Cosby Stamp

I find it interesting that in 2000, the USPS issued a commemorative in honor of the Cosby Show. It was issued to the show, as an organization, in that the USPS has a prohibition against issuing stamps in honor of an individual until at least ten years after their death. In this case, it appears to have been a smart policy.

Actually, my understanding is that the ten year rule was changed to five years in 2007, and eliminated altogether in 2011. I could be wrong about the second part of that statement, but that is my recollection.

John

The rule was indeed eliminated. One example is Maya Angelou. She died in 2014 (May I believe) and a stamp was issued in April of 2015.

This is just another reason to not buy modern stamps, just marketing garbage like the one of St-Vincent and co we complain for so many years.

At the risk of stepping off a cliff...

The stamp was issued to commemorate the important contribution of "The Cosby Show" as part of the Celebrate the Century series, and not Bill Cosby himself. Mr. Cosby's current situation does not diminish that contribution.

The US has a long tradition of honoring people with stamps who had personal demons, held beliefs or lifestyles many find offensive or immoral, acted in a criminal manner or were generally just jerks.

I suspect that we'd lose a lot of issues if demons were a problem. Poe is a prime example.

... allow me to join you in free fall, kollectorkurt.

Compare the 'generation' that came of age watching the ghetto riots of the 60s on TeeVee with the 'generation' that came of age with the Huxtable family: the latter have a fundamentally different, vastly more relaxed attitude towards America's racial divides et al, even though the Huxtable years were also the years of The Great Crack Epidemic.

This was Cosby's Great Gift, and it is not diminished by his personal life and, to the extent that the opening of Bill's sewer helps us all back-off Celebrity Culture, I'm all for it.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

I agree with IkeyPikey.

There is a lot of human history we don't know about...everything from mass exterminations to routine rapings and murders.

But in today's world, there are no secrets, or at least very few of them.

Good stuff, guys. I actually like the Cosby Show stamp and indeed the entire Celebrate the Century series. I think pop culture definitely has a place in philately.

Family,

If convicted, do you think the Cosby stamp might someday become valuable? Is there an O.J. stamp out there? And how about the New Hampshire "Old Man in the Mountains" stamp? That's a case where the state allowed it to tumble down the mountain!

Jack Kelley

I don't see the MNHOG stamp becoming valuable, for the usual reason: too many zillions were printed.

But I could imagine a minor custom covers market springing-up if/as he goes to trial.

Now's the time to begin buying the *other* stamps that you might need for those covers:

- International Year of the Woman stamps

- Against Violence Against Women stamps

- Strong women who might have complained sooner stamps (Eleanor? Jeanne d'Arc? Janis?)

- Magna Carta (and other trial-by-jury) stamps (for the day jury selection begins and/or is completed) (if)

- Other villainous men stamps (so few to choose from, eh?)

And, you will need to pick the dates on which to use those stamps, eg, day testimony begins, day BC testifies (if), day testimony ends, day judgement entered, day sentence pronounced, etc.

And, the sentence opens-up all sorts of possibilities: adding 10-cent definitives if he gets ten years, etc.

And, don't forget the wolf-in-sheep's clothing stamps ... you can still buy those se tenant sheets of the US Jekyl-Hyde stamps for less than face value.

http://www.trussel.com/rls/rlsdrj.htm ... and maybe the BritStamp, too?

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey