Stamps For Fun

10/21/2021

On This Day in History...

1959
October 21
Guggenheim Museum opens in New York City

On October 21, 1959, on New York City’s Fifth Avenue, thousands of people line up outside a bizarrely shaped white concrete building that resembled a giant upside-down cupcake. It was opening day at the new Guggenheim Museum, home to one of the world’s top collections of contemporary art.

Mining tycoon Solomon R. Guggenheim began collecting art seriously when he retired in the 1930s. With the help of Hilla Rebay, a German baroness and artist, Guggenheim displayed his purchases for the first time in 1939 in a former car showroom in New York. Within a few years, the collection—including works by Vasily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Marc Chagall—had outgrown the small space. In 1943, Rebay contacted architect Frank Lloyd Wright and asked him to take on the work of designing not just a museum, but a “temple of spirit,” where people would learn to see art in a new way.

Over the next 16 years, until his death six months before the museum opened, Wright worked to bring his unique vision to life. To Wright’s fans, the museum that opened on October 21, 1959, was a work of art in itself. Inside, a long ramp spiraled upwards for a total of a quarter-mile around a large central rotunda, topped by a domed glass ceiling. Reflecting Wright’s love of nature, the 50,000-meter space resembled a giant seashell, with each room opening fluidly into the next.

Wright’s groundbreaking design drew criticism as well as admiration. Some felt the oddly-shaped building didn’t complement the artwork. They complained the museum was less about art and more about Frank Lloyd Wright. On the flip side, many others thought the architect had achieved his goal: a museum where building and art work together to create “an uninterrupted, beautiful symphony.”

02/19/2019

https://www.listia.com/auction/48823793-massive-liquidation-of-postal-items

Such a HUGE assortment it's too many to list so please see the 150 or so pictures! As I clean & organize things I may add a few more items so please keep watching for more!!! FREE Shipping! Priority mail trackable! Mixed FDC Caches & Postal cards & 1 First day commemorative cards & JFK FDC w/ MNH VF...

09/15/2018

On this day in History
September 14th 1901

On this day in 1901, President William McKinley succumbs to gunshot wounds inflicted by an assassin on September 6. According to witnesses, McKinley’s last words were those of the hymn “Nearer My God to Thee.”

McKinley was shaking hands in a long reception line at the Pan-American Exhibition in Buffalo, New York, when a 28-year-old anarchist named Leon Czolgosz approached him with a gun concealed in a handkerchief in his right hand. McKinley assumed the handkerchief was an attempt by Czolgosz to hide a physical defect and kindly reached for the man’s left hand to shake. Czolgosz moved in close to the president and fired two shots into McKinley’s chest. The assassin was attempting to fire a third bullet into the stricken president when aides wrestled him to the ground.

McKinley suffered one superficial wound to the sternum and another bullet dangerously entered his abdomen. He was rushed into surgery and seemed to be on the mend by September 12. Later that day, however, the president’s condition worsened rapidly and, on September 14, McKinley died from gangrene that had remained undetected in the internal wound. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as president immediately following McKinley’s death.

Czolgosz confessed to his crime, but remained unrepentant. At his ex*****on by electrocution on October 29, 1901, his last words were “I killed the president because he was the enemy of the good people—the working people.” The Polish immigrant-turned-anarchist’s death is said to have been filmed by famed inventor Thomas Edison.

On September 16, after receiving a funeral befitting a president in Washington, D.C., McKinley’s coffin was transported by train to his hometown of Canton, Ohio, for burial.

U.S. #326
1904 5¢ McKinley
Louisiana Purchase Commemorative

Issue Date: April 30, 1904
Quantity issued: 6,926,700
Printed by: Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Method: Flat plate
Watermark: Double line USPS
Perforation: 12
Color: Dark blue

The 1904 Louisiana Purchase commemoratives honor the 100th anniversary of the historic event. Promoters of a proposed exposition marking the purchase lobbied for a Congressional bill to subsidize the exposition. President William McKinley signed the bill, prompting the Post Office Department to consider commemorative stamps and the authorization of cancelling slogans to advertise the event. Five commemorative stamps were issued in denominations ranging from 1¢ to 10¢.

William McKinley is pictured on the 5¢ Louisiana Purchase commemorative stamp. Besides Jefferson, no other President has been as aggressive in acquiring new territories for the U.S. McKinley annexed Hawaii (realizing the importance of U.S. interests in the Pacific). And, he acquired from Spain the Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. An assassin shot him on September 6, 1901. Doctors did not believe his wound was serious, but he died on September 14.

The Louisiana Purchase Changes the Face of America
In 1762, Napoleon Bonaparte sought to create a great French empire in the New World. The center of the empire was to be the nation of Hispaniola. Napoleon envisioned that the Mississippi Valley would be the trade center of the new empire, shipping food and supplies from America to Hispaniola.

At this time, Hispaniola was in the midst of a slave revolt. This revolt had to be put down before French control could be restored. In an attempt to end the revolt, Napoleon sent a large army to Hispaniola. Although there were considerable French victories on the battlefield, many soldiers died from disease. Because of these heavy losses, Napoleon decided to abandon Hispaniola and his dream of an empire in the New World.

With Hispaniola gone, Napoleon had little use for Louisiana. This, coupled with the fact that war was imminent in Europe and he couldn’t spare troops to defend Louisiana, caused Napoleon to offer the land for sale to the United States. This pleased James Monroe and Robert Livingston, who had been sent to France to negotiate for Florida. After a small hesitation, the pair decided to purchase the larger territory for $15 million. The newly acquired land (which would some day make up all or part of fifteen states) doubled the size of the existing United States and guaranteed free navigation of the Mississippi River.

09/01/2018

Not enough XNK? Click Get it now for cash difference cost for CC purchase, the $ is SOOO low!!! 2 First Day Covers, lower one is Fleetwood, with matching Mint Never Hinged Very Fine stamps in mounts Germany Unification In 1990, Eastern and Western Germany were reunified, leading to the issuance of n...

09/01/2018

Not enough XNK? Click Get it now for cash difference cost for CC purchase, the $ is SOOO low!!! Un-Used 1961 United Nations air letter (11-cent postal stationery in light blue, blue and light green; plane and gull) was issued on 26 June 1961 and was designed by Ole Hamann, Denmark.

02/13/2018

On this Day in History...

February 13th 1861,

First Medal of Honor action

The earliest military action to be revered with a Medal of Honor award is performed by Colonel Bernard J.D. Irwin, an assistant army surgeon serving in the first major U.S.-Apache conflict. Near Apache Pass, in southeastern Arizona, Irwin, an Irish-born doctor, volunteered to go to the rescue of Second Lieutenant George N. Bascom, who was trapped with 60 men of the U.S. Seventh Infantry by the Chiricahua Apaches. Irwin and 14 men, initially without horses, began the 100-mile trek to Bascom’s forces riding on mules. After fighting and capturing Apaches along the way and recovering stolen horses and cattle, they reached Bascom’s forces on February 14 and proved instrumental in breaking the siege.

The first U.S.-Apache conflict had begun several days before, when Cochise, the Chiricahua Apache chief, kidnapped three white men to exchange for his brother and two nephews held by the U.S. Army on false charges of stealing cattle and kidnapping a child. When the exchange was refused, Cochise killed the white men, and the army responded by killing his relatives, setting off the first of the Apache wars.

Although Irwin’s bravery in this conflict was the earliest Medal of Honor action, the award itself was not created until 1862, and it was not until January 21, 1894, that Irwin received the nation’s highest military honor.

U.S. #2045
20¢ Medal of Honor

Issue Date: June 7, 1983
City: Washington, DC
Quantity: 108,820,000
Printed By: Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Printing Method: Lithographed and engraved
Perforations: 11
Color: Multicolored

The Medal of Honor is the nation's highest military award for valor. Fewer than 3,500 Medals of Honor have been given out for "courage above and beyond the call of duty" at the time this stamp was issued.

02/08/2018

On this Day in History....

February 8th 1943,

Americans secure Guadalcanal

On this day in 1943, Japanese troops evacuate Guadalcanal, leaving the island in Allied possession after a prolonged campaign. The American victory paved the way for other Allied wins in the Solomon Islands.

Guadalcanal is the largest of the Solomons, a group of 992 islands and atolls, 347 of which are inhabited, in the South Pacific Ocean. The Solomons, which are located northeast of Australia and have 87 indigenous languages, were discovered in 1568 by the Spanish navigator Alvaro de Mendana de Neyra (1541-95). In 1893, the British annexed Guadalcanal, along with the other central and southern Solomons. The Germans took control of the northern Solomons in 1885, but transferred these islands, except for Bougainville and Buka (which eventually went to the Australians) to the British in 1900.

The Japanese invaded the Solomons in 1942 during World War II and began building a strategic airfield on Guadalcanal. On August 7 of that year, U.S. Marines landed on the island, signaling the Allies’ first major offensive against Japanese-held positions in the Pacific. The Japanese responded quickly with sea and air attacks. A series of bloody battles ensued in the debilitating tropical heat as Marines sparred with Japanese troops on land, while in the waters surrounding Guadalcanal, the U.S. Navy fought six major engagements with the Japanese between August 24 and November 30. In mid-November 1942, the five Sullivan brothers from Waterloo, Iowa, died together when the Japanese sunk their ship, the USS Juneau.

Both sides suffered heavy losses of men, warships and planes in the battle for Guadalcanal. An estimated 1,600 U.S. troops were killed, over 4,000 were wounded and several thousand more died from disease. The Japanese lost 24,000 soldiers. On December 31, 1942, Emperor Hirohito told Japanese troops they could withdraw from the area; the Americans secured Guadalcanal about five weeks later.

The Solomons gained their independence from Britain in 1978. In the late 1990s, fighting broke out between rival ethnic groups on Guadalcanal and continued until an Australian-led international peacekeeping mission restored order in 2003. Today, with a population of over half a million people, the Solomons are known as a scuba diver and fisherman’s paradise.

U.S. # 2697i
1992 29¢ Marines Land on Guadalcanal
1942: Into the Battle
World War II Souvenir Sheet
Issue Date: August 17, 1992
City: Indianapolis, IN
Quantity: 6,000,000
Printed By: Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Printing Method: Lithographed, engraved
Perforations: 11
Color: Multicolored

In 1992 the Postal Service issued its second commemorative sheet marking the 50th anniversary of World War II. Following the chronology of the war, the 10 stamps recall key events that took place in America's second year as a participant in the war.

A map entitled "1942: Into the Battle" uses text, arrows, and color shading to pinpoint the war's theaters of operations and historical World War II events, such as the Battle of Midway, the landing of Allied troops in North Africa, and the Battle of the Coral Sea.

02/08/2018

On this Day in History...

February 7, 1964,

Pan Am Yankee Clipper flight 101 from London Heathrow lands at New York’s Kennedy Airport–and “Beatlemania” arrives. It was the first visit to the United States by the Beatles, a British rock-and-roll quartet that had just scored its first No. 1 U.S. hit six days before with “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” At Kennedy, the “Fab Four”–dressed in mod suits and sporting their trademark pudding bowl haircuts–were greeted by 3,000 screaming fans who caused a near riot when the boys stepped off their plane and onto American soil.

Two days later, Paul McCartney, age 21, Ringo Starr, 23, John Lennon, 23, and George Harrison, 20, made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, a popular television variety show. Although it was difficult to hear the performance over the screams of teenage girls in the studio audience, an estimated 73 million U.S. television viewers, or about 40 percent of the U.S. population, tuned in to watch. Sullivan immediately booked the Beatles for two more appearances that month. The group made their first public concert appearance in the United States on February 11 at the Coliseum in Washington, D.C., and 20,000 fans attended. The next day, they gave two back-to-back performances at New York’s Carnegie Hall, and police were forced to close off the streets around the venerable music hall because of fan hysteria. On February 22, the Beatles returned to England.

The Beatles’ first American tour left a major imprint in the nation’s cultural memory. With American youth poised to break away from the culturally rigid landscape of the 1950s, the Beatles, with their exuberant music and good-natured rebellion, were the perfect catalyst for the shift. Their singles and albums sold millions of records, and at one point in April 1964 all five best-selling U.S. singles were Beatles songs. By the time the Beatles first feature-film, A Hard Day’s Night, was released in August, Beatlemania was epidemic the world over. Later that month, the four boys from Liverpool returned to the United States for their second tour and played to sold-out arenas across the country.

Later, the Beatles gave up touring to concentrate on their innovative studio recordings, such as 1967’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band, a psychedelic concept album that is regarded as a masterpiece of popular music. The Beatles’ music remained relevant to youth throughout the great cultural shifts of the 1960s, and critics of all ages acknowledged the songwriting genius of the Lennon-McCartney team. In 1970, the Beatles disbanded, leaving a legacy of 18 albums and 30 Top 10 U.S. singles.

Great Britain
# M11463– 2007 Beatles Memorabilia Sheet of 4

02/06/2018

On this Day in History...

February 6th, 1952

On this day in 1952, after a long illness, King George VI of Great Britain and Northern Ireland dies in his sleep at the royal estate at Sandringham. Princess Elizabeth, the oldest of the king’s two daughters and next in line to succeed him, was in Kenya at the time of her father’s death; she was crowned Queen Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953, at age 27.

King George VI, the second son of King George V, ascended to the throne in 1936 after his older brother, King Edward VIII, voluntarily abdicated to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson. During World War II, George worked to rally the spirits of the British people by touring war zones, making a series of morale-boosting radio broadcasts (for which he overcame a speech impediment) and shunning the safety of the countryside to remain with his wife in bomb-damaged Buckingham Palace. The king’s health deteriorated in 1949, but he continued to perform state duties until his death in 1952.

Queen Elizabeth, born on April 21, 1926, and known to her family as Lilibet, was groomed as a girl to succeed her father. She married a distant cousin, Philip Mountbatten, on November 20, 1947, at London’s Westminster Abbey. The first of Elizabeth’s four children, Prince Charles, was born in 1948.

From the start of her reign, Elizabeth understood the value of public relations and allowed her 1953 coronation to be televised, despite objections from Prime Minister Winston Churchill and others who felt it would cheapen the ceremony. Elizabeth, the 40th British monarch since William the Conqueror, has worked hard at her royal duties and become a popular figure around the world. In 2003, she celebrated 50 years on the throne, only the fifth British monarch to do so.

Ghana Postage
– 2016 Queen Elizabeth II's 90th Birthday

02/05/2018

On this Day in History

February 5th 1865...

On this day in 1865, at the Battle of Dabney’s Mill (also known as Hatcher’s Run), Union and Confederate forces around Petersburg, Virginia, begin a three-day battle that produces 3,000 casualties but ends with no significant advantage for either side.

Dabney’s Mill was another attempt by Union General Ulysses S. Grant to break the siege of Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia. In 1864, Grant and Confederate General Robert E. Lee pounded each other as they wheeled south around the cities. After a month of heavy battling that produced the highest casualty rates of the war, Grant and Lee settled into trenches around Petersburg. These lines eventually stretched 25 miles to Richmond, and the stalemate continued for 10 months. Periodically, Grant mounted offensives either to break through Lee’s lines or envelope the ends. In June, August, and October, these moves failed to extricate the Confederates from their trenches.

Now, Grant sent cavalry under General David Gregg to capture a road that carried supplies from Hicksford, Virginia, into Petersburg. On February 5, Gregg moved and captured a few wagons along his objective, the Boydton Plank Road. He found little else, so he pulled back toward the rest of the Union Army. Yankee infantry under General Gouverneur K. Warren also moved forward and probed the area at the end of the Confederate’s Petersburg line. The Rebels responded by moving troops into the area. Skirmishes erupted that evening and the fighting continued for two more days as each side maneuvered for an advantage. The fighting surged back and forth around Dabney’s Mill, but the Yankees were never able to pe*****te the Confederate lines. The Union suffered some 2,000 men killed, wounded, or captured, while the Confederates lost about 1,000. The battle did extend the Petersburg line a few miles to further stretch Lee’s thin lines, but the stalemate continued for six more weeks before Grant’s forces finally sent Lee racing west with the remnants of his army. The chase ended in April 1865 when Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.

#4910-11a – 2014
49c Civil War Sesquicentennial: 1864 - Petersburg & Mobile Bay

These stamps are the fourth installment in a series commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. They picture the 22nd United States Colored Troops at the Battle of Petersburg and Admiral Farragut’s fleet during the Battle of Mobile Bay.

Following his successful siege of Vicksburg and victory at Chattanooga the previous year, Ulysses S. Grant was promoted to general-in-chief of the Union Army in March 1864. In the months that followed, Grant began persistent campaigns against the under-resourced Confederacy.

The Union was poised toward victory and prepared to beat down the enemy. Unlike many commanders, Grant did not pull back after a victory, nor did he retreat after a loss. Throughout 1864, the Union Army relentlessly pursued the Confederates, dealing blow after blow to the South. Casualties were overwhelming on both sides, but Southern losses were irreplaceable. The North suffered tactical defeats but gained an overall strategic advantage as the South’s resources were strained to the brink.

By the end of 1864, General Robert E. Lee was trapped in the Confederate capital of Richmond with supply lines cut off and resources dwindling by the day. Atlanta, Savannah, and Nashville were lost and the last significant Confederate port, Mobile Bay, had been seized by summer’s end. The successes improved Northern morale and President Lincoln was reelected that November. The tide had turned in the Union’s favor and the end of the War Between the States was soon to follow.