Here’s some background information about how these Californian and Dutch Zarathushtis came to be portrayed on official US postage. Some 12 years ago there was a considerable decline in postal revenues due to extensive use of the internet, email, etc, so the US Postal Services briefly came up with the idea of allowing people to design their own stamps by paying something like 10 cents (Rs 7) above the prevailing rates.
This postal envelope received by Parsiana from Rusi Sorabji,
subscriber and contributor from California, carries stamps
depicting him and members of his family
The Sorabjis have been stamp collectors since over 100 years and now we have Villy, Rusi and Daraius appearing in our collections! Did you notice how respectfully careful the US postal clerks have been while defacing the stamps so that the images of these Zarthushti personalities have been left unblemished?
Come to think of it, even US President Donald J. Trump sadly laments that such an honor has not been bestowed on him by the US Postal Service!
RUSI SORABJI
California
rustam@sorabji.org
...