USPS Planning Steve Jobs, Jimi Hendrix Postage Stamps

A Steve Jobs postage stamp
from Mozambique, circa 2011
Image: shutterstock.com

The United States Postal Service used to produce simple stamps for a simpler time. The current USPS regime has decided to "engage" postal service users by creating groovy, somewhat celebrity-driven stamps.

According to a Washington Post article, the cherished dead who will appear opposite lickable stamp surfaces include Steve Jobs, Jimi Hendrix, and Johnny Carson. I like the idea of placing these figures on some "forever" postage stamps, although I'm trying to imagine any of the three actually mailing a letter.

Vegas Puts Stamp on Liberty

The face on the US Postal Service's newly issued Statue of Liberty stamp looks like the bronze monument in New York Harbor. However, looks can be deceiving. In this case, the stamp's face is based on the Statue of Liberty replica in Las Vegas. You can't make this stuff up: here's The New York Times article on the episode.

Cultural Revolution Stamps Shatter Auction Record

The Financial Times noted today that a set of four very rare stamps from China's Cultural Revolution period sold at a Hong Kong auction for a price well beyond the asking price. The stamps are shown here, and were sold via Interasia Auctions.

While the FT article wanders into a discussion of other collectibles, such as A-list vintage wine, the heart of the story is about the Chinese historical event that will not go quietly into the night. The Cultural Revolution was a ghastly nightmare for China. The period remains something of an object lesson in mass hysteria, an unreasoned belief in cult figures, and a blind allegiance to ideology.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I once knew someone who had a marvelous stamp collection focused on the Cultural Revolution. The stamps reflected an eerie world in which zealotry supplanted argument, families turned against their own relatives, and xenophobic fervor reached dangerous levels. No one wants to see that time resurrected, except putting it under one's thumb for a highly valuable scrapbook collection.