SEQUIM — Sequim’s Judy Newblom’s love of lighthouses shined a light on a new hobby — stamps.
While she’s lived in Sequim for seven years, Newblom said she joined the Strait Stamp Society to pursue stamp and postcard collecting in January.
“I’ve always had an interest in stamps,” she said. “It’s so much more fun when you can do something with your stamps and postcard albums.”
Newblom and dozens of others will exhibit and participate in the club’s 25th annual Strait Stamp Show from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the Masonic Lodge, 700 S. Fifth Ave. in Sequim.
As tradition, entry is free with free stamps for children, or a penny per stamp for adults.
Vendors will sell goods. Door prizes are planned.
Newblom, who created the exhibit “Five unique lighthouses that should be on your bucket list” for the show, said she discovered “another world” through stamps.
“It’s exciting. Now, I’m looking at my collection differently and I’m enjoying putting stories together,” she said.
Newblom, a retired art teacher/administrator, said a lot can be taught through stamps.
“People don’t realize all the history and all the heroes of our time,” she said. “The problem with stamp collecting is that it’s so interesting you can have dozens of topics [to investigate], a little here and a little there.”
Recently, Newblom said she began researching women astronauts for a possible exhibit at the show.
“But I thought Amelia Earhart was too interesting so it became ‘Women in Flight,’ ” she said.
Postcards are a big part of her collection, too.
Show chairman Cathie Osborne of Sequim said deltiology, the study and collecting of postcards, fits right in with the club and philately, the study of stamps.
“At bigger stamp shows, they’re becoming more likely to welcome postcards [along with stamps] these days,” she said. “A postcard can add to the story something you can’t find on the stamp.”
For more information on the club or show, visit www.straitstamp.org.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
Henry Jones creates a “My Post Office” assortment of collector’s stamps totaling about $50 in mailable stamps. He plans to auction off the collections at the Rotary Club of Sequim’s Salmon Bake on Sunday. (Matthew Nash/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
This year, the Strait Stamp Society celebrates 50 years of the Rotary Club of Sequim’s Salmon Bake on Sunday at the Sequim unit of the Boys Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula. Visitors to the Strait Stamp Show on Saturday at the Sequim Masonic Lodge can purchase an envelope, cancel and a 1955 Rotary stamp. (Matthew Nash/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
Cathie Osborne of Sequim won a silver ribbon and special award from the American Topical Association for the best single-frame Award at the Summer Exhibition of the Evergreen Stamp Show in Kent for her bellflowers stamp exhibit. (Dick McCammon)
