It will soon be Halloween and I am sure many will be enjoying some fun activities. If not then surely it is time to get a life :-) How about starting a Halloween stamp collection. There are not that many stamps that I can find with Halloween images on them. And, the history and cultural background would surely make for an interesting study.

For example, did you know that in the post-Civil War era, many American postmasters carved killer cancels out of cork. For their cancels, they used all sorts of images that have become synonymous with Halloween. One is the skull-and-crossbones cancel used on the 3¢ green George Washington stamp, and another is the jack-o'-lantern cancel used on the 2¢ carmine Washington.

From a more modern perspective you might enjoy this block of 4 stamps from Canada, showing a vampire, a werewolf, a ghost and a goblin. These stamps were issued on October 1, 1997.

Whatever you are doing on Halloween please be safe and enjoy.

Michael - cddstamps.com