Philosateleian Post FDC bears copy of World War II stamp
I feel like I’ve been running wide open with little to no time for blogging, but I didn’t want to get too far down the road without sharing an image of a first day cover bearing Philosateleian Post’s World War II stamp issued on January 27.
Philosateleian Post World War II first day cover
The cover has a surprisingly legible San Antonio cancellation, and both the United States stamp and my Philosateleian stamp made it through relatively unscathed. As you can see, the Philosateleian stamp did suffer a surface scrape near the top right corner during processing, but I’ve seen much worse. It’s not unusual for lick-and-stick stamps to show up in my mailbox with a long strip coiled up into a little scroll, so I’ll call this one a win.
14¢ American Indian cracked plate variety discovered
It has been a while since I last added a 14¢ American Indian plate flaw to my collection, so I’m very excited about my latest acquisition: a mint single of Scott 565 with what appears to be a plate crack running from the top of the latter “S” in “STATES” across the foot of the “P” in “POSTAGE,” and then down from there to touch Hollow Horn Bear’s headdress in the stamp’s vignette.
14¢ American Indian stamp with plate crack14¢ American Indian stamp with plate crack (close-up)
The presence of the selvage along the bottom edge of the stamp leads me to believe this stamp is from the bottom row of one of the bottom two panes of 100 from a sheet of 400 stamps; however, I have no idea what plate number was used to print this variety.
Plate scratches comprise the majority of the other American Indian plate flaws that I’ve found, so finding an example of a cracked plate—a variety not listed in Loran French’s Encyclopedia of Plate Varieties on U.S. Bureau-Printed Postage Stamps—is a real treat.
Update (2020-02-09)
I previously identified this stamp as coming from the bottom row of one of the top two panes of 100 from a sheet of 400 stamps; however, as Scott A. pointed out in an email, the stamp in that case would have a straight edge at bottom due to how the sheets of 400 were cut apart. He’s absolutely correct, and I’ve updated this post accordingly.
