Commemorative Stamps




The word "commemorate" means to honor or remember an event or person of some historical significance. Originally, commemorative stamps were designed to do exactly that, and often depicted a famous person (sometimes together with the "tools of the trade" or other items somehow connected to him or her) or an historical event. For example, the first commemorative stamps that were issued by the United States honored the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. The Columbian Exposition stamps featured various scenes - his fleet of sailing ships, Columbus landing, Columbus and Queen Isabella of Spain, etc. They were issued in 1893 in connection with the World's Columbian Exposition (hence their name) - a World's Fair held in Chicago, Illinois.



Many commemoratve stamps today are still issued to honor significant events or people, but their purpose has evolved over time. Many commemoratives now feature topics or themes which may or may not be historically important. For example, many countries issue now commemorative stamps that feature birds, insects, dinosaurs, horses, dogs, cats, film actors and a plethora of thousands of other topics.



Unlike definitive stamps, most commemorative stamps are printed in limited numbers, and although there are some exceptions, most are only printed once so the likelihood of finding varieties is severely diminished (although some do exist). While definitive stamps are sometimes somewhat boring to look at they are "where the money is" and are collected at least in part because of the possibility of finding a scarce and expensive variety. But commemorative stamps, with their often striking designs, are usually collected for their visual appeal.

There are hardly any commemorative stamps in the stamp mixture I just bought - what's going on?

A recent independent sample (not done by us) of stamps received in the mail reported that only around 5% of the stamps used were commemoratives. The overwhelming majority of stamps seen in this sample were coil stamps of various types (almost all self-adhesive).

It's hard to get any large number of US commemorative stamps in bulk stamp mixtures nowadays, and that's why - hardly anyone is using them for their mail.

Recent United States Kiloware on Sale

20 pounds of mostly recent US kiloware stamps on paper are now available at The Stamp People

The Stamp People at www.thestamppeople.com just received these US stamps, and they are being sold as received, not picked over, not checked, but as-received from a favorite source.

They won't last long. Visit The Stamp People and buy a pound or two of these US postage stamps on paper.