There haven't been many guesses lately but there has been one correct answer already. (BTW Dodgers beat Phillies in game one of division series)

Clue 6 = goggles

Submit one guess by noon 10.06.2025

Back on those country roads for work starting tomorrow. How about those Dodgers taking two from the Phillies in Philadelphia!

Clue 7: Sub-Genre

Clue 8 - Infernal Devices.

This is the final clue. Tracker clues end at 5pm on 10.09.2025.

This mystery postal is now closed. Solution and clue explanation coming soon.

I just published my first tracker, a microPLB ring called Winter Wonderland. Please be gentle! I have just enough tracker experience to be dangerous.

I'm finally back home! Was traveling for work and then had joined the Hunt for Hunt event! An amazing event hosted by Orchid!

Clue 1 Jeter is for Kevin Wayne Jeter credited with coining the term Steampunk. (definitely not about any coincidental name of an ancient Yankee)
Clue 2 Full Angle is a circle or a 360-degree angle like a clock or gear
Clue 3 Ruffian another word for punk
Clue 4 James Rumsey the real inventor of the STEAMboat.
Clue 5 gears are a classic example of steampunk costumes
Clue 6 goggles same as previous reason
Clue 7 Sub-Genre. This is how Steampunk is mainly described for movies and books.
Clue 8 Infernal Devices is a Jeter book in Steampunk genre.
BTW Dodgers – Brewers starts Monday! Tough for Philadelphia fans having the Phillies eliminate themselves on what I call a triple screw up. It should be one mental fart (not throwing to first base) and two errors (fumbling the ball and throwing it away). But also having the Eagles embarrassed by the Giants the same night!

At what point do I change a tracker from open to closed? All the spots are filled, however the tracker doesn’t start until January.

As soon as it's filled. If someone drops out before the due date, you could reopen it. Or maybe have a waitlist if you know someone didn't get in before it was full.

There is just over one week left to join this year's Secret Stamp Santa exchange. All of the info is on the tracker, but if you have any questions or need clarification, please let me know!

TG

Mine is carved! Definitely kid-friendly and could be planted, if the recipient desires.

Due to a dropout, I’ve reopened Winter Wonderland (#12211). It’s a microPLB ring that starts January 5. Come grab the spot!

I am looking for feedback on a proposal for future Mystery Postals.

The post office has been very slow and apparently unreliable. Mystery Postal 2504 has fallen victim on its maiden mailing.

My proposal is to conduct the mysteries as normal. However, instead of mailing the stamp, I will send the stamp image to everyone who is successful. This could be via postcard, card in an envelope, or email a picture.

Please vote for your preferences below:
Disagree - would not participate under any condition other than a real stamp.
Agree - prefer postcard image
Educational - prefer image mailed in an envelope
Huh? - prefer e-mailed
Hug - would still like to participate even without getting the stamp

So a Mystery LTC?

As someone who has joined and hosted many postcard swaps... postcards get damaged.

A postal or LTC, I'd join either. Envelope or postcard also not a big difference to me.
I have no interest in a "Virtual"

I've had stamps go missing more than I'd like to admit. Riggs Raven did a postal ring where you share the image with others by stamping it onto a label type paper that's adhesive, so you can peel off the image and log as you wish, and still have the traditional folio for people to log in.

In this was, you can also better reuse the actual stamp in a traditional box (if one so wishes) and it can still be sturdy since it's not shaved down!

Don't need to see the actual stamp; postcards get damaged in the mail and are too thick for my logbook anyway. Image mailed in an envelope seems like unnecessary work whereas an emailed image would be just as good after the printing, and at no cost. So I marked huh? and hug (a stamp is a nice reward, but I've also participated on several occasions without declaring it and without getting the stamp; it was still challenging and fun!)

I prefer getting actual stamps in the mail. I like stickers but not in lieu of stamps.

I've been out of the postal game for awhile now (I'm always sort of lurking incase I want to hop back in because I did love it so much, especially in the winter) so maybe it's not fair for me to put my input here, but I have to say that a stamped image on paper would be considered an LTC, by my standards, even if it's not a traditional size.

Part of what made postals so magical was receiving the personalized and inspired logbook with the handmade stamp and any other pieces of craft/information that the creator felt relevant. It was a true letterbox made with a unique effort that was made start to finish by an individual in a way that no other letterboxer could. Even if the tracker theme was something narrow, like "a rock", everyone would carve a rock differently and present it with a logbook in a way none of the other participants would. It had all the elements of a traditional letterbox, just made to fit in an envelope.

I've never visited a traditional letterbox where you collected a pre-stamped image and stuck it in your logbook. Part of the "special" of finding a letterbox is that it's a creation of the moment, and though you hope it's there forever, you never know when weather or a USPS mail-eating machine is going to take it away from you.

All this to say: it's letterboxing, and letterboxes going missing is part of the game, whether it's found on the trail or in your mailbox. :)

This sounds a lot like the Virtuals we used to do back in the early 2010s. It's still a listing in the AQ Glossary, but doesn't have its own category anymore.
https://www.atlasquest.com/about/glossary/v/

It was akin to Wordle--first thing every morning with coffee.

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) updated its rules, effective late 2025, clarifying that postmarks now reflect the date mail is processed at a facility, not when dropped off, potentially causing delays for deadline-sensitive items like ballots or tax payments. This change, a result of consolidating mail processing, means the postmark date might be later than the drop-off date, so users should mail items very early, request a manual postmark at a retail counter, use online/drop box payments, or use Certified/Registered Mail for proof of mailing.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-e&q=postmark+changes

^^^^THIS^^^^

Thank you Jabber - critical information, especially for tax payment and voting ballots.

So MPLB can drop off their folios and stamps 2 days before the mail date. LOL

. . . and they'll still be late . . .

If your PLB is:
too thick
too floppy
too lumpy
too stiff
has an illegible address
is obviously overweight
I could go on . . .

Hello!

I've carved a stamp for a postal, then went to shave the back and shaved it way too thin. The image will come out when stamped, but it is so incredibly floppy that it is not an enjoyable experience trying to get a clean print.

I've seen some postals where the back of the stamp is reinforced with a piece of cardstock or duck tape, and I was wondering if anyone that reinforces the back of their stamps would share their methods with me. Last time I tried to duck tape the back, the duck tape (Brand: LLPT) it melted the stamp beyond repair, similar to soaking the stamp in acetone.

Thanks for the tips!

What material melted? The fake pink on Amazon loves to melt when touching just about anything and I have no idea what would work for that. On real Speedy Pink I've used Duco Cement. https://a.co/d/6l4Nh5u

I've had success with a thin layer (very thin!) onto card stock for a micro postal and many onto magnets for stealth urban plants.

Welcome to the world of micro postals...🤪. You should see my inky fingers after I log in a micro postal, one would think I just finished a full day at a letterboxing event..😳

Most micros are hard to get a nice image because most stamps are usually very thin and floppy. It's kind of what's expected.

I will say, if my image didn't come out great, I take a 'sharpie' and then fill in the lines where the ink missed.

For the really thin stamps I will put a piece of double-sided tape on the back of it and use a piece of those thick postcard mailers that come. Then you can press down on all parts of the stamp. I tried once putting it on the stamping platform but that didn't give you an opportunity to press down in specific areas. Try that

If I get a stamp too thin, I take a blank address label (or any paper with permanent adhesive) stick the stamp on it and trim around the edges.

I also suggest people shave down the back before carving the front. Here’s a link from the AQ help pages:
https://www.atlasquest.com/about/wiki/browse.php?catId=33#q792

Duct tape gets gooey when it’s squeezed through the sorting machinery the PO uses.

I’ve both received and sent micro postals that have holes from front to back. It’s always in an area that doesn’t stamp, because I gouged out blank areas too deeply.

Not ideal, but still stampable.

I used this green material.

I will have to experiment with the Duco Cement and see how it works with the material. Thanks!

This might work better than trying to play with glue. When I stamped my copy into my book, I used plain scotch tape and a small piece of paper for grip and it worked really well.

Sometimes the simplest answer is the best answer!

Thank you for the link about ways of shaving down a stamp. It's so much easier to carve if the block is thicker, I never would have though of shaving it down first. You learn something new every day!