What we collect!

 

Stamporama Discussion Board Logo
For People Who Love To Talk About Stamps
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Stamporama Discussion Board Logo
For People Who Love To Talk About Stamps
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Stamporama Discussion Board Logo
For People Who Love To Talk About Stamps



What we collect!
What we collect!


General Philatelic/Gen. Discussion : Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

 

Author
Postings
philatelia
Members Picture


14 Nov 2020
01:42:49pm
One of the last big sources of postally used modern stamps - besides folks mailing bill payments - are Christmas cards. This is the time of year for all of us collectors to beg and wheedle our families to use some BIG stamps this year - pleeeeeez? LoL! And save the envelopes, too!

A fun idea for us collectors - dig out those sheets of Christmas seals that many of us have in folders, stockbooks or envelopes and USE them! If they are placed so that they get hit by the cancel (tied) they become a more interesting cover, especially to some of our friends here who are known Seal aficionados. I found some vintage 1930s seals in a recent auction purchase and I’ve been using one of every outgoing envelope. A few stamp friends actually wrote to thank me. Cool!

And I was rather surprised to learn that cancelled Seals off paper are popular in their own right. Denmark, for example, has an active Seal group that even issues their own Seals.

So a very Happy “Seal Season” everyone!


Like
Login to Like
this post

"August 2023 - selling penny start bargain lots on EBay - https://www.ebay.com/str/philatelia"

www.ebay.com/str/philatelia
sheepshanks
Members Picture


14 Nov 2020
02:39:54pm
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

We have had three cards from the UK already this year, not a stamp in sight, just flipping labels.
I bought $100 worth of Canada stamps yesterday to send our cards to UK, had to ask specifically for the Christmas commemoratives, otherwise you get the little tiny ones you can hardly see. What ticks me off is that you have to pay tax on top of the postage.

Like 
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
FrequentFlyer
Members Picture


14 Nov 2020
03:30:01pm
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Here are a couple of covers for the first day of issue for the 1962 and 1964 Christmas seals. I don't think collectors do these anymore.

FF

Image Not Found

Image Not Found

Like 
5 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
amsd
Members Picture


Editor, Seal News; contributor, JuicyHeads

14 Nov 2020
08:22:50pm

Auctions
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

i suspect it's not collectors but ALA that's the obstacle.

Like
Login to Like
this post

"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"

juicyheads.com/link.php?PLJZJP
londonbus1
Members Picture


15 Nov 2020
01:50:27am
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Nice to see this discussion although I have to say I assumed cards were a thing of the past.
Most of my family and friends no longer send them and shops in the UK have been having trouble getting rid of past stocks for years now. Sales have been declining rapidly as folk prefer to send their greetings in other (money-saving) ways. Much like letters.

It may well mean used seals will become a good sideline collecting oddity as they become more and more scarce.

Londonbus1

Like
Login to Like
this post
musicman
Members Picture


APS #213005

15 Nov 2020
07:51:39am
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Funny -

Even though I am an avid stamp and seal collector, neither myself or my wife are card-sending people....never have been.

That being said, I do still prefer to send bill payments thru the mail rather than paying online when possible.

I do appreciate those who do still use stamps on incoming Christmas cards. And if seals are attached, so much the better!

And as far as card envelopes, I don't usually save any covers unless they are of uniform size, like #6 or #10 envelopes. Any other sizes just get the stamps removed unless there is something unusual like auxiliary marking, etc.

Come to think of it, I don't really care for the colored backing paper either, most times.


Am I just too particular??

Confused Winking

Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
amsd
Members Picture


Editor, Seal News; contributor, JuicyHeads

15 Nov 2020
10:02:40am

Auctions
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

thought i would add a fine point to Theresa's initial post that got all this going, and that is:

some of us who collect Christmas seals on cover do so focusing on the year in question: 2020 seals on 2020 covers, and postally tied

I will say it's often hard to get ALA to actually send you seals, and, oddly, I get far more calendars, address labels, note pads, and other ephemera than I do seals, although I only ever send donations for the seals.

I don't even know any after market seal dealers, although I'm sure they're out there. The one I had used has dropped out, choosing instead to focus on older material. And I don't know of anyone who does the Santa Claus, IN or Christmas, FL mailings anymore. Both had immense support from their postmasters.

There is a dealer in MA who handles seals affixed to Christmas STAMP FDCs, but it's the stamp, not the seal, that is featured in the FD.

Thanks again, Theresa, for starting this conversation.

And, for anyone looking to sell or trade their tied Christmas seals, I'm always interested.

David

Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.

"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"

juicyheads.com/link.php?PLJZJP
sheepshanks
Members Picture


15 Nov 2020
10:15:13am
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

I abhor the greetings on social media in lieu of a card or 'phone call. Each of my family, sons, daughters, inlaws, brothers, sisters and their partners, all get a birthday card and a Christmas card. Each one will have a fountain pen written note and also in the Christmas cards a printed, single page rundown of what has been happening through the past year. Not that this year will have much "news" but at least our family has not had any bereavements and nobody is currently suffering. (Blessings counted).
I just think it helps to keep families, often now so far apart, in touch with how we are all doing in this frantic world.
More distant relatives also get Christmas cards with a personal message, again handwritten, within.
I also try to pick cards that remind me of Christmases past, I particularly like the old winter scenes, preferably the art type but it gets harder to buy them each year. I do not buy the 15-50 card packs of the same design so many of which seem to flood the market.
My birthdate on one social media site is incorrect on purpose, I'm 115 years old, but friends and even some family still wish me a happy day on the wrong day!
Send a card, use a stamp and ask the recipient to save the stamps and send them back next year with their card.
Now to start writing in the 40 plus cards for this years mailing.

Like 
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
ArtStamp

17 Nov 2020
12:57:49pm
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

In response to Sheepshanks post:

I am an inveterate Christmas cards and letter writer. I use a fountain pen. We learned using fountain pens in school: in the lower grades we used a wooden holder with nib that was dipped in an ink bottle that was inside a round hole in the upper right-hand side of our desk. (Am I, perhaps, dating myself?) Then, in fifth grade, we had to purchase an Esterbrook fountain pen to bring to class. We neatly composed our lessons in absolutely well-cared-for notebooks. It was required to cover these with a special paper. We did not have parental help to do it. We learned and did it ourselves. Then, in the upper grades we learned typing in huge Underwood typewriters. We were 12 or 13. Touch typing it was called. But the pen writing habit stuck, to this day. I always use a fountain pen when corresponding with family, friends and acquaintances.

I have sent Christmas cards and vintage postcards, with a beautiful array of postage stamps affixed, to stamporama.com members who sell me, or trade with me, postage stamps. I enjoy the writing, the envelope decorating and the sending, and, it goes without saying, receiving and reading. However, replying is not necessary, nor required... The act must be unhindered by rules or a protocol.

As far as purchasing cards, we receive plenty of "free" cards from all the charities to which we contribute. I did find and bought some postage stamp themed cards at A.C. Moore. The store is now gone, purchased by giant Michael's. Oh, well... And we get the Christmas seals too. And we use them too...

Yes, if we collect postage stamps, we should be able to correspond and use postage stamps as often as possible. That's the reason for their existence, and for our hobby. And the future (labels, emails, social media) is absolutely bleak and dry for those who enjoy receiving letters and cards, and who find pleasure in examining postage stamps from far off places. ((My daughter has the letter writing-envelope decorating-letter-receiving "bug"... Since she was a small child, I used to purchase beautiful USA stamps for her. I wrote long letters to her and her brother when they went away to college…))


Happy Thanksgiving to all, from ArtStamp!

Like 
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
51Studebaker
Members Picture


Dialysis, damned if you do...dead if you don't

17 Nov 2020
02:19:55pm
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

I have placed early Christmas Seals on our holiday cards since the 1970s. I try to match the era Seal I use with the age of the card recipient (i.e. putting a 1945 Seal on a card to a person who was a kid in 1945). My family and friends seem to enjoy them each year (from the feedback).

I disagree with the pessimistic view of future of philately if stamps were to go away. Many stamp collectors limit their perspectives to just the stamp issuing era of postal history but humans have been driven to figure out ways to communicate with each other since they lived in caves. As you know the first form of postal systems consisted of messengers and horseback riders delivering verbal communications between villages and towns. This evolved to written communication with folder letters/stampless covers. Stamps represented another evolutionary step and were done to deal with accounting. Humans have now moved on to email. But collecting stampless covers remained popular when stamps made an appearance. Books and libraries did not go away when movies theaters became popular. Home gardening did not go away when grocery stored became available in every city and town. I have even heard some suggest that stamp collecting might see a surge in popularity if their daily use were to be retired.
Don

Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.

"Current Score... Don 1 - Cancer 0"

stampsmarter.org
FrequentFlyer
Members Picture


18 Nov 2020
11:44:37am
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

ASMD's post above about collecting seals on cover with the posting year corresponding to the seal year and with the seal tied to cover is the way I prefer to collect them. I don't have a large collection of these, but they do turn up on eBay from time to time, and, if reasonably priced, I will bid on them.

Here's one that I couldn't pass up. Possibly a non-philatelic cover, unless the sender or recipient were collectors, it features a block of four 1947 seals with a bullseye machine cancel. The correct placement of the block of four, the use of a current commemorative, and the fact it has survived intact make it a little suspect. The only negative about it is the lightly inked canceling device.

Also like ASMD, I don't know of any current dealers in seals, but as a collector of stamp dealers' covers I have acquired a couple examples of Christmas seal dealers' covers from the past. I find their covers attractive additions to my collection.

FF

Image Not Found

Image Not Found

Image Not Found






Like 
4 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
ArtStamp

18 Nov 2020
10:25:24pm
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Hello Londonbus1,
How's the weather over yonder...?

I definitely do not think Cards and Letters are a thing of the past or on their way out.

For instance, many companies send Cards (Holiday, birthday, etc. Even Coco, my Maltese, gets a birthday card on her birthday! We get birthday cards from our car dealers too.)

My wife and I love buying cards that say something that moves us. And if they are a bargain, better yet. We were in Harrod's and we bought some magnificent British theme cards. We decorated the envelopes with the Crown Jewels postage stamps series we bought in the Tower of London. We made several people very happy!

It is a fact of life that if you wish to communicate officially with anyone you'd better send a letter, and spend money Certifying and getting Return Receipt Requested. And use high value postage stamps. Someone will get the stamp... someday...

Then there are the Family Letters. My sisters and brother live 20 minutes away and I write them letters from time to time. And also to my son who lives in another state. It gives me pleasure to write, even though, as I commented in another post, receiving a reply is not required... I do understand... And what is written does not disappear in the ether either...

Try letter writing and a card mailing from time to time. I would gladly send you one! Florida Gators are standard fare...

If you have a chance, take a look at France's series from 1997 and 1998 La Lettre, and Journee d'une lettre (Pleasure of Letter Writing and A letter's Journey) Original cartoon drawings by Henri Galeron. Great stuff.

We also use the Christmas Seals we receive on all our cards, and letters.

Finally, the Japanese, we discovered, love paper, paper-making, gift wrapping, and, of course, letter writing. Their series of Letter Writing Week stamps go back several decades. Beautiful stuff. Do they know something we don't know?

Stay Safe and Keep on Writing...




Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
cdj1122
Members Picture


Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..

20 Nov 2020
05:45:01am
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

" ... Do they know something we don't know? ..."

Everybody seems to know something "we" don't know.
The more you learn or know, the more you realise you
don't know. And just when you think you've gotten a
handle on things, your eyes begin to fail.
C'est la vie, mes amis.

Like
Login to Like
this post

".... You may think you understood what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you think you heard is not what I thought I meant. .... "
amsd
Members Picture


Editor, Seal News; contributor, JuicyHeads

20 Nov 2020
10:50:04am

Auctions
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Don (frequent flyer)

those are lovely covers. Your greeting card-sized cover is almost certainly commercial (non-philatelic) although it's possible a collector or dealer sent/received it (if that negates its collectability, all my sendings are now tainted). Most philatelic-inspired covers would be #6, not greeting cards. The block of 4 is a bonus.

Elmer Long was a bit time dealer of stamps AND seals. And one can pretty much bet that the Christmas Seal Shoppe sold seals.

and, searching for that Shoppe in Cedar Rapids, I found your December post to the Stamp Forum, telling others pretty much what I just told you. But in case others don't know, i'll keep it here

Like 
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.

"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"

juicyheads.com/link.php?PLJZJP
philatelia
Members Picture


20 Nov 2020
11:03:25am
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Today I spent some time puttering on my Danish Christmas Seals. They released several sheets of all different stamps and it’s fun to try to reassemble the sheet with “used” singles. I won an inexpensive auction lot a while back chockablock full of these Seals so I have plenty with which to play. It’s relaxing and sometimes a bit challenging because a few of the sheets have very similar designs with only minor differences between the individual stamps.

I like the maps in the background on this sheet. This was issued before Greenland and Faroes started issuing their own Seals.

Compressing the pics sure makes them blurry! The original was crisp!

tImage Not Found


Like 
6 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.

"August 2023 - selling penny start bargain lots on EBay - https://www.ebay.com/str/philatelia"

www.ebay.com/str/philatelia
philatelia
Members Picture


20 Nov 2020
11:19:49am
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

And here is a little sheetlet:


Image Not Found


Like 
4 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.

"August 2023 - selling penny start bargain lots on EBay - https://www.ebay.com/str/philatelia"

www.ebay.com/str/philatelia
musicman
Members Picture


APS #213005

20 Nov 2020
09:43:01pm
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Cool, T!

Never saw that mini sheet before!

I have the 1907 issue - would love to have the 1904....

....someday! Big Grin



Thanks for sharing!

Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
musicman
Members Picture


APS #213005

20 Nov 2020
09:50:45pm
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Whoops....my mistake - got the dates flipped!

I have the 1904 and NOT the 1907!

Big Grin

Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
pigdoc

10 Dec 2020
07:52:28pm
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Many may not know that The First Christmas Seal was issued in Denmark, in 1904. Here is an image showing Denmark 1904-1906 seals:
Image Not Found
I'm not sure what the story is on the imperf variety at left. Incidentally, the image of Christian IX on the 1906 seal (whose reign ended in 1906) is an absolute dead ringer for my best high school buddy!

I also have a 50-year collection of Danish Christmas Seals on Christmas postcards, all postally used. The only year I'm missing is the first, 1904. I've been chasing that one for years. Christmas postcards were a solid tradition in the first half of the 20th century in Denmark. For me, the challenge was to find aesthetic images of landscapes, windmills, or traditional Danish architecture. Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing from this collection.

I've shared a few of these in years past, including some caricatures drawn by the famous Larson, here:

Larson Christmas postcards

Scroll on down in that thread to find more images.

Enjoy!
-Paul

Like 
5 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
amsd
Members Picture


Editor, Seal News; contributor, JuicyHeads

11 Dec 2020
10:50:34am

Auctions
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

we were blessed to have Mette Heindorff as one of our members; she maintained an exquisite web site devoted to the Danish seals. She died years ago, and I think her site has been pulled down.

Like
Login to Like
this post

"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"

juicyheads.com/link.php?PLJZJP
musicman
Members Picture


APS #213005

11 Dec 2020
09:38:25pm
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Sadly, David is correct that her site no longer is available.


However, this site might be of some use - it certainly has been for me!



http://www.christmasseal.dk/english/site.html

Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
BermudaSailor
Members Picture


18 Dec 2020
08:53:58am
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Here is a page from my Bermuda Christmas Seal collection. It displays a progressive printing of Bermuda's first Christmas Seal from 1946. Bermuda's Christmas Seals were chiefly comprised of copies of those used in the United States.Image Not Found

Like 
8 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
BermudaSailor
Members Picture


18 Dec 2020
09:10:51am
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Here is one of the two covers I have bearing Christmas Seals Image Not Found

Like 
4 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
smaier
Members Picture


Sally

18 Dec 2020
10:15:01am
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

The printing progression is neat.....thanks for posting that. Very nice.

Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
FrequentFlyer
Members Picture


20 Dec 2020
11:05:33am
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

A couple of Christmas items from the 1940s to keep this thread going to Christmas day.

The first, a WW II-related cover postmarked at Nescopeck, Pennsylvania, on Christmas Day, 1943. The triangular pendent to the left of the addressee is a paste-on that looks like it was cut from a picture of 1943 Christmas seals.

Image Not Found

The second, a 1947 Christmas seal cover with a tied 1947 Christmas seal and an undecipherable, at least to me, place of mailing. If anyone recognizes the post office in the cancel please advise so I can do a proper write-up for this cover.

Image Not Found


FF


Like 
4 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
Philatarium
Members Picture


APS #187980

20 Dec 2020
12:56:09pm
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

FF: Those are excellent!! Thumbs Up

Like
Login to Like
this post

"You gotta put down the duckie if you wanna play the saxophone. (Hoots the Owl -- Sesame Street)"

www.hipstamp.com/store/the-philatarium
FrequentFlyer
Members Picture


21 Dec 2020
10:53:31am
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Thanks, Philatarium.

FF

Like
Login to Like
this post
amsd
Members Picture


Editor, Seal News; contributor, JuicyHeads

21 Dec 2020
12:22:08pm

Auctions
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Great Covers, FF

Like
Login to Like
this post

"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"

juicyheads.com/link.php?PLJZJP
pigdoc

21 Dec 2020
05:02:56pm
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

I'll throw up a couple of my favorites from my Danish Christmas Postcard collection.

1940:
Image Not Found
Image Not Found

and 1942:
Image Not Found
Image Not Found

I love the artist's illustrations of windmills. And, the traditional homestead architecture, with thatched roof. Truly nostalgic images, in time of war. My grandfather Nielsen (born 1898, in Denmark) was a miller before emigrating to the US in 1926. I am named after his son.

-Paul

Like 
4 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
avro748
Members Picture


22 Dec 2020
05:33:35pm
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Image Not FoundImage Not Found
hello all. just a couple of christmas seal blocks you might like to see. merry xmas ken

Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
BenFranklin1902
Members Picture


Tom in Exton, PA

23 Dec 2020
01:09:26pm
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Image Not Found

Wanaque, NJ Christmas card mailed at special 1.5 cent rate for unsealed cards. And a 1953 Christmas seal.

Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.

"Check out my eBay Stuff! Username Turtles-Trading-Post"
BenFranklin1902
Members Picture


Tom in Exton, PA

23 Dec 2020
01:21:07pm
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Another philatelic happening during my Ben Franklin era of 1903-1909

Image Not Found

The first US Christmas seal. Version One, which sold out quickly

Image Not Found

Version two added "Happy New Year" since these were delivered late.

Image Not Found

1908

Image Not Found

1909. Technically my 1903 Franklin had been superseded by the new series as shown on this cover. Still, the new stamps were introduced across the USA as older stamp stocks ran out. Thus, there are a lot of my Franklins on covers from this era. I still need to find one with the 1909 seal.

Note- All of these seals are tied to the cards with postmarks. It's too easy to just add an unused seal to an old card. I turned down a lot of those since I couldn't guarantee their authenticity.

And a Merry Ben Franklin Christmas and Happy New Year to all!



Like 
6 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.

"Check out my eBay Stuff! Username Turtles-Trading-Post"
pigdoc

23 Dec 2020
07:59:11pm
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Here are a couple more from my Danish Christmas postcard collection. In Danish folklore, elves were mischievous, prone to larceny. In this first one, from 1915, elves are stealing milk. Yet, at the same time, they are being kind to the cows by feeding them:
Image Not Found

In this one, from 1942, the elves are stealing a pig:
Image Not Found

Enjoy!
-Paul

Like 
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
51Studebaker
Members Picture


Dialysis, damned if you do...dead if you don't

24 Dec 2020
12:30:54pm
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Image Not Found

Image Not Found

Thank you for this thread, it motivated me to blow the dust off my Christmas Seal collection and get it published online over the last day or so. My collection is US/Canada seals with lots of imperfs, proofs, errors, and progressive proofs; it is 100 pages.

https://stampsmarter.org/Learning/album_Seals.html

Brought back plenty of Christmas memories!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.
Don

Like 
5 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.

"Current Score... Don 1 - Cancer 0"

stampsmarter.org
pigdoc

24 Dec 2020
04:26:45pm
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Here's a recent acquisition:
Image Not Found
Another windmill!

-Paul

Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
pigdoc

24 Dec 2020
06:07:24pm
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Finishing out for this year with a couple of beauts by the famed artist Henrik Larson. One from 1912:
Image Not Found

And, another from 1913:
Image Not Found
Curious that the Mrs. Elf has wings, like an angel. And is that a bow and quiver? Like Cupid?
-Paul

Like 
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
Philatarium
Members Picture


APS #187980

24 Dec 2020
06:37:33pm
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Those are really special. Especially with the tied seals as well. Beautiful!

Thank you for sharing these.

Like
Login to Like
this post

"You gotta put down the duckie if you wanna play the saxophone. (Hoots the Owl -- Sesame Street)"

www.hipstamp.com/store/the-philatarium
BenFranklin1902
Members Picture


Tom in Exton, PA

26 Dec 2020
10:15:08am
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Image Not Found

I'll add this one to the pile... Mailed Christmas eve, received Christmas day 1906.

Image Not Found

And I've posted this one before... a haunting image. Were the bears kidnapping the little girl to eat for their Christmas dinner?

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! It was a trying year!

Like
Login to Like
this post

"Check out my eBay Stuff! Username Turtles-Trading-Post"
pigdoc

26 Dec 2020
12:20:34pm
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Very nice, Tom!
Lot least because it's an undivided back postcard!
I agree with your conclusion.
Yes, creepy!

Kind of makes you wonder a couple of things:
- What was the purpose of these potentially lawless (kidnapping) and horrifying (cannibalism) memes? To keep the little ones in line? "If you're not nice, this is what is going to happen to you!"
- How is it that these memes are largely expunged from modern society? I mean, I can't imagine seeing such a thing depicted on a Hallmark card. Are we becoming more 'soft' towards our children? Do these memes run a greater risk of stimulating latent trauma than during past generations? If so, why does modern society seem to be more concerned with that than society of past generations? To bury these from sight (as we seem to desire to do in modern times) seems to be a cloistering influence. And, I wouldn't agree that this trend is a Good Thing.

And, to link this category of memes to those I've collected on Danish Christmas cards, these deviant activities (including larceny, greed, and other vices like smoking and drinking) appeared to be acceptable, if not adorable in folk mythology attached to gnomes, elves, and the like...Brings to mind Grimm's Fairy Tales...

Would make a great graduate thesis or dissertation!


-Paul



Like 
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
vinman
Members Picture


26 Dec 2020
05:21:00pm
re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Tom,
I have a scan of the Teddy Bears. That card reminds me of this song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZANKFxrcKU

Like
Login to Like
this post

"The best in Big Band and Swing Music WRDV.org"

wrdv.org/
        

 

Author/Postings
Members Picture
philatelia

14 Nov 2020
01:42:49pm

One of the last big sources of postally used modern stamps - besides folks mailing bill payments - are Christmas cards. This is the time of year for all of us collectors to beg and wheedle our families to use some BIG stamps this year - pleeeeeez? LoL! And save the envelopes, too!

A fun idea for us collectors - dig out those sheets of Christmas seals that many of us have in folders, stockbooks or envelopes and USE them! If they are placed so that they get hit by the cancel (tied) they become a more interesting cover, especially to some of our friends here who are known Seal aficionados. I found some vintage 1930s seals in a recent auction purchase and I’ve been using one of every outgoing envelope. A few stamp friends actually wrote to thank me. Cool!

And I was rather surprised to learn that cancelled Seals off paper are popular in their own right. Denmark, for example, has an active Seal group that even issues their own Seals.

So a very Happy “Seal Season” everyone!


Like
Login to Like
this post

"August 2023 - selling penny start bargain lots on EBay - https://www.ebay.com/str/philatelia"

www.ebay.com/str/phi ...
Members Picture
sheepshanks

14 Nov 2020
02:39:54pm

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

We have had three cards from the UK already this year, not a stamp in sight, just flipping labels.
I bought $100 worth of Canada stamps yesterday to send our cards to UK, had to ask specifically for the Christmas commemoratives, otherwise you get the little tiny ones you can hardly see. What ticks me off is that you have to pay tax on top of the postage.

Like 
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
Members Picture
FrequentFlyer

14 Nov 2020
03:30:01pm

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Here are a couple of covers for the first day of issue for the 1962 and 1964 Christmas seals. I don't think collectors do these anymore.

FF

Image Not Found

Image Not Found

Like 
5 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
Members Picture
amsd

Editor, Seal News; contributor, JuicyHeads
14 Nov 2020
08:22:50pm

Auctions

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

i suspect it's not collectors but ALA that's the obstacle.

Like
Login to Like
this post

"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"

juicyheads.com/link. ...
Members Picture
londonbus1

15 Nov 2020
01:50:27am

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Nice to see this discussion although I have to say I assumed cards were a thing of the past.
Most of my family and friends no longer send them and shops in the UK have been having trouble getting rid of past stocks for years now. Sales have been declining rapidly as folk prefer to send their greetings in other (money-saving) ways. Much like letters.

It may well mean used seals will become a good sideline collecting oddity as they become more and more scarce.

Londonbus1

Like
Login to Like
this post
Members Picture
musicman

APS #213005
15 Nov 2020
07:51:39am

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Funny -

Even though I am an avid stamp and seal collector, neither myself or my wife are card-sending people....never have been.

That being said, I do still prefer to send bill payments thru the mail rather than paying online when possible.

I do appreciate those who do still use stamps on incoming Christmas cards. And if seals are attached, so much the better!

And as far as card envelopes, I don't usually save any covers unless they are of uniform size, like #6 or #10 envelopes. Any other sizes just get the stamps removed unless there is something unusual like auxiliary marking, etc.

Come to think of it, I don't really care for the colored backing paper either, most times.


Am I just too particular??

Confused Winking

Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Members Picture
amsd

Editor, Seal News; contributor, JuicyHeads
15 Nov 2020
10:02:40am

Auctions

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

thought i would add a fine point to Theresa's initial post that got all this going, and that is:

some of us who collect Christmas seals on cover do so focusing on the year in question: 2020 seals on 2020 covers, and postally tied

I will say it's often hard to get ALA to actually send you seals, and, oddly, I get far more calendars, address labels, note pads, and other ephemera than I do seals, although I only ever send donations for the seals.

I don't even know any after market seal dealers, although I'm sure they're out there. The one I had used has dropped out, choosing instead to focus on older material. And I don't know of anyone who does the Santa Claus, IN or Christmas, FL mailings anymore. Both had immense support from their postmasters.

There is a dealer in MA who handles seals affixed to Christmas STAMP FDCs, but it's the stamp, not the seal, that is featured in the FD.

Thanks again, Theresa, for starting this conversation.

And, for anyone looking to sell or trade their tied Christmas seals, I'm always interested.

David

Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.

"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"

juicyheads.com/link. ...
Members Picture
sheepshanks

15 Nov 2020
10:15:13am

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

I abhor the greetings on social media in lieu of a card or 'phone call. Each of my family, sons, daughters, inlaws, brothers, sisters and their partners, all get a birthday card and a Christmas card. Each one will have a fountain pen written note and also in the Christmas cards a printed, single page rundown of what has been happening through the past year. Not that this year will have much "news" but at least our family has not had any bereavements and nobody is currently suffering. (Blessings counted).
I just think it helps to keep families, often now so far apart, in touch with how we are all doing in this frantic world.
More distant relatives also get Christmas cards with a personal message, again handwritten, within.
I also try to pick cards that remind me of Christmases past, I particularly like the old winter scenes, preferably the art type but it gets harder to buy them each year. I do not buy the 15-50 card packs of the same design so many of which seem to flood the market.
My birthdate on one social media site is incorrect on purpose, I'm 115 years old, but friends and even some family still wish me a happy day on the wrong day!
Send a card, use a stamp and ask the recipient to save the stamps and send them back next year with their card.
Now to start writing in the 40 plus cards for this years mailing.

Like 
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
ArtStamp

17 Nov 2020
12:57:49pm

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

In response to Sheepshanks post:

I am an inveterate Christmas cards and letter writer. I use a fountain pen. We learned using fountain pens in school: in the lower grades we used a wooden holder with nib that was dipped in an ink bottle that was inside a round hole in the upper right-hand side of our desk. (Am I, perhaps, dating myself?) Then, in fifth grade, we had to purchase an Esterbrook fountain pen to bring to class. We neatly composed our lessons in absolutely well-cared-for notebooks. It was required to cover these with a special paper. We did not have parental help to do it. We learned and did it ourselves. Then, in the upper grades we learned typing in huge Underwood typewriters. We were 12 or 13. Touch typing it was called. But the pen writing habit stuck, to this day. I always use a fountain pen when corresponding with family, friends and acquaintances.

I have sent Christmas cards and vintage postcards, with a beautiful array of postage stamps affixed, to stamporama.com members who sell me, or trade with me, postage stamps. I enjoy the writing, the envelope decorating and the sending, and, it goes without saying, receiving and reading. However, replying is not necessary, nor required... The act must be unhindered by rules or a protocol.

As far as purchasing cards, we receive plenty of "free" cards from all the charities to which we contribute. I did find and bought some postage stamp themed cards at A.C. Moore. The store is now gone, purchased by giant Michael's. Oh, well... And we get the Christmas seals too. And we use them too...

Yes, if we collect postage stamps, we should be able to correspond and use postage stamps as often as possible. That's the reason for their existence, and for our hobby. And the future (labels, emails, social media) is absolutely bleak and dry for those who enjoy receiving letters and cards, and who find pleasure in examining postage stamps from far off places. ((My daughter has the letter writing-envelope decorating-letter-receiving "bug"... Since she was a small child, I used to purchase beautiful USA stamps for her. I wrote long letters to her and her brother when they went away to college…))


Happy Thanksgiving to all, from ArtStamp!

Like 
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
Members Picture
51Studebaker

Dialysis, damned if you do...dead if you don't
17 Nov 2020
02:19:55pm

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

I have placed early Christmas Seals on our holiday cards since the 1970s. I try to match the era Seal I use with the age of the card recipient (i.e. putting a 1945 Seal on a card to a person who was a kid in 1945). My family and friends seem to enjoy them each year (from the feedback).

I disagree with the pessimistic view of future of philately if stamps were to go away. Many stamp collectors limit their perspectives to just the stamp issuing era of postal history but humans have been driven to figure out ways to communicate with each other since they lived in caves. As you know the first form of postal systems consisted of messengers and horseback riders delivering verbal communications between villages and towns. This evolved to written communication with folder letters/stampless covers. Stamps represented another evolutionary step and were done to deal with accounting. Humans have now moved on to email. But collecting stampless covers remained popular when stamps made an appearance. Books and libraries did not go away when movies theaters became popular. Home gardening did not go away when grocery stored became available in every city and town. I have even heard some suggest that stamp collecting might see a surge in popularity if their daily use were to be retired.
Don

Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.

"Current Score... Don 1 - Cancer 0"

stampsmarter.org
Members Picture
FrequentFlyer

18 Nov 2020
11:44:37am

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

ASMD's post above about collecting seals on cover with the posting year corresponding to the seal year and with the seal tied to cover is the way I prefer to collect them. I don't have a large collection of these, but they do turn up on eBay from time to time, and, if reasonably priced, I will bid on them.

Here's one that I couldn't pass up. Possibly a non-philatelic cover, unless the sender or recipient were collectors, it features a block of four 1947 seals with a bullseye machine cancel. The correct placement of the block of four, the use of a current commemorative, and the fact it has survived intact make it a little suspect. The only negative about it is the lightly inked canceling device.

Also like ASMD, I don't know of any current dealers in seals, but as a collector of stamp dealers' covers I have acquired a couple examples of Christmas seal dealers' covers from the past. I find their covers attractive additions to my collection.

FF

Image Not Found

Image Not Found

Image Not Found






Like 
4 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
ArtStamp

18 Nov 2020
10:25:24pm

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Hello Londonbus1,
How's the weather over yonder...?

I definitely do not think Cards and Letters are a thing of the past or on their way out.

For instance, many companies send Cards (Holiday, birthday, etc. Even Coco, my Maltese, gets a birthday card on her birthday! We get birthday cards from our car dealers too.)

My wife and I love buying cards that say something that moves us. And if they are a bargain, better yet. We were in Harrod's and we bought some magnificent British theme cards. We decorated the envelopes with the Crown Jewels postage stamps series we bought in the Tower of London. We made several people very happy!

It is a fact of life that if you wish to communicate officially with anyone you'd better send a letter, and spend money Certifying and getting Return Receipt Requested. And use high value postage stamps. Someone will get the stamp... someday...

Then there are the Family Letters. My sisters and brother live 20 minutes away and I write them letters from time to time. And also to my son who lives in another state. It gives me pleasure to write, even though, as I commented in another post, receiving a reply is not required... I do understand... And what is written does not disappear in the ether either...

Try letter writing and a card mailing from time to time. I would gladly send you one! Florida Gators are standard fare...

If you have a chance, take a look at France's series from 1997 and 1998 La Lettre, and Journee d'une lettre (Pleasure of Letter Writing and A letter's Journey) Original cartoon drawings by Henri Galeron. Great stuff.

We also use the Christmas Seals we receive on all our cards, and letters.

Finally, the Japanese, we discovered, love paper, paper-making, gift wrapping, and, of course, letter writing. Their series of Letter Writing Week stamps go back several decades. Beautiful stuff. Do they know something we don't know?

Stay Safe and Keep on Writing...




Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.

Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
20 Nov 2020
05:45:01am

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

" ... Do they know something we don't know? ..."

Everybody seems to know something "we" don't know.
The more you learn or know, the more you realise you
don't know. And just when you think you've gotten a
handle on things, your eyes begin to fail.
C'est la vie, mes amis.

Like
Login to Like
this post

".... You may think you understood what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you think you heard is not what I thought I meant. .... "
Members Picture
amsd

Editor, Seal News; contributor, JuicyHeads
20 Nov 2020
10:50:04am

Auctions

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Don (frequent flyer)

those are lovely covers. Your greeting card-sized cover is almost certainly commercial (non-philatelic) although it's possible a collector or dealer sent/received it (if that negates its collectability, all my sendings are now tainted). Most philatelic-inspired covers would be #6, not greeting cards. The block of 4 is a bonus.

Elmer Long was a bit time dealer of stamps AND seals. And one can pretty much bet that the Christmas Seal Shoppe sold seals.

and, searching for that Shoppe in Cedar Rapids, I found your December post to the Stamp Forum, telling others pretty much what I just told you. But in case others don't know, i'll keep it here

Like 
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.

"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"

juicyheads.com/link. ...
Members Picture
philatelia

20 Nov 2020
11:03:25am

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Today I spent some time puttering on my Danish Christmas Seals. They released several sheets of all different stamps and it’s fun to try to reassemble the sheet with “used” singles. I won an inexpensive auction lot a while back chockablock full of these Seals so I have plenty with which to play. It’s relaxing and sometimes a bit challenging because a few of the sheets have very similar designs with only minor differences between the individual stamps.

I like the maps in the background on this sheet. This was issued before Greenland and Faroes started issuing their own Seals.

Compressing the pics sure makes them blurry! The original was crisp!

tImage Not Found


Like 
6 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.

"August 2023 - selling penny start bargain lots on EBay - https://www.ebay.com/str/philatelia"

www.ebay.com/str/phi ...
Members Picture
philatelia

20 Nov 2020
11:19:49am

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

And here is a little sheetlet:


Image Not Found


Like 
4 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.

"August 2023 - selling penny start bargain lots on EBay - https://www.ebay.com/str/philatelia"

www.ebay.com/str/phi ...
Members Picture
musicman

APS #213005
20 Nov 2020
09:43:01pm

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Cool, T!

Never saw that mini sheet before!

I have the 1907 issue - would love to have the 1904....

....someday! Big Grin



Thanks for sharing!

Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Members Picture
musicman

APS #213005
20 Nov 2020
09:50:45pm

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Whoops....my mistake - got the dates flipped!

I have the 1904 and NOT the 1907!

Big Grin

Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
pigdoc

10 Dec 2020
07:52:28pm

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Many may not know that The First Christmas Seal was issued in Denmark, in 1904. Here is an image showing Denmark 1904-1906 seals:
Image Not Found
I'm not sure what the story is on the imperf variety at left. Incidentally, the image of Christian IX on the 1906 seal (whose reign ended in 1906) is an absolute dead ringer for my best high school buddy!

I also have a 50-year collection of Danish Christmas Seals on Christmas postcards, all postally used. The only year I'm missing is the first, 1904. I've been chasing that one for years. Christmas postcards were a solid tradition in the first half of the 20th century in Denmark. For me, the challenge was to find aesthetic images of landscapes, windmills, or traditional Danish architecture. Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing from this collection.

I've shared a few of these in years past, including some caricatures drawn by the famous Larson, here:

Larson Christmas postcards

Scroll on down in that thread to find more images.

Enjoy!
-Paul

Like 
5 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
Members Picture
amsd

Editor, Seal News; contributor, JuicyHeads
11 Dec 2020
10:50:34am

Auctions

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

we were blessed to have Mette Heindorff as one of our members; she maintained an exquisite web site devoted to the Danish seals. She died years ago, and I think her site has been pulled down.

Like
Login to Like
this post

"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"

juicyheads.com/link. ...
Members Picture
musicman

APS #213005
11 Dec 2020
09:38:25pm

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Sadly, David is correct that her site no longer is available.


However, this site might be of some use - it certainly has been for me!



http://www.christmasseal.dk/english/site.html

Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Members Picture
BermudaSailor

18 Dec 2020
08:53:58am

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Here is a page from my Bermuda Christmas Seal collection. It displays a progressive printing of Bermuda's first Christmas Seal from 1946. Bermuda's Christmas Seals were chiefly comprised of copies of those used in the United States.Image Not Found

Like 
8 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
Members Picture
BermudaSailor

18 Dec 2020
09:10:51am

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Here is one of the two covers I have bearing Christmas Seals Image Not Found

Like 
4 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
Members Picture
smaier

Sally
18 Dec 2020
10:15:01am

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

The printing progression is neat.....thanks for posting that. Very nice.

Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Members Picture
FrequentFlyer

20 Dec 2020
11:05:33am

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

A couple of Christmas items from the 1940s to keep this thread going to Christmas day.

The first, a WW II-related cover postmarked at Nescopeck, Pennsylvania, on Christmas Day, 1943. The triangular pendent to the left of the addressee is a paste-on that looks like it was cut from a picture of 1943 Christmas seals.

Image Not Found

The second, a 1947 Christmas seal cover with a tied 1947 Christmas seal and an undecipherable, at least to me, place of mailing. If anyone recognizes the post office in the cancel please advise so I can do a proper write-up for this cover.

Image Not Found


FF


Like 
4 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
Members Picture
Philatarium

APS #187980
20 Dec 2020
12:56:09pm

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

FF: Those are excellent!! Thumbs Up

Like
Login to Like
this post

"You gotta put down the duckie if you wanna play the saxophone. (Hoots the Owl -- Sesame Street)"

www.hipstamp.com/sto ...
Members Picture
FrequentFlyer

21 Dec 2020
10:53:31am

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Thanks, Philatarium.

FF

Like
Login to Like
this post
Members Picture
amsd

Editor, Seal News; contributor, JuicyHeads
21 Dec 2020
12:22:08pm

Auctions

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Great Covers, FF

Like
Login to Like
this post

"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"

juicyheads.com/link. ...
pigdoc

21 Dec 2020
05:02:56pm

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

I'll throw up a couple of my favorites from my Danish Christmas Postcard collection.

1940:
Image Not Found
Image Not Found

and 1942:
Image Not Found
Image Not Found

I love the artist's illustrations of windmills. And, the traditional homestead architecture, with thatched roof. Truly nostalgic images, in time of war. My grandfather Nielsen (born 1898, in Denmark) was a miller before emigrating to the US in 1926. I am named after his son.

-Paul

Like 
4 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
Members Picture
avro748

22 Dec 2020
05:33:35pm

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Image Not FoundImage Not Found
hello all. just a couple of christmas seal blocks you might like to see. merry xmas ken

Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Members Picture
BenFranklin1902

Tom in Exton, PA
23 Dec 2020
01:09:26pm

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Image Not Found

Wanaque, NJ Christmas card mailed at special 1.5 cent rate for unsealed cards. And a 1953 Christmas seal.

Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.

"Check out my eBay Stuff! Username Turtles-Trading-Post"
Members Picture
BenFranklin1902

Tom in Exton, PA
23 Dec 2020
01:21:07pm

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Another philatelic happening during my Ben Franklin era of 1903-1909

Image Not Found

The first US Christmas seal. Version One, which sold out quickly

Image Not Found

Version two added "Happy New Year" since these were delivered late.

Image Not Found

1908

Image Not Found

1909. Technically my 1903 Franklin had been superseded by the new series as shown on this cover. Still, the new stamps were introduced across the USA as older stamp stocks ran out. Thus, there are a lot of my Franklins on covers from this era. I still need to find one with the 1909 seal.

Note- All of these seals are tied to the cards with postmarks. It's too easy to just add an unused seal to an old card. I turned down a lot of those since I couldn't guarantee their authenticity.

And a Merry Ben Franklin Christmas and Happy New Year to all!



Like 
6 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.

"Check out my eBay Stuff! Username Turtles-Trading-Post"
pigdoc

23 Dec 2020
07:59:11pm

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Here are a couple more from my Danish Christmas postcard collection. In Danish folklore, elves were mischievous, prone to larceny. In this first one, from 1915, elves are stealing milk. Yet, at the same time, they are being kind to the cows by feeding them:
Image Not Found

In this one, from 1942, the elves are stealing a pig:
Image Not Found

Enjoy!
-Paul

Like 
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
Members Picture
51Studebaker

Dialysis, damned if you do...dead if you don't
24 Dec 2020
12:30:54pm

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Image Not Found

Image Not Found

Thank you for this thread, it motivated me to blow the dust off my Christmas Seal collection and get it published online over the last day or so. My collection is US/Canada seals with lots of imperfs, proofs, errors, and progressive proofs; it is 100 pages.

https://stampsmarter.org/Learning/album_Seals.html

Brought back plenty of Christmas memories!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.
Don

Like 
5 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.

"Current Score... Don 1 - Cancer 0"

stampsmarter.org
pigdoc

24 Dec 2020
04:26:45pm

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Here's a recent acquisition:
Image Not Found
Another windmill!

-Paul

Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
pigdoc

24 Dec 2020
06:07:24pm

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Finishing out for this year with a couple of beauts by the famed artist Henrik Larson. One from 1912:
Image Not Found

And, another from 1913:
Image Not Found
Curious that the Mrs. Elf has wings, like an angel. And is that a bow and quiver? Like Cupid?
-Paul

Like 
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
Members Picture
Philatarium

APS #187980
24 Dec 2020
06:37:33pm

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Those are really special. Especially with the tied seals as well. Beautiful!

Thank you for sharing these.

Like
Login to Like
this post

"You gotta put down the duckie if you wanna play the saxophone. (Hoots the Owl -- Sesame Street)"

www.hipstamp.com/sto ...
Members Picture
BenFranklin1902

Tom in Exton, PA
26 Dec 2020
10:15:08am

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Image Not Found

I'll add this one to the pile... Mailed Christmas eve, received Christmas day 1906.

Image Not Found

And I've posted this one before... a haunting image. Were the bears kidnapping the little girl to eat for their Christmas dinner?

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! It was a trying year!

Like
Login to Like
this post

"Check out my eBay Stuff! Username Turtles-Trading-Post"
pigdoc

26 Dec 2020
12:20:34pm

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Very nice, Tom!
Lot least because it's an undivided back postcard!
I agree with your conclusion.
Yes, creepy!

Kind of makes you wonder a couple of things:
- What was the purpose of these potentially lawless (kidnapping) and horrifying (cannibalism) memes? To keep the little ones in line? "If you're not nice, this is what is going to happen to you!"
- How is it that these memes are largely expunged from modern society? I mean, I can't imagine seeing such a thing depicted on a Hallmark card. Are we becoming more 'soft' towards our children? Do these memes run a greater risk of stimulating latent trauma than during past generations? If so, why does modern society seem to be more concerned with that than society of past generations? To bury these from sight (as we seem to desire to do in modern times) seems to be a cloistering influence. And, I wouldn't agree that this trend is a Good Thing.

And, to link this category of memes to those I've collected on Danish Christmas cards, these deviant activities (including larceny, greed, and other vices like smoking and drinking) appeared to be acceptable, if not adorable in folk mythology attached to gnomes, elves, and the like...Brings to mind Grimm's Fairy Tales...

Would make a great graduate thesis or dissertation!


-Paul



Like 
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
Members Picture
vinman

26 Dec 2020
05:21:00pm

re: Christmas Card & Christmas Seal Season fast approaching ...

Tom,
I have a scan of the Teddy Bears. That card reminds me of this song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZANKFxrcKU

Like
Login to Like
this post

"The best in Big Band and Swing Music WRDV.org"

wrdv.org/
        

Contact Webmaster | Visitors Online | Unsubscribe Emails | Facebook


User Agreement

Copyright © 2024 Stamporama.com