Century Of Progress FDC -- Linprint Cachet

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Linprint Cachets were produced by Cachetmaker George Ward Linn in Cincinnati OH from 1932 to 1941. Linn is also known as the "Father of the First Modern Cachet, the #610-1 2c Harding Memorial 9/1/23.

George Ward Linn was born in Greenville OH 2/7/1884, the son of a newspaper publisher, William M. Linn. In 1893 the family moved to Columbus OH, and opened the Wm. M. Linn Printing Co. in downtown Columbus. George W. Linn completed 10th grade in 1900, left school and travelled to Cincinnati to work on a newspaper. He returned to the family owned print shop on Chestnut St, Cincinnati OH. In 1905 he began a mail order stamp business, the George W. Linn Co., and by 1920, began informally publishing an irregular series of price lists with stamp articles that was named Linn's Stamp News. Vol. 1 No. 1 of Linn's Weekly Stamp News appeared Nov 5, 1928.

The first pictorial Linprint Cachet was the #717-6 2c Arbor Day issued 4/22/32, but George W. Linn is best known for the "First Modern Cachet," a black-bordered printed cachet in a multitude of small sizes, for the #610-1 2c Harding Memorial issued 9/1/23. This #610 Cachet met with great success , but Linn did not issue another Cachet until the #717-6 in 1932. The #732-2 2c NRA issued 8/15/33 is identified and listed by Mellone, Planty Vol.VI, p. 5, as the 1st Linn's Weekly Stamp News Cachet. The last Linprint Cachet was #C31-18 50c Airplane Transport issued 10/29/41.

The Linprint Cachet business was liquidated in January 1942 after an ill-timed attempt to expand its stamp focus into all hobbies generally. The Linprint line of stamp album pages was sold to Leo August's Washington Press in Newark, NJ, but Linn retained his remaining inventory of Linprint FDCs, which he continued to sell at a discount through 1942.

Linn eked out additional income by continuing to publish Linn's Stamp News on a shoestring. In 1947 Carl Rueth joined Linn on the staff of the Stamp News and took over publication in 1965 when Linn retired. Still published today, Linn's Stamp News is the world's largest weekly stamp publication, and is available online at www.linns.com.

After retiring, George W. Linn moved to a nursing home at Howey-in-the-Hills, FL, and he died 3/27/66 in a hospital in Eustis, FL.

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I thought this one was a fdc of the exhibition, but it is pm in August which is 3 months too late for that, still I like it.

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Ioor Cachets were produced by the early FDC Cachet Pioneer, Harry C. Ioor, many with the artistic assistance of his sister, Travilla Ioor. Harry Ioor was located at 802 State Life Bldg, Indianapolis IN, where he also operated a chiropractic practice. The First Cachets by Harry C. and Travilla Ioor were five different varieties of #651-9 2c George Rogers Clark, issued 2/25/29. Early Ioor Cachets of the period 1929-1933 are based on fine line drawings. Ioor Cachets from 1934-1940 tend to be black-and-white photos surrounded by a block of a single bright color. The photos were printed on the envelope, in contrast to Crosby's method of pasting a photo on the envelope, or Beazell's method of transferring an image to an envelope made of photographic paper.

Harry Ioor never married. He died Feb 16, 1940, before the completion of the Famous American Series of 1940, #859/893. His sister Travilla completed this Series and continued the Ioor brand of Cachets. Travilla Ioor's cachets from 1940-1951 are usually identified by the signature "Ioor" someplace in the design.

Travilla Ioor met her FDC competitor, E. Milnor Peck (the founder and owner of the Fleetwood Cover Service), when Peck came to Indianapolis August 29, 1949 for the First Day of Issue Ceremonies of the #985 3c G.A.R. Stamp. It was love at first sight, and they were married in June of 1950 and combined their FDC businesses. Travilla's Last Cachet for the Ioor line was #998-20 3c United Confederate Vets, issued 5/30/51, but she continued as an enthusiastic participant in the business of Fleetwood Cover Service. Travilla and Milnor Peck logged hundreds of thousands of miles together traveling to first day cities across the country until Travilla died March 16, 1967.

After the death of Travilla, Milnor Peck lost his enthusiasm for continuing the FDC business, and in December of 1968 he sold Fleetwood Cover Service to to Unicover Corporation of Cheyenne WY. Unicover was launched by FDC Servicer James A. Helzer with venture capital. Unicover operated Fleetwood as a separate division of Unicover, with the first Fleetwood Cachet under the Unicover umbrella being the #1369 6c American Legion stamp issued 3/15/69. In 1971 Unicover purchased Cachet Craft Cover Service from Athol and Virginia Cliff (who had purchased it from Frederick B. Fitts Co. in 1953), and folded the Cachet Craft brand into the Fleetwood brand of Cachets.

Unicover sold its Fleetwood Division to Mystic Stamp Company in 2007, which still produces some Fleetwood brand Cachets.