Monday Morning Brief | Peter Rabbit and Online Dating

Linn’s Stamp News senior editor Denise McCarty reports on new stamps featuring a patriotic theme, showing Beatrix Potter characters and taking a humourous look at online dating.

Full video transcript:

Welcome to the Monday Morning Brief for August 8, 2016.

Stamp collecting can mean different things to different people: Some people collect stamps of one country, others collect the whole world, some collect by topic and others focus on covers, the postal history, cancellations or postal markings.

That is one of the great things about the stamp hobby, you can arrange your collection to reflect your own interests.

Likewise, the countries of the world issue stamps reflecting their culture and history, and oftentimes also issue stamps that show how the world is changing.

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Three stamps issues that Linn’s Stamp News is reporting on this week show some of this variety.

A new stamp from the United States Postal Service symbolizes patriotism. Called the Patriotic Spiral stamp, this forever stamp depicts 50 blue and red stars circling around a central gold star.

The stamp will be issued August 19. The Postal Service has said that this abstract design “stands for our nation’s steadfast idealism and hope for a more perfect union.”

Appealing to readers of all ages, Great Britain’s Royal Mail celebrated the 150th birth anniversary of children’s author and illustrator Beatrix Potter on 10 stamps issued July 28.

Four of these stamps are in a souvenir sheet that show Potter’s illustrations for her first book, A Tale of Peter Rabbit.

This tale of Peter and has adventures and close calls in Mr. McGregor’s garden began in an illustrated letter she sent to the five-year-old son of her former art teacher. Potter then self-published the book for her family and friends in 1901 and the next year it was published by Frederick Warne for the rest of the world to enjoy.

And it has, as the book has been translated into more than 30 languages with more than 45 million copies sold.

Peter is shown again, along with Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, Squirrel Nutkin, Jemima Puddle-Duck, Tom Kitten and Benjamin Bunny on the other six stamps in Britain’s birthday set for Beatrix Potter.

And, San Marino took a completely different direction with three new stamps issued June 7. This pane of three stamps and six labels offers a humorous look at online dating, the first stamps that we have seen on this subject. The designs depict couples connecting both by computer and by cell phones. One design even shows the taking of a selfie.

You can keep up on the latest stamp news by following Linn’s Stamp News on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

For Linn’s Stamp News and Scott catalogs, I’m Denise McCarty.