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Explore an icon with Exploring Stamps: Mercury, god of messages and communication

10/18/2019

This week on Exploring Stamps, Graham reaches into his big box of stamps and pulls out: a used 1934 Australian air mail stamp picturing two globes and a mysterious figure with winged sandals. This figure is Mercury (or Hermes, depending on whether your preferred mythology is Greek or Roman): god of commerce, financial gain, thieves, trickery, luck, stamps . . . well, maybe not that last one. But Mercury is the god of messages and communication, Graham explains, which is why he's such a common icon for the post, and why we see Mercury - or his symbols - so often on stamps.

Similar to Mercury, Hermes is the messenger of the gods in Greek mythology. In fact, Graham takes us back to 1861 with Greece's first stamps, which picture Hermes's profile, winged hat and all.

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And that's not the end of the traveling in this episode. Graham hops across continents and between decades with different stamps depicting Mercury, his staff (a caduceus), or his winged helmet. Graham also hops on a train to New York City and Grand Central Terminal to visit the iconic statue of Mercury (and get some cupcakes while he's in town, but I don't blame him for getting distracted).

Join us as we journey to Greece, New York, Austria, France, Australia, and more in this episode of Exploring Stamps! Watch the episode on Youtube here or below.

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About Exploring Stamps

Graham Beck has been the host and producer of the Exploring Stamps YouTube channel since 2016. The online video channel is dedicated to the promotion of philately through short entertaining videos. Since the channel’s launch, Graham has attracted over half a million views and gained a global following of over 8500 subscribers. Graham’s interest in philately started as a child growing up in South Africa where he enjoyed collecting new issues with friends. After rediscovering the hobby as an adult, he began producing videos to share his passion with others while demonstrating what stamp collecting has to offer. From Apollo missions to Icelandic Volcanos, the channel has covered a number of fascinating topics related to philately, often involving travel and special video effects. Graham is based in New Jersey with his wife Laura who eagerly takes part behind the scenes with her nifty camera work.

See more videos by Exploring Stamps here.

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Susanna Mills

Susanna Mills is the editor in chief at the American Philatelic Society.

To pitch an idea or submit an article for The American Philatelist, contact the APS editorial staff at aparticle@stamps.org.

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