MEXICO – A Mexico fifth-grader’s winning entry in a U.S. Postal Service contest already is being requested by stamp collectors, said Mexico Postmaster Jack Kaubris.
“We’ve had half a dozen requests already,” Kaubris said Friday, but the special commemorative stamp cancellation isn’t due to be offered until Tuesday at the Mexico Recreation Park off Roxbury Road, or Route 17.
The cancellation, which was drawn by Jamaica Ford, a Rumford Elementary School student, features a Maine black bear with the words “Oxford County, Maine,” around it, and the bicentennial years, 1805-2005, printed beside it.
It’s being offered for the celebration of Oxford County becoming a county.
“Fourth- and fifth-graders submitted artwork to a special committee, and Jamaica’s was chosen, because it was the most compatible to all the guidelines,” Kaubris said.
He picked up a handful of letters on his desk at the Mexico Post Office from collectors in Connecticut, Michigan, California and Maine, all wanting the stamp cancellation.
It will be available from 9 a.m. to noon Tuesday at the Rec Park, and afterward, through June 23 through the Mexico Post Office by mail, he said.
In general, requests by mail are being directed to a Paris address. Those requests should include a self-addressed, stamped envelope inside a larger stamped envelope, which should be sent to: Postmaster, Oxford County Bicentennial Station, 39 Tremont St., Paris, ME 04271-9998.
Kaubris said special commemorative cancellations are a hot item with philatelic collectors.
Tuesday’s cancellation is part of a Mexico celebration featuring family activities, craft tables, music and a horse and rider, who has been traveling to all of the county’s towns. The rider is carrying a copy of the county charter.
In addition to the special cancellation, Postal Service plans to also offer philatelic merchandise and stamps for sale at Tuesday’s event.
As for the stamp cancellation, Kaubris said he believes it to be a first for Mexico.
“No one that I’ve talked to can ever recall one here,” he said.
Comments are no longer available on this story