Help Please: Scott 2875 B.e.p. $2x4 Sheet On Card

I posted something on this as part of another thread, but I think a dedicated topic is required to find an answer.

You are probably familiar with Scott # 2875, the 1994 $2 Madison souvenir sheet honoring the centennial of the Bureau of Engraving & Printing. Turns out, there was also a souvenir card with the same design. This card, printed on semi-glossy card stock, shows the little sheet about 200% enlarged. The back has text relating to the centennial, using a typestyle that matches a couple other BEP cards from the same time.

I've determined that this is *not* a USPS card, but can't pin down exactly who issued it or why. Does anyone have any information regarding this card? Was it a giveaway item at the FD ceremony? If you have a copy, do you recall where you got it?

The Souvenir Card Collector Society has been trying to figure out how to catalog it, but can't quite reach a conclusion.

GregAlex,

You wrote, "I've determined that this is *not* a USPS card, but can't pin down exactly who issued it or why."
Inside the "common knowledge" area, is impression that stamp-related souvenir cards came out of two sources, USPS and BEP. I wonder about omission of "or a BEP card" in above sentence. Were you aware the BEP regularly issued souvenir cards just as the USPS did?
I suppose not in the common knowledge area, both institutions also issued "souvenirs" internally only to their employees (I omit pinning down further, like cards, because they weren't always "cards").
I can state for a fact that USPS did this in regards to the 10-part 8c Postal People issue of 1973, and for all intents and purposes it looks like a very large souvenir card. Reminder: only for employees.
I can also state I am under impression that the BEP issued some kind of souvenir for their employees. If one steps back for a moment and considers the subject matter, would it not be odd for the BEP to decline making some internal souvenir gesture for their employees on such a momentous milestone?
The card you displayed makes me recall whatever the BEP might have given as a souvenir to their employees on the occasion. However, the text provided on this card seems to be deficient if this is the time. One would think a line like "BEP-printed on occasion o f..." but maybe given the illustration side, plus the text as is, it wasn't considered for posterity.
Finally, on that last point about the text not proclaiming itself if you will, it is possible (assuming this is "the card BEP gave employees as souvenir") the card was given not naked, but enclosed in a small folio, pamphlet, folder, whatever. I happen to know by way of example, the USPS once gave internally to employee(s) in late 1980s a first day cover (11c Stutz Bearcat) that was tucked into a simple folder, on occasion of a retirement I think.
I apologize for this lengthy reply, it was an exercise on critical thinking + my personal recalls based on what you provided with your question. I would only fault you on lack of any mention of "BEP cards" when you reference "USPS cards" (or perhaps you didn't realize they were sourced separately but just lumped them together under misleading "USPS cards." It might clarify things if I also include this tidbit - the BEP cards were sold by the BEP, not USPS, as a general rule (probably an exception or two somewhere, heck the USPS was selling non-US stamps now and then through their sales catalog to collectors!!).

Hi Greg,
At one of our local lunches, Harry showed us several 'BEP retirement' presentation items (I believe they were in a trifold folder and from the 1960-1980 period). I wonder if this might have been part of something like that?
Don

It appears similar to the style of the old US Philatelic Education Card series by Voncorp. Were they still producing in 1994?

Edited to answer my own question, they stopped in 1979.


Also perhaps asking the USPS to whom did they grant permission to reproduce the S/S design? Perhaps a request via the National Postal Museum could help shorten the time of reply.

As an aside, the BEP tends to produce items of a much better quality in actual size, not 200% enlarged and in the same manner as the original, in this case engraved.

All that said, while I have a small specialized collection of 2875 lower case letter goodies of 2875b and 2875c as well as the DTs on 2875a mint and as FDC, I do not (thanks rogdcam) have the item in the OP nor but didn't know of it before now.

Another one on Ebay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/324053655829

Not anymore

@stampsOnMail, yes, as chair of the Cataloging Committee for the Souvenir Card Collectors Society, I'm pretty familiar with cards of all types. ;-) We keep an online reference gallery of images here: http://www.souvenircards.org/html/m...gallery.html

But sometimes we hit a puzzler like the card I posted, so I take it to a collector forum to see what else I can dig up. I intentionally did not pin the BEP label to this card, to avoid confirmation bias. But it certainly could be a BEP card.

The text on the card does seem ambiguous -- that is, not tied to an event -- which is what you might do if you planned to distribute it at more than one event or perhaps had no particular distribution plan.

The reason I know it is not a USPS card is that I was able to contact the USPS project manager who oversaw the printing of the actual souvenir sheet in 1994. He confirmed that the Postal Service did not issue the card. But he also said the USPS had reprint agreements with about 50 organizations at the time and finding documentation on who reprinted the Madison card would be practically impossible.

@51studebaker - Harry is a member of the SCCS Cataloging Committee, so he is familiar with this card, too. I've seen some of those Bureau retirement cards -- these are often cataloged in the Forerunner (F) category of cards. But the card I posted was not engraved and no one has seen any folder associated with it.

@Parcelpostguy - It's definitely not one of the Voncorp cards. Those were all printed as educational reference cards, without text. The Madison card clearly commemorates the BEP centennial.

Sorry to shoot down all these theories. I'm still hoping that some collector reads this who actually remembers getting one of these cards from a particular event.

Let me add one more piece of information and see what the hive mind thinks.

This is the back of the card in question...


And this is an unrelated information card that the BEP issued just a few months later. It accompanied a numismatic card ...

Purely circumstantial evidence, but adding to the BEP theory, if you look at the other listings from the seller of that eBay listing above, a bunch of the other (12) listings from that seller in the Stamps category are other BEP cards, including a "souvenir of your visit to the BEP", and another card that has a similar footnote about Title 18 as your card does. Not definitive proof, but certainly that collector had an interest in the BEP, and despite the poorer printing quality, it adds to the theory that a BEP souvenir is the origin.

D'oh! I don't know why I didn't think of asking the seller directly. I just sent him a message -- we'll see if he remembers anything.

Addendum: No luck. The dealer purchased it years ago as part of an estate. But if others appear for sale, I'd appreciate an alert.

I have been lurking in the background, waiting for someone with knowledge to solve this mystery.

I lurk no more.

I have exactly ***ZERO*** info on this card. However... I did notice that the card in the eBay link, that is now sold, was described as the actual SS = F-VF, NH, etc. I wonder if the seller will get it returned since it is NOT the USPS SS.

ZebraMan, your mention of the Title 18 disclaimer got me thinking. That might actually be the smoking gun. I went back and checked: the USPS stopped using this footnote on their souvenir cards after 1977, instead opting for a simple copyright. But the BEP continued to use it on the cards they produced. Here it is on B-194, issued in April 1995. To my knowledge, only the Bureau used this notation on souvenir cards.

Is this enough to settle it, beyond a reasonable doubt?

As I noted in the first post after the eBay link, I purchased the item. Title be damned, the photos were exactly what I was after:






GregAlex, feel alerted. The eBay seller was sportscardsnautos. If you have questions, my SCF email link works.