Stamps For Artic Animals, Murphy, and California Gold Rush Confirmed
By Bill McAllister, Washington Correspondent
October 19, 1998; Linn's Stamp News
The United States Postal Service confirmed Oct. 6 that it will honor Alaska
next year with a set of four or five stamps featuring various Artic animals.
U.S. stamps also are being planned to honor the California gold rush
and World War II hero Audie Murphy.
Linn's reported the possibility of stamps being issued for Artic animals
and the California gold rush in the Sept. 14 issue, page 2, along with possible
months of issue.
Azeezaly S. Jaffer, the Postal Service's top stamp official, disclosed the
stamp subjects in an interview Oct. 6 at the National Postal Museum.
He said that the stamps would be aimed at children. His comments came
moments after Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) announced that the Postal Service
"Will have another stamp issue next year" to celebrate his state.
A stamp issued Aug. 21 celebrates the Klondike gold rush.
Stevens did not disclose what the stamps would be, but Jaffer, who was among
the postal officials at a reception for the opening of a new exhibit on the
role of the post office in the days of Alaska's gold rush, confirmed what the
stamps would feature. He did not name the animals that will be featured on
the stamps or when they will be issued.
During conversations at the reception, Jaffer, the manager of stamp services
for the Postal Service, also said that the agency will honor the 150th
anniversary of the California gold rush next year.
The discovery of gold in California was commemorated on its 100th anniversary
in 1948 with a 3 cent stamp, Scott 954. Another commemorative in 1950, Scott
997, noted the centennial of California statehood.
Jaffer also acknowledged that the agency is working on a stamp to honor Audie
Murphy, the most decorated soldier of World War II.
Veterans groups have been outraged that the Postal Service has yet to honor
Murphy, who became a movie star after the war.
The stamp executive said he will meet with officials from the National
Inquirer, a supermarket tabloid, to accept petitions from its readers
calling for a Murphy stamp.
While Jaffer did not say when and what form the Murphy stamp will be, it has
been widely expected that he will be honored in the Great American series,
perhaps in one of the upcoming rate change stamps.
Much of the stamp program for 1999 will be previewed Nov. 19 in New York City
at the Postage Stamp Mega-Event show, Jaffer said.
The museum exhibit Stevens was helping open is called "As Precious as Gold."
It celebrates how the discovery of gold in Canada's Yukon Territory Aug. 17,
1896, set off a rush of prospectors in the Alaskan and Yukno territories,
overwhelming the few post offices in the region.
Among the items on display are a dog sled used by an Alaskan letter carrier,
a 437.4-ounce gold bar and a 42-ounce gold nugget discovered by a Chinese
worker.
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