My dear valentine

​It’s valentine’s day in many countries, and no better way for collectors to celebrate it than a nice romantic stamp on their envelopes. This is actually not only true for collectors, but common ‘card senders’, and no post office has used this to make business than the USPS. Along with general ‘celebration’ topics, the US post office has launched wedding stamps, and some with the ‘love’ theme, especially in the so denominated Forever Stamp Issues, first launched in 2007. They have no denomination, are sold at the current “first class” rate and valid for first class postage for an undetermined period of time – regardless whether this rate increases over time. It has been widely discussed among collectors whether this is a smart move from the post office, since it would incur a loss every time inflation and other occurrences affect postage rates. Many argue that most of these stamps sold are probably not even used for postage, due to loss or forgetfulness, meaning the USPS actually profits greatly from them.

​The love theme on US stamps, however, has been around long before the forever stamps, first being introduced in 1973. This stamp was based on the art work from Robert Indiana used on a Museum of Modern Arts Christmas card in 1964 and made into a sculpture, displayed by the Indianapolis Museum of Arts in the 1970s. Versions of the sculpture appeared in many places and in different languages, even Google used it in its logo as a Valentine’s Day special edition.

​From that first stamp on, love issues came around from time to time, in varied forms and colours. Special stamps (those that are around in holiday season) are widely used by most countries. Usually, however, they celebrate a religious holidays (such as Christmas, Hanukah, among others), but few post offices even today issue valentine-related stamps, and perhaps this is the reason of it not yet being a broadly collected topic in philately.

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​It is also worth noting that the USPS has issued an even wider range of special stamps that this post shall not get too much into – because it is Valentine’s Day, after all – but I find interesting to see all sorts of greeting and wishes that certainly make card sending a touch more personal. Loving or not, celebrating the day with someone or sorting stamps on your own, this blog wishes you a very happy day, and a lot of hearts on stamps.