American Painting -- William M. Harnett

 

The ninth stamp in the annually issued American Painting Series was placed on sale at Boston, Massachusetts, on December 3, 1969. The stamp depicted the painting "Old Models" by William M. Harnett which is held in the collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. This painting is painted in the trompe l'oeil style. Trompe-l'œil (French for "deceive the eye") is an art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions.

"Old Models" features typical subject matter painted by Harnett. He owned a collection of musical instruments and often used them as props. This painting was painted shortly before Harnett died in 1892 and  is considered one of his best compositions.

The violin was also depicted in Harnett's 1886 painting, "The Old Violin," featured in the video below. (Note: that painting also includes a stamped envelope. Video best viewed in full screen mode.)

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Stamp Collecting Stamps

Philatelic Memorabilia.
Members of the American Philatelic Association are shown on the maximum card at their annual convention in 1898. 

Boy Examining Stamp Collection.
The Post Office Department's Philatelic Truck is shown on the maximum card. The truck carried a complete collection of U.S. stamps for youngsters to view and toured the country from 1939 to 1941 to stimulate interest in stamp collecting. President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent along a message to "The Junior Philatelists of the United States,' which said: "I commend stamp collecting to you because I started a collection when I was about ten years old and have kept it up ever since. In addition to the fun of it, it has kept up my interest in history and geography, past and present. I really believe that collecting stamps makes on a better citizen."

Under Magnifying Glass
The 1938 U.S. postage stamp commemorating the 300th anniversary of the landing of the first Swedish and Finnish settlers in America in what is now Delaware was based on a painting by Stanley M. Arthurs, which now hangs at the University of Delaware.

1986 Presidents Miniature SheetPresident Franklin D. Roosevelt was the nation's most famous stamp collector during his years in office. The maximum card shows him working with his stamp collection in the library of his home at Hyde Park, New York, in 1936.

The U.S Postal Service issued a Stamp Collecting commemorative booklet on January 23, 1986, in State College, Pennsylvania. This was its first commemorative stamp booklet. The stamps contained in this booklet are shown on the four USPS issued maximum cards above. The Swedish postal administration also issued a similar stamp booklet on the same day. The Swedish stamps are shown on the four Swedish maximum cards below.

Misprint 20/TRETIO (THIRTY)

The Engraver

The Album Sheet
Te design of this stamp is almost identical to the U.S. Under Magnifying Glass stamp.

The Stamp Collector

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Letter Carriers Stamp

 

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The Legend of Sleepy Holllow

This is a Colorano Silk Maximum Card with the "Legend of  Sleepy Hollow" stamp that was issued on October 10, 1974. The stamp features a scene from Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" in which the infamous Headless Horseman pursues Ichabod Crane. The story was first published in 1820. Wikipedia has a summary here.

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Early Postal Motor Vehicles

This stamp shows one of the first official gasoline-powered vehicle used by the United States Post Office Department for the collection of mail from street letterboxes. The stamp is one of four 25-cent Classic Mail Transportation commemorative stamps issued November 19, 1989. All four stamps were shown on a previous post on maximum cards issued by the USPS here.

This Maximum card is ©1989 The Maximum Card Collection, A Division of Unicover Corporation. Another early postal vehicle, a mail wagon of the 1920s, is shown on the maximum card.

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W. C. Handy -- Father of the Blues

 

A 6-cent stamp honoring W. C. Handy was placed on sale on May 17, 1969, at Memphis, Tennessee, the city he immortalized with two compositions, "The Memphis Blues" and "The Beale Street Blues." The stamp was issued during the sesquicentennial anniversary celebration of the city.

William Christopher Handy (1873-1958) was a US composer who is attributed with integrating blues into ragtime. Handy worked as a schoolteacher and bandmaster. He conducted his own orchestra even after he lost his eyesight at the age of 30. His autobiography, "Father of the Blues," was published in 1941.

The stamp was designed by Bernice Kochan of Cleveland, Ohio, winner of a nationwide contest sponsored by Memphis Sesquicentennial, Inc. The artist combined purple, light red, and light blue for a jazzy effect (source)

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Washington Saves His Army at Brooklyn

This 3-cent stamp was issued on December 10, 1951 to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Brooklyn. The central design of the stamp depicts the evacuation of General Washington's troops from Brooklyn at the site of the Fulton Ferry house. General Washington appears mounted on a white horse, directing his troops. A part of the Fulton Ferry house is shown on the right, and in the distant center, troops already embarked are seen crossing the East River.The maximum card was issued by Velvetone with a plain back.

The Battle of Brooklyn, also known as the Battle of Long Island or the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, was fought on August 27, 1776. It was a defeat for the Continental Army under General George Washington and the beginning of a successful campaign that gave the British control of the strategically important city of New York. In the American Revolutionary War it was the first major battle to take place after the United States declared independence on July 4, 1776. In terms of troop size, it was the largest battle of the entire war British General Howe failed to press the attack, and Washington managed to evacuate all the troops not already killed or captured.(Source: Wikipedia).

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Children's Stamp 1956

 

The 3-cent Children's Stamp was issued on December 15, 1956, in Washington, DC. It was issued to promote friendship among the children of the world. The design features a group of children "looking toward the right in the pleasurable prospect of attaining the radiant Key of Friendship with which to unlock the doors to peace." (source: Arago)

This is a Velvetone Maximum card produced and distributed by Edwin P. Haworth. Note the instructions at the bottom of the back: Even if bearing a stamp on other side, this card  MUST NOT be mailed unless bearing two cents postage on this side." 

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350 Years of Royal Mail Public Postal Service

Datapost Motorcyclist, City of London, 17p

Rural Postbus, 22p

Parcel Delivery in Winter, 31p

Town Letter Delivery , 34p

Here I have a set of four maximum cards with stamps commemorating 350 years of Royal Mail Service. The stamps were issued on July 30, 1985. Each card has a different cancellation dated July 30, 1985, the first day of issue.

I recently bought these, and I thought the envelope they were mailed in was worth showing too. It has an assortment of definitive stamps, a Post & Go stamp: River Life from Freshwater Life 3 issued in 2013, and a stamp that appears to show a police telephone box. The police box stamp is actually from the set Classic TV - 50 Years of Doctor Who, also issued in 2013. this was described as follows:

The TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space) is the Doctor’s ship, capable of travelling anywhere in space and time. A product of Time Lord technology, the interior of the ship is much larger than its exterior. The Doctor’s TARDIS is an unreliable, obsolete TT Type 40, Mark 3 TARDIS with a faulty chameleon circuit, stuck in the shape of a mid-twentieth century police telephone box.

The definitive stamps have slits that I hadn't seen before. These can be seen on the enlargement below. The slits are a tamper-proof feature designed to prevent people from peeling off old stamps and re-using them.

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Santa Claus Fantasies

The 1984 contemporary U. S. Christmas stamp was issued in Jamaica, New York, home of Danny LaBoccetta, one of the winners in the first nationwide student stamp design project sponsored by the US Postal Service in 1982. LaBoccetta was eight years old and a third-grade student when he executed his design featuring a cheerful Santa Claus with a sack of toys. (source: http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&mode=1&tid=2038755&)

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Christmas Stamps 1978 & 1979

 

This postcard has an odd combination of stamps and cancels. The stamp that was placed on the picture is a 1978 Christmas stamp. The stamp on the bottom in the white area is a 1979 Christmas stamp with an official First Day of Issue cancellation. I am guessing that a 1979 maximum card was made first, and the 1978 stamp was added later with an unofficial cachet commemorating the visit of Pope John Paul II to Washington, D. C. Both stamps were rather sloppily applied, with the 1979 stamp being damaged before it was cancelled.

The 1978 Christmas stamp has an image of  "Madonna and Child with Cherubim," c. 1485,  by Andrea della Robbia. This is one of the few Christmas issues reproduced from a sculpture. The original is  glazed terracotta and is in the Andrew W. Mellon Collection, National Gallery of Art.

The 1979 Christmas stamp has a simplified detail from a painting by late 15th and early 16th century Netherlandish painter Gerard David. The original painting titled "The Rest on the Flight into Egypt" is also in the Andrew W. Mellon Collection, National Gallery of Art.

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The Road-Winter by Currier & Ives

A 10-cent Currier and Ives Christmas stamp was one of three holiday stamps issued by the United States Postal Service in 1974. The stamp is based on a Currier and Ives print entitled "The Road-Winter." Here it is on a Colorano Silk maximum card.

Currier and Ives was a American printmaking firm based in New York City from 1834–1907. It was headed by Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888) and James Merritt Ives (1824–1895).  The company produced many hand colored black and white lithographs based on paintings by fine artists. Lithographic prints could be reproduced quickly and inexpensively. The prints were advertised as "colored engravings for the people." (source: Wikipedia)

The postcard below is a reproduction of "The Road-Winter" from an original Currier and Ives print. This postcard was published by Hallmark.

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Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

Here are two maximum cards featuring the Gettysburg Address stamp that was issued on November 19, 1948. The issue date was exactly 85 years from the date Abraham Lincoln made his most famous speech at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The first card shows the Lincoln Speech Memorial at Gettysburg. The second postcards has the text* of the speech.

November 19, 1863 was four and a half months after Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg. November 19, 2013 is the sesquicentennial (150 years) anniversary of the Gettysburg Address.

Beginning with the now-iconic phrase "Four score and seven years ago," referring to the Declaration of Independence, written at the start of the American Revolution in 1776, Lincoln examined the founding principles of the United States in the context of the Civil War, and memorialized the sacrifices of those who gave their lives at Gettysburg and extolled virtues for the listeners (and the nation) to ensure the survival of America's representative democracy, that "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." (source: Wikipedia)

* There are five known manuscript copies of the Gettysburg Address that are each named for the associated person who received it from Lincoln. The versions differ in their wording, punctuation, and structure. The Bliss copy, named for Colonel Alexander Bliss, has become the standard version of the text and the source for most facsimile reproductions of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. 

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