Embedded Files
Infobox
Infobox
Name: Rattlesnake Island Local Post Triangle Stamps
Issued by: Rattlesnake Island Local Post
Type: Local post stamp
Year: 1966 - present
Sides: 3
Currency: United States Dollar (USD)
Rattlesnake Island Local Post?
Rattlesnake Island Local Post?
Local posts are postal services which operate within a limited range (such as London's 'Penny Post'), or along a single transportation route (such as the Pony Express). They are often privatly owned. Rattlesnake Island Local Post is an airmail post founded by Dr. James Pierson Frackelton, MD, in 1966. Mail is picked up on the island and flown to the mainland, then placed into the United States Postal Service mailstream.
The first three stamps
Images from rilp.org
A selection of RILP stamps
Image from rilp.orgThe first stamp
The first stamp
The story of the Rattlesnake Island Local Post stamps started with an issue featuring an aerial photograph of Rattlesnake Island, in Lake Erie. According to Dave Gill, current RILP postmaster, "The [first] stamps are a simple 2 color design [with a] rectangle shape. And that is where the problems began. Within a few months the USPS sent a cease-and-desist order to Dr. Frackelton as the stamps could be mis-taken for regular postal stamps and thus the USPS would lose sales." So Frackelton decided to issue triangular stamps from there on in. Unlike many national postal services, RILP issued equilateral triangles rather than right angle triangles.
RILP today
RILP today
Rattlesnake Island Local Post is now operated by Dave Gill. It has a website, rilp.org, where stamps are sold.
References
References
Integrative Medicine Conference Scrapbook / Remembering James Frackelton MD, one of ICIM's Founding Fathers / http://icimed.blogspot.com/2013/08/remembering-james-frackelton-md-one-of.html
Rattlesnake Island Local Post / 1966 - Set of 3 Stamps - Rectangle - 1st Printing / https://www.rilp.org/product-page/1966-set-of-3-stamps-rectangle-1st-printing
Stampshows / LOCAL POSTS OF THE WORLD / http://www.stampshows.com/local-post.html
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse