Episode 101: Postage Stamps - Part 1
Today we’re going to be talking about postage stamps: the history and origin of them, who uses them and whether or not they’re still relevant in our age of email and mail order deliveries. And, of course, the art of it all and why stamps still matter today.
We touch on the controversy of who invented the stamp, the fraud associated with early mail and how the U.S. Postal Service misprinted a commemorative stamp for Swede Dag Hammarskjöld on purpose.
Ask the bartender for a couple of Air Mail cocktails and join us as we deliver the goods right here in the bar.
E X T R A S :
(Top to bottom): Rowland Hill, J. Edward Day
(Top to bottom): The UK’s Penny Black, the world’s first postage stamp; the famous (and valuable) Inverted Jenny from the United States
(Top to bottom): The Dag Hammarskjöld Invert, a properly printed Dag Hammarskjöld stamp, the MAD Magazine parody making fun of Leonard Sherman, a full sheet of the inverted stamps (note the yellow numerals in the top margin and the shapes in the right margin)
Sir Rowland Hill
Biography (Wikipedia)
The Penny Black
Background (Wikipedia)
Pub history
The Inverted Jenny
Background (Wikipedia)
Dag Hammarskjöld
Biography (Wikipedia)
The Dag Hammarskjöld Invert (Wikipedia)
Additional Links
J. Edward Day biography (he also introduced the ZIP code) (Wikipedia)
“Before You Lick: A Quick History of Postage Stamp Design” (Culture.pl article)