Stamp Collage Postcard, 1930s

An example of postage stamp collage art on a vintage postcard. This clever construction consists of used U.S. postage stamps that have been cut apart and arranged to depict a colonial interior scene that includes a grandfather clock, spinning wheel, writing table with a quill pen and inkwell, chair, fireplace, cat, and two works of art hanging on the wall.

Based on the issue dates for the Warren G. Harding stamp (1925) and the Yorktown sesquicentennial stamp (1931), the collage was probably created sometime in the 1930s. Although this postcard was not postally used (there's no message, address, or postmark on the other side), the glaring hole in the middle of the Yorktown stamp suggests that it was hung on the wall at some point.

For some interesting articles on stamp collages, see David A. Norris, "Vintage Stamp Collage Postcards," American Philatelist, Jan. 2012, pp. 56-58, and Russ Hahn, "Postage Stamp Collage Art," American Philatelist, Dec. 2012, pp. 1120-32 (to locate copies, Google the article citations).

For another example of repurposed stamps, see Easter in Stamps: