This evening when my wife arrived home from work she asked if I had heard about the new lighthouse stamps. She, of course, was tickled that she knew of this major announcement and I didn't. Well, the USPS is going to release a 5 stamp southeastern light series of stamps in June 2003. The lights included are: Old Cape Henry, Cape Lookout, Morris Island, Tybee Island and Hillsboro Inlet.

Unfortunately, I can't get a direct link to the pictures of the stamps, but I can share this link . If you will scroll down about 2/3 of the way you will find the blurb about these new stamps. Click on the picture and you will get a larger version of it.

Dave

Great to see that two of my favorite lighthouses (Cape Henry and Cape Lookout) will be included. Now we just have to wait till next year to get them...

btw, here is the direct link to the image: http://www.usps.com/news/2002/philatelic/stamps/03_lighthouses37_d.jpg

A question for the Lighthouse stamp experts! Is this the first of a series? Have there been some done before? I like them! Very impressive set of stamps.

Bert

Bert,

USPS has made 2 sets of 5 lighthouse stamps in the past. The original set of five in about 1990 or so (Sandy Hook, Cape Hatteras, Admiralty Head, American Shoal and West Quoddy). These were followed in 1995 with a set honoring the Great Lakes - one stamp from each lake (Split Rock, Saint Joseph, Spectacle Reef, Marblehead, 30 Mile Point). Maine's statehood stamp was Cape Elizabeth. Last year we had a Block Island Southeast Light pre-stamped post card. I'm sure there are probably other lighthouse issues.

Would be nice if they started doing lighthouse stamp sets - they would probably sell well given the popularity of lighthouses. And the USPS would prefer to sell stamps to those who did not actually put them on a letter (better profit margin shall we say). However, they need to be a little more frequent than every 6 - 8 years or so!

Dave

Thanks, Dave!

I agree. More frequency of issues would be nice. As a kid I used to collect stamps of the US. SOmewhere in this house I still have the collection. It's been years since I've done anything with them. Too much to do, too little time.

Bert

WOW!!! Looks like 2003 will be a great year for lighthouses! First, we heard about the lighthouse quarter, now another stamp series!

It don't get no better!

I collected stamps as a kid, when they were mounted using the little glassine hinges. The transarent cellophane tubes that came out later could be cut to length and used to mount mint stamps without damaging the adhesive. Until recently, I would save selected mint US commemoratives as they were issued over the years.

Now that most issues are self-adhesive, does anyone know how collectors save and/or mount them? Saving a sheet would be easy, but what about blocks or individual stamps?

Just wondering. I collect enough other stuff, don't need a new stamp collection!

Bruce

Bruce,

I mount my stamps, with the backing on them, with clear, acid free, photo corners. No damage to the stamps.

Harry