I feel lucky to have grown up in a pretty amazing time. In fairness, I suppose, no matter their age, most people feel their era was special. Truthfully, I had few worries or concerns. There was much more snow, and we loved it. We had actually “snow days” where school was canceled. We drank out of hoses without concern and existed in clouds of smoke from adult’s cigarettes.
Today, on the rare occasion I get a whiff of a cigarette, I think of Disneyland. When I once went there as a kid, most every adult smoked. Whether standing in line for the Matterhorn Bobsled or Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, I caught a whiff of a cigarette. It was fine. We didn’t mind or care....
We also embraced pretty much all the traditional fall and winter events. Halloween was especially magical. I hope that vestige of childhood still is. We would go out trick-or-treating by ourselves for hours. No adults. No supervision. No worries. Today, parents accompany young kids and police patrol neighborhoods. It’s a different time.
Based on the costumes, decorations, bags of candy and spooky accessories in stores, Halloween is still alive and well. Thank goodness. For kid’s sakes, you have to hope so. It’s something the digital world of smart phones can’t replace.
In the early 1970s, the US Postal Service joined in with a 10-cent “Halloween” stamp. Because, even then, the USPS was sensitive to the few who might oppose a stamp celebrating “All Hallows Eve” and the perceived paganism it promoted, they compromised. To straddle that line, they cloaked it with the stamp featuring a headless horseman chasing after a colonial man on horseback. It was based on the popular novel, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Both kids and adults loved it and used the October stamp for years around Halloween.
Thanksgiving is a modern anomaly. In a more Norman Rockwellian era, families went all-out to gather around a dinner table on the fourth Thursday in November. Not as much anymore. The holiday was first instituted in 1787 after a proclamation by George Washington declaring we should all give thanks. A few years later, then-President Thomas Jefferson stated it shouldn’t be a national holiday, because he felt nationally giving thanks to a deity crossed the line of the separation of church and state.
Again, the USPS has tried to walk a tightrope. They never officially issued a stamp for the Thanksgiving holiday. However, in autumn of 2001, the Postal Service released a 34-cent stamp showing a stylized Cornucopia basket and the words, “WE GIVE THANKS.”
Some 80 years prior, the USPS (then the “Post Office Department”) wasn’t quite as politically correct. In 1920, they issued a three-stamp set still eagerly sought-after by collectors.
The one-cent stamp showed the ship Mayflower under sail. A two-cent stamp featured the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Finally, the five-cent issue showed a scene of the signing of the Mayflower Compact. Today, those three stamps sell for between $100 and $300 depending on their condition and centering.
Incidentally, with this being an election year, it’s timely to reflect on the subject of that five-cent stamp. The Pilgrims established the 1620 Mayflower Compact declaring self-rule. It stated the Pilgrims would govern themselves based on the majority. This tradition led to the establishment of town meetings and elections throughout New England. Sound familiar?
Before we were vilified for recognizing and celebrating the existence and actions of the Pilgrims – such as their reported treatment of native Indians in New England, not to mention some of the diseases they unknowingly carried and passed along – the US Mint also joined in the Pilgrim Tercentenary anniversary.
In 1920 and 1921, the Mint issued a silver commemorative half dollar honoring the landing of the Pilgrims. The obverse showed the image of an introspective pilgrim carrying a Bible. On the reverse is the ship Mayflower that brought them to Massachusetts.
In 1920/21, just following World War I, the half dollars didn’t sell well. The Mint was charging one-dollar for a half-dollar coin. Consumers didn’t get that. Even though quantities were quite limited, the coin languished. Thousands of unsold coins were melted down.
Today, of the 250,000 or so sold, not many remain, especially in top-grade uncirculated condition. In mint state, some of those coins now sell for upwards of $500 or more. Collectors still love them.
It’s hard to say what holidays or events will be recognized in the future. Naturally, whatever they are, the government is sure to tread lightly insofar as collectibles.
For more collecting information and advice, log on to: http://prexford.com/.