December 10th In-store Event!!

Don't forget to join us for B.J.'s 2011 December 10th Raffle & Sale. There will be great food, fun, and excitement. Get your tickets today! Opportunities to win prizes for everyone who is present. Click here to download and print the in-store event flyer. Hope to see you there.

Visit B.J.'s Stamps and Coins website at www.BJStampsAndCoins.com or call us at 623.878.2080 for more details on this amazing event!

George Washington: Man and Myth

George Washington (1721 - 1799) won a place in American history as the "Father of Our Country." No other American has been honored more on postage stamps, one dollar bills, and on the quarter. The Washington quarter, designed in 1932 by John Flanagan, was intended as a commemorative issue marking the 200th anniversary of Washington's birth. It was later adopted as a regular United States coin. In 1965, the original silver Washington quarter was replaced by the clad quarter.

1932 - 1964 Silver Quarter

Denomination: $0.25.
Obverse Image: George Washington, first President of the United States.
Reverse Image: The Presidential Coat of Arms.
Metal Composition: 90% silver, 10% copper.
Total weight: 6.25 grams.

Don't forget to visit B.J.'s Stamps and Coins website at www.BJStampsAndCoins.com or call us at 623.878.2080 for more details on this amazing coin. Start collecting today!

Stamp Collecting for Kids

We have some Disney postage stamps in grab bags available in the store.  These short sets are a great way for a new collector to get started.  Since they are Disney stamps with characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck it is fun for kids to work with these stamps. 

As a bonus, the short sets are all foreign stamps.  Whether they want to or not, kids will be learning about history, government, geography, and even math.

Later, the collector can focus on almost anything that interests them: sports, shapes, colors, or countries.  There are many stamps that show things kids are already interested in, like:  X-Men, Star Trek, Sesame Street, space travel, baseball and football...the choices are endless.

Before long, your kids will be announcing that they are stamp collectors, and your neighbors or kind uncles will be saving envelopes or even donating their old collections to the cause. 

Come by or email us to see what other grab bags of short sets we have in stock!

Some fun trivia

·         Which Revolutionary War hero also helped make coins? 

Besides being quite the skilled horseman and informant, Paul Revere was a silversmith and a contributor to our nation's coinage. Revere's metals company once supplied the Mint with rolled copper for the production of early cents.

·         What coin and monument both honor another "Washington"? 

The first coin to feature an African-American was the Booker T. Washington Memorial Half Dollar. It was minted from 1946 to 1951. A National Monument was designated to Washington in Hardy, Virginia, on April 5, 1956

·         First Stamps

Great Britain was the first country to issue postage stamps, so theirs are the only stamps in the world not to bear the name of the country of origin. And the glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.

·         What General of the US Army was honored on a US Postage stamp five times?

General William Tecumseh Sherman:  The 1st issue was 1893, 2^nd issue 1895, 3^rd later in 1895, 4^th in 1937, and 5^th in 1995

New Website

Our new website is live!  Check out the new look of our website and let us know what you think!   http://www.bjstampsandcoins.com 

Hopefully, our new online store is easier to use than the old site.  It will take quite a while to get everything in the brick and mortar store loaded into our online store, so please call or email if there is something you are trying to find.  It is very likely that we have what you are looking for even if it is not posted yet. 

X-Men United Stamps

We have some great X-Men United stamps issued from St. Vincent and the Grenadines. 
X-Men united stamps showing different characters from the movie based on the Marvel characters.  Sheet 1 shows: Jean Grey, Storm, Wolverine and Cyclops.  Sheet 2 shows:  Nightcrawler, Professor X, Iceman and Rogue  Sheet 3 shows:  Magneto, Mystique, Stryker, and Lady Deathstrike.

Postmarked letter arrives in CA 66 years later

This article is re-posted from USA Today:  http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/03/letter-postmarked-alabama-arrives-in-california-66-years-later/1?csp=34news

A letter postmarked Montgomery, Ala., apparently left the post office just fine, but by the time it arrived in California 66 years later, the Red Cross hospital named in the address had long since been torn down.
Instead, it arrived in the normal mail delivery two weeks ago to Gary McMaster, volunteer curator for the Camp Roberts Historical Museum. The former hospital served thousands of soldiers from overseas during WWII.
The letter, postmarked Aug. 9, 1944, is addressed to: "Miss R.T. Fletcher, American Red Cross Station Hospital, Camp Roberts, California."
A corner of the envelope has been torn off, showing a three- or four-page handwritten letter inside.
Joseph Brecken­ridge, a Postal Service spokesman in Atlanta, tells the Advertiser that most likely, someone found the letter while sorting out estate items and simply dropped it into the mailbox.
Breckenridge tells the paper he appreciates McMaster's hesitance to look inside, since it is a federal offense to open someone else's mail, but he wonders whether one peek might be appropriate.
"One can make discreet use of what one finds inside," he says.