Valentine Mark Herman's Blog (130)

Oldest surviving piece of post to be auctioned for $2 million (friom The Times of London, 11/01/2024)

"The ornate letter sheet was stamped with a Penny Black, the world’s first adhesive postage stamp, over 180 years ago

The earliest surviving piece of mail using a pre-paid postage stamp that was sent to a Cumbrian iron works is to be sold in New York.

The piece of postal history is a Mulready letter sheet that was stamped with a Penny Black, the world’s first adhesive postage stamp, on May 2 1840. It was sent from London to the…

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Added by Valentine Mark Herman on January 11, 2024 at 4:20am — 1 Comment

US stamp sells for a record-breaking $2m

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67409534

A rare US postage stamp has sold for $2m (£1.63m) in a New York auction, setting the record for the most expensive single US stamp sold.…

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Added by Valentine Mark Herman on November 14, 2023 at 3:43am — 6 Comments

SNAIL MAIL... IS BAD FOR YOUR MAIL ART IN THE UK (from today's BBC News)

'Determined' snails eating villagers' mail

At a glance

  • Snails are nibbling…

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Added by Valentine Mark Herman on October 25, 2023 at 10:18am — 2 Comments

POSTAGE COSTS RISE AGAIN IN THE UK (extracts from BBC report, 02/10/2023)

First class stamp price jumps to £1.25

The price of a first class stamp has risen to £1.25 from £1.10, the third increase in the space of 18 months.…

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Added by Valentine Mark Herman on October 3, 2023 at 3:04pm — 1 Comment

BEWARE -- MOAN LISA IS BACK ON ONE OF HIS DERANGED MISSI0NS TO SABOTAGE IUOMA

Bonjour,

Some of you will, unfortunately, remember Moan Lisa who has been thrown out of IUOMA on more than one occasion. Others of you will, fortunately, not know about him.

I woud like to draw your attention to his current madness.

I have received two postcards from him (with an address in Kyrgystan (which is somehere in Central Asia, but the stamps are from Belgum).

The first has on the front this 'message': "one two three four I DECLARE A MAIL ART…

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Added by Valentine Mark Herman on September 22, 2023 at 2:35pm — 3 Comments

An international postage stamp in France will cost €1.96/$2.16 in 2024

At the start of 2024, the price of an international postage in France will increase to €1.96 -- or $2. 16.

I used to be able to afford to send lots of mail abroad when stamps cost 50% less, but now my mail art sendings have to be severely curtailed -- for which I apologise in advance.

Added by Valentine Mark Herman on July 31, 2023 at 10:28am — 6 Comments

Extract from today's Sunday Times: Antarctica’s 23-year-old postmaster on sorting mail at the end of the Earth

Clare Ballantyne grew up in Louth, Lincolnshire, and graduated from Oxford University with a master’s degree in Earth sciences in 2022. In June she and three others were selected from 4,000 applicants to travel to Port Lockroy on the remote Goudier Island in the Antarctic Peninsula. The UK’s most southerly public post office — known affectionately as the Penguin Post Office — is operated by the charity UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT). Ballantyne’s job…

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Added by Valentine Mark Herman on March 26, 2023 at 10:30am — 5 Comments

The format of the new site is HORRIBLE!

Please reset it in it's old and luch loved format.

Thank you.

Val

Added by Valentine Mark Herman on March 3, 2023 at 8:30am — 12 Comments

BEWARE 2 -- ANOTHER MAIL ART SPAMMER?!

"Dear (fill in name of person, organisation, association, local/regional/state/national government, etc),
I am writing to you because I know that you share my interests in Mail Art (fill in other actiivity, social cause, sport, cultural event, current affairs, etc), and I wonder if you would like to exchange some Mail Art with me?…
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Added by Valentine Mark Herman on March 1, 2023 at 4:28pm — 2 Comments

BEWARE!! "Mail Art" (not) spammer called 'Catherine O'Sullivan'

Beware folks!

I was recently contacted by Catherine O'Sullivan who I had never heard of.

'I have seen your Mail Art, and would like to share some thoughts about Mail Art with you', she said.

'OK', 'I replied, 'What do you want to talk about?'

Then I got a follow-up saying she lived in the US (Denver, CO, I think) had been a nurse, was a religous person, was seriously ill, etc, and as I was a 'sensitive' person she would like to transfer some of her funds to me…

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Added by Valentine Mark Herman on February 28, 2023 at 10:41am — 12 Comments

From the BBC: "Ukraine's Banksy stamps feature art of Putin in judo match" (Follow the link to see the stamps)

Ukraine has issued postage stamps featuring a mural by renowned UK graffiti artist Banksy to mark the first anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion.…

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Added by Valentine Mark Herman on February 26, 2023 at 4:22am — 2 Comments

Letter arrives 105 years after being posted (extracts from an article in today's Times [of London])

How late has your post been recently? A few days? Weeks? Maybe a month? Strike action may be causing significant delays at present, but they are nothing compared to the time taken for one letter to make it from Bath to Crystal Palace which has finally arrived 105 years after it was posted.

It was originally sent by a Christabel Mennell, who seemed to be racked by guilt and wished to…

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Added by Valentine Mark Herman on February 17, 2023 at 8:40am — 4 Comments

I HAVE A NEW WEB-SITE..... val-herman-art.eu

.....

...it has the same address as the former web-site, but is about 90% shorter, and, hopefully, 90% more accessible and informative.

Mail Art and, of course, IOMA are included in it. Look at:

i) the entry and text for 'Mail Art' on the Home Page; ('I make all sorts of art'. 'I produce all kinds of art', etc)

ii) the entry for 'Mail Art' at the extreme right of the top of the Home Page, click on it, and you will find some examples of my Mail Art over the…

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Added by Valentine Mark Herman on November 21, 2022 at 8:12am — 3 Comments

THE EFFECTS OF COVID ON MAIL ART EXHIBITIONS/PROJECTS

Look at the figures below. There used to be lots of Mail Art Exhibitions/Projects -- anywhere between 120 and 230 each year, from 2007 to 2017.

Since Covid there are far, far fewer. And in 2022, as in 2021, there is likely to be less than 20. (That's 20 organised by the supposed 5,600+ IUOMA members plus other non-IUOMA Mail Aritists, as featured here)

Any ideas why this should be so?

Is Mail Art dying? Are Mail Art Exhibitions/Porjects becoming less relevant,…

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Added by Valentine Mark Herman on October 30, 2022 at 3:03pm — 6 Comments

Flickering/Moving photos trigger epilepsy and...

..I, for one, don't think they should be allowed on medical, let alone "I'm a Mail Artist, look at me", grounds.

Sorry to be a spoil sport

Val

Added by Valentine Mark Herman on March 21, 2022 at 5:40pm — 1 Comment

THE FIRST EVER POSTAGE STAMP (1840) -- only $6M +

From today's Times (of London):

First Penny Black stamp offered for £6m at Sotheby’s auction

The Penny Black has acquired such legendary status among…

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Added by Valentine Mark Herman on October 27, 2021 at 6:58pm — 4 Comments

AND FOUR YEARS LATER, IUOMA WAS STARTED. BECAUSE MESSAGES IN BOTTLES DIDN'(T GET DELIVERED QUICKLY?

(From today's Times [of London])

"

A glass bottle with a message thrown into the sea 37 years ago in Japan has been found washed up 4,000 miles away on a Hawaiian beach.

It had been cast adrift as part of a school experiment in 1984 to monitor ocean currents. Scrolls of paper written in English, Spanish and Japanese…

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Added by Valentine Mark Herman on September 18, 2021 at 6:03am — 1 Comment

Mail Art and the Chagos Islands (which, I'm sure, y'all know are in the Indian Ocean). This is from the BBC

"Mauritius has moved a symbolic step closer to wresting control of the Chagos Islands, in the Indian Ocean, from the UK.…

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Added by Valentine Mark Herman on August 25, 2021 at 5:13pm — 2 Comments

Mail Art can become very expensive, but I've got a few of these stamps if anyone would like a swap

From the BBC

"An $8.3m (£6.2m) stamp is returning to the UK for the first time in 143 years, after being sold at auction to a British rare stamp dealer.…

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Added by Valentine Mark Herman on July 15, 2021 at 12:00pm — 3 Comments

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