Happy mailbox with World Postcard Day items received

Philatelic Foreword by Jay Bigalke

My mailbox was a happy one the other week just after World Postcard Day on Oct. 1. Three individuals sent me items postmarked on that day.

World Postcard Day is a recent event that started in 2019 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the postcard.

Stamp collector Trevor Bills created a special pictorial postmark in his hometown of College Station, Texas, and sent an example of it, shown nearby. An extra special treat was that it also served as an unofficial first-day cancellation for the new Healthcare Community forever stamp issued Oct. 1 nationwide.

Cheryl Ganz, American Philatelic Society president, also sent me a postcard celebrating the day. It was mailed from Washington Island, Wis., using a Boston 2026 Expo promotional label, and a note that the postcard was “Carried across Death’s Door by Washington Island ferry.” A very cool piece of modern postal history.

And lastly, I received a World Postcard Day postcard from a Postcrossing user in Nebraska. The picture side of the postcard is shown nearby. What was interesting on this card was the unfortunate use of a counterfeit postcard stamp. Another modern piece of postal history, but it’s sad knowing that Postcrossing users might not be aware of the number of counterfeit stamps in the marketplace.

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