Received from Stephen Walker, USA--Long Live the Bison!

[Bifidus Jones]

Thanks for the warm greetings and great mail art, Stephen! I love the stamps.

[Stephen Walker]

Bifidus,

I'm shocked. Embarassed. Pissed off. And disappointed. I can't belive my local post office wouldn't just have a cancellation stamp in the back area where the mail is being processed. I'm new at the world of mail art and so I assumed (very foolishly) that mail would be cancelled with a Ferndale cancellation stamp regardless if I dropped it at the window or if I put it in the box outside. I can see now that the cancellation process in back is unkind (to put it mildly) to the artform of philatellic and mailart. Don't they realize how beautiful these stamps are?!! The sharpie makes it very clear that this employee could care less about philatellic. For the last three postcards I've sent out I've gone to the window and requested the hand cancel. And I will say I've received very kind words from the window clerks on my artistic efforts and had a nice conversation about the stamp dealer I go to. (America's stamp stop - Berkeley, MI) So I'm going to chalk the whole thing up as a learning process. Lesson learned in Ferndale: Wait in line if you want your stamps hand cancelled with the "Ferndale" stamp, otherwise expect the nasty sharpie!

Stephen

[Nancy Bell Scott]

It's a little nasty. Wouldn't they have to make a conscious effort to wreck vintage stamps that way? Wonderful card anyhow, though.

[Bifidus Jones]

You make a good point KDJ, the lack of sensitivity of stamps as art by the postal service.