1976 Bicentennial Souvenir Sheets

One of my favorite stamps issued by the USPS have been the 1976 Bicentennial Souvenir Sheets. I was able to acquire these sheet for around $8.00 off of ebay last year and I just love staring at them.

I'm not sure what the print run was of these things, but I always have thought these stamps should never actually be used as postage.

So, my Minuteman 2003 and 2004 supplements I won off of ebay came in the mail today, and the stamps the guy used on the envelope were all the bicentennial souvenir sheet stamps. If I had known, I would have offered to buy the sheets from him.

Ah well....

An exceptionally low quantity of less than 2 million for each souvenir sheet, specifically:

1686 = 1,990,000
1687 = 1,983,000
1688 = 1,953,000
1689 = 1,903,000

Not very popular to tear up and use for postage; the USPS figured most collectors would simply collect them intact.

An interesting tidbit is that with the exception of #1686 (which was the 13c first class postage rate in effect at the time of issue) all of the other souvenir sheets with higher denominations are today valued in the Scott catalog the same whether mint or postally used.

You'd think postally used might be worth more in this case, since less quantities exist.

But if that were the case, people would just take their SS and glue them onto envelopes and mail them to themselves to increase the value.

Yes, but remember part of the definition of "postally used" includes the notion of being used in the relevant time frame (not 35 years later) and using the correct/appropriate amount of postage; i.e. not using a $1 stamp to mail a one-ounce letter.

Kirk

Yeah, I guess a spray on cancel on a 35 year old stamp would be a dead give away something was up.

Was this the souvenir sheet featuring the flags of each of the states. I was wondering what value a mint sheet might have

Was this the souvenir sheet featuring the flags of each of the states. I was wondering what value a mint sheet might have

No. The Souvenir Sheets referred to in this thread were issued on May 29, 1976, shortly after the flags of each State which were issued on February 23, 1976.

As for the State Flag Sheet, that is known as Scott #1682a (pane of 50 comprising Scott #1633-1682). Current catalog value is $17.50 for the pane of 50.

WT1 is talking about the ones that look like this (poor image borrowed from another website):