Philosateleian Post FDC shows some scrapes and bumps

When I released Philosateleian Post’s new prickly pear cactus stamp earlier this month, I sent a first day cover to myself. That envelope was in my post office box last week, and it has signs of some rough handling.

As you can see, the Philosateleian stamp has a long horizontal scrape across roughly 75% of its width. Additionally, there’s a bite “missing” from the bottom edge of the envelope, a chunk that was apparently removed by mail processing equipment somewhere along the way.

On the plus side, the Appalachian Trail (Georgia) stamp I used survived unscathed, and since I used my mailer’s postmark to cancel it, I have a nice used copy with little of the image obscured.

Published 2025-05-26