On this Saturday, with it being National Dog Day our blog post is the Owney Postal Dog Forever Stamp from 2011. I’m including a quick hello from our Brittany spaniel Cooper, now 16 months old. Yesterday he was enjoying pool season playtime.
First, I’m mindful there is Hurricane Harvey battering the Texas Gulf Coast. Praying for those in the storm path today.
Today we are spending some time on the 2011 stamp itself, the Owney Postal Dog Forever Stamp. Last August my post on Making time for the dog days of summer 2016 included “Railway Mail Service Mascot – Owney“. It was about him at the National Postal Museum; a map of Owney’s Travels in the USA and Canada; a short video of Owney’s story; and mentions he was celebrated with his own USPS commemorative stamp. “In 1895 Owney made an around-the-world trip, traveling with mailbags on trains and steamships to Asia and across Europe, before returning to Albany.”
USPS Stamp Announcement 11-33: Owney the Postal Dog
The issue date for the commemorative stamp was on July 27, 2011.
“With this stamp, the U.S. Postal Service® commemorates Owney, the canine mascot of the Railway Mail Service. During the late 1880s, a dog appeared in the Post Office™ in Albany, New York, where clerks took a liking to him and named him Owney. Today, he is an icon of American postal lore whose story highlights the historical importance of the Railway Mail Service. The stamp features an original illustration of Owney with many of his famous tags and medals gleaming in the background, while text on the back of the stamp pane tells his story. …”
Mystic Stamp Company – U.S. #4547 – 2011 44¢ Owney the Postal Dog
“Clerks at the Albany, NY Post Office were so busy one autumn evening in 1888 they didn’t notice a stray puppy curled up on a pile of old mailbags. The postal workers adopted the mixed-breed dog and named him Owney.
Owney had a fondness for mailbags and rode with them as they were transferred from the Albany Post Office to the railroad depot. He eventually started traveling with the mail to New York City. After a while, he would be gone for months at a time.
To ensure their friend made his way home, the Albany clerks gave him a collar inscribed “Owney, Post Office, Albany, New York.” They attached a note to his collar asking employees of the Railway Mail Service to fasten leather or metal baggage tags to his collar to record his travels. They soon realized Owney was traveling around the country.
“Owney’s collar became too heavy for him to wear, so Postmaster General John Wanamaker gave him a special jacket to display his many tags and badges. Owney’s adventures took him all across the country and around the world. Over the years, the postal dog received 1,017 souvenirs from his travels.” …
I’m now looking for an Owney Postal Dog Forever Stamp. Perhaps at a future auction night at my local stamp club, one will appear!
These two photos of Cooper from yesterday at lunch time I am including. This morning has found me up early writing this morning’s daily blog post, and Cooper is sound asleep snoozing.
In the meantime, praying for those with the Hurricane in Texas. I’ll be calling my Mom in the Dallas area today.
Paws lifted in prayers,
Helen
Owney Postal Dog Forever Stamp Attribution & Thank you to the following who are referenced today
Mystic Stamp Company, Owney the Postal Dog #4547 – 2011 44c, excerpt, image.
22314 USPS Postal Bulletin, June 30, 2011, excerpt.
Image above Smithsonian National Postal Museum,
AnchoredScraps daily blog post: Making time for the dog days of summer 2016, August 28, 2016, by Helen Rittersporn, excerpt.
Images of Cooper, our family dog.
