BEDFORD - New postage stamps showing the historic Bedford flag, said to be the country's oldest banner, have traveled to Michigan and elsewhere in the United States, and even as far away as the Netherlands, while others have been used in more humble ways, such as paying the telephone bill.
Regardless of their destination, the stamps created by the Bedford Historical Society this fall have been so popular that, after one woman ordered 200 for her holiday invitations, the group had to restock.
"They're selling like hot cakes," said Lee Yates, the society's executive director. "They're the best-selling item we've ever had."
The stamps are produced under a program launched by the US Postal Service several years ago to create customized stamps through private vendors. While many of the personalized stamps show off babies or pets, at least two community groups are using them this year to raise awareness and money for their causes.
In Wayland, the newly formed Friends of the Wayland Council on Aging held a contest this summer to create a stamp as a way to publicize the group and bring the community together. The nonprofit is already planning to do it again next year, said Denise Yurkofsky, the group's president and one of its founders.
The Bedford Historical Society got the idea for the stamps after Yates read about the Wayland stamp in a newspaper.
"I said, 'Gee whiz,' " recalled Yates, who immediately thought of the Bedford flag that already decorates the town seal, town trucks, and some license plates.
The flag is a source of pride for the town of fewer than 13,000, serving as a reminder that the small community tucked between Lexington and Concord also had a role in the Revolution.
The flag itself, a red silk square with a gold image of an arm wielding a sword, is believed to date from 1704 to 1710 based on the pattern of its weaving. That makes it older than the Stars and Stripes and even the town itself, which was incorporated in 1729.
The flag gained prominence decades after it was made, when Bedford Minuteman Nathaniel Page is thought to have carried it with him to battle at the Concord Bridge on April 19, 1775. It was then passed down as a relic in the Page family.
The flag was eventually donated to the town on the condition that it be preserved in the town's library. It remains there in a special climate-controlled room, available for viewing upon request. The image is now iconic for the town and was already used on Historical Society note cards but never as a stamp.
When presented with Yates's idea, the society loved it. Board member and graphic designer Jan van Steenwijk provided a photograph of the flag that he took when the cloth was restored several years ago. Then he designed the stamp.
They shopped around for the best deal, and, with a few clicks of the mouse, they had ordered 1,000 online.
At the next board meeting, Yates showed the final product.
"I brought them out and $20 bills starting flying around," she said.
Since then, word has spread. People have asked for them at the town clerk's office and the post office. But only the society can sell them.
The stamps carry a face value of 41 cents, like a regular first-class stamp, but cost more to make. In Bedford, they cost $1 per stamp for non-society members and raise 26 cents each for the group.
Van Steenwijk, who initially bought eight sheets of 20, saved a few for himself, thinking that someday they may be more valuable than 41 cents.
"I have no problem with it because I know what the Historical Society does," he said. "I feel that the extra money I pay goes to a very valuable cause, and I think it's absolutely worth doing."
The original silk banner may be viewed upon request at the Bedford Free Public Library at 7 Mudge Way. Sheets of 20 stamps depicting the flag are for sale through the Historical Society, and are valid as 41-cent stamps. Historical Society members pay $18 for 20 flag stamps, while nonmembers will pay $20 per sheet. To order the stamps, visit bedfordmahistory.org or call 781-275-1212, ext. 140.
How to create your own stamps: The US Postal Service partners with four companies to sell customized stamps: Picture It Postage, Your Stamps, PhotoStamps, and Zazzle custom stamps. For more information, visit usps.com/postagesolutions/customizedpostage.htm.
