Masonic Week 2010: Masonic Stamp Club

Masonic Week 2010:

George Washington Masonic Stamp Club

I know it is not a new organization, yet I don’t recall ever seeing it represented at Masonic Week before, but there’s no denying it had a table in the registration area of our hotel: The George Washington Masonic Stamp Club.

I collected stamps as a kid, finding it a great way to study history and admire the various fine arts of engraving and printing revealed in serious philately. To this day, I have albums upon albums of First Day Covers and individual stamps.

The club meets only twice annually. In February, on the Sunday after Washington’s birthday (Feb. 22) or on his birthday when it falls on a Sunday, the brethren convene to confer the “Master of Philately Degree” at the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. And they meet on the Saturday before Labor Day at the Baltimore Philatelic Exposition at the Marriott Hotel in Hunt Valley, Maryland.
 
Upcoming meetings are: Saturday, September 4 in Maryland; and Sunday, February 27, 2011 in Virginia. I admit these events are a little outside my usual orbit, so I doubt I’ll ever be able to attend, but this didn’t stop me from signing up for a Life Membership, which cost less than two Manhattans at the hotel bar and affords me the chance to marry my long neglected hobby with my appreciation for Masonic culture.
 
The club publishes Masonic First Day Covers, Washington Birthday Covers, Inauguration Covers, and other special event covers as desired. So we’ll see how it goes. Could be fun.