Bobstamp

27 Nov 2014
05:00:17pm

I am reading an interesting sci-fi book, The Martian, by Andy Weir. It's about an astronaut, Mark Watney, who is left for dead on Mars after an accident forces his fellow astronauts to leave. He survives and sets about trying to survive for four years, until the next Martian expedition lands. In the meantime, on Earth, the U.S. Postal Department, assuming like everyone that the astronaut is dead, issues a stamp commemorating his life.

Author Weir has one of his main characters on earth, a NASA public relations person named Cathy, interview a postal official, Marcus Washington, after it's learned that the astronaut is still alive. The postal person says,

"Everyone thought Mark Watney was dead for over two months. In that time, the postal service issued a run of commemorative stamps honouring his memory. Twenty thousand were printed and set to post offices around the country."

"And then it turned out he was alive," Cathy said.

"Yeah," said Marcus. "We don't print stamps of living people. So we stopped the run immediately and recalled the stamps, but thousands were already sold."

"Has this ever happened before?" Cathy asked.

"No. Not once in the history of the postal service."

"I bet they're worth a pretty penny now."

A question: Does this seem like a realistic scenario? Would 200,000 stamps be distributed while others of the same issue were still being printed? I suppose that might happen, but I've always assumed that the first print run would be complete before stamps were distributed, and a print run of only 200,000 is minuscule in a country that has rarely printed fewer than 2,000,000 copies of any given stamp, and usually prints many times that number in total.

Another comment: It seems that Marcus is wrong about the U.S. never having issued a stamp showing a living person. According to Stamporama's Michael78651, in another thread, "The count of living people pictured on US stamps is now at 62. None were being commemorated, they just wound up on the stamp from the picture or the image drawn for the stamp from an original source. The latest discovery of a living person on a US stamp is US Scott #3502f. The woman who modeled for the painting is still alive." I suppose it's a matter of splitting hairs; apparently none of those stamps were intended to show living people as themselves; instead they were used as models for the stamp designs, or if they were actual people (Neil Armstrong on the moon, for example, whose face is hidden by his helmet) they couldn't be identified except in context).

Anyway, I'm enjoying The Martian, which is available in digital form as a Kindle book or Apple iBook. It was nice to see stamps even mentioned!

Bob

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DouglasGPerry

APS Member #196859
28 Nov 2014
12:26:34am

re: Stamp production: quantities and distribution

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doodles69ca

Suzanne
28 Nov 2014
09:44:56am

re: Stamp production: quantities and distribution

I used to read a lot of sci-fi, but not recently. Now reading what everyone has said here, makes me want to start reading it again. Everything sounds great. It won't be long before I'm reading it again.

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Bobstamp

28 Nov 2014
12:46:59pm

re: Stamp production: quantities and distribution

Thanks for the reading tip, Philatelia. Nothing I like better than a series of sic-fi books, assuming that they're well written, of course.

I downloaded the Kindle version of the first book of the Honor Harrington series. Interesting sales technique — the first book is free, the remaining 14 are mostly US $6 and change.

I am trying to remember the title of a series I read a few years ago, which followed a young (male) space officer through his career. No luck so far, but in looking around the internet I found this interesting web site, Best Science Fiction Books.

One book that I have read and re-read is Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, which was recently released as a movie. The downside of the book, or I should say the author, is that he is an outspoken homophobe. I only learned of this recently; I'm sorry, but I cannot support someone like that, not when many of my neighbours, stamp club members, and friends, not to mention my local MLA, for whom I voted, are gay.

Philatelia mentioned The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, by Heinlein. Now that is ONE FINE SCI-FI NOVEL! And it would indeed make a great film, provided that, well, the people making it are fine film makers! Curious thing, though: It's the only one of Heinlein's novels, as far as I know, that is not available as an ebook.

Bob

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BobbyBarnhart

re: Stamp production: quantities and distribution

It was originally a 10 year rule, subject to the discretion of the postal service. Presidents were exempt from the rule and later other famous statesmen (e.g. Dag Hammarskjöld) and major figures such as Disney. In 2007 the USPS reduced this to 5 years and in 2011 did away with it altogether. Now living folk are permitted to appear on US stamps.

The first instance of which I am aware of a living person being honored on a US stamps was Charles Lindbergh in 1927 shortly after his solo trans-Atlantic flight (no portrait, but who else but he would have been at the controls of the 'Spirit of St. Louis,' and his name was prominently displayed on the stamp).

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