Latrobe Presbyterian Church


Wilkinsburg Stamp Club

History of Our Satirical Souvenir Sheets

(sample sheets may be viewed in our Gallery)

 

 

The Wilkinsburg Stamp Club's Satirical Souvenir Sheets, issued every year since 1961, help us to finance our Annual Exhibit, keep our membership dues low and encourage more collectors to join us.

 

Souvenir Sheets Order Form:

Download a printable order form as a PDF or as Doc file




ssheets

 

This all started when the Government, in 1960, issued such an abundance of commemoratives that it caused humorous comments from the tongs of collectors and the pens of Philatelic Publications. We thought we should join the fun and issue a sheet of stamps of the uncommemorated events of 1960, expecting to sell them at our exhibit to help defray expenses. Copies were sent to Philatelic Publications and they were so well received that all publications pictured them and commented on them. People seemed to enjoy them so much, that we decided to annually issue for our exhibit a sheet of stamps depicting satirically Philatelic stamps and events of the previous year. The demand has become so great for a number of the earlier sheets that they are entirely sold out and others are beginning to get short in supply. (We will not reprint any sheets which are sold out.) Below is a description of the sheets to date.

 

1961 - We added stamps to series’ already issued. The Credo Stamp issued for P. T. Barnum bears his famous quotation. Castro (A Chumpion of Liberty) and Al Capone (A fameless American) add to these sets and we'll have to leave the 'Wildlife Conservation" to your imagination.

 

1962 - This was the first year for 'Europa' stamps and almost every country issued them, whether in the Europa Organization or not. So we thought our "Upper Slobbovia" should honor 'Europa'. Our stamp shows the nineteen doves flying in a dove pattern as shown of Europa stamps of that year, the U-ROPE-A inscription and an American cowboy who ropes the doves. Marginal inscriptions on all sheets are always humorous.

 

1963 - The World Health Organization had a campaign against malaria that year and all countries issued stamps to honor it; most picturing the Anopheles mosquito. This year also saw the 8c capitol dome stamp and the news media blasted away at Kruschev’s removing his shoe to rap for order. We just had to issue a sheet for "Hilaria" with the Spanish "Gova Nude", a prime target for the mosquito. This we issued as a pair of semi- postal stamps with the 3c surcharge for the world Health Organization and we proudly hold a letter from them thanking us for this 3c surcharge and a few dollars we added to make two hundred dollars. This year also saw Postmaster-General Day authorize the Dag Hammarskjold stamp reprinting with one color inverted, so we issued some of the sheets with one stamp inverted and an appropriate explanation of why.

 

1964 - All countries this year issued "Freedom From Hunger" and “International Red Cross " stamps. Our sheet shows a composite stamp featuring the North Borneo Crocodile stamp and the nurse from our 1931 Red Cross Stamp as she frees Little Sambo from the crocodile's hunger. This year also saw the Tonga Gold Coin stamps, so Upper Slobbovia, not to be outdone, issued two stamps for their corroding copper coins.

 

1965 - From the abstract to the concrete is quite a jump, but the U.S. Abstract art stamp of this year needed such a jump and we issued a Concrete Art stamp, taking a familiar Greek statue stamp, about as abstract as concrete can be made. The “Homewreckers" stamp is also an improvement over the original.

 

1966 - All countries issued an International Telecommunications Union stamp this year, but none are as educational as the Upper Slobbovian issue which depicts how the telegraph and wireless telegraph work.

 

1967 - This was the year when a stamp was issued for “Humane Treatment of Animals” and also the year when President Johnson got much newspaper publicity for picking up his pet beagle by the ears during a news conference, so we combined the two. A stamp for the general indignation of Women’s Clubs, from tolling pins to Carrie Nation's Hatchet was issued by Upper Slobbovia. The entire Sheet is printed on a format of the "Sipex" sheet which appeared that year.

 

1968 - Many unnecessary issues appeared this year, including the "Plan for Better Cities" issue. With arson being so prevalent , we suggested stone and steel as being fireproof. The stamp issued for the Canadian World's Fair by U.S. is the worst display of art found on U.S. stamps for many years and the Upper Slobbovian stamp pictures the losers in the design competition picketing with signs "World's Unfair". Lion’s International "Search for Peace" stamp reads, "Unternational Lyin' ". The sheet also shows how Washington lost his whiskers on the redesigned 8c blue definitive and the “Space Twins" stamps show how, when the stamps are parted, the lifeline breaks and the astronaut falls out of the stamp.

 

1969 - "Human Rights Year" is remembered by Upper Slobbovia and we ask to “Leave Us a Loan". After our Law and Order issue, we discover what the rush was, on the Cherokee Strip.

 

1970 - The “Beautification of America" and “Botanical Congress” issues started something new in the way of “Quads", four different stamps with the same motif issued se-tennant. Only the 1964 Christmas stamps shared this honor. Upper Slobbovia through the hundredth anniversary of baseball should also have been commemorated with quads and distorted the 1969 Baseball, Apollo 8, Apollo 11c airmail and the new special delivery stamps to the baseball motif. When we placed “Peppermint” and “Spearmint” on the arrows of the special delivery stamp, we didn’t realize we were infringing on the Wrigley trademark until it was called to our attention by the Wrigley Company. They were kind enough to permit us to sell them until the end of the year, but we had to destroy all remainders. We therefore cannot supply this sheet. Several dealers, however, knew there would be a demand for them in future years and bought fair quantities.

 

1971 - Who, but Upper Slobbovia, would think of issuing a stamp commemorating the postal strike of 1970? The sheet bears only one stamp, the 20c Black Special Delivery stamp transformed to commemorate this never-to-be-forgotten event. A background drawing depicts mail going through the postal corporation machinery and several inscriptions add to the humor.

 

1972 - Inflation caused another postal hike in May of this year and Upper Slobbovia commemorated it by showing how the six cent flag stamp was made smaller by the Huck Press and the denominational increase to eight cents. Another stamp projected for 1974 with still smaller size and denomination of ten cents. An envelope stamp with an additional surcharge of 1c has space added for future additional surcharges. A new stamp is shown to be added to the ecology series and "Save Our Dollar" tells the story. A deflating blow-viper changes the denomination from 6c to 8c.

 

1973 - This year we made a composite stamp from the "Historical Preservation”, “National Parks Centennial" and "Tom Sawyer" stamps with inscriptions as we believe they should read. “Lover's Lane" showing a car with occupants rationally parked and its counterpart of a hundred years ago in a horse-drawn buggy. Sorry we couldn't add the 'Family Planning" suggestion. Humorous inscriptions around the stamp and the derivation of the word "Philatelist' cannot be ignored.

 

1974 - Our stamp shows the "Eleventh" Postal People stamp with Mr. Zip, who is irked by not being included as a Postal Worker. The 8c "Progress in Electronics" stamp has the printed circuit board changed to a map of "Watergate" and "Transistors" changed to "Transgressors".

 

1975 - The "Zip Code' stamp pictures the speed with which the postal rate zipped from 8c to 10c. The "Expo '74'” stamp shows the runner converted to a nude figure in that “Year of the Streaker".

 

1976> - We jumped the gun a little here and used the 1976 "State Flag Issue' to portray four of the 'States of our Country" not depicted in the regular flag issue.

 

1977 - We felt the Bicentennial Souvenir sheets with the famous paintings of Washington didn’t entirely tell the story of our Country, so we made a fifth sheet with "Custer's Last Stand" and much humor.

 

1978 - With Pueblo Art on so many types of pottery, we thought we should add a cuspidor and a potty (slop jar) with numerous quips to match.

 

1979 - This year we printed our own "Capex" sheet changing the maple leaves to poison ivy. All eight stamps have the original titles, but we certainly changed the pictures to suit the titles.

 

1980 - The “Progress in Architecture” stamps need our stamps on this sheet to show how the "sod hut” shown on the U.S. stamp of 1862 and a modern subterranean house built with modern equipment.

 

1981 - President Carter withdrew the summer Olympic stamps when he decided not to participate in the Games in Russia because of the Afghanistan Takeover, so we thought we should picture a stamp "withdrawn" and one 'without drawin". Also, a coil stamp for non-profit organizations is shown.

 

1982 - The Post Office Department issued three stamps with lines from "America, the Beautiful", but forgot the first line, so we pictured it. Another stamp tells why were “surry" in 1981.

 

1983 - The "Birds and Flowers" sheet neglected to honor a bird and plant for the District of Columbia, so we filled in the void. We did the same when we saw the many, many means of transportation pictured on coil stamps and found nobody ever thought of legs. We further fill in the education of the "consumer" on their coil stamp.

 

1984 - The "Volunteer, Send a Hand" stamp is converted to a commemorative for the IRS as they "send" you their hand.

 

1985 - The Baby-buggy coil we have contained a couple of unlisted errors, so we picture them. This year, the torch from the Statue of Liberty was removed for repair and we can't blame her for chasing Jesse Owens' grand-daughter as she carries the Olympic Torch.

 

1986 - If you've wondered why the "Love Stamps" designs are so grotesque, our 1986 sheet explains the designing of them. Another stab at the transportation set shows a "White-wing's Gondola".

 

1987 - Our "Orphans of Contemplation" pictures four transportation stamps which were ready for sale when there was a postal rate change and they had to be redesigned several times with new denominations.

 

1988 - This year Upper Slobbovia issues it's own "Special Occasion Stamps-The Fool Booklet Pain". We also ask that you Giv, The Untidy Way with our 22c issue.

 

1989 - Upper Slobbovia issues an "Anticipated Three Ounce Rate Stamp For Heavy Hearts". "While the Parade of Transportation Coils Just Carries On ", we again help the U.S. Post-Office by issuing yet two more transportation coil stamps that we know the U.S. will not issue.

 

1990 - "Commemorating The Apparent End Of The Transportation Coil Stamps” Upper Slobbovia issues what may be the last three Transportation Stamps, though these are not coils,

 

1991 - With all the commemorative stamps issued by the U.S., we thought it was about time a Halloween Commemorative was issued. So, we did just that. Preparing for the next postal increase, we are issuing an F- Flour stamp. We borrowed this design from a second grade reading class.

 

1992 - Knowing that postal rate increased are a fact, Upper Slobbovia has issued a mini-sheet for the next twenty rate increases. Twenty stamps are shown, depicting, the 'G' stamp through the "Z" Stamp.

 

1993 - A booklet pane of four stamps is shown on this years sheet. These are not your typical fishing flies.

 

1994 - After the U.S. honored the 500th. anniversary of the voyages of Columbus, we honor Christopher Columbus with our own sheet and a special 'Hand Cancellation".

 

1995 - This year, Upper Slobbovia issued it's own year of the dog stamps.

 

1996 - Breaking from tradition, we did not issue a souvenir sheet this year, but a Exhibition Souvenir booklet. The nine page booklet is philatelic humor at it's best.

 

1997 - This year's sheet parodies the Wonders of the Sea block of 1994. This five Dollar Commemorative Stamp depicts a "Musical Fish Quartet" That Sometimes Sing For A Porpoise, But Usually Just For The Halibut. On a sad note, this is the last sheet that Lou Yagle designed. For years, Lou designed and promoted our sheets. He will be sadly Missed.

 

1998 - This years sheet satirizes the U.S. Screen Legends Stamps series. The sheet depicts a trench-coated tough guy (looking suspiciously like someone you have seen in Rick's Cafe) who packs iron, pumps lead and growls, 'Here's aiming at you, kid". In remembering Lou Yagle, the designer of previous sheets, the left margin contains the following tribute - HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU LOU. LOUIS YAGLE 1904-1997.

 

1999 - This year’s souvenir sheet spoofs the U.S. Postal Service’s “Celebrate the Century” millennium series with its own “Castigate the Century” theme. The sheet commemorates such nonachievements and nonachievers as “Wrong-Way” Corrigan and the Edsel automobile. Each of six “stamps” on the sheet symbolizes a decade such as “The Sexy Sixties” noted for big hair (“Attack of the Killer Beehives”) and “The Snowy Seventies” which shows “a typical U.S. Pot luck dinner” being smoked, not eaten.

 

2000 - This year’s sheet is arranged as a pair of stamps separated by a gutter and pokes fun at the Y2K panic and what came of it. The first stamp bears a date of December 31, 1999, 11:59 P.M. and shows a bearded New Years baby wearing a top hat and carrying a lighted bomb. At the bottom of the center gutter, the words 12:00 midnight barely emerge from a murky black cloud, lightened only by a huge white question mark. The second stamp bears the date 2000 and shows the same baby, beardless and smiling, holding the bomb, which has fizzled. The sheet is captioned “The new millENNUIm,” a deliberate misspelling to emphasize “ennui,” the French word for boredom.

 

2001 - With the recent election confusion in Florida, Upper Slobbovia examines the voting issue by issuing a souvenir sheet featuring a delivery van with a Register to Vote stamp as a placard. As the van is proceeding on U.S. 1, the passenger wonders if he has really voted.

 

2002 - UMummmmmm1 Where’s the....I....stamp???.....-t’s m-ss-ing and the WILKINSBURG STAMP CLUB , took a vote to find it...The ayes have it, so we’re on the search for the m-ss-ng and very -mportant stamp.....OLD BLUE EYES, WHO -S KN OWN ALL OVER THE WORLD.....-s lead-ng the search w-th the help of our stamp club.....LOOK OUT...EYE’S ARE EVERYWHERE...WE’RE HOT ON YOUR TRA-L TO F-ND THE M-SS-NG AND OH SO -MPORTANT STAMP to add to our stamp collect-on.WE HAVE BEEN WONDERING WHY THE I STAMP WAS LEFT OUT, SO WITH A LITTLE FUN, WE ARE TRYING TO FIND OUT WHY IT WAS DROPPED.

 

2003 - One way or another, Upper Slobbovia will find a way to “CANCEL” Saddam. We don’t want to use a missile, but a big foot could be used. We suggest he just be Canceled. If in the event he wants to use a missile, our message is clear.

 

2004 - With profits increasing daily, how, oh how, will the U.S.P.S. push another postal increase through. Surely, they will find another reason to squeeze more money out of the pockets of stamp collectors and the average citizen.

 

2005 - The U.S.P.S. issued a pane of 15 different "Cloudscape" stamps. Upper Slobbovia felt that it should have been a pane of 20, so we issued 5 stamps of our own with "official" names along with English translations.

 

2006 - The U.S.P.S. issued five Sporty Cars of the 1950’s. Upper Slobbovia felt that it should show some of our own “similar” versions of Sporty Cars, so we issued stamps picturing four of our favorites.

 

2007 - The U.S.P.S. stamps honoring Benjamin Franklin. Upper Slobbovia felt that it should show some of our own “similar” versions of Benjamin Franklin, so we issued stamps picturing four of our favorites.

 

2008 - The U.S.P.S issued four Mahogany Speed Boats stamps. Upper Slobbovia felt that it should show some of our own "similar" versions of "Speed Boats", so we issued stamps picturing four of our favorites.

 

2009 - The U.S.P.S issued the TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME stamp. Upper Slobbovia felt that it should have our own "similar" version of PLEASE COME OUT TO THE BALL GAME, so we issued a stamp picturing a pitcher from our baseball team.

 

2010 - The U.S.P.S issued five lighthouse stamps. Upper Slobbovia felt that it should show some of our own "similar" versions of "LightHouses", so we issued stamps picturing four of our favorites

 

2011 - 50th ANNIVERSARY ISSUE - On the left, we used an image of our first satirical souvenir sheet (1961) with the dates 1961 and 2011 added along with 50th Anniversary. On the right, we used an image of a photo of Lou Yagle (1904 – 1997) who was the Club’s originator of these sheets. The description of the 1961 sheet is as follows: We added stamps to series’ already issued. The Credo Stamp issued for P. T. Barnum bears his famous quotation. Castro (A Chumpion of Liberty) and Al Capone (A fameless American) add to these sets and we'll have to leave the 'Wildlife Conservation" to your imagination

 

2012 - Early in 2011, the United States Postal Service announced that all future first class postage stamps would be the so-called "forever stamps." These stamps do not show a face value but are guaranteed to cover the cost of mailing a first class letter, regardless of how high that cost may rise in the future. Upper Slobbovia felt that it was a good idea and issued its first four “FOREVER STAMPS.”

 

2013 - The United States Postal Service announced in 2012 that they were considering issuing stamps with images of people that are still living. Whether that actually does occur is yet to be determined. Upper Slobbovia has taken the drastic measure of declaring it will no longer issue stamps showing real people. However, fictional characters (mainly film characters) will be allowed if dead, alive or "dead, then alive." In most cases though, photos and actual "quotes" will not be permitted if they are copyrighted. Here are four of the first stamps to honor film characters that were "dead, then alive"with appropriate "non-quotes" from these characters.

 

2014 - The U.S.P.S issued five stamps featuring various “MUSCLE CARS” in 2013. Upper Slobbovia felt that it should show some of our own "similar" versions of vehicles using different kinds of "MUSCLES", so we issued stamps picturing three of our favorites.

 

2015 - The U.S.P.S issued wedding cake and heart stamps in 2014 (and previous years). Upper Slobbovia felt that, based on current statistics, why not also issue divorce and “broken” heart stamps, so here are two “his and hers divorce cake” issues along with the broken heart issue.

 

2016 - The U.S.P.S issued a “FROM ME TO YOU” stamp in 2015 to attempt to increase letter writing and first class mail. Upper Slobbovia felt that, based on current activity, why not issue a “FROM ME TO ME” stamp to further first class “snail mail” service. Upper Slobbvia also issued a “SEND REGULAR MAIL” stamp companion issue.


2017 - The U.S.P.S issued four STAR TREK 50th anniversary stamps in 2016. Upper Slobbovia felt that felt that it should show some of our own "similar" versions of “CAR TREK” issues using similar designs.


2018 - The U.S.P.S issued four Shark stamps in 2017. Upper Slobbovia shows that there are land sharks too,... Both of whick we must beware.


2019 - In 2018 the United States Post Office issued a stamp that pays tribute to the sacrifice of American soldiers and millions of supporters on the home front who experienced World War I. These soldiers were nicknamed Doughboys as they were often caked with mud from being in the trenches.. Upper Slobbovia felt necessary to show the lengths they would attempt to rid themselves of the name….


2020 a - In 2019 the USPS issued a stamp paying tribute to the first man on the moon. Upper Slobbovia, knows it’s the “woman in the moon” and that men need to get it straight…


2020 b - A“Special Edition Souvenir Sheet” was issued by the Upper Slobbovia Government to celebrate the 70th Wilkinsburg Stamp Club show, that never happened due to Covid-19. This specially designed sheet depicts the sunken bus and alligators found in Pittsburgh in 2019.


2022 - Another Upper Slobbovia release depicting secret messages on their stamps. See if you can decode them.