Souvenir Cards were printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and issued by USPS at major Philatelic Exhibitions a few times each year beginning in 1954.

Most of the cards bear reproductions of United States stamps with the design altered by removal of denomination and country name.

Philatokyo 81 was Japan's International Philatelic Exhibition.

This card features both a United States stamp and one from Japan.

The card bears a reproduction of Scott #1531, the painting "Five Feminine Virtues" by Hokusai issued June 6, 1974 for the 100th anniversary of the Universal Postal Union, and the Japanese stamp also painted by Hokusa, Scott #800, "The Great Wave of Kenegawa" issued October 10, 1963 for International Letter Writing Week October 6 through 12, a design from Hokusai's "96 Views of Fuji".

Scott #1531

Scott #800

Greetings from United States Postmaster General William F. Bolger in Japanese.

The 1972 Summer Olympics (German: Olympische Sommerspiele 1972), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972.

The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XI Olympic Winter Games (第十一回オリンピック冬季競技大会 Dai Jūichi-kai Orinpikku Tōkikyōgi Taikai) (French: Les XIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver), was held from February 3 to February 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan.

This souvenir card is from the 1972 Summer Olympics, the most tragic event in the history of sports because of the Munich massacre in which eleven Israeli athletes and coaches, and a West German police officer, were killed. Five of the eight Black September Palestinian terrorists who carried out the atrack were killed by police.Three terrorists were captured.

Scott #'s1460, 1461 and 1462 represent the Summer Olympics and airmail Scott #C85 represents the Winter Olympics.

The greeting from United States Postmaster General E.T. Klassen.

Never forget the brave Israeli athletes who died at the hands of desperate scumbags and filthy cowards. 

The International philatelic exhibition Polska '73 in Poznań, commemorated the 500th anniversary of the birth of Mikołaj Kopernik (Copernicus).

Mikołaj Kopernik (Nicolaus Copernicus, 1473-1543), is the Polish astronomer who discovered that the sun, not the earth, is the center of our solar system.

This awesome souvenir card featuring three commemorative stamps for the 500th anniversary of the birth of the Polish astronomer Copernicus was issued by the Postal Service for POLSKA '73, the international philatelic exhibition held August 19 through September 2, 1973 in Poznan, Poland.

The card has an enlarged engraving of the U.S. 8‐cent tribute to the great Polish astronomer who revolutionized man's concept of the universe, and two of many commemoratives issued by Poland's postal authorities in his honor.

From left to right Scott #1488, Nicolaus Copernicus 1473-1543, issued April 23, 1973, and Scott #s 1544 and 1545 issued December 15, 1972 in Poland.

The card was distributed without charge to those attending the exhibition, titled Swiatowa Wystawa Filatelistyczna, and this wording,runs across the top of the card,

Under the three stamps, in Polish, is a commemoration of the show and a description of the stamps over the signature of Postmaster General E. T. Klassen of the United States of America.

The card, printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in the U.S., was available for $1 plus a 50‐cent handling charge per order from the POLSKA Souvenir Card, Philatelic Sales Unit in Washington, D. C. if you couldn't attend this terrific event.

The card is not available from postal authorities any longer, and hasn't been for many years.

You'd have to search the web for one.

Światowa wystawa filatelistyczna = International philatelic exhibition.

THREE airmails of the Americas, all incredible rarities, make up the design of a this souvenir card from the United States Postal Service in honor of the International Airmail Exhibition, APEX 73.

The card was distributed at the exhibition, held in Manchester, England.

The show marked the 50th anniversary of the Aero Philatelic Club of London.

In the center of the card is the U. S. 24cent airmail of 1918, showing the Curtis “Jenny” with the vignette inverted and listed in Scott's Catalogue #C3a at $850,000 mint.

To the left of the invert is a reproduction of the Newfoundland surcharged 60cent black De Pinedo airmail of 1927, which in mint condition is valued at $57,500 in Scott's, #C4. To the right is the 10‐cent Ulua Bridge of Honduras surcharged in 1925 as a 25‐cent airmail and valued in Scott's, #C12, at $75,000.

The card was available for $1 from the Philatelic Sales Unit and produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in limited quantities.

A brief commemoration of the exhibition and a description of the stamps appear in English on the card, above the signature of Postmaster General E. T. Klassen.

Collect souvenir cards.

It's a great way to learn about the best aspects of philately.

Many souvenir cards are quite valuable and they can certainly be a good return on your investment when the time comes to trade or sell.

The IBRA Munich ' 73 international Stamp Exhibition was held in Munich, Germany 11-20 May 1973 part of the Fedration Internationale de Philatelie (FIP) or the International Philatelic Federation, founded in 1926.

The FIP's chief function is to promote international exhibits and other philatelic activities at the international level. It establishes standards for international philately. 

Once a year, in conjunction with an international exhibition, the FIP holds a congress that is attended by delegates from member organizations throughout the world.

In 1973 it was held in Munich alongside Internationale Briefmarken Asutellung, IBRA 73.

This fantastic souvenir card was distributed to participants at the events, printed in limited quantities by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in the United States.

This Postal Service card, for the Munich show, bears a color reproduction of the official symbol of IBRA, in which the four letters form a rectangle of two letters on top of two letters, with the whole encircled by the formal name in German.

But the major part of the card depicts the 65‐cent U. S. airmail stamp commemorating the flight of the dirigible Graf Zeppelin from Germany to the Americas in 1930, Scott #C13.

The stamp shows the Graf Zeppelin over the Atlantic on its return flight to Germany.

A brief commentary on the exhibition and a description of the stamp appear in German over the signature of Postmaster General E. T. Kiassen. 

This great IBRA souvenir card is in my collection.

The details the Bureau cards provide present you with a coup d'oeil, a quick look, at the greatest events, and achievements, in history.

The Legends of American Music series discovered the lights of Broadway in New York, New York on September 21, 1999 with the Broadway Songwriters pane.

Ira and George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, and individual songwriters Lorenz Hart, Frank Loesser and Meredith Willson are featured in this classic series of six stamps representing nine of the greatest composers of popular American music for the musical theater.

Scott #'s 3345 - 3350

Originally $6.60, the pane of 20 stamps is worth $25 to $30 today.

On September 16, 1999 the United States Postal Service remembered six of the greatest film composers of our time.

Part of the American Music Series, we honor our Hollywood Composers.

Scott #'s 3339 - 3344 pane of 20

Max Steiner, Dimitri Tiomkin, Bernard Herrmann, Franz Waxman, Alfred Newman and Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

The music these men created brought the dreams of the screen to life.

The $6.60 stamp investment in 1999 is worth nearly $30 today.

On June 24, 1999, in Anaheim, California, the United States Postal Service issued the Aquarium Fish pane.

Designed by Richard Sheaff and printed by the Banknote Corporation of America, a full tagged pane of this issue catalogs for $350 dollars in the 2014 Scott Specialized Catalog of United States Stamps and Covers.

Scott #'s 3317-3320

The bottom row.

Descriptions

Se-tenant left.

Se-tenant right.

Enlarged description left including plate position and plate color numerical.

Enlarged description right to include plate color numeral.

An aquarium in the home is a thing of great beauty and wonder.

On September 30, 1997 the United States Postal Service used scare tactics to step up the national interest in stamp collecting.

Scott #3168 Lon Chaney as The Phantom of the Opera, Scott#3169 Bela Lugosi as Dracula, Scott #3170 Boris Karloff as Frankenstein, Scott #3171 Boris Karloff as The Mummy, and Scott #3172 Lon Chaney Jr. as The Wold Man.

The Classic Movie Monsters

Plate color numbers of this super pane of 20 are seen in the top left and right margins representing the colors used.

Hidden 3D images can be seen on these stamps when they're viewed with a special "Stamp Decoder" sold by the United States Postal Service.

Hard as heck to find now, the decoder uses a special patented process known as "scrambled indicia" that reveals masquerade masks, flying bats, bolts of electricity, Egyptian deities and howling wolves when held over the stamps.

The Chaney's, Lugosi and Karloff turned the movie houses into meat lockers with the chills, screams and shivers from their fans, myself included.

Hotel Times Square was in the heart of Broadway.

Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Yip Harburg and many other great Broadway composers knew Hotel Times Square.

Located on 43rd Street in Manhattan, where the great theaters of Broadway lined the streets,

Hotel Times Square printed modest stationery that sedately announced, without the bravado and fanfare of most advertising covers, in the upper left hand corner, whence the letter originated.

Scott #800, bottom left sheet margin with the plate number, the Alaskan landscape with Mount McKinley (issued November 12, 1937), is tied to the hotel advertising cover by the rectangular machine slogan cancel "Buy Defense Savings Bonds And Stamps", and the circular date stamp postmarked New York, N.Y. Sept.27, 10:30pm, 1941.

On the back, this reminder to include a return address in the space provided below the paragraph.

Visit New York.

You'll never forget Times Square.

The Houston Hotel is gone.

I don't know if it was demolished, rebuilt or what.

And nothing so far has surfaced on the web about it.

Scott #774, the Boulder Dam issue of 1935, is postmarked with the international machine cancelllation of Oct 1, 2:30pm, 1935 Washington, D.C. and the the number 10 which may represent the cancellation station.

Could this nice cover be one of the few things left of the great Hotel Houston, the hotel with,

"A Room And A Bath For Two And A Half" ?

The hotel cover is a great collecting topic to pursue.

The Frost Building is historic.

It was built for the Southern Baptist Convention.    

A photograph of the historic Frost Building (Baptist Sunday School Board, Southern Baptist Convention) at 161 Eighth Avenue North (Rosa L. Parks Boulevard) in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, circa 1996. 

A.H. Eilers was a publisher of religious text books and was located in St.Louis, Missouri. They were clients of the Baptist Sunday School Board located at 161 Eighth Avenue in Nashville, Tennessee.

Eilers is best known for the Sunday School maps they published, many of which are rare and valuable today.

The front office of the building was named for James M. Frost (1848-1916), Pastor, denominational leader, and founder of the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1891. The architectural structure is a 1913 creation by architects Gardner and Seal, featuring elaborately worked ornamentation in the style of Beaux-Arts classicism with includes colossal Roman Corinthian columns, pilasters, and entablature. Built by Selden-Breck Construction Company. Forms part of the Nashville Room Historic Photographs Collection.

In 1979, the building was renovated by the Baptist Sunday School Board, and in 1993, the firm of Hart Freeland Roberts used photographs to restore the office of Dr. Frost.

Printers Foster & Parkes created the cachet of the Frost building.

The two cent rose-colored Scott #499 type 1 is tied to the cover with an international machine cancellation and the circular date stamped postmark of July 27, 9pm, 1920 Nashville, Tenn originating at the number 1 cancellation station.

A fine representation of the beautiful architecture of Nashville, it's an outstanding cachet representing the first half-century of the Southern Baptist Convention.

The only surviving order of military chivalry in the world today is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. The full name of the order is the Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta. Its responsibility was to provide rest, provisions, and care for those who were injured in battle, as well as pilgrim, the poor and the sick. The Order was founded before Jerusalem was taken by the Crusaders in 1099. It was originally connected with the Order of St. Benedict. It had both military and charitable functions. It was expelled from the Holy Land in 1291, and made its home in Cyprus temporarily.

The Knights of Malta finally established their headquarters in their palace in Rome, where it is today. They continue their charitable work with lepers, and providing medical service in emergency situations. The Order is not a member of the Universal Postal Union and its stamps are only recognized by countries that have bilateral agreements with it. 

North Mississippi is a short drive south from my home, about 20 minutes.

I have relatives and friends throughout Mississippi, one of the finest states in America.

Mississippi has had it's share of troubles to include political, racial, agricultural.

Today Mississippi is breathtaking, picturesque, scenic, prospering and well-favored.

Scott #955 was issued on April 7, 1948 at 9AM in the morning in the magnificent city of Natchez.

On December 10, 1817, Mississippi was the 20th state admitted to the Union.

The Mississippi Territory was organized on April 7, 1798.

The map of Mississippi, the Great Seal of the State and the first Governor, Winthrop Sargent (effective from May 7, 1798 to May 25, 1801), are all illustrated on Scott #955.

Mississippi is more than cotton.

It's a state rich with history, great culture, art, music and natural beauty.

I'm proud to have this first day cover in my collection

On January 9, 2008 the United States Postal Service celebrated the Chinese New Year with the Year of the Rat issue.

The first day of issue ceremony was held in San Francisco.

Scott #4221 pane of 12 stamps and the illustration of the rat.

Designed by artist Ethel Kessler, the photogravure pane of 12 was printed Avery Dennison

Another view of the cancellations and the stamps.

Sheets of 108 in nine panes of 12, not easy to find today, were also available.

The Earth Rat's Chinese start date is actually February 7, 2008 and the end date for this cycle is January 25, 2009.

This se-tenant was issued October 12, 1978 for "Stamp Day".

Scott #'s 1281, "The Baden Posthouse Sign", and 1282, Saxony #1 with the "World Philatelic Movement" cancel, express the great German passion for stamp collecting.

The se-tenant

The Duren cancel

This special commemorative cover rang in the milennium on Beale Street on the first of January 2000.

A special cancellation only available on Beale Street on New Year's Day 2000 commemorates this great day in Memphis.

Scott #3369 featuring "Baby New Year" was issued on December 27, 1999,

Click either image for great information about historic Beale Street and the musicans that put Memphis on the musical map forever.

I've had some great times playing the piano on Beale.

Visit Beale Street. You'll never forget it !

William Harnett (August 10, 1848 – October 29, 1892) was an Irish-American painter who could trick the eye as few artists ever dreamt.

His style was Trompe-l'œil (French for "deceive the eye", pronounced [tʁɔ̃p lœj]), an art technique that uses realistic imagery to create optical illusions. Objects exist in three dimensions.

His painting, "Old Models", which hangs in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, demonstrates this technique and his extraordinary proficiency in this style.

Scott #1386 was issued on December 3rd, 1969 honoring Harnett.

Collect music on stamps.

The discoveries among this topical collecting variety will astound you..

World Stamp Expo '89 was the first international philatelic exhibition sponsored by the US Postal Service.

It took place November 17-20 and November 24-December 3 1989 and held in conjunction with the 20th Congress of the Universal Postal Union.

This show passport was available to visitors and participants at the Expo.

The third page and the introduction from the Universal Postal Congress

How To Use Your Passport

The Left Page

A Ticket To World Stamp Expo '89

The Back Of The Ticket To World Stamp Expo '89

A $3.60 imperforate souvenir sheet celebrating WORLD STAMP EXPO '89 was issued November 17, 1989, the first day of the exhibition, at the Washington, DC, Convention Center where the Expo was held.

The souvenir sheet was placed inside the passport on the United States page.

World Stamp Expo '89, as an augury, exhibited clearly that the peace of stamp collecting will bring the world together.

To celebrate the coming of the twenty-first century, the Postal Service held a "Stampin' The Future" design contest for children ages 8-12.

Four 33-cent Stampin' The Future commemorative stamps were issued in Anaheim, California, on July 13, 2000.

Left to right with the sheet margin are Scott #'s 3414, 3415, 3416 and 3417.

The four winning stamps were based on the artwork of four youthful artists — Zachary Canter's Astronauts, Morgan Hill's Rocket, Sarah Lipsey's Children, and Ashley Young's Dog.

They were exhibited at the World Kids' Congress hosted by the Postal Service at the World Stamp Expo 2000.

Sarah Lipsey's Children.

The original full pane sold for $6.60 in 2000.

It has a catalog value of about double that amount today.

Find it and encourage youngsters to collect stamps.

In 1994, the U.S. issued a "Legends of the West" sheet of 20 stamps, commemorating America's westward expansion. It features portraits of prominent figures of the era.

Unfortunately, a single stamp on the sheet honoring African-American cowboy and rodeo star Bill Pickett mistakenly pictured his brother, Ben. It was recalled.

The Pickett family came forward and pointed out the error, and the Postal Service issued 20 million of the corrected sheet (pictured below -Scott # 2869). To help defray the expense of producing the errors, the U.S.P.S. decided to hold a "lottery" and thereby allowed some collectors to purchase 150,000 of the recalled sheets (Scott #2870, pictured above).

The normal, corrected sheet is common and retails for about twice face value.

Scott Catalog 2011 prices the recalled sheet at $275.00 unused.

It sells for more if it's in the original U.S.P.S. blue envelope.

For considerably more in some cases.

Not bad for a $5.80 cent investment. I have two recalled sheets. 

The corrected sheet.

The official registered mail envelope from the United States Postal Service containing the sheet.

The official letter from the United States Postal Service attesting the authenticity of the recalled sheet.

The reverse of the blue envelope containing the recalled sheet and the biographical information imprinted on the back of each stamp.

The real Bill Pickett.

Stamp collecting is a good investment.

Overwhelming levels of propaganda suggest that the hobby is in decline.

It isn't.

Now is the time to buy.

The inscription at the bottom of the blue envelope.

This steel engraved relic with modern postage is a show-stopper !

Use the Scott Catalog to identify the stamps on this scarce engraving.

Overwhelmingly beautiful steel engraved framed vignette of Madison.

The top of the frame and the eagle.

The bottom of the frame and the steel engraving of Madison in battle.

The U.S. Capitol After Burning by the British, ca. 1814. In 1812, the United States went to war with Great Britain. On the evening of August 24, 1814, British troops entered a largely abandoned Washington and set fire to many government buildings, including the Capitol.

In October 1775, at the start of the American Revolutionary War, Madison was commissioned as the colonel of the Orange County militia.

The steel engraved signature of the fourth President of the United States.

Although bureau cards are not extremely rare, this commemorative display is quite scarce.

Here's another Inaugural Journey cover from my collection.

These historical philatelic treasures are hard to find.

James Madison never looked better surrounded by this magnificent embossed drape and tassel frame.

Seven stamps, five special cancels, steel engraved, embossed.

I challenge you to find another one like it anywhere in the world.

James Madison was the "Father of the Constitution".

George Washington's first inaugural address, the first inaugural address of any president, took place on April 30, 1789, 200 years prior to the issuance of this remarkable piece of philately.

This extraordinary souvenir is an old card stock steel engraving of James Madison bearing eight stamps and five cancellations.

The card, with rounded corners, actually has gold edges. It's age, unknown.

The engraving has an indented signature of Madison at the bottom. It's approximately 7"X5".

It's a beauty !

More detail.