Download this report as an MP3 sound file.


For broadcast on CBS Radio Network stations June 1-2, 2002:


Somehow Familiar


The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.
 
Among the stamps being printed to meet the rate increase at the end of the
month are new formats of the 23-cent George Washington stamp. They'll cover
additional ounces on heavy first class mail, such as documents, invitations
and tax returns.


The same design was used for a 20-cent stamp last year, in maroon, while
these will be green, but that's not why they're familiar.


Based on a bust at Mount Vernon, they're different than the many other
stamps with the Father of Our Country...but you still get a feeling of deja
vu.


What they remind stamp collectors of are Britain's long-running series of
regular issue stamps featuring the Queen, designed by sculptor Arnold
Machin. And that similarity is NOT a coincidence -- U-S stamp designers
admit they WERE influenced by what collectors call "the Machins," which
began in 1967.


There's another design ready, of Ben Franklin, also based on a sculpture by
Jean-Antoine Houdon <zhahn an-TWAHN hoo-DAW>, but it wasn't needed this
time.


And that's stamp collecting this week. 


I'm Lloyd de Vries, CBS News.

----------------------------------------------------------
Go to Previous Report
Go to Next Report 

Go to Report Index
 
Return to Virtual Stamp Club Home Page