A Significant if not also a Rare Gift

Vahe H. Apelian

 Last year Harout Aprahamian gifted me a booklet type package titled “The Official 1980 United States Olympic Committee Proofcard Collection”. Marilyn, Harout’s wife, presented it to me after a church service. It’s a collection of stamps issued on the occasion of 1980 Olympics. I was very appreciative that Harout had thought of me when he came across this booklet and purchased it for gifting it to me. But I had not realized the historical significance of the collection until very recently.

The package is a collection of the first day covers of the stamps the United States Postal Service (USPS) issued celebrating the 1980 Olympic Games. Each stamp has the first day of issue and the issuance city postmarked, celebrating a sporting event of the Olympics. They are as follows:

September 5, 1979 in OLYMPIA, WA celebrating, DECATHOLON

September 28, 1979 in LOS ANGELES, CA, celebrating TRACK

September 28, 1979 in LOS ANGELES, CA, celebrating SWIMMING

September 28, 1979 in LOS ANGELES, CA, celebrating CREW ROVING

September 28, 1979 in LOS ANGELES, CA, celebrating THE EQUESTRIAN EVENTS

September 28, 1979 in LOS ANGELES, CA, celebrating ARCHERY

November 1, 1979 in COLORADO SPRINGS, CA, celebrating HIGH JUMP

February 1, 1980 in LAKE PLACE, NY, celebrating SPEED SKATING

February 1, 1980 in LAKE PLACE, NY, celebrating SLALOM SKIING

February 1, 1980 in LAKE PLACE, NY, celebrating SKI JUMPING

February 1, 1980 in LAKE PLACE, NY, celebrating HOCKEY

February 1, 1980 in LAKE PLACE, NY, celebrating BOBSLEDDING

The package also contains a few pages long booklet titled “The United States Olympic Committee presents a History of the Olympic”, and each U.S. Olympic Committee Official card depicts the story of the game along with the first day issue postmarked stamp.

I unearthed the following information about the 1980 Olympic. 

The summer Olympics took place in Moscow between July 19 to August 3, 1980. The chairman of the Soviet Socialist Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev opened the games which took place in the Grand Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium. I cite the names to make a point of the change in history during the past five decades.

The 1980 Winter Olympics games were held before, from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York. During the games Olympic history was made when the U.S. hockey team beat the Soviet hockey team. I quote: “U.S. hockey team beats the Soviets in the "Miracle on Ice" In one of the most dramatic upsets in Olympic history, on February 22, 1980, the underdog U.S. hockey team, made up of college players, defeats the four-time defending gold-medal winning Soviet team.”

These stamps are not significant because of the “Miracle on Ice”, but for what transpired afterwards. The U.S. boycotted the upcoming summer games in Moscow. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan took place on December 24, 1979.   On February 20, 1980, President Carter demanded that the Soviet Union withdraw its troop from Afghanistan. But the Soviet Union made clear that it had no intention of removing its troop. Consequently, on March 2, 1980, I quote: “President Jimmy Carter informed some 160 U.S. athletes and coaches that the United States would boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow in response to the December 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. It marked the first and only time the United States boycotted the Olympics.”

From philatelic point of view, the more significant event is what transpired afterwards. A few days after President Carter’s announced boycotting the 1980 Summer Olympic Games, the United States Postal Service removed from circulation the stamps it had issued a few months earlier celebrating the 1980 Olympics. I quote: “On March 11, 1980, the USPS removed all the stamps it had issued for the upcoming Summer Olympics in Moscow from sale as part of an American boycott of the games. According the USPS, this was the first time they removed stamps from sale for political reasons since the Civil War.” (see the link below).

Harout's gift to me is the collection of the first day covers of those very stamps that the USPS printed and then removed from circulation, making the first day cover collection of these stamps significant if not also rare.

Olympics Stamps Removed from Sale: https://info.mysticstamp.com/olympic-stamps-removed-from-sale_tdih/?fbclid=IwAR19cJR-QhX8rpGIuIsTqQsGhCCxZ4u4p8g94-DAvCtCJsI18ZGixBNbn84