Sunday, October 9, 2016

Presidents

The current drama surrounding the US Presidental Election made us want to see what we could find in our collection that might, for a few moments, turn our attention to the "good ol' days" of politics. (Was there really such a thing?) We found four mini-sheets of stamps issued by the Postal Service in 1986 featuring all deceased Presidents as of 1986. We think these are old enough to allow us to feel fairly nonpartisan about this post. How about that?

The stamps were issued to coincide with the International Philatelic Exhibition which took place in Chicago in 1986 and is referred to as AMERIPEX '86.

AMERIPEX '86 Presidents Stamps ...

[Click on images for larger view]

In the Chicago Tribune, May 16, 1986, David Prescott wrote: "It`s the largest stamps show ever held in the United States. The International Philatelic Exhibition (AMERIPEX `86) is expected to attract more than 100,000 visitors during its 11-day run. In addition to lectures, demonstrations and exhibits, almost every prominent stamp dealer in the world will be represented at the show. More than 125 countries will have displays, and 58 countries have appointed commissioners to represent their nation`s collectors."


"On May 22, 1986, the Postal Service released a series of postage stamps with a portrait of a past U.S. President inscribed upon each one. The series of 36 stamps were issued in four separate mini-sheets, with nine stamps to the sheet, each stamp having a denomination of 22 cents. All of the presidents who were deceased at the time were included, and several of the issues honor presidents who had never appeared on a U.S. commemorative stamp before. On 'sheet IV' the stamp in the middle depicts the White House entrance." Wikipedia



In 2011 The American Philatelic Society (think: stamp collecting) celebrated its 125th Anniversary. Here are some screen captures from their publication celebrating the Anniversary and related to AMERIPEX '86 ...






Beyond Stamps ...

A couple of maritime pics ...

CVN 74 - USS John C Stennis
October 5th  9:52 AM
Enroute Bremerton?

Late morning on October 5th we just happened to glance out and see CVN 74 heading southbound, apparently returning to Bremerton, WA, after departing on September 27th. Although the ship was a long way from our deck, we were happy to get this photo, and had to smile when we zoomed in on the capture. How about the jet on the deck ... and the 12 flag? For those of you who don't follow American football, the 12 flag is flown by fans of the NFL Seattle Seahawks.


Lastly, the CMA CGM Dalila container ship arrived on Friday morning, October 7th, about 5:30 AM. In the summer, the sun would have been up, but now, with the shorter days of Autumn, it's dark, it was raining lightly, and quite chilly. The picture just kind of says "cold" and had us wondering what it's like to be aboard one of these vessels in the Northern Hemisphere winter months plying back and forth from Seattle to Asia.

CMA CGM Dalila in the predawn darkness.
October 7th   5:30 AM

Closing thought ...
Part of me is still waiting to grow up, to be an adult, and the other part knows there is no such thing.
     Richard Dreyfuss

(PS Thanks for your comments about the closing thought. It seems to take longer than I would have expected to find one that seems appropriate, depending on the mood I'm in. At least one of you mentioned it would be a challenge and that is turning out to be correct!)


10 comments:

  1. Great collection of Stampsyou have there of deceased Presidents and how awesome to see an aircraft carrier com into port. As for my blogs I only use three of them now two which are regular one not so much and a fourth which I look at from time to time to updatewhen I can. Maybe youshould follow one to see the updates.

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  2. I knew stamps were big , but 100000 people blows my mind.

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  3. Interesting stamps. So many people collect them, these days.

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  4. The black and white line drawings are very effective, a nice set. The combination of ferry and aircraft carrier shows off the contrast of size perfectly. Thanks for your comment on my blog John, the postbox header is a largish London postbox for lots of mail, the slot missing instruction is for franked business mail. I really only have 2 blogs and am only a team member for the ABC Wednesday blog (led by Roger from NY) which is an open invite for people around the world to link up on, yes you've guessed it, Wednesday, with that week's letter as we go through the alphabet. This week will be anything beginning with N. Take a look we are a friendly crowd.

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  5. Love that closing thought today. I would have thought that by now I should be grown up but it hasn't quite happened yet.Keep on posting these thoughts.

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  6. I wonder if the Navy would be happy with that flag *grin*

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  7. A hundred thousand people in 1986 is more than it would be today, when the population has exploded since then. Philately is still a very popular hobby. :-)

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  8. Enjoyed seeing the stamps, particularly since my family used to have great fun collecting stamps and putting them in albums together.

    I wonder what the presidents pictured would have thought of Sunday's debate. It wouldn't surprise me if they are rolling over in their graves. It's just not like people running for president are supposed to threaten to throw the opposing side in jail if they win! But I guess this is a no-holds-barred election...so crazy!

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  9. Like that 1980's first day cover.

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  10. Nice old stamps and pictures of the sea.

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