By Scot Facer Proctor

Some things only happen once in your lifetime.  Celebrating the 200^th year anniversary of Joseph Smith's birth was one of those rare events.   As if to help us understand the significance of the experience we'd shared together as a people, President Hinckley told us at the end of the celebration that he was adjourning it for another hundred years.

You are probably like us.  We like to remember the significant experiences of our lives.

Soon after we were in Sharon, Vermont covering the Joseph Smith Bicentennial Celebration in December we learned a wonderful thing:  In honor of Joseph Smith and this significant milestone in history, the United States Postal Service issued a commemorative cancellation stamp.  It would only be used in the tiny Sharon, Vermont Post Office (Zip Code 05065) and only from December 23, 2005 to January 23, 2006. 

click photo to enlarge

We were thrilled.  We scrambled to find a way to make these available to you, our Meridian readers as a memento of Joseph's life.

So you can be a part of that celebration forever, we have taken four of the unforgettable moments of the day in Sharon, Vermont that we captured on film and made them into postcards.   

These postcards were stamped and sent to Sharon, Vermont so they could receive the Joseph Smith cancellation mark.   

In the midst of this process, on January 8, 2006, U.S. postal rates increased.  Because the requirement for the commemorative cancellation stamp was that stamps used had to pre-date December 23, and we had to have correct postage amounts, we had to put two stamps on each postcard (a 23 cent and a one cent stamp).

click photo to enlarge

With this article we make these commemorative postcards with the Joseph Smith cancellation available to you, our readers.  Obviously there is a very limited supply of these.  The cancellation stamp only had a limited duration.  Thus, we know these postcards with the commemorative stamps will go quickly. When they are gone-they are gone.  Click here to read all about them.

The Postcard Images

We used four of my favorite images I took in Sharon and made them into the postcards.

One of them is of President Gordon B. Hinckley and Elder M. Russell Ballard just as they arrived at the Joseph Smith monument.  They got out of the car, walked towards the monument and turned to look at the small crowd.  I love this image-it is warm and inviting.  It captures both of their wonderful personalities.

One of the images is of President Hinckley talking to Elder Ballard about the beautiful 38 ½ foot granite monument that had been placed on the site exactly 100 years before.  President Joseph F. Smith and his entourage had been there then.  Joseph Smith, Jr. himself had been born on this land 100 years before that.  Now, 200 years later, these two prophets had a moment to talk about this. 

Another image is a close up of President Hinckley on that bitter cold December day.  I thought as I shot that picture what an amazing and rare experience it was to be with President Hinckley there on that spot, 200 years after the Prophet Joseph's birth and 100 years after President Joseph F. Smith had come to dedicate the beautiful granite monument.  These moments only happen every 100 years!

The last image is of the monument-but with an added feature:  I captured the winter solstice sun as it burst in reflection upon the monument itself.  You can only capture that image if you keep walking around and find just the right angle where the sun bursts (if you get any sunshine at all).

Here's an image of all the postcards, front and back.

click photo to enlarge

I was looking for a great memento for my personal journal to remind me of this wondrous event and this has fit the bill.

click photo to enlarge

We are selling these postcards in sets of four only and are limiting sales to a maximum of 20 sets per household.  These will become (and already are) collector's items and will be a valuable memento for generations to come.  The next time anything like this will take place again is December 23, 2105 (just under a hundred years from now!).  To purchase your set (or sets) of commemoratives (or just learn more), please click here.