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Post by jamesw on Aug 22, 2014 2:30:40 GMT
Guess this counts as ephemera. My wife picked up this little stamp dispenser/scale at a yard sale in Vancouver on our trip. This little purchase led to my eventually obtaining 5 stock books. Guess she does love me!   Cute, huh? |
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de61
Member 
Posts: 262
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Post by de61 on Apr 7, 2022 23:34:44 GMT
The U.S. Postal Service released three different Looney Tunes coil stamp dispenser mailboxes as refrigerator magnets on Daffy Duck Day, April 17, 1999. The dispensers/refrigerator magnets were a USPS promotion in conjunction with Warner Brothers and Walmart, which sold the items in its stores. Each featured a different Looney Tunes sticker on the sides, similar to 32¢ stamps with Looney Tunes characters that were in circulation at the time, and a USPS logo printed on the front. The characters available were Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Sylvester & Tweety (which I don't have). The boxes are made of wood and measure approximately 2¼" H × 1½" W × 1½" D. The boxes were, of course, distributed by Acme International, a company made famous as Wile E. Coyote's go-to supplier for devices to catch the Road Runner. The dispensers/refrigerator magnets were a bit controversial at the time of release. Each contained a crudely produced strip of 3 cinderella sample stamps on backing paper that closely resembled the 32¢ Flag Over Porch coil stamps in circulation at the time. Fortunately, the cinderellas cannot easily be removed from the backing paper without damaging the stamps. Still, collectors wondered how the USPS could allow the distribution of a cinderella label that mimicked a genuine U.S. stamp in active circulation. I guess when Warner Brothers and Walmart are involved, anything goes!           |
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swvl
Member
Posts: 548
What I collect: FDCs, plus some US modern and new issues. Topical interests include music, art, literature, baseball, space...
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Post by swvl on Apr 8, 2022 0:17:57 GMT
Very cool, thanks for posting de61! Never seen these, though I remember the Looney Tunes stamps well (they made a big impression on me as a young collector). Was the idea with this dispenser that you could remove the cinderellas and replace them with a coil of real stamps? Or were these items meant to be purely decorative? |
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brightonpete
Departed
Rest in Peace
On a hike at Goodrich-Loomis
Posts: 5,110 
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Post by brightonpete on Apr 8, 2022 0:54:39 GMT
Not American, but yours reminded me of mine...
It came with a roll of coils from the 1st series of Star Trek stamps.
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Post by jamesw on Apr 8, 2022 4:00:19 GMT
That's funny. I forgot about this thread. A few years ago I went on a buying spree at an estate auction and bought a bunch of mail box banks. This is the smallest, just slightly bigger than the stamp dispenser I posted at the top of this thread. Could dispense stamps, theoretically.  |
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de61
Member
Posts: 262
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Post by de61 on Apr 8, 2022 4:18:08 GMT
Yes, swvl , the cinderellas were intended to be replaced by a coil roll of genuine stamps and were placed there to show how to feed the roll through the mailbox. Why it was a refrigerator magnet I'll never know. If I attached it to my refrigerator, it would probably be set on fire by the toaster! ... and, very cool brightonpete . I like the 3-D effect of the Star Trek dispenser. ... and, thanks for your initial post jamesw . If I hadn't seen it, I probably would have forgotten I had the Looney Tunes dispensers. |
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