The Smithsonian Institution points out in a recent announcement about the upcoming talk, which it is sponsoring, “As you type out a text message and receive a speedy response, you may not realize how much you have in common with the Victorians.”

It goes on to say, “When the Penny Post began in Great Britain on January 10, 1840, it meant that anyone could send a letter within the UK for only a penny. The Penny Post was today’s equivalent of an unlimited text message plan or free Wi-Fi—suddenly, communication became cheaper and faster than ever before.”

If you would like to submit a question for Dr. Golden, you can send them to her at NPMprograms@si.edu or tweet them to @SmithsonianNPM.

You can view the event live at the Postal Museum’s UStream channel on Sunday, January 10th at 1 p.m. EST or watch the recorded event on the museum’s YouTube channel.

To view a previous talk by Dr. Golden,Object Lessons from Victorian Postal Culture, click here.

Shown above, print of a postboy galloping en route to London, circa 1800.

It goes on to say, “Founded in 1976 by the late Harold Wineburgh, the library was envisioned as a means of promoting not only philatelic research but also of inspiring a love of learning through philately. Since then the WPRL has grown into one of the finest philatelic libraries in the country with thousands of books and periodical volumes. Over 100 subscriptions to current philatelic journals are maintained with hundreds of older journal titles. In addition the library maintains catalogs and a growing selection of post office publications and reports.”

According to the website, “Among the collection’s strengths are holdings in U.S., British, Western European, and Mexican philately. Other important areas include detection of forgeries, state postal histories, and air mail philately. There is good coverage for the British Commonwealth as well as South America. The collection has especially fine holdings in Confederate postal history.”

For more information contact The University of Texas at Dallas, Special Collections Department, P.O. Box 830643, Richardson, Texas 75083-0643, Paul Oelkrug, Coordinator for Special Collections, Phone: (972)883-2570.

To visit their website, click here.

Wisdom Martin files this report, “It’s 11 days before Christmas, and the crowds at the Post Office know they are running out of time…Post Office officials say they will get about 60 million pieces of mail on Monday alone. That’s 30 percent more than a regular day, and that’s just in the D.C. metro area… Nationwide between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the postal service will deliver more than 19 billion letters, packages, and cards.

He goes on to say, “To make sure everything is delivered, some offices have extended hours. Some have hired part-time workers, but with the down economy, they didn’t bring in as many this year. But postal officials say none of that will affect customer service. Nationwide, the Post Office expects to process 839 million pieces of mail. They recommend you send packages by the following dates:

December 16: Parcel Post
December 21: First-Class Mail
December 21: Priority Mail
December 23: Express Mail

Click here to read his full report and watch a view video.

Produced by Marine Staff Sgt. Clinton Firstbrook, it drew some angry responses from former USPS and military personnel.

One retired first sergeant of a military postal unit wrote, “I can’t believe what I just saw on this video. First I would like to say I am sorry to the mailers and to the soldiers receiving these packages for the way their packages were handled. This is not the way I was trained nor the way I trained other soldiers to process packages. Being in a war zone is no excuse for these soldiers behavior. This is certainly not the way we handled packages in OJE. Some of the packages did look poorly prepared & too large, but there are ways to handle these packages to prevent damage. I can just imagine all the insured damaged items having a claim filed on them to make the USPS pay for repair or replacement when the damage was done by these soldiers. This unit needs to be shut down until they are retrained in the proper way of mail processing. Whoever is in charge of this unit should be releived of duty, including officers and nco’s and removed from the unit.”

Lesson learned - pack your packages to overseas military personnel EXTREMELY well!

To view the video, click here.

Sheryll writes, “If it sounds too good to be true….. it probably is!!” This is what I often hear from fellow bidders of classic U.S. stamps on eBay when they find out that the ‘elusive bargain’ they have won is nothing more than a cheap stamp misrepresented as its more expensive variety, or has even been altered to look like it.

She goes on to say, “As a stamp collector, I must confess to being a bit of a bargain hunter myself. And there are times when I have bought what looked like the rarer variety of pre-1930 U.S. stamps, only to find that an extra bit of artwork has been added to the design, or there are signs of a pen cancel on what I thought was an “unused” stamp.”

“But the more likely case is that I am happy with my bargain buy because I don’t even know that it has been altered in some way!”

Sheryll points out, “Altered stamps have been and still are found at stamp shows, bourses, bricks-and-mortar auctions and mail-bid sales. Thus the phrase ‘caveat emptor’ should be the refrain of any collector of early U.S. stamps, and careful study of the Scott catalogue and the extensive literature available a must before any major purchases are contemplated.”

To read her entire article, click here.

Volker says, “I try to show the classic locals of the world and if somebody could help me out with scans it would be fine. Articles from different people are also included – looking always for some new.”

One of those articles is by Peter C. Ford who writes about the Lady McLeod local shown above.

According to Wikipedia, “The Lady McLeod was a paddle steamer and a private local post. The ship sailed regularly between Port of Spain and San Fernando, on Trinidad island, now in Trinidad and Tobago from the end of 1845 until 1854. The private local post ran during the same time with the use of postage stamps on its mail from April 1847.”

Peter points out, “Although this issue did not emanate from an official source, the Lady McLeod (as the stamp is commonly called) has the glamour of being the first adhesive stamp issued in a British Colony, the ‘POST OFFICE’ Mauritius appearing some six months later.”

For more on the Lady McLeod local, click here.

According to Joseph, “Thirty-five years ago, Livingston, Texas, resident Virginia “Cy” Turner had a cousin — a veteran of World War II — who had a stroke. At the time, doctors had given her cousin tweezers and two shot glasses — one filled with BBs, as part of the rehabilitation process to improve his fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.”

Turner is quoted as saying, “He was supposed to move the BBs from one glass to the other. It was nerve-wracking and he got BBs everywhere.”

Instead of BBs, Turner suggested stamps and the rest, as they say, is history.

Between her collecting efforts in Alaska and Texas (where she lives), Turner has collected more than 15,000 pounds of stamps to be used in veteran’s hospitals around the country.

“They’ll use them to make mosaics, crafts or for matching exercising,” she said. “It occupies their time, eyes, hands, and above all, their minds.”

To read the entire article, click here.

Produced by the Michael Pozzan Winery, which is located in the Russian River Valley in Northern California, Contrada has a 400L Italian stamp (SC# 1424) on its label.

I recently purchased a couple bottles for around $15.00 each at my local BevMo and served them up at my stamp club’s annual Holiday Philatelic Pizza Party last night. Both the Chardonnay and Cabernet are exceptional values and taste great.

The Russian River Valley produces award-winning Chardonnay and pinot noir wines in addition to other wine varietals, and is home to many small and several large commercial wineries.

The word ‘Contrada’ is a generic name given to various types of Italian city subdivisions.

To find a local distributor near you, click here.

Contrada can also be purchased through the Napa Wine Company and shipped to selected states. For more information, call 1.800.848.9630 or email them at retail@napawineco.com.

Frank McDade writes the Roundup to ask readers to send holiday cards with messages of thanks and cheer to service members, veterans and their families. Frank is part of the 2009 “Holiday Mail for Heroes” campaign with the Red Cross.

The campaign, which is sponsored in part by Pitney Bowes, runs through Monday, December 7.

Take time today to thank the troops, veterans of all wars and their families by sending a holiday card to

Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

For information about what types of cards can be sent, how cards should be addressed, and further information regarding how you can get involved, click here.

Kamal Kamel, who runs a stall selling stamps in the Bab al-Muazzam district where the Iraqi Philatelic and Numismatic Society meets is quoted in the piece as saying, “Before 2003, the country was closed in on itself and we were cut off from the international market. But now business is going well. American and British collectors snap up stamps with Saddam on them.”

He goes on to say, “Unlike us, they couldn’t get enough of him — they could not buy the stamps, because of the embargo,” referring to UN sanctions on trade with Iraq introduced after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990.

“A series showing Saddam Hussein which was worth 200 dinars sells today for 5,000 dinars (4.3 dollars). My monthly revenues have passed from 200 to 1,500 dollars. Prices really have risen,” according to Kamel.

Shown above, a 1986 Iraqi stamp showing Saddam Hussein in military uniform.

To read the entire article, click here.

According to the paper, “Slapstick, burlesque and double entendre were always his hallmark. Some critics accused the show of sexism but Hill maintained that the female characters kept their dignity while the men chasing them were portrayed as buffoons.”

The article went on to say, “Royal Mail deemed that his jokes were in direct opposition to the company’s policies on harassment in the work place.”

A set of six stamps were issued in September 2005 to commemorate 50 years of ITV. They honored six British television programs which were made famous on ITV. These included Emmerdale, Rising Damp, The Avengers, Morse, The South Bank Show and Who Wants to be A Millionaire?

The Benny Hill Show which ran from 1955 to 1989 and was aired on the BBC and Thames Television in the UK and broadcast in more than 140 countries was not selected to be featured on the set.

Hill died in 1992.

Shown above, Hill in a skit involving Royal Mail wearing a “postie’s” uniform.

To read the entire article, click here.

The story of the development, implementation, and growth of Rural Free Delivery (RFD), and its impact on rural America, is the topic of Bringing the World Home.

Click here to view.

And to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Stamp Magazine, the Smithsonian National Postal Museum has collaborated with the editors and writers to create the online exhibit The Sun Never Sets on the Stamps of the British Empire.

The exhibit explores 19 different stories relating to the stamps of Great Britain and its Colonies between 1847 and 1965.

Click here to view.

Ed reports, “The U.S. Postal Service has started selling Hallmark greeting cards at some post offices, a one-year experiment that may lead the nation’s 34,000 postal outlets to eventually sell other goods and services, including banking, insurance and cellphones.”

About 1,500 postal branches started selling birthday and “get well soon” cards two weeks ago. District residents can buy cards only at the Postal Service’s flagship location at L’Enfant Plaza, and another 29 spots in Maryland and Virginia also have them according to the report.

Unlike the mail, greeting cards remain a popular and profitable line of business, with 7 billion sold annually for more than $7.5 billion in sales, according to the Greeting Card Association. People receive more than 20 greeting cards each year, one-third of them for birthdays.

Shown above, A customer checks the greeting card options at the U.S. Postal Service’s flagship post office at its L’Enfant Plaza headquarters in Washington. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Postal Service).

To read the entire article, click here.