal services in Cyprus and a collection of Cyprus stamps from the 18th century onwards considered as some of the best in international philately."

Shown above, Ploutis Loizou looking a sheet of ‘Penny Reds’ overprinted with “Cyprus”. Dating back to 1880, it’s the first official stamp to have ever circulated in the country, issued by the British shortly after their arrival on the island in 1878 according to the article.

For more on this story, click here.

Post Office Hiring For The Holidays

The U.S. Postal Service is hiring temporary employees to work during the upcoming holiday season.

Mailhandler and postal support employee clerk positions are available at various locations around the country. There are also some temporary tractor-trailer operator and motor vehicle operator positions available.

The jobs pay from $11 to $15.85 an hour and have no benefits. The work will depend on needs of the post office or distribution center.

Applicants must be at least 18 and be a U.S. citizen or have permanent alien status.

To apply, click here.