Semi-Imperforate USA Booklet Stamps
A short while ago while reading a notice about the new items that would be listed in the latest Scott USA Specialized Catalog, I saw that they mentioned starting to list cross-booklet-pane pairs from press sheets. I wasn't sure what they were talking about, so didn't pay much attention. I was avidly accumulating the imperforate press sheets that were issued roughly from 2012-2015, but stopped purchasing press sheets when they stopped selling the imperforate version.
I wanted to obtain some more of the Jack-O-Lanterns booklet stamps for mailing purposes, but they were no longer available from the Postal Service in any form other than as a press sheet. So I ordered a press sheet and received it today. I was surprised to notice that all the stamps that bordered where the panes would be cut from the press sheet did not have die-cuts. This can be easily seen in the close-up below cropped from the press sheet.
It makes sense that there would be no die-cut along the horizontal line between the individual booklet panes since the cut separating the booklet panes would provide separation between those stamps. I just never thought about it before.
So my question is: Is anybody collecting these pairs of stamps from booklet press sheets that are imperforate between? If so, in mint or used condition or both? Or is this an area where no one has any interest.
Richard Pauls (oktamps)
https://www.hipstamp.com/store/okstamps
I wanted to obtain some more of the Jack-O-Lanterns booklet stamps for mailing purposes, but they were no longer available from the Postal Service in any form other than as a press sheet. So I ordered a press sheet and received it today. I was surprised to notice that all the stamps that bordered where the panes would be cut from the press sheet did not have die-cuts. This can be easily seen in the close-up below cropped from the press sheet.
It makes sense that there would be no die-cut along the horizontal line between the individual booklet panes since the cut separating the booklet panes would provide separation between those stamps. I just never thought about it before.
So my question is: Is anybody collecting these pairs of stamps from booklet press sheets that are imperforate between? If so, in mint or used condition or both? Or is this an area where no one has any interest.
Richard Pauls (oktamps)
https://www.hipstamp.com/store/okstamps
Comments
Then, Mystic Stamp Company started selling these stamps to collectors. Nothing wrong with that, but they were selling imperf singles, despite Scott valuing these as pairs. Mystic then started finagling purchasing most of the limited printings of these stamps from the post office, leaving few, if any, for collectors to buy. Mystic also got Scott to change the listings to requiring only singles. This hit the philatelic press a few years ago, and I believe caused interest in these items to diminish greatly since Mystic was actually controlling the market on them.
I had never read anything about this Mystic Stamp Company angle regarding the imperf press sheets. I do know that as a purchaser or them, they were readily available during the first few years. No need to purchase in advance of issuance, there would always be press sheets available through the Postal Service. During the last year that they were issued, however, I noticed that there was no availability even before they were officially issued, with all press sheets snapped up before I ever had a chance to get one. That certainly was a discouraging factor in pursuing their collection. I did find a few dealers (not Mystic) selling both individual non-die-cut panes cut from the press sheets or complete non-die-cut press sheets but decided to halt my collecting before purchasing any from them. I was going to put a collection together of blocks in mint condition and in used condition in any form that I could find them. Now my non-die-cut stamps are either being used as postage or being listed for sale in my HipStamp store.
In using singles from press sheets on my outgoing mail, if the mailing was going to a stamp collector, I would usually include a single from the outside portion of the pane and include a large amount of margin material to ensure that there would be no doubt that it came from a non-die-cut press sheet. The interior stamps I can use to pay bills or can leave them in pairs when sending mail that exceeds the one-ounce first-class domestic rate.
I was just thinking about that with these imperf pairs from the booklet stamp press sheets. If I cut the pair in half, there would be no way to know afterwards that it was part of an imperforate pair. The only way to use them on mail and have them collected as a used example would be as a pair on overseas mail or on higher-rate domestic mailings.