Stamp of approval on philatelic exhibit

Peer closely enough at the biplane depicted on the old 1918 stamp, and you’ll notice something the original technician who ran the sheet didn’t. It’s upside down.

“When you have two colors you have to run it through twice,” says David Failor, executive director of stamp services for the U.S. Postal Service. “Planes were so new then, it’s likely the operator didn’t even notice the image was inverted.”

The world famous “Inverted Jenny,” now valued in the millions of dollars, is just one of the images that will be displayed this weekend at the Washington Convention Center as part of the World Philatelic Exhibition, the largest show of stamps and other postal paraphernalia ever held in the United States.

And stamps are just part of the expo.

“It’s not just about little pieces of paper,” says Cheryl Ganz, curator of philately at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum and one of the organizers of the event. “It’s about history and culture and art.”

Not your father’s hobby

If you thought stamp collecting was a moribund activity ranked somewhere between banging away on an old Smith-Corona and dialing some shiny black contraption from Ma Bell, think again.

And think computers. The Postal Museum is using the World Philatelic Exhibition as the occasion to open its new Web site, Arago, which will eventually feature millions of digitized images and allow visitors to zoom in on any particular aspect of a stamp. The system will also feature online exhibitions, browse and storytelling modes, and a search function.

In fact philately, or stamp collecting, is a hobby with fans all over the world. China alone boasts several million stamp collectors. The queen of England boasts her own collection. John Lennon and Freddy Mercury collected stamps. So does former world chess champion Anatoly Karpov.

And there’s a lot more to this weekend’s exhibition than a couple of hundred thousand pieces of paper. You can chat with stamp dealers and artists like Lonnie Busch and David Pacheco, or even meet a NASCAR driver. (NASCAR is one of the sponsors of the event.)

Ranger Rick will be there, along with Mr. Zip and Postman Pat, the British postal service’s special mascot. You can even have an expert give the once-over to that old collection of stamps from Uncle so-and-so that you’ve been keeping up in your attic.

Among the stamp series to be featured at the show are the catchy and colorful “Wonders of America” series. These commemorative stamps about to be issued by the Postal Service feature 40 of the most remarkable places, structures, plants, and animals in the United States. The series will be dedicated on Saturday.

There’s a bit of a ‘50s flair to these stamp designs, bringing to mind souvenirs from summer vacations gone by: Among them is one honoring the Chesapeake Bay, one of the world’s largest estuaries.

Many stamp sets like “Wonders” come with their own spinoff products, from postcards to full-color books, complete with the back story.

“We hope to get both kids and adults interested,” Mr. Failor says. “The power in postage stamps is that they have wonderful stories and they’re great educational tools.”

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