2014 Holiday Stamped Envelopes

As per the data contained in the 10/02/2014 Postal Bulletin, there is no DCP that will be offered for the Holiday Stamped Envelopes ... only the traditional four bar FDOI cancel will be available.

Ok, let's get into some minutia on these issues (plural because there are 5 designs).

I notice they are now "for sale" on usps.com. Because they have these nifty seals bundled in with the envelopes in the shrinkwrap, the graphic depicts the back of an envelope when one pulls up the item on the usps.com website. The back of the envelope with the seal placed over the sealed flap (a la sealing wax, one presumes).

These three graphics (there are three packets on offer) all show a top flap configuration that is not consistent with current envelopes (i.e., the knife is "wrong").

Compare these backs to the backs of the Bank Sparrow which is also offered with seals. The "knife" on these Bank Sparrows is what we expect when we buy a Bank Sparrow envelope. The top flap has a straight edge across the majority of the flap.

The flaps for the new envelopes (if we can expect the graphics accompanying the new envelopes to be true) have a shallow "V" design.

Ultimate question: do we have a new knife with this issue?

Speculative question: Any chance AP outsourced the production of these envelopes to a firm with an envelope machine employing a different knife?

The winter stamped envelopes were printed by Ashton Potter and it is a different knife(UPSS "a sharp-edged, forged steel form used to cut envelope blanks, like a cookie cutter") than the previous issues of these types of envelopes with seals. The flaps cannot be seen easily on the USPS site so the Knife # is not apparent -could be a Plimpton & Morgan Knife 124 but need envelopes in hand or better image to tell; hopefully mine will arrive soon.