Jan 10th, 2019: Philately ~ may not be safe for work

[xoxoxoBruce]

Philately is the study of stamps, postal history and anything related to it.
A philatelist is the stamp collector that postal systems love so much.
They’re like the guy who pays $15 for a smorgasbord and eats nothing.
Helps keep many postal systems afloat, and the reason to keep issuing new stamps.


Most postal systems promote their countries with their own scenery, flora and fauna.
They also feature famous people, artists, writers, scientists, etc, from their country.


Finland’s most famous artist abroad, and most loved artist at home is Tom of Finland.
Tom of Finland is the nom de plume of artist Touko Laaksonen... I see why the nom de plume.


So they issued a three stamp sheet featuring his art, probably recognized more that he is.





I’ve roughly outline where the three stamps are cut in the sheet. A little crooked but close.
The guy in North Carolina seems to have a deal where he cancels his own stamps.
I’ve never seen 12.5 cent stamps before, I guess when you do a lot of mailing every penny (half penny) counts.





The perforations for each stamp don't come all the way through the back sheet, so I guess you don't have to lick them...

...unless you want to.