The First 2012 Stamps Spectrum Eagle--Now W/Scans Of Stamps!

Not a dumb question!

Beyond the Perf contains inaccurate information. It has not yet announced the Danny Thomas Stamp. It has not yet announced the 65c Wedding Cake reprint stamp. It has not yet announced the Spectrum Eagle stamps, either. In fact, even the USPS Store website doesn't post information on these stamps with stock numbers and as I alluded to earlier, I had to talk with a supervisor via their 800# to order the material I wanted.

In all fairness, I think the Spectrum Eagle may have been intentionally omitted from Beyond the Perf so as not to confuse the non-collecting public about the fact that it can't be used for private mailings unless you are an approved bulk mailer or have an approved application for a Mailer's Permit. Anyone can obtain it, but the fact is that you must present your mail to a clerk at a post office and not deposit it in a mailbox, etc., makes for too many regulations to promote it among non-collectors. The Spectrum Eagle Stamp is announced and promoted on USPS Facebook, though.

Also has anyone noticed, in addition to Beyond the Perf, that the catalog "USA Philatelic" has not been updated since the 4th Quarter of 2011 and the issue on-line is still the one with the Tiger Cub on the cover? USA Philatelic had a special Holiday edition that I actually picked up at a post office, but it has not (to my knowledge) ever made it to their web site in the form of an electronic edition.

Here we are in January 2012 and the USPS still hasn't released an updated USA Philatelic catalog nor have they released the detail on several new issues scheduled for release in January and/or February 2012. In fact, most haven't even made it to posting in the Postal Bulletin as yet.

There have even been occasions when one USPS social media outlet announced new issues before they were made public on other sites. I think there is just too much bureaucratic red tape with different personnel responsible for updating the various USPS web sites and social media and no one person gives it the attention it deserves.

I do share your frustration that Beyond the Perf, USPS Facebook, and USPS.COM/STAMPS all announce different issues at different times and seemingly there is no consistency between the resources in which to have a single source to obtain accurate information. You have to constantly go to all of those sites, along with insider information that is occasionally announced by Linn's Stamp News or VSC or any number of other stamp related sites, to get the full spectrum of information.

An article on page 31 of the latest Linn's addresses this same confusing problem.

Just got the email that the new Linn's is out. I'll have to go read.

The USPS must have heard these complaints! They have just posted a newly revised 2012 Beyond the Perf summary of new 2012 stamp issues, along with most first day of issue dates and locations at this link. It is no longer titled "Stamp a Day":

http://beyondtheperf.com/stamp-rele...co-statehood

[edit] This new link has also included the Spectrum Eagle and 65c Wedding Cake reprint stamps, too.

I'm interested in seeing which stamp will have the plate number. Please post a scan when the stamps are in hand.

Cheers, Robert

I still haven't seen my order for these yet. Maybe there's a delay at SFS. Anyway, the Postal Bulletin suggests that both the 3K and 10K coils have:




Assuming the stamps are in the order shown in the USPS illustration, that would indicate that the plate number would be on the blue to purple spectrum stamp.

I'll be sure to post a scan when I get the actual stamps in hand.

"Barcode on coil tops."--Anybody know what that means? I'm sure it doesn't mean a barcode will be printed on the stamps themselves, but, perhaps, on the packaging?

Regards, Robert

As I understand it, they are self adhesive coils with a liner backing, so I would assume the bar code would be on backing paper. (Just a guess on my part.)

Okay...here it is. I just received my order for the Spectrum Presort First Class Stamps and although attractive as a group, I must admit it's not quite what I expected:

First of all, here is the USPS promotional image of the stamp:



Here's the actual stamps in 3K coil format:



And in 10K coil format:



(The coils I scanned are intentionally mismatched. Until I decide exactly where I want to separate the stamps, I didn't want to make any extra folds in the stamps other than what the USPS did already in mailing them to me.)

[Edit: 1/12/12 8:42 PM (I scanned the wrong example. Here is the corrected version.)]

Now for the interesting part (if it is not obvious from the previous scan) and I'll use the plate number single to illustrate. The left stamp is from the 10K coil; the right stamp is from the 3K coil:



Note there is a distinctly different color spectrum width on the left and right side colors of the 10K coil (wide left margin; narrow right margin) versus the 3K coil (narrow left margin; wide right margin). The arrangement remains constant for all the stamps of the 3K and 10K varieties respectively.

Maybe it is an intentional way for the USPS to monitor 3K and 10K coil usage, but I do find it to be an interesting variety.

There are no bar codes on the strips of 25 I purchased in either the 3K or 10K variety. The bar codes were only on the cellophane wrapper from which the stamps were enclosed.

The reference "barcode on coil tops" may be referring to either (1) a barcode at the beginning of the coil roll; or (2) a barcode that was cut off from the liner backing in the printing process.

The reverse side of these stamps (both 3K and 10K varieities) do have a 5-digit numbering sequence shown on the back of the liner paper at an interval of every 10 stamps.

Seriously, that's ugly, but so are just about every stamp the USPS puts out these days. That's why I stopped in 1993. It's no wonder the post office is going bankrupt. They keep releasing crap.

The post office is going bankrupt because they federal government has forced them to prepay benefits for 80 years for employees they have and are going to hire. That payment, so far, has been greater then their debt. Without that payment they would be in the black.

wt1, thank you very much for posting the scans.

I think the varying widths of the vertical borders is the result of a shift in the die cutting. On the 10K coil, "USA" is not centered horizontally between the left die cut edge and the border edge, like on the 3K coil. This leads me to believe it is the result of a shift. Other than the shift, I can see no discernible difference between the two stamps. I don't see any microprinting either.

Regards, Robert

It is being reported on VSC that Scott has announced the following catalog numbers for the Spectrum Eagle Stamps. Note that the order of color differs from that used in USPS promotional materials, as it starts from the "Green behind USA" stamp:



I understand Scott will also be listing a Plate Number strip of 7 and 13 stamps (with the plate number at the center position, of course).

How exactly is a stamp that is still for sale by the USPS capable of having a value of $0.50 already?