Tuesday, 19 November 2013 is the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln’s famous two-minute speech given at the dedication of the National Cemetery at the famous Pennsylvania battlefield.  Muang Phuket Local Post (MPLP) will join in this commemoration by issuing a single 25-satang artistamp, imperforate and ungummed, in sheets of fifteen (three rows of five).

Apart from the Pledge of Allegiance and the first verses of “The Star Spangled Banner”, this is the historic quotation that every American schoolkid memorizes at some point.  We were also taught to the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble to the Constitution but I don’t recall ever having to recite it the way we had to with Lincoln’s oratory.  I can remember a fair bit of it to this day (but not enough to upload a video of me saying it).

This will be the third MPLP stamp and the first in an “American Heritage” series.  Just because my local post is based in Thailand, doesn’t mean I can’t portray American themes on my stamps.  (Another in this series will mark the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination on 22 November; details are forthcoming).  A limited number of First Day covers will be prepared and for these I have created a pictorial handstamp/cachet.

Continuing the local transport-themed carrier markings (the first being “Carried by Elephant”), we now have a “Tuk-Tuk Express” service handstamp.  Perhaps the next one could be “Via Longtail Boat” or ‘Porthong Post” but I think I’ll stay away from “Bus Crash Mail” and “Motorbike Mafia”.  Truth be told, most of the Muang Phuket Local Post route is conveyed by sweaty flat feet.

Apart from a possible “Christmas In Thailand” issue, I’m not yet sure what’s next for the MPLP.  I’d like to have an issue for World Local Post Day in late January but this year’s theme has yet to be announced.  If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment below.

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