daveg28
Member 
Posts: 1,015 
What I collect: U.S., Canada, Great Britain & Commonwealth, France (esp. 1950-80), DDR, USSR
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Post by daveg28 on Nov 2, 2021 12:29:37 GMT
I see that the first images of the 2022 U.S. stamps have been released. My attention immediately went to the pony cars stamps. I'm rather underwhelmed by most of the rest. LOTS of flowers, it seems. My disappointment is probably because I long for historic anniversaries commemorated on stamps, and we seem to get a little further away from that every year. I truly hope that 2026 will see a resurgence in historic event stamps for the U.S.'s 250th birthday. Also, I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I'll never see engraved U.S. stamps again, but I feel that just using photographs is a design cop-out. Don't care for the clip-art look of many stamps, either.
That's my three cents worth. What do you all think?
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,346
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Nov 2, 2021 13:22:17 GMT
Yes, they look dull and lots of plants (including Love and blueberries). In some cases, I would prefer a photo especially of people since the stylized art are often more cartoonish. It is not just lack of engraving but the simplistic designs lack detail. For example, the high value American Landmarks used for priority rates seem to lack detail. For the price, these should be engraved.
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daveg28
Member
Posts: 1,015
What I collect: U.S., Canada, Great Britain & Commonwealth, France (esp. 1950-80), DDR, USSR
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Post by daveg28 on Nov 2, 2021 14:54:09 GMT
I don't know. I think those high value stamps do have a bit more detail, for the type of art they are. I like them. Wish I could get my hands on more of them to put in my albums. I don't usually buy those at the post office. I generally only get them when I or someone I know gets them on a package.
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swvl
Member
Posts: 523
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 Jan 9, 2022 22:11:14 GMT
I'm looking forward myself to the Pete Seeger stamp. I'm a fan of his music and life, and they're nicely designed to my eye. I am also fond of the small-denomination fruit definitives from recent years, and the blueberries look like a nice addition to that series.
All that said - I also miss the engraved stamp designs of years past, and wish USPS would bring them back now and then!
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swvl
Member
Posts: 523
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 Jan 14, 2022 23:27:42 GMT
Looking at the latest batch of 2022 announcements, I like the look of the Flags on Barns set - very nice art. If only they were available in quantities below the coil of 3,000, I’d be tempted to make a cover! The Shel Silverstein and Mariachi stamps also look nice.
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Cephus
Member
Posts: 161
What I collect: U.S. 1847-1993, Australia, China, New Zealand
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Post by Cephus on Jan 15, 2022 22:02:55 GMT
I almost never see actual stamps in the mail anymore, even on philatelic mail. It's all just stickers and what's the fun of that?
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kostia84
Member
Posts: 192
What I collect: Pharmaceutics (thematic), WWII (thematic), Israel (chronologically)
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Post by kostia84 on Jan 22, 2022 19:46:36 GMT
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,346
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Jan 22, 2022 21:14:01 GMT
The stamp image does not do her justice.
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swvl
Member
Posts: 523
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 Jan 22, 2022 21:15:45 GMT
Very interesting story, kostia84 , thank you for sharing this! (Edit to add: I would have liked to see the stamp feature one of Lewis' sculptures, which are quite remarkable.) |
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sudbury12000
Member
Posts: 315
What I collect: Canada, Great Britain, Germany, World Pre 1925
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Post by sudbury12000 on Jan 23, 2022 0:10:03 GMT
Agreed with your 3cents. For the US I only collect used and am having a very tough time getting supply. I bought some kiloware but ended up with a lot of the same stamps. Does anyone have a supplier or want to trade for my dupes. I have started putting my dupes on eBay but get very little for my hard work. Cleaning those stamps is hard work. I will say that the USPS does not take into account collectors in anything they do. Just my 3 CDN sents.
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Cephus
Member
Posts: 161
What I collect: U.S. 1847-1993, Australia, China, New Zealand
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Post by Cephus on Jan 23, 2022 21:13:59 GMT
Sure they do. Half of the stamps they release these days are aimed at collectors, hoping they'll just buy their garbage stickers and not actually expect the USPS to do any work in exchange.
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swvl
Member
Posts: 523
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 Jun 11, 2022 20:16:10 GMT
Earlier this week, USPS announced a surprise new issue for later this year: four stamps honoring " the iconic Buzz Lightyear" — you know, the fictional astronaut toy from the Toy Story movies, as well as his own prequel coming soon from Pixar. My first reaction was, "What schlock!" My second thought was, "Well, there's something a little funny about giving a series of stamps to a fictional character whose defining characteristic in the movies is an inflated sense of his own heroic importance." That said, all in all, I still think these stamps are pretty tacky, and I'm not quite amused enough to consider buying or making a cover with them. |
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,346
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Jun 12, 2022 9:34:37 GMT
There should be some moratorium on pop culture topics on stamps as they have with people. The characters have yet come close to the category of classic.
They are replacing the high value Liberty issues with spirograph designs.
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Post by carabop on Jun 17, 2022 16:56:08 GMT
A lot of US stamps I would rather skip. I like flag stamps but come on how many of the same one do you have to make and just change where you put the micro printing. Tons of flowers there has to be something better than flowers once in awhile. Some of the stamps that are considered art work I just don’t see it. If I did skip the stamps I didn’t like my collection would have lots of holes so I get them anyway. Haha the joy of my main collection being USA.
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loupy
Member
Back and active, thank you!
Posts: 70
What I collect: US to 2000 with a focus on 720 & 721, WW 1840 - 1930, DDR 5 year workers, Machins, Canada Centennials, Brazil Allegories, Mexico Archiecture & Archaeology 1950 -75, used stamps preffered when possible.
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Post by loupy on Jun 17, 2022 17:29:54 GMT
For me the modern US stamps are just D.O.A. No engraving, glue that requires chemicals to remove the stamp from the paper, and designs that seem to ignore the American historical aspect of the majority vs. constant attention to the minority in historical experience. All that along with just TOO MANY yearly stamp issues which seem to be designed with emptying the pockets of mint stamp collectors for PO revenue.
All my outgoing mail uses current commemoratives, and I was once admonished by a local Postmaster who informed me that "those stamps are not intended to actually be used for mail" but in my world, that is all they are good for, as I have no interest in collecting them at all.
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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 Jun 17, 2022 18:41:28 GMT
A lot of US stamps I would rather skip. I like flag stamps but come on how many of the same one do you have to make and just change where you put the micro printing. Tons of flowers there has to be something better than flowers once in awhile. Some of the stamps that are considered art work I just don’t see it. If I did skip the stamps I didn’t like my collection would have lots of holes so I get them anyway. Haha the joy of my main collection being USA.
Peter |
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daveg28
Member
Posts: 1,015
What I collect: U.S., Canada, Great Britain & Commonwealth, France (esp. 1950-80), DDR, USSR
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Post by daveg28 on Mar 6, 2023 20:15:43 GMT
Reviving this thread just a bit, because I'm looking at pages for 2022 for my Mystic Heirloom album for. I looking at the pages Mystic sent me for 2020 and 2021, and I'm not overly thrilled with them. I'll lay some blame on the USPS, because they issue a lot of different stamps in different formats. However, Mystic doesn't seem to know what to do with the different issues. There's a lot of different formats of mini sheets (20 stamps), and they show them in different manners. They might show a strip of the five different stamps from a mini sheet. They may allow for the different stamps to be mounted individually. They may allow an entire page for a complete mini sheet. They're latest idea, which they've done since 2019, is to have a set of pages for complete sheets. But they don't do that for ALL of the mini sheets, and they number the pages differently so that they don't fall in line with the pages for that particular year.
I have access to Steiner pages, and I'm really thinking about using those going forward. I've downloaded recent years' pages, and I like what I see. The spaces allowed for the stamps kind of make more sense. I like how they're showing strips of 4, 5, or blocks of 10 from mini sheets. I can add a page for a sheet if I keep the entire pane. The Mayflower stamps in 2020...I love that mini sheet, but Mystic didn't deem it worthy of a page for the entire pane. It's a little frustrating.
If I go this route, I'll lose the stamp info on the left facing pages. I'll have to use white paper, because I'm sure I can't find cream colored paper of that same weight. But I can more or less arrange the stamps in a way I like better. However, I'm not sure if my OCD nature will allow me to change to different pages after all this time. Steiner hasn't done the 2022 pages yet, so I have some time to think about it.
Whew. OK, venting finished. I'd be curious to hear from others who use the Mystic album...I know there's some of you out there. What's your solution been?
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,346
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Mar 6, 2023 20:40:41 GMT
The Steiner pages for US stamps are a free download.
I would share your feedback to Mystic. While I was actively collecting US stamps in a Mystic album, I was modifying a lot of pages to add varieties (those not even on Scott pages), etc. I did them in Scribus but AlbumEasy could be used as well (less learning curve), For the descriptions on left side, I either scanned them and put on a new page or redid them.
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renden
Member
Posts: 8,711
What I collect: World W collector with ++ interests in BNA (Canada etc) and USA
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Post by renden on Mar 6, 2023 21:15:38 GMT
The Steiner pages for US stamps are a free download. I would share your feedback to Mystic. While I was actively collecting US stamps in a Mystic album, I was modifying a lot of pages to add varieties (those not even on Scott pages), etc. I did them in Scribus but AlbumEasy could be used as well (less learning curve), For the descriptions on left side, I either scanned them and put on a new page or redid them. Al, link please !! René |
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brookbam
Member
APS 236261
Posts: 226
What I collect: US...everything until I decide what I don't want to collect! And now thanks to a TSF give-away I'm adding Space topicals!
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Post by brookbam on Mar 7, 2023 0:35:30 GMT
Well....I *LOOKED* at using the Mystic albums along with the Scott albums but the price was too expensive for my pocketbook for the Scott albums and I just didn't like the fact that I could not get a really good feeling on the Mystic albums. I was going to order an update set for 2020 (or some random year...just to get an idea...) and just see what the pages looked like for the layout but in the end I decided to go with AlbumEasy. For a couple of reasons: The program is free (which I cannot believe!). The program developer is here clivel. I figured I'd know who to blame if I didn't like the layout (the program developer??? LOL). I could make it *mine*! OK. That was more than a couple. In the end, I found AlbumEasy had a somewhat steep initial learning curve but after a couple of evenings and picking up a couple of good to know commands, it got easier. Much easier. Mike |
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,346
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Mar 7, 2023 10:59:32 GMT
Free US pages link www.stampalbums.com/free_us.aspFor AlbumEasy, copy/paste is your friend. There are enough sample albums with source to see how do most anything and all you need is paste then tweak. You will learn in the tweaking process. The beauty is you can code, proof (create PDF), and fix continuously and the proof tool will find most any syntax error so will point to the line causing the issue. Have a challenge? Ask here or ask Clive,. |
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