Postmark Pursuit by Molly Goad
There are several ways to commemorate Earth Day’s 50-year milestone in your stamp collection. In addition to the United States Postal Service’s new 2020 Earth Day forever stamp and corresponding first-day cancels, the hand-drawn postmark pictured here is available to collectors.
The design comes from a second-grade student at Eagleswood Elementary School in West Creek, N.J. Shaped like a postage stamp, the artwork features hearts surrounding the Earth, which has a little girl perched on top.
Art teacher Angela Stella-Randall was asked by the West Creek, N.J., postmaster to have a class draw Earth Day stamps for the 50th anniversary of the annual event.
“We are a tiny, little school — one class per grade,” she said. “I chose second grade because they are pretty artistic as a class. [Also,] their teacher had just taught them about stamps in Social Studies.”
Stella-Randall said she spoke with the second graders about Earth Day and discussed ways to make a stamp look good in a tiny space. Once the designs were complete, the postmaster selected Kayleigh Winfough’s design to use as a pictorial cancel.
“All of the class’ designs are hanging in the post office, but because of the [COVID-19] situation, I haven’t been able to get there,” Stella-Randall said.
To obtain the postmark, address your request to:
EAGLESWOOD Station, Postmaster, 194 Route 9, West Creek, NJ 08092, April 22.
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