A Philatelic Afternoon

I’ve always loved sending and receiving mail. There’s something simply amazing about sending a piece of paper to literally anywhere in the world, and someone will eventually receive it.

I don’t collect stamps per se, but I have bought commemorative stamps and first day covers for a number of years. I consider stamps to be tiny pieces of art.

When I heard that Boston would be hosting the 2026 world expo for philatelists, I knew that I had to go. So Allen and I trekked out to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center on a rainy afternoon to see what this event was all about.

We had a great time, even though we didn’t understand all of the exhibits and dealers and special language of philately. I wanted to see the unveiling of a “first day cover,” so we watched a presentation featuring a post office person from Fiji of all places!

We walked by dozens of people shuffling through millions of stamps at tables multiple times, and we had no idea what was going on. Finally I asked and was told that the stamps were free to all. Wow! We can’t turn down anything free. So we went home with about 20 stamps each. There were also postcard dealers, and we both bought some fun vintage postcards.

There were many exhibits of mail and stamps based on special topics, like Indian Airmail in the 20th century. We were thrilled to stumble upon a display of “Cats portrayed as human beings.”

There was also a special exhibit celebrating Queen Elizabeth II’s 100th birthday, featuring memorabilia and even a Rolls-Royce that she rode in on a visit to Nigeria. That warmed my Anglophile heart.

I came home inspired to write some more postcards through Postcrossing…I’m almost at 100 postcards sent and received.