Has anyone purchased Harry Potter Forever® stamps? Each features a different character or scene from the Harry Potter movies. There are Hogwarts students and professors, friends and villains, fighting, flying, and frightening.

The U.S. Postal Service issued the collection in November 2013 in souvenir booklets of twenty.  At $.46 each, the collection costs $9.20, but it’s worth every penny and more.  Postage is going up to $.49 for a one-ounce first class letter in January.

We haven’t always been able to brand our envelopes with such colorful symbols of our own choosing.  In 1847 when the USPS started issuing stamps, there was no choice, but who could argue with the postmaster general.  Dead presidents and founding fathers, particularly George Washington who was both, were de rigueur for decades.

Over time the subjects used on stamps have been expanded to embrace pop culture.  Twenty years ago the USPS held an unprecedented nationwide contest to select the artwork for the 1993 $.29 Elvis Presley stamp.  Should the young Elvis in watercolors or, as it’s often referred, an old Elvis in oil be featured? Despite protests that the USPS was disregarding its own regulations that stamp honorees no longer be alive, over a million people voted, with over 75% preferring the virile rock ‘n roller at the start of his career.

The Elvis stamp is the most popular U.S. commemorative stamp of all time. Over 700 million have been bought, if not used.  And, you can add one to your collection today – for $.29.

So put a little magic in your life with a stamp showing Harry playing Quidditch or taking notes with his quill.  Just don’t expect to make a fortune.

© 2013 Susan Marg – All Rights Reserved