Does 'Happy Birthday 2017' stamp really exist?

February 28, 2021

An excellent and frequently asked question

In the community of Slowly app Stamp Collectors, specially for the people with the larger, almost complete collections, this is a good topic of discussion.

And opinions DO vary – a quick search of relevant topics in our subReddit finds arguments both For and Against the existence of that particular stamp.

So, what is the big question? If this stamp, which nobody I know of has in their possession, even as a stamp received in a letter. Does this HB2017 really exist?

Or is it an Urban Legend ?

What does it look like?

This is it here, it's identical to the more common Happy Birthday 2018 version. And we have an explanation for that, unusual as all later years were re-designed for the following year's model. (More on this later in this page).

I have posted about this in various topics, commenting, and then on a more definitive Topic of my own – which is copied here in full, below.

Contrary to Rumours, the 2017 Happy Birthday stamp DOES exist.

I wrote to Slowly Team and received a prompt and courteous reply. The gist ?

The stamp does exist.
It was released in late 2017, when the 'Birthday' function was first introduced into Slowly.
Most users at the time did not achieve it, as it came late in the year.
So the design was kept for 2018 to give everyone a chance at getting it.
iOS was the only version at the time this came in, Android only appeared in May 2018.

As usual, changes and introducing new functions into the app had some opposition, some of those early users feeling this was contrary to he app's near anonymity.

My thanks to the Team member who so gently provided all this info and solved a popular charade, lol.. :)

Also posted as a Slowly WIKI Blog page.

Exact date of the Birthday feature introduction

Looking at the Slowly Changelog file, I managed to track the exact version number and release date when Birthdates were first added to Slowly.

That would be version 1.3.2, dated December 12, 2017. So this enabled DOB entries, and the Birthday Stamp became a possibility.

Really curious, as it's so late in the year as to make it impossible to receive an award of the 2017 — unless you upgraded to this version, added your DOB, and all of that before the New Year rolling in, 18 days later. 🙄😀

** Above text is from my own Reddit Topic , dated August 25, 2020.

Fast Forward — To my current thoughts on this ?

In fact I had a collector friend just ask me now, an hour ago, via a Twitter DM. This page's banner image is a snapshot of the beginning of my reply, which will be developed more here, in full.

As I think it's time we settle this question, if possible. My reply via DM:

“That is an excellent question. I wrote a good Topic telling the whole story about it.

More recently, I wrote a comment to someone, and mentioned my current thoughts on this.

Since the Birthday feature was only added to a Slowly version which came out in mid December, 2017, the only people who could EVER have gotten it would have to be:

Using the app at that early time (2017 was Slowly's Birth year, iOS app only).
have a Birthday on the second half of December 2017.
Be online on their Birthday, or else they would not get it.

With all those conditions, plus all the time that has passed since, I think it's impossible to get the Happy Birthday 2017 at all – and wonder if anyone ever got it released to them. Not many users from that time are still around, 3 years later.”

So, a Unicorn, is it?

Very much so, yes.

Slowly's API Database contains images for Happy Birthday 2017 (seen above in this page) and also Happy Birthday 2018 stamps. Which are the same, but do exist as two separate files.

According to my contact, since this feature was released so late in the year, the decision to keep the design and use it for 2018 was made. And it does make perfect sense.

Honestly, I don't think that anyone received it – or if anyone did, that this person is still around and active in Slowly, 3 years later.

None of the large collections include this. And I am friends with them, have their links and do use them for checking when something is needed.

The HB 2017 in my opinion is more in the Urban Legend territory. And an interesting story it is.

I hope you have found this History trip interesting, send any comments you like to our subReddit – we have a new Topic to mention this Blog post and it would be the right place to come out and say if you own this.

Thank you for reading! Enjoy your stamps and pen pal letters.

Famous Last Words

Special thank you to all the folks behind the SLOWLY app.

Letters we share, with pen pals all over the world. A modern day take in the traditional penpal experience. Come and join us, using SLOWLY.

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