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Gl'ecbC FOR ALL WHO LOVE, OWN OR COLLECT CRECHES Vol. 2, No. 1 CHRISTMAS PAST AND A NEW LOOK
Spring 1998
Outdoor Christmas lights always seem most noticeable to me when they have been turned off. However, with the coming of the Spring light and renewal of another year, we put that darkness behind. Now, we look forward to the continuing pleasure and fellowship offered in the spirit of the Holy Creche. Our splendid new masthead is courtesy of Michael J. Stumpf who heads a well known marketing and graphic design firm in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Stumpf also handcrafts magnificent creches which you will read about inside. Included in this issue are photos of creches from the wonderful exhibits we personally visited this past Christmas season, as well as those of some of the beautiful displays that our readers generously shared with us. Rita B. Bacher, Publisher
FLORENTINE SCULPTURE SELECTED FOR 1998 CHRISTMAS POSTAL STAMP A magnificent relief in terra cotta by an unknown Florentine artist has been selected as the nation ' s religious Christmas stamp for 1998. The relief, now hanging in the National Gallery in Washington, was created circa 1425. Scholars feel that the work is by an exceptionally accomplished yet unknown master who was influenced by 14th - 15th century Italian sculptors, Donatello, Ghiberti and Quercia. Selection of the stamp was based upon the recommendation of the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee, which is composed of representatives of the three major faiths.
Postage stamps appeared in March 1847 under President James Polk, making the United States the second nation, after Brazil, to issue stamps. Prior fo that, one stood in line at post offices to prepay letters. Not all liked the stamps, however, and between 1847 and 1851, less than 1.5% of all mail carried the new postage. Christmas stamps first started appearing in 1962, although requests for them had been made earlier. Four years later, with the issuance of a five-cent stamp featuring the Madonna and Child by Hans Memling, the traditional "religious" stamps appeared, along with other holiday designs. In 1967, the United States District Court, in response to a suit questioning the issuance as contrary to the Constitution's First Amendment on the separation of church and state, ruled that such a stamp could "not be deemed in any sense even remotely connected with an establishment of religion, or with any limitation of the free exercise thereof."
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Florentine, l5rh c.
National Gallery
Since the issuance of the first Christmas stamps, about I 00 different designs have been selected. The Nativity itself has appeared three times: Lorenzo Lotto's Nativity in 1970; Giorgione's Adoration of the Shepherds in 1971, and John Singleton Copley's Nativity in 1976.