Watermark 191 as illustrated in Scott catalogs.

USPS Watermarks

Dear Sir,

I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated the fine article by Larry Weiss on the Catalog Implications of the Existence of Two Patterns of “USPS” Double Line Watermarks in the October United States Specialist.  Larry invites comments, so here is my minor comment regarding the current illustration of the watermark in Scott catalogs.

The illustration on page 438 [October Specialist] of Watermark 191 does have a slight drawback in that the illustration does not correctly represent exactly what an entire sheet will always look like relative to the stamps on that sheet.  But, the illustration is a BIG help in showing what would normally appear on a single stamp, namely portions of a letter.  This was very helpful to me in identifying what I was looking at.  In specific, looking at the 7th column, 9th row, the SINGLE line appearing there is really a double line watermark!

Sincerely,
Robert W. Martin

The Author Responds

Dear Sir,

Thanks, Robert, for the kind words on the article.  The illustration of how the double line watermark falls on a 100-subject sheet deserves more explanation than it is given in the catalog section, and so the suggestion in the article is not to remove it, but to relocate it to the Introduction section and provide that additional explanation.  So, its usefulness in helping to identify stamps with double line watermarks would not be lost.

Stamp position 87 (9th row, 7th column)

Robert notes the strange case of the stamp subject shown in Position 87 (9th row, 7th column) where at first glance it appears the “U” resembles the same letter in a single line watermark pattern.  See the accompanying figure for an enlarged view of that subject.

Indeed it is possible to mistake the double line letter for the single line “U” but the careful observer will note the evidence it really is a double line watermark letter.  The double line “U” will be too narrow, have too much vertical height, have an attached extra line at its bottom, and perhaps show the presence of the serif at the top of the right leg.  But granted – at first glance it can be confusing.  It is an odd case and the use of the double line watermark illustration will be helpful in avoiding such a misidentification.

Sincerely,
Larry Weiss

Philatelic Covers

Dear Sir,

In his article “Philatelists Eschew Philatelic Covers,” George Edman worries that “cover collecting is solely dependent on mail exchanged between people who have no interest in stamps.”  This is certainly not true for all types of cover collecting.  For example, collectors of first day, first flight and commemorative covers, by definition, do not reject philatelic covers.  However, when it comes to postal history collecting, contrived philatelic covers are rightly rejected.  As I have argued elsewhere (Hines, 1983), collectors are just too prone to use pretty and unusual combinations of stamps or stamps out of their actual period of use.  One of the goals of a postal history collection is to show what actually happened – what stamps were used for, when and for which rates, on which routes and so forth.  Made up (philatelic) covers (usually) distort the record of what actually happened.  Including them in a postal history collection or exhibit would be like including a fake Rembrandt in a collection of Rembrandt’s paintings.  Such fake paintings would undoubtedly be pretty and collectable as fakes.  But no one should argue that they are in any way equal in status and value to the real thing.

There are rare exceptions.  For example, the late Henry Beecher pointed out (Hines, 1984) that “some rates, routes and usages are effectively non-existent on non-contrived covers and these must then do.”

Sincerely,
Terence Hines

Hines, T. (1983), “What is a ‘philatelic’ cover?” Modern Postal History Journal, 1 (#4), 39-40.

Hines, T. (1984), “Reactions to ‘What is a “philatelic” cover,’” Modern Postal History Journal, 2 (#1), 10.

Dear Sir,

Based on communications from two readers, the following errata should be made to “Why Collect the U.S. Washington-Franklin Heads?  A 100th Anniversary Tribute” – Part IX (July, 2009 Specialist):

In the caption for Figure 174, it was noted there are 42,000 different varieties of local precancels, with most appearing on the Washington-Franklins.  A closer estimate of those on Washington-Franklin heads by a precancel specialist has the number at about 5,000 to 6,000.  Thus, it is not quite “most” but still a substantial number.

The caption for Figure 175 should have stated that cost reductions were actually first achieved when the Stickney rotary presses were fitted with precanceling equipment in 1923 and then only large precancel print orders were produced by the Bureau.

In the captions for Figures 178 and 179, the Schermack coils were referred to with H capital letter suffixes, e.g., Scott #343H, which would indicate they were government stripped imperforate coils, which is not the case.  The coils were made by Schermack/Mailometer from sheets of imperforate stamps, so they should be treated as varieties of the basic Scott numbers, e.g. Scott #343.

In Figure 184 showing hand-applied cancels, the “LOWELL MASS “ cancel is a hand-applied precancel.

Sincerely,
Larry Weiss

Dear Sir,

Enclosed is a color photocopy of a plate number single of Scott #642 which I found in a collection of precancelled stamps.

The plate number is on the stamp, not the selvedge.  The whole stamp design was moved to the left with the left perforation cutting into the design.

Thought this might be of interest to other members.

Sincerely,
Lee Bastien

Durland Editor Comments

Dear Sir,

The plate number is inside the perfs – an interesting item.  Apparently the outer perf wheels on the perforator came loose and wandered too far to the side.

Sincerely,
Wallace Cleland

Washington-Franklins

Dear Sir,

As a previous owner of the covers,  I want to provide information about the “WAR STAMP” overprints shown in Figure 156 of the May, 2009 edition of The United States Specialist, p. 223.  The overprints shown on the top two covers were produced by Charles S. Thompson, who is the addressee of the top cover, and who was curator of the Southwest Museum shown in the corner of the middle cover.

He applied the postage necessary for mailing and then added an overprinted stamp to the cover – as shown in the top two covers.  He did this to ensure that the cover had sufficient postage to allow it to reach its destination in case the postal authorities rejected the overprinted stamp.  It is reported that he only overprinted 1000 stamps using three sizes of sans-serif type.  The origin of the third cover, with serif overprint and no normal postage, is unknown.

I acquired the covers over a period of at least 15 or 20 years.  They were sold as lot 959 in Schuyler Rumsey Public Auction No. 19, Dec. 3-5, 2004.  I have seen fewer than five others.  Collateral material such as articles about the subject were included with the lot.

Sincerely,
George P. Wagner

USPS Watermark

Dear Sir,

I read with great interest Larry Weiss and Gerald Nylander’s report on a new discovery of USPS Double Line Watermarks (Vol. 80, No. 8).  As an avid U.S. Flat Plate booklet pane collector the article made me immediately, and excitedly, check the watermarks in my collection on the issues that Mr. Weiss and Mr. Nylander mention.  Sure enough, I found examples of forward stepping watermarks as well as the backward stepping variety.

Nice work gentlemen, my hat is off to you and your excellent research.

Sincerely,
R. Gordon Schmidt

Dear Sir,

As a first day cover collector of the U.S. 1948 Stone stamp (Scott #965), I was surprised and very interested to see a picture of my grandfather’s birthplace on page 19 page of the January, 2009 issue. The accompanying text on page 18, however, describes this incorrectly as “also the site of the Stone First Day Ceremony.” The 2006 U.S. Scott First Day Cover Catalogue & Checklist by Michael A. Mellone lists no ceremony program for this stamp. Through two days of research at the Chesterfield, N.H., Historical Society, I learned there was no program because there was no formal ceremony. My article “The Story Behind the Missing 1948 Stone First Day Ceremony Program,” published in the April 15, 2004, issue of First Days, recounts what really happened at the birthplace.

Briefly, the dedication of a plaque honoring Stone was part of a memorial ceremony that the Chesterfield Historical Committee added to its 1948 “Old Home Day” program on August 25. The New Hampshire and U.S. Supreme Court speakers at the birthplace did not mention the new Stone stamp, which was on sale at the village post office one and a half miles away. The Post Office Department, realizing that the dedication would attract a crowd, had decided to use the occasion to issue the Stone stamp. It dispatched the supervisor of the Philatelic Sales Agency in Washington to give special stamp presentation albums to Stone’s widow and Senator Styles Bridges of New Hampshire. This little ceremony took place at the post office, as recorded by photographers from nearby New Hampshire and Vermont newspapers.

Sincerely,
Harlan Fiske Stone II

The Author Responds

Dear Sir,

If erroneous material posted on the internet is a danger to stamp collectors and others, so too is its cousin, the unwarranted assumption. I was guilty of the latter by assuming that what happened in Chesterfield, New Hampshire was a first day ceremony. I apologize for the error and thank Mr. Stone for his enlightening correction.

Sincerely,
Rodney Juell

Dear Sir,

I would like to make updates to two articles of mine that have appeared in The Specialist.

First, I am happy to report that the new 2009 Scott Specialized now lists both the solid tagging (Scott #2492) and grainy solid tagging (Scott #2492i) for the 32¢ Pink Rose that were discussed in the January, 2007 issue.  Besides the Scott numbers for the individual stamps just mentioned, they also list all the varieties for the convertible booklet panes and MDI makeshift booklets.  For those of you who are interested in this kind of variety, the self-adhesive 20¢ Blue Jay (Scott #3048), which was also issued by Stamp Venturers during the 32¢ rate period, also comes in the same two varieties.  Stamps from Plate S1111 can be found in either variety, while those from plate S2222 are only known with the grainy solid tagging.

Secondly, I need to make one correction and add some new information about the self-adhesive liner varieties article that appeared in the July, 2008 issue.  The error that needs to be corrected is that the 29¢ Pine Cone (Scott #2491a) plate B6 was listed in error as existing with the small circle A liner.  It is only known with the large circle A liner.  Also, I have since had reports, which I have not confirmed, that the 29¢ Christmas Greetings (Scott #2802a) V222-1222 exists with the large circle A liner, and the 29¢ Love Sunrise B221-5 exists with the small circle A liner.  These new reports leave the V111-1111 as the only 29¢ Christmas Greetings plate number combination not to come with both liner varieties, and it marks the first time any plate number combination of the 29¢ Love Sunrise has been reported with the small circle A liner.

Sincerely,
Doug Iams

Dear Sir,

Just read through Hartmut Waschke’s article “U.S. Military and Related Mail During World War I” and noted that his Figure 2 November 3, 1917, cover is mistaken to be a “first day” of the war emergency rate of 3 cents.  It is not, as the first day of the new rate was the day before, November 2, 1917.  See the section of the Scott U.S. Specialized Catalog titled “Domestic Letter Rates” for a complete listing of changes in rates.

Sincerely,
Larry Weiss

Dear Sir,

In the September, 2008 issue of The United States Specialist, we explored the 1920s slogan cancel “Let’s Go! Citizens Military Training Camps” (LG!CMTC) and listed the twenty-four cities known to have used the cancel.  Shortly after publication of the article, Doug D’Avino called my attention to a lot on ebay featuring a cover with a Universal LG! CMTC slogan from a previously unreported city.  I was fortunate to be able to acquire the cover (Figure 1). Thanks, Doug.

More than eighty years after this cancel was in common use, we can now add Toledo, Ohio to the list of cities known to have used this cancel.

Is this a great hobby or what?  Keep your eyes open.

Sincerely,
Rod Juell

Figure 1. Toledo, Ohio can now be added to the list of cities using the “Let’s Go! Citizens Military Training Camps” slogan. This cover was postmarked June 3, 1929.