At first glance, you might think that’s a picture of the new Elvis stamp above. Nope. It’s the front cover of a CD the US Postal Service is selling online. New stamps don’t have a price on them anymore, so the word FOREVER appears instead. Because they used the stamp picture on the cover, the Postal Service has cleverly named this CD “Elvis Presley Forever.”
This track listing may appeal to new fans, but everybody who owns other Elvis CDs probably has the songs already, except for the last two. These previously unreleased versions may spark some interest, and the $10 price is not prohibitive.
The Postal Service used a similar name on another collectible they call the “Forever Elvis Collection.” For $24.95 you get:
-One mint 1993 Elvis Presley stamp pulled from the U.S. Postal Service vault.
-A sheet of 16 new 2015 Elvis Presley stamps.
-A bold 8 x 8-inch cachet [whatever that is] with an affixed 2015 Elvis Presley stamp and exclusive postmark printed in metallic gold and black inks. (I guess this is in the center behind the sheet of stamps))
-The collectibles are housed in a handsome [USPS lingo] six-panel folio with a die-cut slipcase. The folio panels contain photographs of Elvis shot by Alfred Wertheimer during 1956, as well as a narrative on the 1993 stamp, the 2015 stamp, and the life and music of The King himself.
This is the front cover of the “Forever Elvis Collection.” In my opinion, a less washed out photo would make it more handsome.
One other note. The Forever Elvis Collection can be purchased at USPSstamps.com, same as all the stamp options covered last week. The CD is not listed there, just at store.usps.com.
The idea of a commemorative folio containing Elvis stamp memorabilia was also used in 1993. The folio above was designed to look like a gatefold 33rpm album. Same exact size.
When you opened it up, you could see part of a wonderful color booklet through the die-cut hole.
Here’s the cover of the 16 –page booklet.
And this is an example of the content. It is very well done. In addition to the booklet, this collection contains:
10 Elvis stamp sheets in original sealed sleeves
Elvis stamp limited edition print
“First Day” ceremony program
I have seen the whole set listed several places on eBay. Used ones go for $25 and still sealed ones are asking $100-125.
Back in 1993, to tied in with the 1993 Elvis stamp release, a new ShopElvis.com catalog showed up containing 28 items featuring the image of the stamp. I bought the above T-shirt, which I still have (in pretty good shape, because I seldom wear white T-shirts). Here are the other items I purchased.
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Beach Towel
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Baseball Cap
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Refrigerator Magnet
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Key Chain
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I didn’t buy the Elvis stamp watch. My wife gave it to me the following Christmas.
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Here are a couple of other items with the stamp picture on it that I did not buy. Not my kind of Elvis collectible.
Gold Lamé Bear
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Elvis Stamp Plate
And what would a Graceland merchandising theme be without a coffee mug? They have put out so many different ones over the years. If I had pictures of them all, I could do a whole blog post on them.
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I’m sure EPE has worked out some kind of deal with the Postal Service to market all kinds of stuff with the new Elvis stamp on it. There will be another Graceland catalog out before Elvis Week, so we will see pretty soon.
Unfortunately, I’m not as enthused about purchasing anything with the new stamp picture on it. It’s a black-and-white photo, dull compared to the 1993 drawing in brilliant color. But I’ll bet lots of folks will still buy them.
© 2015 Philip R Arnold, Original Elvis Blogmeister All Rights Reserved www.ElvisBlog.net
