Saturday, May 07, 2022

Yesterday was the birthday of the first postage stamp

The stamp considered by most to be the first adhesive pre-paid countrywide postage stamp was issued on May 6, 1840, or 182 years ago yesterday (I thought that was today, but I hadn't yet corrected my watch date after the 30 days of April).

I knew the year, but not the date, which I just came across while reading a general book on stamp collecting that I recently purchased: Guide to Stamp Collecting, by Jiri Novacek, Chartwell Books, Inc., 1989, 224 pp.


The Penny Black (Warwick & Warwick;
not from my collection!)
As the story goes, in the late 1830s, Englishman Rowland Hill proposed to introduce stamps as we know them today. Until then, the posting of letters was paid by the recipient, based on the distance traveled and number of sheets of paper. On this date in 1840 the Post Office issued a black 1 penny stamp known as the Penny Black (duh) along with a blue version of the same design with a face value of twopence. The stamps did not bear the name of the issuing country, but carried an image of the queen (then a young Victoria), still true for British stamps. Postage rates became based on the weight of the letter, but remained uniform throughout Great Britain regardless of distance sent.

According to Warwick and Warwick Auctioneers, 68,808,000 Penny Blacks were printed; around 1.3 million still exist, a 2% survival rate. The value depends largely on physical condition, the printing plate used, and the appearance of the margins. You can buy a Penny Black on eBay starting at about $100, or you can buy a top notch version for tens of thousands of dollars. I don't think I'm gonna go there, though.

Graham Beck has a nice video post on the Penny Black in his YouTube channel Exploring Stamps:

Wednesday, May 04, 2022

IGY Bulletin, Number 9, March 1958 - Cruise of the Brown Bear

The ocean deeps are some of the most remote places on the Earth's surface (take the water out of the ocean, and the seafloor is the surface). Both the nature of the seafloor itself and the currents of  the ocean waters were of interest during the IGY. This article describes the cruise of the oceanographic vessel Brown Bear, of the University of Washington. 

R/V Brown Bear, photo provided by V. Lundquist, from NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center (https://www.ocean.washington.edu/story/School_History)


In the beginning of the IGY, the Brown Bear made investigations at 36 oceanographic stations in the Gulf of Alaska, the Bering Sea, and parts of the Northeast Pacific, as shown in the map below from the Bulletin article. The proposed cruise for 1958 is also shown, as are stations occupied by the Carnegie in 1929. The Carnegie  (you should read the fascinating article in the link) was a brigantine nonmagnetic yacht used to investigate the Earth's magnetic field for the Carnegie Institution's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism. That 1929 voyage was its last, as it exploded and sank while anchored in Samoa that November.

The Brown Bear's measurements were to look at both latitudinal and vertical movement of waters in the ocean, and the factors that affected them. According to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):

Differences in water density, resulting from the variability of water temperature (thermo) and salinity (haline), also cause ocean currents. This process is known as thermohaline circulation. In cold regions, such as the North Atlantic Ocean, ocean water loses heat to the atmosphere and becomes cold and dense. When ocean water freezes, forming sea ice, salt is left behind causing surrounding seawater to become saltier and denser. Dense-cold-salty water sinks to the ocean bottom. Surface water flows in to replace the sinking water, which in turn becomes cold and salty enough to sink. This "starts" the global conveyer belt, a connected system of deep and surface currents that circulate around the globe on a 1000 year time span. This global set of ocean currents is a critical part of Earth’s climate system as well as the ocean nutrient and carbon dioxide cycles.

Ocean circulation patterns are also nicely explained and depicted in this Ted-Ed video, Surface currents are the focus of the first half of the video, while deep currents are described in the second half.


The major objectives of the Brown Bear's 1957 cruise were: to gather data for a north-south profile of water properties (temperature and chemistry) extending from the surface to the ocean bottom; and for a preliminary survey of ocean water circulation in the Aleutians. Hauls of marine organisms were also made at various depths. Deep waters were dated using carbon-14 methods. The article goes on to cite specific preliminary findings. 

It turns out that I have a relevant first day cover in my collection for today's post.  It's a first day of issue cover of the U.S. IGY stamp, with a cachet of the R.V. (research vessel) Brown Bear. And, it is addressed to Richard Fleming (1909-1989), who was the director of the Department of Oceanography at the University of Washington.

FDC US141 from my collection

Richard Fleming (School of Oceanography, Univ. of Washington)

Sunday, May 01, 2022

One-page philatelic exhibits for the American Topical Association

The American Topical Association has, for the second year, solicited contributions for a gallery of philatelic exhibits that are just one letter-sized page. "The My One-Page Exhibit! Program is an ATA initiative to encourage new and experienced exhibitors to create single-page presentations of philatelic material that especially interest them."

Last year I had a 1-page exhibit derived from my IGY collection. It seems that the ATA did not keep links to last year's exhibits active, but you can find a copy of my exhibit here.

This year I have a 1-pager about the encounter of the USS Constitution, aka Old Ironsides, with the Long Beach earthquake of March 10, 1933. You can see that poster here, or below.

Since I recently discussed the slide rule in a post about the IGY's Phototrack program, you might be interested to look at the 1-page exhibit about the slide rule portrayed on stamps, of which the author David Walker found only 11 examples. He also shared with me a 2015 article showing philatelic examples of slide rules from the Slide Rule Gazette

And, of course, you can browse the other exhibits on quite a variety of topics.

While I'm at it, Happy May Day. Wikipedia says "May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice." In kindergarten, I participated in the Maypole dance


while wearing pink pants with suspenders. Hmm, I need to find that photo.

Wikipedia goes on to say about May Day: "In 1889, it was chosen as the date for International Workers' Day by the Second International, to commemorate the Haymarket affair in Chicago and the struggle for an eight-hour working day. As a result, International Workers' Day is also called 'May Day', but the two are unrelated."

In a short investigation, I came up with three U.S. stamp that honor labor or unions. These are:

  • Scott 1082 (1956), for Labor Day (I know, not the same as May Day), featuring a design from the mosaic mural at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington. I have this stamp in my childhood collection:

  • Scott 988 (1950), honoring Samuel Gompers who helped found the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in 1881, later reorganized as the American Federation of Labor (AFL) with Gompers as president.
  • Scott 2848 (1994), honoring George Meany, president of the AFL from 1952-1979 (spanning the IGY).