Blue Star Service Stamps

Have you seen these?






Timm

First time for me Timm

Chmo

Bujutsu

Those are World War I Service Stamps. Here's a link to an interesting article explaining their creation and some period usage:

http://www.ephemerasociety.org/arti...and12-10.pdf

The first stamp shown was published by Earnest Dudley Chase of Boston Massachusetts in 1918. They were formatted in sheets of 100 (10x10) and in the bottom margin there is a patent date of November 6, 1917. The patent date is not for the stamps but for the image of the flag designed by Captain Robert l. Queisser of Cleveland. Ohio.

I've never seen the margins of the other stamps and I need to know if they too have printed information in the margins.

Timm

A little more information on Ernest Dudley Chase:

http://mastatelibrary.blogspot.com/...in-maps.html

Great historical background on the blue star mothers flag, wt1. The article indicated that there was a gold variant showing the loss of the child in war; however, no examples were shown. Imagine they are significantly rarer than the blue stars for obvious reasons. Curiously the blue star flag tradition seems to have skipped both the Korean and Vietnam Wars, but has re-emerged with US participation in Iraq and Afghanistan. A friend of mine proudly wore one as a brooch pin while her son served in Iraq. I was very pleased to see that the tradition and its outward sign of sacrifice begin again.

Always liked the design of the US #969 though I would have preferred a truer gold color.

The Gold Star Mothers were organized AFTER World War I, but were quite prominent (and chartered by Congress) during the Second World War. See Wikipedia for details.

I have this postcard in my postal history collection with a different variation of the Blue Star Service stamp. It is tied to a Knights of Columbus picture postcard with a Spartanburg, South Carolina, USA cancel dated September 23, 1918 during World War I.

Linus