SEQUIM — As stamps circulate the world every day, local collectors look to bring some new and seasoned collectors from Canada and Western Washington to Sequim’s Strait Stamp Show on Saturday.
For the second year, the Strait Stamp Society hosts its free show in the Guy Cole Event Center from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Carrie Blake Community Park, 202 N. Blake Ave.
Per tradition, the event features free stamps for children, door prizes, a penny stamp table, the postal service on premise and more.
Organizer Cathie Osborn said there will be seven dealers looking to buy and sell collections, and about 20 exhibits on various stamp collections and historical pieces.
“Dealers are excited to come,” Osborn said. “The venue is nice and big with room to move around.”
This year’s cache and cancel set celebrates a belated 60th anniversary for the Coho Ferry — a celebration delayed because of COVID-19 restrictions — she said.
Tastes in the Sequim club vary from nostalgic to regional to rare.
Each month, club members choose a letter in the alphabet and share something stamp related. Jim Kloetzel (“K”) of Sequim said at the club’s Aug. 4 meeting he collects advertising covers; he showed what he feels is a one-of-a-kind cover passed down through his family featuring a moving business from Detroit, Mich., with his last name.
Sue Strauss, a wildlife photographer and stamp collector, gave each attendee one of her photos of a kestrel from her business Wings & Things Nature Photography, and a one cent stamp featuring the bird.
Mark Ashley of Sequim showed his first day of issue cover dated Aug. 2, 1971, from the Kennedy Space Center. He started collecting around age 12 and as a freshman in high school outer space began to interest him, particularly with his dad, working as an earth science teacher. His family traveled to Cape Kennedy (now Cape Canaveral) that summer when he got the cover and stamp at the Kennedy Space Center’s gift shop.
Ashley rode a paper route, mowed lawns and shoveled walks in Vermont to buy stamps, he said. As an adult, he now focuses on pre-1940 stamps from the U.S., Canada and British America.
The public is invited to bring collections and/or samples to the show or the club’s meeting at 6 p.m. the first Thursday of each month at Sequim Bible Church, 847 N. Sequim Ave.
For more about the show or the club, call Osborn at 360-683-6373.
