Westpex 2024 celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Universal Postal Union, and show organizers encourage exhibits on any aspect of the UPU.

The burning question for the December cartoon caption contest is “What did Columbus say to Isabella to make her change her mind?”

Details about the first 2024 stamps to be announced by the USPS were published in the Nov. 13 issue of Linn’s Stamp News.

The stamp depicts a stylized image of a soaring bird holding an envelope sealed with a valentine heart in its beak.

While larger than the average pocket size, the new size is perfect for a briefcase to carry the catalog at a stamp show.

The young man shown in the photograph, Harry J. Hansen III, also became a career U.S. Navy officer.

The trees depicted in the five designs are a Sierra juniper, black pine, banyan, trident maple and azalea.

In 2023, the United States Postal Service issued 126 varieties of stamps and postal stationery, just five more than were issued for the 2022 program.

In the illustration on the postal card, the piles of mail around the outhouse labeled “Postal Employees Only” suggest anything but an efficient, smoothly running organization.

Also this week, the journey to learn more about a carton of Mexican cigarettes bearing scarce U.S. provisional revenue stamps, and a U.S. 1917 Washington-Franklin stamp to consider adding to your collection.

The 1971 label states that the package contains 125,000 stamps. That works out to 2,500 panes of 50 stamps each, for a total of $10,000.

Also this week, a philatelic review of SpaceX’s Starship and its plans to land astronauts on the moon in 2025 or 2026, and a review of All About Stamps, a British website launched in 2018.

The letter writer may not have known the full impact of the destruction and loss of life at Pearl Harbor yet, but enough to know there would be more to the story.

The show is organized by the Florida Stamp Dealers’ Association and the Central Florida Stamp Club.

The October cartoon contest featured the 2003 37¢ stamp (Scott 3805) illustrating Mary Cassatt’s 1884 painting Children Playing on the Beach.

The show will feature a bourse (sales area) of 35 dealer booths, a youth area and more.

Also this week, tracing the history of White Russian stamps that are remnants of the 1917-23 Russian Civil War, and a laudatory review of a sample of stamps culled from 100-stamp worldwide mixture.

In the past, the magazine and newspaper editorial teams have given generic talks on what the publications look for in article and feature submissions.

These stamps were issued by either the U.S. Post Office Department or the U.S. Treasury Department.

For the first time, the Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Essays and Proofs is available as a stand-alone publication.