Thanks to all of you who took the time to throw your names in to the medium size mixing bowl to win a copy of Chris West’s A History of America in 36 Postage Stamps or his earlier foray into history through philately.

As always when I do a give-away, I learn something from your comments. Several of you shared childhood stamp collecting memories. Friend and regular reader Karen Holden mentioned the difficultly the US Postal Service had in creating stamp glue that could be licked by vegetarians and other groups who avoid specific foods. She suggested this might be the origin of stamps that don’t have to be licked.* I love the way the Marginites think.

Yeah, yeah, you say. But who won? Patience, my dears. A little conversation is required. A drumroll. A little fanfare. Are you ready? The winners are: Nancy Friesen and Nancy Saunders. Congratulations!

*For me this idea raised echoes of the British troubles in India in 1857, when troops mutinied over the rumors that gun cartridges (which were opened by biting them) had been greased with a combination of pork and beef fat–making them anathema to Muslim and Hindu troops alike. But I digress.