The Stamp That Broke My Heart

The Stamp That Broke My Heart

April 22nd, 2010 @ 3:08 pm by Mrs. Jellyfish
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A couple months ago, I received a card in the mail. I always notice stamps, and I immediately admired the beautiful stamp that graced the envelope:

The Stamp That Broke My Heart : wedding pleasanton postage Pr10 003 pr10_003

Behold! The Lunar New Year: Year of the Tiger Stamp

‘That’s really nice,’ I thought to myself. I made a mental note that these stamps might go well with our wedding invitations, since they fit right in with our autumn color scheme. I thought about buying some at the time, but figured I’d wait until I had our invites in hand and knew exactly how much postage we’d need. Bad idea!

Little did I know, these stamps were limited edition and are now impossible to find! They are completely sold out on the USPS.com site, and I’ve called every post office in the area, heck—I’ve even called the ones near my parents’ house! No luck.

My last hope was that BM I would be able to find some at the National Postal Museum* in Washington D.C., where she’s living for the year. I went to the museum when I visited her, and I was delighted to find the lovely 27 cent fruit stamps I’d been coveting in their amazing stamp shop (though not in time to use on our Save the Dates, boo). Unfortunately, even the National Postal Museum is sold out of them. So I guess I will have to find some other stamps for our RSVP envelopes.

Have you ever fallen hard for something that was discontinued?

*This might make me seem like some kind of philatelic loony, but I really LOVED the National Postal Museum. I highly recommend it if you are ever in Washington D.C.!

Tags: pleasanton, postage |

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29 Responses to “The Stamp That Broke My Heart”

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Member

Gerbera (message) 4,481 posts, Honey bee

aw. I’m sorry!
Have you checked eBay?

4/22/10 @ 3:10 pm (reply)

Member

Gerbera (message) 4,481 posts, Honey bee

They are def more than 44cts each but they have some on eBay!
http://stamps.shop.ebay.com/United-States-/261/i.html?_nkw=chinese+new+year+stamp&_catref=1&_fln=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m282

4/22/10 @ 3:12 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Jellyfish (message) 1,450 posts, Bumble bee

@Gerbera: Yeah, I saw that, but I’d rather not spend more than they’re worth. That’s why I won’t do Zazzle either. I’m cheap like that.

4/22/10 @ 3:13 pm (reply)

Member

MsTerrapin (message) 609 posts, Busy bee

Sorry you couldn’t find your stamps, but I completely agree with you on the Postal Service Museum! It’s one of my favorites in DC and I always take folks there when they come to visit and want to hit a museum.

4/22/10 @ 3:17 pm (reply)

Member

Gerbera (message) 4,481 posts, Honey bee

@Miss Jellyfish:
hahaha. Me too! But ya know, I didn’t know if you were the I *have* to have stamps that coordinate type. =)
BTW, have you tried calling the Post Offices in Chinatowns? There’s a pretty big one in NYC on Pell St. They might get more stock than other Post Offices? Worth a try?
Or even the Ctown in San Fran or LA?

4/22/10 @ 3:19 pm (reply)

Member

krissybee (message) 3,921 posts, Honey bee

awww, bummer. they are beauties, but just not meant to be then.

4/22/10 @ 3:19 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Ribbons (message) 2,018 posts, Buzzing bee

Postal Museum is a few blocks from me and I agree, it’s a great place!

Sorry the stamps were gone, I had no idea they were limited either!

4/22/10 @ 3:22 pm (reply)

Member

gibsonkk (message) 227 posts, Helper bee

Try Ebay!!
I bought discontinued Hawaii $0.44 for our Mahalo cards and got 140 through two diff. purchases on Ebay. - from one stamp geek to another. Don’t give up hope!!

4/22/10 @ 3:24 pm (reply)

Member

gibsonkk (message) 227 posts, Helper bee

and pretty sure I’ve seen those in our Columbus, Ohio post offices… call your friends and family in other areas and ask them to check their local post offices

4/22/10 @ 3:25 pm (reply)

10.

Member

alivoo01 (message) 2,625 posts, Sugar bee

You got me all excited when I saw the stamps. Much better than the forever stamps for wedding invitations and then poo! Hopefully (maybe) the USPS will put something awesome out soon…. *crosses fingers*

4/22/10 @ 3:25 pm (reply)

11.

Member

ScubaBride (message) 25 posts, Newbee

Oh my gosh, my mom is obsessed with these stamps as well. I had no idea what she was talking about when I mentioned that I needed stamps, but they are really pretty (and red is one of our colors). She went to every post office in a 25 mile radius and finally managed to find 6 sheets. All the post office workers were telling her how quickly they had sold out because so many people wanted them. So we won’t be able to use them on all of the invitations, but at least some will have them!

4/22/10 @ 3:29 pm (reply)

12.

Member

Marinara (message) 392 posts, Helper bee

Aw, sorry to hear that! We used them for our STDs, and are using the king/queen stamps for invites. Those are super pretty — hopefully you’ll find something you like just as much! Maybe zazzle?

4/22/10 @ 3:38 pm (reply)

13.

Member

silverbrooke (message) 254 posts, Helper bee

Yes. The Lenox china that we want is a set of three patterns of Mosaico D’Italia. Sadly, parts of it are discontinued.

We looked all over Lenox and on other china sites, and just don’t dig anything else, and we don’t really want to settle on china that we are just “ok” with. Still working on this situation, since not all of our people are able to buy things offline.

4/22/10 @ 3:40 pm (reply)

14.

Bee

Miss Sewing (message) 2,701 posts, Sugar bee

we used these stamps for our invites. i dont even want to talk about how many post offices i went to trying to find them. don’t even bother in the bay area! i bought all they had in salinas and then stole the set my grandmother ordered from the stamp catalog. urghh. the post office really needs to make better stamps, or at least stop discontinuing them! *feels your pain*

4/22/10 @ 4:08 pm (reply)

15.

Member

shaydenise (message) 1,151 posts, Bumble bee

Yep. I ordered my dress a year early because I was afraid it would be discontinued lol.

4/22/10 @ 4:14 pm (reply)

16.

Member

twalila (message) 1,116 posts, Bumble bee

I wanted to use the Resuce Animals stamps but alas they weren’t coming out till the end of April, and our invites went out April 1. Instead of got stuck with the creepy King & Queen dudes. It was that or the Simpsons, or walking to another NYC post office which is clearly WAY too much work for me.

4/22/10 @ 4:23 pm (reply)

17.

Member

theresa1078 (message) 194 posts, Blushing bee

I noticed these were available when I was in the Woodbury, NY PO (zip 11797) last week mailing my own save the dates…you could try calling them and see if you can purchase some directly through them.

4/22/10 @ 4:28 pm (reply)

18.

Bee

Mrs. Pug (message) 3,753 posts, Honey bee

aw, those *are* really nice stamps. i can see why they sold out. i hope you find some, or find another stamp that you like!

4/22/10 @ 4:44 pm (reply)

19.

Member

miss.skinner (message) 743 posts, Busy bee

Those are very cute stamps. I can see why your a little bummed.

We ended up getting the Gulf Coast Lighthouse stamps for our beach wedding. They are super cute. Unfortunatly they needed an additional 17 cent stamp for our invites and all they had were the bighorn sheep ones so they will look a little silly with the lighthouses but oh well.

4/22/10 @ 5:41 pm (reply)

20.

Member

sasapok (message) 77 posts, Worker bee

WAIT! Miss Jellyfish, TELL ME YOU ARE KIDDING?! I’ve been sitting around, checking a post office here and there whenever I have the chance, and not thinking much of it when they didn’t have it. Figured, I’ll get it somewhere, sometime. I had no idea this stamp was THAT much of a rage! Now I feel so heartbroken as well! When I saw this post, I was like “wait, am I a bee? did I write this post?” Hahaha. Cuz it is exactly what I would’ve wrote! We LOVED this stamp and how it fit perfectly into our fall wedding! Argh. I must go on a HUNT for these!

4/22/10 @ 6:07 pm (reply)

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