It's official! The Christmas Seal & Charity Stamp Society is meeting this Summer in Cleveland at the big annual APS stamp show. There will be a society booth, a display, sample literature, free seals, and a meeting. Hope to see you there.

August 10-13, 2023. Thurs - Sat 10 am - 6 pm. Sun 10 am to 4 pm.

Location: Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland. 300 Lakeside Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44113.

Host Hotel: The Westin Cleveland Downtown. 777 St. Claire Ave. NE, Cleveland, OH 44114

 

Great American Stamp Show 2023.pdf (393.6 KB)

The double barred cross, or cross of Lorraine was first suggested as the international symbol for the fight against tuberculosis at the 1902 International Conference on TB in Berlin, Germany. This crusader's cross belonged to Godfrey of Bouillon, who in 1099 became the ruler of the Christian state of Jerusalem. The symbol was first used on a fundraising label in 1907-08 by The Kensington Dispensary in Philadelphia, PA., a US local TB seal. Like many early local TB organizations, Kensington was absorbed by our national Christmas seal association; now known as the American Lung Association. In 1919, when our national Christmas Seal society split off from the Red Cross, they became the National TB Association, and have used the double barred cross ever since.

In 1954 the NTA sued and won against a US Local TB organization, Summit County TB, of Akron, Ohio, for their use of the double barred cross. This symbol for the "Crusade against TB" was, and continues to be used internationally; first use in Canada 1908, Spain 1909, Philippines 1910, Sweden 1911, Norway 1913, and by the late 1920's many countries had adopted it.  To avoid any confusion, here in the US, the double barred cross belongs ONLY to our national Christmas Seal society.

Illustrated here are the double barred cross, a Kensington TB seal tied on, 1919 NTA Christmas Seal, Early foreign TB seals uses of the double barred cross, and the first three issues of Summit County TB, showing their infringement, and subsequent removal of the double barred cross.

Special thanks to member George Painter for bringing this case to our attention.

NTA vs Summit County Case of the Double Barred Cross.pdf (3.16 MB)

Some of these are minature versions of the poster series that began in 1920.

Green's Cuba TB #'s 70-76, 1939//1952, were issued by the Jewish Anti Tuberculosis Commitee of Cuba (Colonia Hebrea Protectora de los Tuberculosos y Enfermos Mentales), in Havana, and have been greatly undervalued. I know of no dealer who has them for sale. Examining a single seal of this society, a Cuban philatelic expert who had never seen it, asked me how do you know they are Cuban? My only answer was, the larger certificate toward the bottom says, Cuba, and they have been listed in Green's Catalog, under Cuba for a long time.

When I googled "Kensington TB Dispensary", I found marijuana dispensaries. I guess the word, dispensary means something different today, however this word was once associated with tuberculosis; a place where suspected or confirmed tb cases can receive appropriate evaluation, treatment, and monitoring.

These 1907-08 US local TB Christmas Seals are among the very first TB seals from America. Each displays the double barred cross of Lorraine, the international symbol of the fight against tb, and a quote by Louis Pasteur, "It is within the power of man to banish contageous diseases from the earth." Pasteur was a French chemist and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, and pasteurization. His research led to breakthroughs in the understanding of the causes and preventions of diseases, including tb, laying down the foundations of hygiene, and public health.

These amazing sets of four glass plates were used to create the 1935 and 1936 US Christmas Seal Negative Maker's proofs. NM proofs were created after the artist's work first became a single die proof; a single, or sometimes pair or block of seals surrounded by a large white margin. NM proofs came next, a full pane, usually 100 seals, surrounded by a large white margin. NM proofs were used by all the regional  printers of Christmas Seals to create massive press sheets which were perforated and cut into single panes, and sent to every family in America.

The other side of these glass plates are expertly touched up to insure solid colors on the final product. Forgive the terrible reflections in these pictures. I imagine most production items like these have been lost to time. I have seen only one or two other sets of glass NM plates from the 1950's.

2018 was the final TB Christmas Seal issue of Mexico; as of June 2022. Very similar to the 2017 butterfly issue with a new date. Mexican Christmas seals look more like postage stamps than most Christmas seals, finely printed with denominations, and feature many topically appealing, award winning designs. 

 

The antiobiotic cure for TB was developed after WW2, but in 1911 scientists were experimenting with Iodine and Radium, and clained a 30% improvment. A cure would have been worth a fortune, so I'm guessing they sold stock in the idea. But since only 2 coupons are clipped off, perhaps they went broke. Clearly there was no lasting results, but it was a hopeless time for those suffering from the disease, and doctors were willing to try anything. This may be the first, or at least an early, appempt to cure a disease with radiation. 

This ongoing enormous project of our beloved Seal News Editor, and Vice President, David Teisler, is making our journal more useful. There are over six thousand pages of Seal News issued since 1931.  As new issues of Seal News are released, the project is expanding, and includes, issue, page, author, date, and title of scholarly articles.

Topical or thematic cinderella stamp collecting is the collecting of non postal, stamp like labels relating to a particular subject. Topics can be almost anything, from fish, birds, trains, poets, famous physicians, and scientists, along with historical people and events. Topical collecting allows people to combine an interest in a topic and an interest in cinderella stamp collecting. It’s easy to get started in topical collecting, and yet it offers continuing challenges and enjoyment for advanced collectors. 

The American Topical Association (ATA) is the world's largest organization for stamp collectors who focus on specific topics. When these collectors begin to run out of postage stamps in their topic, they often become keenly interested in cinderella stamps, which are virtually anything resembling a postage stamp, but not issued for postal purposes by a government postal administration. Here I have included European Poster Stamps issued for tropical fish events, TB Christmas Seals featuring fish, and State Fishing Revenue (tax) stamps.

Topical collecting is a recognized category for competitive exhibitions and has its own Commission with the FIP (International Stamp Collecting Federation).