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Underwhelmed

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.

The U-S Postal Service has announced some of the stamps it plans to issue in 2021, and it's
 a good thing I know the list isn't complete. It's an uninspiring bunch of pop culture and
 playing to interest groups.

For years, the Postal Service has issued a list like this, but doesn't mention some of what
it hopes will be its blockbuster issues: Stamps that will get attention from the general
press and, these days, social media.

The 2020 list left out the Christmas stamps, and Bugs Bunny! But at least we were told about
golfer Arnold Palmer and Earth Day.

There's no mention in the 2021 list of the 100th anniversary of astronaut and senator John
Glenn's birth. It's also hard to believe the U-S-P-S won't mark its own 50th anniversary: It
began in 1971. Easier to believe is that no stamp will be issued for Amtrak's 50th anniversary,
but train stamps are always popular.

Here are some other unmentioned possibilities: The Tomb of the Unknowns was dedicated at
Arlington National Cemetery. The first baseball game was broadcast — on radio, of course — by
a Pittsburgh station. San Juan, Puerto Rico, celebrates its 500th anniversary.

Less likely are the centennial of the Miss America Pageant — probably too sexist for today — and
the installation of former president William Howard Taft as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
He's the only person to hold both offices, but it's probably too historical.

The Black Heritage series doesn't seem to hold to particular anniversaries, but jazz pianist and
educator Billy Taylor was born in 1921. Also born that year were First Lady Nancy Reagan and
Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver. But I don't expect too many entertainers, like
Steve Allen and Rodney Dangerfield.

I do expect to be surprised by the rest of the U-S 2021 stamp program.

I’m Lloyd de Vries of The Virtual Stamp Club. For more on stamps and stamp collecting,
and the latest news on that 2021 stamp program, visit virtual-stamp-club-dot-com.



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