Stamp Out War -- formerly called Ukraine project

Advertising is an outsourceable skill, within limits.
You do your "thing", then some advertising whiz could skillfully promote it.
Or you can learn, as you do it.

Your project is a new textbook case study, at the confluence of many things.
It is a role model for how philately/maximaphily/deltiology/marcophily and postcrossing can unite a few people from around the world, for a worthy cause.
I supported you in this from (before) Day 1.
Bravo for all your efforts, Linda & global team!

philatelia

Everyone voted for this one so far. So here is the sketch of the website using this new name: www.stampoutwar.com/

Thoughts on how to improve it is much appreciated!

dorincard -- Thank you for your encouragement. It came at the moment I feel most dejected!

Lately, my everyday has been in an abominable swirl -- Everyday I wake up, I search 3 auction houses in the world to write to, then I wait. And I wait until next day to contact another 3.

So far I have emailed the most prominent ones in UK, US, Switzerland, and Germany. No one ever bothered to send a quick reply. 

I don't know if it's because this (selling non-traditional maxicard) is not their 'usual thing' or the timing too tight.

It’s not difficult to put items onto an auction platform, but they will not sell for a high enough price unless some advertisement is done. Prominent auction houses know where to look for clients. Whereas I don't.

According to my calculation, each card has to be priced at at least $7 to make any proceed. It seems to be a rather high price for a maxicard ...

Linda
Is it really true that all post offices everywhere are closed on Saturdays? I just came from the US Post Office in Upland, California, and it is open on Saturdays. They close at 14:00 instead of 18:00, but they were open today, and I would guess that other offices are, too, although perhaps not all.

Anyway, just FYI.

The smaller branches  in the Sacramento ar5ea  have been closed on Saturdays for a while.  The larger post offices are open at least half a day. There is a labor shortage even for mail personell.

I am preparing some documents that will go with the advertisement of Stamp Out War project. I need to find out the Scott numbers of some of the stamps used in creating my Ukraine Support Maxicards. Can someone who has access to the Scott catalogue give me a hand of help?

The stamps whose Scott numbers I am looking for are:


Croatia:
For Peace in Ukraine (2022)




Estonia:
Glory to Ukraine (2022)




Japan:
Greetings: Summer 2022: Sunflowers (2022)


Hospitality Flowers: Series 18: Sunflower (2022)


World of Arts : Series 4 (2022)


World of Arts : Series 4 (2022)


Greetings: Summer 2022: Sunflowers (2022)




Latvia:
Solidarity with Ukraine (2022)




Luxembourg:
Support of Ukrainian Refugees (2022)




Moldova:
Moldova Seeks Peace (2022)




Netherlands:
150th Birth Anniversary of Vincent Van Gogh: Vase with Sunflowers (2003)




Poland:
Solidarity with Ukraine (2022)




Romania:
Flowers For Honey Production: Sunflower (2019)


Flowers: Adonis vernalis (1970)



Spain:
Spain with Ukraine (2022)




Taiwan:
Taipei International Flora Expo (2010)



Ukraine:
Independence Day of Ukraine (1994)


5th Anniversary of Independence (1996)


10th Anniversary of Independence (2001)


20th Anniversary of Independence (2011)


30th Anniversary of Independence (2021)


Free, Unbreakable, Invincible (2022)

No problem, Linda

I just wanted to see if there might be some way that you could do your thing without needing to skip two years. For what it’s worth, I would be willing to go to the post office here in California on Sat-24-Aug-2024, if you wish.

Just let me know if I can help you in some way. I think that what you are doing is great.

Hey folks!

I made two documents for my Ukraine project.

The first is for an online exhibition aiming for stamp enthusiasts (so no definition of maxicard):

www.dropbox.com/s/f3yb7vyimvug5rr/StampOutWar_Exhibit_v05.pdf?dl=0

The second is a presentation that tells what I wrote in the Overview section of the online exhibition in slides:

www.dropbox.com/s/pdiyge5z8ifye72/StampOutWar_Presentation_Animated_v05.pdf?dl=0

It is destinated for the general public so there is some explanation about maxicard.

Any suggestion on how to improve both documents is much appreciated!

P.S. The Scott numbers I was looking for will be placed in the first document, the online exhibition.

Linda Skychanger. 😉

I started a thread on Postcrossing forum asking about a possible 2026 edition of Stamp Out War. This time, the postcards will not bear my photograph, but will be uniquely hand-drawn/painted by artists around the world. Then the hand-drawn/painted postcards will be made into maxicards that can be auctioned off.

I posted in the art forum WetCanvas about the same ambitious project, but no reply for the past 2 weeks. Some Postcrossing forum members have the habit of hand-drawing / painting their own postcards, so I am taking a chance there. So far one Postcrosser from Singapore is willing to volunteer her talent.

There will be a 2-year pause to this international collaboration from my part, because I really need a break to work on the artistic side of this project. However, if someone is willing to keep this project running, I would be more than willing to help passing down whatever legacy I have built up during the first 2 years.

So, the 2026 event may be the last one I will be in charge of organising at the global scale.

---

Also, some people wondered about my decision to exlude the 25 countries that had participated in the 2022 edition of the project. My reason is that the more countries are included, the harder I as the organiser have to work. There are a lot of countries in the world whose voice people often neglect, so I think the priority should be to invite people from countries that had not participated yet to participate.

Another reason is about stamp stock. Beside the newly issued Ukraine support stamps by little more than a dozen countries, most of the sunflower / yellow flower stamps used in this project are old and difficult to find – at least on online market. In the past year, I have purchased pretty much all such stamps that I could find were afforadable, so that today, I simply don’t have any stamp left for a fair amount of countries. Unless I can find local dealers in each individual country who offer those stamps at a reasonable price …

But, my decision is subject to change. So far I have received messages from American, Lithuanian, German, Austrian stating their wish to participate. I will see how likely an eventual inclusion of the previous 25 countries in the 2023 edition can be.

Here is the online exhibition (pdf) I will submit to EXPONET. It contains the scan of the one and the only complete set that will be auctionned off. Enjoy!

Erratum: In the auction catalogue, stamp identification on p.19 and 48 has been corrected.

Tomorrow is the big day!

In the end, amidst more than 50 mails I sent out to the rest of the world, about 40 of them have reached their intended recipients.

Tomorrow, some 40 people across the 5-6 continents -- including our friend ameis33 -- will show their solidarity with Ukraine by bringing my blue/yellow postcards to local post offices and getting them postmarked! People around the world united by one common cause to perform one common ritual. How cool is this!?

Results of the first week, from Slovakia and Monaco: