Where Do Mint Postage Due Stamps Come From???

I was reading about postage due stamps in Frangipane's book "United
States Stamps: A History Vol II" and it said that the general public couldn't just go to the post office and buy postage dues. Where do most of the current mint ones that one finds in US collections, especially the early American Bank Note issues, come from? You'd think they would be incredibly scarce.

For Canada, it may have been from the Philatelic Section of the Post Office Department in Ottawa.

I often found PO clerks willing to sell me mint Postage Dues during the 1970s and 1980s.
Don

Most Postage Due (US) came from the local Post Office. They are no longer available as they stopped issuing them. Availability now is from Stamp Dealers, Stamp Shows, or other collectors for mint. (I happened to catch the Postal Bulletin citing the date of 'no longer to be issued' many years ago, & bought a sheet of 1c Postage Due stamps about a week before they were to be returned for destruction.)

Post Office clerks also sold them to the public in the late 1950's and 1960's.

Yes, I recall post offices selling postage due stamps to stamp collectors in the '60s. But they were so dull, I didn't invest my pennies.

Most postal entities did and do sell them to collectors. And why wouldn't they? With a "regular" stamp, there's always the possibilty the stamp could be used for postage at some point in the future (assuming they're still valid). With postage due issues, there's no such danger as they were never valid as payment for postage in the first place.

Well in 1879 when Congress passed the law authorizing postage due
stamps. The law said they were NOT to be sold to the public in mint
condition. Since they couldn't be used for postage who knows why that
was put in the law. It would have been pure profit for the Post office
Department. The government didn't even make sense back then. Anyway
as you can see people ignored the law.



J6


J20


J25

Later mint postage dues continued to be sold.


J31 - J35 strips of 20


J47


J54


J75


J76

In 1959 J88 - J101 were issued and sold at the Philatelic Sales Division.


J88 rare plate 26291 for the 1/2 cent

Then in 1974 the Post Office started selling them over the counter and
I remember that day well. I bought a 1 and 10 cent plate block and for
the next 40 years I have been working on a complete match set ever
since. I only need 8 more positions to be complete! J96 35282 LR; J98
26289 LL,LR, 26290 LL,UR,LR, 26833 LR; and J101 26292 LR.


J95 26833 UL, UR, LR Very rare and the lower left position has never been found.


J92 35306 LL Dull Gum only ones known


J92 35307 LL Dull Gum only ones known

postagedueguy, I have to say, you have a handsome collection of dues.

postagedueguy, that is an amazing assembly of postage due multiples! I am well aware of how difficult it is to find such items; heck, even quality singles are scarce in a lot of cases. Congrats, thanks for sharing, and feel free to show some more!

postagedueguy: Congratulations on your new discoveries. Has Scott put your new findings into their U.S. specialized catalogue? Also, is Scott giving the dull (dry) gum variety a separate subletter listing now? In the catalogue that I have, it is listed with the shiny (wet) gum variety. The dull gum variety was dry printed by the web-fed Cottrell rotary press on pregummed paper rolls that were gummed before printing while the shiny gum variety was wet printed by the web-fed Cottrell rotary press on ungummed paper rolls that were gummed after printing. My interest in this mostly lies in the Stickney rotary press that was replaced by the Cottrell rotary press.

Thanks you everyone for the compliments on my postage dues. Postage due multiples a pretty hard to find. On J92 dull gums I have contacted Scott's about listing them. They should be in the 2018 Specialized.

One of them was on the front cover of the September issue of The United States Specialist with a story on how I found them on pages 399 - 400. I've been collection postage due plate blocks and sheets for the last 43 years.

My collection currently has 12,000 plate blocks and sheets (and some covers). Most of that is from J79 - J104. I am trying to complete matched set on those 2 issues. In fact I just acquired a plate block of J95 26833 UR in the last few days. This is one of rarest plates of the issue. J95 26833 LL has never been found although I'm always hopeful.

I only need 8 more positions to be complete on J88 - J104! J96 35282 LR; J98 26289 LL,LR, 26290 LL,UR,LR, 26833 LR; and J101 26292 LR. On J79 - J87 I need J81 20675 LL,LR.

Here are J25 - J29 Canal Zone postage due sheets signed by the designer.



Canal Zone J25 plate 123716 LR signed by designer



Canal Zone J26 plate 123717 LL signed by designer



Canal Zone J27 plate 123718 UR signed by designer



Canal Zone J28 plate 123719 LL signed by designer



Canal Zone J29 plate 146100 LR signed by designer

Nope

Scott use to put a lower case 'v' i.e. J98v

Hi

Back in late 1950's, there was a post office near Santa Fe Springs CA, I could and did buy mint Postage Due Stamps. Could also buy the 1938 Presidential Issue. The only employee in this small post office, would let me choose and pick what I wanted. Gone are these days.

Stampmaster

I have an experience similar to stampmaster's. Around 1960 I purchased a sheet of J79 (1/2c) at a post office in Washington, D.C. which has since become part of the National Portrait Gallery. Still have the sheet.