What is a Serendipity Postmark?
When I began to sort stamps by their postmark dates, a very few turned out to be notable not just for the date but also for some other related characteristic. These have turned up once in a while in the course of my sorting out many thousands of clear date postmarks for use by scrapbookers wishing to commemorate special events in their lives such as a birth in the family decades ago.
The additional characteristic that makes an item serendipitous and not simply a readable date might be the subject of the stamp design itself, which later turns out to be connected to the date of postmark (imagine, for example, a U.S. 2c Edison lightbulb stamp that has a nice circular date stamp on the exact date of birth of some younger great inventor). It might instead be the place of the stamp’s cancellation—something in the city name that resonates with historic events that later turn out to be contained in its postmark date. Also, a true serendipity postmark has nothing philatelically contrived about its creation—it’s an item from normal everyday mail, not a specially prepared commemorative item such as an Edison’s birthday anniversary cover specially postmarked at his place of birth.
An example is this one for D-Day:
The town name begins with "water" and is probably Watertown, Iowa as the two little blips of ink at the bottom of the stamp match precisely the top of the I and the A in IOWA. If so, it has an interesting resonance to events of that day—the invasion of Normandy certainly began on water, and the first town in France was successfully taken by the Allies that day, namely Ste. Mere Eglise.
In a different, but related phenomenon, when it comes time to retrieve a specific date to match a person's request or an event in the news, something uncanny may happen, a bit like the "cylinders clicking together" mentioned in the movie "Field of Dreams." On October 27, 2004 a whole group of serendipity postmarks came up as I searched for birthdates of several key Boston Red Sox players. Just about every one had some sort of two-fold connection, not just the birthdate itself. For example, the stamp for Curt Schilling's birthdate of November 14, 1966 had a Phoenix, Arizona postmark, resonant with his years playing for the Diamondbacks. Whatever magic was working for the Red Sox, with their eight straight post-season wins, seemed to have rubbed off in some way on my venture of honoring their team with some neat postmarks from my accumulation. The Red Sox set can be seen here.
Something like the Red Sox phenomenon happened again during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. After watching on live TV a USA men's curling victory over France on February 19th, and again after watching the Canadian overtime victory in the Gold Medal hockey match of February 28th, I looked up the key player's birthdate in Wikipedia and then checked these against my date sort of postmarks. The rather spectacular finds, both for curler Chris Plys and hockey champion Sidney Crosby, are on display as part of a page regarding place-of-postmark serendipities here. Some other serendipities found in late 2010, mostly related to Brett Favre or to football in general, may be seen here.
Beyond even this level of serendipity was one from several years ago, which remains quite beyond all others, as something truly in the realm of the metaphysically sublime. To read further about it, click this page and look about half way down Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II.. A runner-up in the metaphysical category emerged at the end of 2010 and is written up in a four-part New Years 2011 essay From Time Distressed to Time Blessed which you'll find on my Tumblr blog Year of Elevens by scrolling down near to the very earliest entries..
Over the years, my sorting became a language by which I've been in a quiet dialogue with the cosmos and the mysteries of time. This dialogue gained clarity over the course of 2011, and I trust will continue to do so in 2012. Both early and late in 2011 a remarkable group of stamps-related synchronicities took place. These, too, are written up on my Tumblr blog.
If you obtain a postmark from me, whether for a scrapbook, a crafts piece, or a commemoration, and notice some sort of serendipity in the place of postmark, the stamp design, or some other aspect of the item, by all means let me know by emailing me at pi53365@yahoo.com If you would like to consult with me and see if we can find one for you previously undiscovered, click here.
For the moments in time that mattered most to you, click here.