#philatelythings

making paying taxes a little bit prettier.

The deadline to file tax returns in the US is April 18th this year.  Since I just finished mine, I thought it would be a fun time to look back at the history of tax stamps in America.

The US used stamps to pay for certain taxes from the 1860s up to the 1950s.  Without getting into too much detail, this week’s blog post is a crash course on the history of US revenue stamps with several pictures of designs throughout the years.

Shown in the image above are two simple money transfer notes from the 1860s.  The taxes on these documents were paid with 2¢ “bank check” stamps.

sending a tweet the vintage way.

Happy Easter (to those who celebrate it) and a joyful springtime!  This week on #justphilatelythings I show off a few vintage Easter postcards from my collection, and talk briefly about the role of the picture postcard in communication history.

sharing your hobby with your pet.

I’ve been thinking a lot about cats lately, so this week on #justphilatelythings I’m talking about the time when Belgium attempted to train a team of cats to deliver the mail!

Just a short post this week, but I hope you’ll enjoy it.

creating new designs with old images.

collecting the thing you love.

It’s Pokémon’s 20th anniversary!  This series holds a special place in my heart, so I wanted to make a post that combines two of my favorite hobbies.

the romance of communication without borders.

It’s thanks to air mail that early aviation was able to flourish and make way for the air travel we benefit from today.  While our abilities to travel the world are still limited by money and politics, we still experience much more freedom to travel to and communicate with the rest of the world than we’ve ever had in the past.

This week at http://justphilatelythings.wordpress.com, I take a look at the iconic imagery of air mail stationary.

Also in this week’s post - a link to a file full of isolated air mail labels, logos, and borders for free to download!  All of the icons featured in the image above are scanned from my personal collection are are available for free use.

knowing that sometimes, what’s on the outside counts, too.

Picking the perfect stamp can be a special part of sending a letter.  Even back in 1848, letter writers enjoyed being able to use social stamps to mark the outsides of their messages, indicating a romantic or important letter was inside.

Hello, and welcome to justphilatelythings.  My name is CJ, and I’ve been working as a philatelic researcher and stamp collection curator for over two years.  I’ve made this blog as a way to share my interest in postal history.

With thousands of stamps created for over hundreds of years, stamp collecting can be an intimidating hobby.  I hope to be a casual, fun resource to spark your interest!

I plan to update this blog once a week, with full posts on Sundays.  (Starting next Sunday, as I organize my things from a stamp show this weekend.)