Polski3's View from Here

Quote of some personal revelence: "Is a dream a lie, that don't come true, or is it something worse?"

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Links to pictures of Postage Stamps

This little bookmark project has sparked a bit of interest from some other teachers, and that is good. Here are some links to finding pictures of postage stamps that can be used to create bookmarks:

American Philatelic Society: www.stamps.org. (Check out the "sales" pages....Browse.)

U.S. Postal Service: www.usps.com (source for new U S Postage stamps)

www.stampsofchina.com (Chinese postage stamps dipecting the great wall of China (early airmail stamps), and junks (see section featuring the 1913 London printing)

www.linns.com I'd suggest this as a source for finding a dealer or two selling packets (packets are usually an envelope of postage stamps all about the same topic, such as animals, dinosaurs, trains, space, flowers, etc.)

www.regencySuperior.com This is an auction house that deals with philatelic material. Their website has good photos of many postage stamps.

E-bay.com They have a whole section featuring stamps, most of which have photos of the stamps for sale. Be careful printing some of these images, many are not too sharp.

Your neighbors. Ask around, you may find someone who collects postage stamps and would be happy to help you with what you seek.....stamps, pictures of postage stamps, etc. AND, do you have a shop nearby that sells postage stamps for collectors? If you collect used postage stamps, tear off the corner of the envelope with the stamp, soak them in water to separate the postage stamp from the envelope fragment, dry on paper towel or newspaper, then using clean blotting paper or even paper towels. press them for a few days to make sure they are dry and flat.
Again, Linns.com, a local stamp shop, or a collector can help you with how to do these things. NOTE: Many recent US postage stamps that are the self-adhesive kind, do not soak off paper easliy. If you use these, you might want to just cut the stamp off the envelope and use it like that.

Your local library may have copies of the Scott Publishing Company "Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue." The world postage stamps are divided up into about five or six volumes, there is one volume for US postage stamps and one for "Classics", those published in the first 100 years of postage stamp publication (1840-1940). These can help you identify postage stamps, the huge variety of topics shown on postage stamps and their country of origin

Note: the postage stamps of Britain do not say "Britain" or "UK" or "United Kingdom" on them. The Brits believe that since they printed the worlds first postage stamps, they did not need to put the name of their country on their postage stamps. Many will have a silhouette of the queens head in one corner of the postage stamp
Several of these websites also have links to other philatelic websites that may contain useful images of postage stamps. Some postage stamps, mostly older issues, from some Middle Eastern and southern Asian nations do not have the name of the country of issue in English on the postage stamp.

If you should wish to use real postage stamps, there are also stamp dealers who will be happy to help you select some interesting postage stamps for your project and of course, sell you postage stamps....many nice ones are fairly cheap. You can buy whole sheets (often 50 stamps) of US postage stamps from the 50's and 60's for about face value. There are also available on today's postage stamp market many packets of topical postage stamps, that is, stamps that all depict animals, trains, ships, flowers, etc. This postage stamp bookmark project that can be useful for science teachers too..... creating a bookmark of postage stamps which depict US Space achievements, animals of Australia, rocks and minerals...... The world of postage stamps contains postage stamps depicting just about everything.....

Linns.com has a sales section, which can link you to dealers who sell whole sheets of US postage stamps.

Postage stamps come in two basic forms, used and mint. Used means they were used for postage or are "canceled to order". Mint means they were never used for postage.

There are many Christmas postage stamps available, usually cheap. You could use these to make "Christmas Postage Stamp" Bookmarks that younger students could give their family members as gifts.

When I see a postage stamp image that I want to print, I right click my mouse, click on "print picture" Then print a copy or copies of the stamp. I suppose you could save the image then play around with your computer programs that can put three or four images together like you want them for the bookmark, then just print out the whole image on stock card weight paper and cut out each bookmark. Me, I like to cut out individual postage stamp images, glue them on the stock card paper.....I believe this makes more individualized bookmarks. This project is not that complex, try it and have fun with your kids.

I have a few small packets of postage stamps depicting Australian animals and US space achievements that are from a short lived business venture. If any of you are interested in obtaining some of these postage stamps, let me how to reach you via the comments section.

I hope this helps. Please feel free to ask questions in the comment section.

As always, thanks for reading my blog! I welcome your comments!