Lady Bird Johnson S/S - Date Of Issue: 11/30/2012

While Lady Bird Johnson was certainly an honorable former First Lady and worthy of a stamp, I think the thing that puzzles most collectors is why the abrupt announcement of such a stamp. The 100th anniversary of her birth was known long ago and they should have prepared for this issue likewise.

As the media attention to these stamps grows (and I intentionally use the word in plural because multiple stamps are said to be involved), it seems that influence given by the head of the CSAC and Texas governmental leaders and letters of support from every living former and current First Lady greatly influenced the decision to issue the stamps.

Furthermore it puts to rest all of the nonsense that it takes the CSAC years to put a stamp proposal together from its suggestion to its design to its issue date, as this is proof positive that a quick turn-around from announcement to stamp issue date is quite possible if the USPS has a mind to do it.




I agree. While much can be said about the disgrace of the office with the resignation of Richard Nixon, it is notable that his wife, former First Lady Patricia Nixon, also has a 100th anniversary in 2012 and no stamp is being issued in her honor.

So the question is whether we honor former First Ladies because of their individual accomplishments or because of their position at one time or another as a former First Lady, is really the point at hand. Rather than to single out one former First Lady and omit another, it would have made more sense that a series of stamps for former First Ladies would have perhaps been more acceptable.

Linn's 09/03/12 edition further describes the Ladybird souvenir sheet. It will consist of six nondenominated forever stamps. Five of the stamps will have the images of the old Beautification of America series (Scott #1318, and #1365-68) and only one will be of Ladybird Johnson. The five "Beautification" stamps are to be stacked five high on the left hand portion of the sheet and the single Ladybird one will be in the lower right hand corner. Additionally, there will be two pictures of Ladybird - one in the center and another in the upper right corner along with quotes from the former first lady. Cost of the sheet will be $2.70. Sounds like it could be an attractive piece. A number of questions jump into my mind about this souvenir sheet, but I'd like to wait to hear what all y'all think about it first.

The latest Linn's Stamp News has announced this souvenir sheet will be moved up to November 30, 2012 as the date of issue.

Thinking about how close the stamp issue is to the actual birthday of Lady Bird Johnson who would have been 100 on December 22, 2012, I thought it might be interesting to acquire the stamp and get a birthday cancel on December 22, 2012 in her birthplace of Karnack, Texas, but alas, that isn't going to happen.

It seems Karnack, Texas is such a small town, the local post office doesn't have Saturday hours and December 22, 2012 happens to fall on a Saturday!

This is not stamps, but does not the US Mint have a continuation series of first ladies to compliment the presidential series of dollar coins. Why not a series of first lady stamps? Certainly better than some of the pop culture stamps of the last two decades.

Just an off topic remark. I went through the back issues of the Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle news paper and when Clara McKinley (widow of assassinated President Mckinley) died, the headline read Mrs. McKinley now a corpse. I kid you not. That is how it was phrased.

Finally posted today for the first time is the artwork for the upcoming Lady Bird Johnson souvenir sheet:



Word has it that distribution will be limited to larger post offices and from orders placed through SFS. For anyone interested, pre-orders can be placed now at the following link:

https://store.usps.com/store/browse..._S_NewStamps

That's probably one of the best looking stamp issues this year.
I guess USPS will also release uncut press sheets again (not listed right now). The next bulletin should tell...

I'm thinking that maybe the USPS won't issue a Press Sheet for this issue seeing as it hasn't been announced yet while all the other FDC's and DCP's have been posted, in which case it would at least be a financial savings to the average collector.

Actually, we don't even have any specifics yet as to the exact size of that souvenir sheet and/or what the total printing quantities are going to be.

Another interesting item is the center stamp "Plant for a more Beautiful America" with the Washington, DC cherry blossoms, which would go along nicely with the Cherry Blossom stamps issued earlier this year in a combination first day cover:

It seems the USPS Postal Store in their haste to post images of the upcoming Lady Bird Johnson Souvenir Sheet has posted one in error!

The previously posted Lady Bird Johnson Souvenir Sheet is WRONG in that the "Plant for More Beautiful Parks" stamp incorrectly shows an image of the blossomed cherry trees and the Jefferson Memorial, which were NEVER PART OF Scott #1366, the original drawing from which that stamp was to have been based upon.

The "correct" image is properly posted on the USPS Postal Store page advertising the Digital Color Postmarks and bundled Souvenir Sheet and DCPs.

Here's an image of the incorrect souvenir sheet, next to the one shown on the DCP page, which illustrates the location of the stamp error, along with an image of Scott #1366 showing the intended stamp:

For those interested in the seven philatelic products being offered for the Lady Bird Johnson Souvenir Sheet, here's the detail from the USPS news announcement:




I'm a bit puzzled though as to why a first day cancelled full pane of these stamps should have a $2.50 surcharge over the $2.70 face value of the stamps, for a $5.20 purchase price, which would seem to be over and above the $1.25 shipping charge that SFS applies to such orders.

Also note that a Press Sheet is going to be available (with no die cuts). At a cost of $43.20, it is presumably going to be a press sheet of 16 uncut souvenir sheets of the stamps.

Here's the link to the official USPS news announcement about the issue:

http://about.usps.com/news/national...pr12_117.htm

Thanks for the update - I would have waited for the next bulletin. I'll treat myself to one of the uncut press sheets since it's such a nice issue.

For anyone interested, the print quantity of the press sheet without die cuts (i.e. imperforated) will be 5000 (latest bulletin has just been published). Given that every press sheet will contain 16 souvenir sheets, there will be a total of 80000 imperforated souvenir sheets.

I also found the overall print run for this issue to be extremely low at 12 million stamps. As there are 6 stamps per souvenir sheet, that means only 2 million souvenir sheets will be printed. Take into account that 5000 uncut press sheets represent 80,000 souvenir sheets, that brings the individual souvenir sheet printing down to only 1,920,000 souvenir sheets for retail sale.

I guess part of the reason for it is the limited interest and limited distribution of these souvenir sheets, as they are not being automatically distributed to post offices nationwide, rather the distribution will be limited to "offices in the State of Texas, and all offices in the Capital and Northern Virginia districts."

And, of course, SFS.

A nice piece with a brief biography just published by the USPS to add to the Lady Bird Johnson souvenir sheet issue:

http://uspsconnection.com/files/SS_Lady_Bird.pdf

I just received from Lady Bird Johnson souvenir sheets from my SFS order earlier this week and decided to flyspeck the stamps.

The first thing that's noticeable is that the Beautify America stamps are nowhere near the quality of the originals they are copied from that were issued back in the 1960s. The offset printing technique used today just doesn't give the stamps the same appearance.

Also, for anyone so interested, since you really need a high resolution image to to identify where the USPS microprinting is located, I have identified the locations below:

These stamps will not be sold in GA state?