Classic US Created For Collectors Vs Real Postage

I know the Reprints were primarily designed for collectors and were never approved for postage. In a recent post, a member here mentioned that he does not prioritize going after the high value Columbians because they also were aimed at collectors.

That is news to me. Would anyone be able to elaborate (I think cjpalermo1964 was the member)? And are there any other issues that were postage approved but really created to satisfy collector interest? Thanks!

The inverted Jenny was another one.

How about the Bicentennial Souvenir Sheets?

Jack kelley

That's actually a tough call if you set the test as "not real postage" or "offered just to collectors and not offered at postal counters." The 1875 reprints of the 1847 first issue and of the 1869 pictorials would be in that category.

If you broaden the test to include "more stamps than really necessary in a commemorative or definitive issue, because the issued stamps weren't needed to pay a defined rate," and you are focused on the classic era, which I would define as 1847-1940, then there are many more examples, usually the commemorative issues in which one or more stamps did not pay an existing rate such as the registry rate. Thus, the question is intertwined with knowledge of rates, and I lack enough knowledge of late 19th century and early 20th century rates to provide a comprehensive list. One issue that comes to mind immediately, though is the 1901 Pan-American Exhibition 4c (electric car) invert, which was intentionally produced. The high-value stamps in the 1901 Trans-Mississippi issue would qualify. All of these were "real postage" and genuinely postally used examples exist.

Then there are anomalies like the Orangeburg coil, which was genuine postage, but apparently provided only to a single company for its marketing mailings and not offered over the counter to the public. It doesn't fit either definition above.

cjpalermo1964,

I agree that the true test should be whether the stamps are issued over the postal counters, unlike the 1947 1847 reissue. That being the case, how about the hundreds and hundreds of souvenir sheets that have been issued since 1995. Starting with Marilyn Monroe and right up to now. It is only idiots like me who purchase them to fill holes in the albums.

Jack Kelley

some of the very early stamps were demonitized so by post office standards they are not valid to use ( but if you want to put a #1 on an envelope and mail it to me I'll be more than happy to pay the postage due.

Jack, absolutely right, and so those items are not a focus for me. I cut my US collection off at 2000, and it's complete for 1920-2000. So, I'm now back-filling from 1920 to 1847, and in that effort, I find it helpful to defer the costly, collector-directed issues. Others may prize them, and that's fine. I do enjoy buying new issues from time to time, including collector-directed ones, and using them for my first-class mail. I still send a fair amount of it and I assuage my ego with the thought of creating the future's postal history.

A very good example of stamps printed exclusively for collectors are some of the values of the Transportation series. Precancels on untagged paper were printed in denominations like 3.4, 4.9, 8.3, 10.9 cent and others that do not have any use for regular customers. As a matter of fact, in the early days of this series it was still illegal for anyone to sell these stamps in mint, unused form! (See article in "The Plate Number", vol. III, no 1, January 1988).
The post office printed special stamps, unprecancelled and tagged for use by collectors. These special collector printing were identified as such on the official announcements!
By the way, the fact that these precancels were issued on untagged paper (and still are) is part of the reason that permit holders are required to carry their permitted mail to the post office for manual cancellation!

Peter

Thank you to all for this input. I had not given much thought to the impetus behind some of the higher value early issues. I also did not know the 4c inverts were created intentionally. Are the number of 4c inverts created much different from the other Pan-American inverts?

Just a tiny bit different ... a total of 5,737,100 normal 4c were printed by the Bureau of Engraving and only 400 of the inverts.