WIYM: Solar Eclipse Swap

FYI: This is not a necessary part of the swap, but for those interested, @Whippet posted this handy info in the public forum:

If you want to get special USPS "Total Eclipse of The Sun" postal mark on your stamp & envelope - Gather together all the PCs, envelopes, addressed, stamped, you want the special postal mark added to, put those mail items into a larger envelope, seal shut. Address the larger envelope:

FDOI - Total Eclipse Of The Sun

USPS Stamp Fulfillment Services

8300 NE Underground Drive, Suite 300,

Kansas City, MO 64144 - 9900

Then seal shut, add postage for delivery. You have 60 days to send to address and receive the special "First Day Of Issue" postmark on your mail.

Taken from the USPS website:

On August 21, 2017, tens of millions of people in the United States will have an opportunity to view a total eclipse of the Sun. A total solar eclipse was last seen on the U.S. mainland in 1979, but only in the Northwest. The eclipse this summer will sweep a narrow path across the entire country—the first time this has happened since 1918. The U.S. Postal Service® anticipates this rare event with a stamp celebrating the majesty of solar eclipses.

The Total Eclipse of the Sun stamp is the first U.S. stamp to use thermochromic ink, which reacts to the heat of your touch. Placing your finger over the black disc on the stamp causes the ink to change from black to clear to reveal an underlying image of the moon. The image reverts back to the black disc once it cools. The back of the stamp pane shows a map of the eclipse path.You can preserve the integrity of your Total Eclipse of the Sun Forever® stamp pane with our protective sleeve specifically designed for stamp preservation. The stamp uses a photograph taken by astrophysicist Fred Espenak of a total solar eclipse that was seen over Jalu, Libya, on March 29, 2006. Mr. Espenak also took the photograph of the full moon that is revealed by pressing upon the stamp image. The reverse side of the stamp pane shows the path across the United States of the forthcoming August 21, 2017, total solar eclipse and gives the times that it will appear in some locations.

A total eclipse of the Sun occurs when the Moon completely blocks the visible solar disk from view, casting a shadow on Earth. The 70-mile-wide shadow path of the eclipse, known as the “path of totality,” will traverse the country diagonally, appearing first in Oregon (mid-morning local time) and exiting some 90 minutes later off the coast of South Carolina (mid-afternoon local time).

A total solar eclipse provides us with the only chance to see the Sun’s corona—its extended outer atmosphere—without specialized instruments. The corona during an eclipse looks like a gossamer white halo around a black disk, or like the petals of a flower reaching out into space.

Art director Antonio Alcalá designed the stamp.

@Babsmomof5 I have just ordered the stamps via USPS website, but I don't know how long it will take. I was just at the USPS yesterday and they have none. I have one more post office I can try and if they don't have any I will wait. I would love to do a private swap for this if I can't get the stamps on time. With the demand for these who knows how long it will take. I'll keep you posted!

@Babsmomof5 I have extra stamps. Shoot me your address and I bet I can send you part of the sheet of stamps! I bought extra from the us postal service website. Our post office had no clue what I was asking for! Let me know!

@ruthless and @busyb I have three sheets, I'm happy to share as well!

Mine arrived yesterday!