Inaugurating The USp.s FDC Question

i have a question about the Inaugurating the U.S.P.S. cover.

what can y'all tell me about it? history,etc.

i searched here and nothing came up.i also went through about 25 pages of 1970's covers on the buck a cover site and found nothing.

any history on it would be appreciated.
T.J.

I know philb was collecting these. I found one in a lot I received recently. I will post a scan this evening.

Have you tried searching by Scott number? Are you wanting info on #1396 issued in 1971? The USPS used to be the United State Postal Department (USPD). I think I have own a FDC for that issue, I'll try to locate it.

Just to chime in here about Scott #1396 (USPS Emblem) issue. If you're talking about First Day Covers, that particular issue had a whopping 16.3 million covers produced, compared to most other period issues that had about 400,000 to 800,000 produced. Why? Because in this instance, the USPS opened up the First Day cancellation to any city in the U.S. According to Scott Specialized, there are more than 16,000 different city cancellations known for the July 1, 1971 first day of issue, with the additional notation that "some are rare" (although not specified in that catalog which ones.) For the common ones, the FDC commands only nominal catalog value.

There are a ton of these listed on ebay. The price range is very wide. Beware!

T.J.,

I can't provide any additional background but I happen to have a cacheted envelope that was prepared for use with the FDC.



Steve

thanks for the help.i appreciate it.

that is the cover I am talking about.

wt1 - how can I find out what the rare ones are?

i have several different ones :
Rising Fawn Ga. cancelled Jul 1
Henagar A. Jul 1
Bryant Al. Jul 1
Pisgah Al. Jul 1
Ider Al. Jul 1
and Mentone Al. It is Cancelled Jul 2

i also have a couple like tomiseksj posted with no stamp or cancellation

again thanks for all the help.
T.J.

FDC's go back much further than what you ask about. No expert here, I'm thinking you should be looking in the 30's or earlier for history. I know I've some marked covers from that time frame.

This link may be helpful to you on the subject, although it's still under construction and some values are not yet entered. However, you can search city/state and get an idea of the rarity of any given city cancel (for which there are 33,000!)

http://www.remcatalog.com/Default.aspx

wt1,
thanks for the link.alot of info on that site.

i really appreciate all the help.

T.J.

edit to add:so does anyone here collect these covers?

According to the website there were probably only 32 FDC's from Allenton, MI (maxium of 75 possible).

T.J.: A lot of people collect them. There are only about 6-12 that have attempted to collect one of each town/city (one collection numbers around 38,000!). I collect cancels for North Carolina, and have a mere 100 or so out of 355 known.

It is possible the USPS will issue a 50th Anniversary stamp on July 1, 2031 (if they exist 20 years from now), so I'm holding on to about 50 or so unserviced envelopes I have acquired just in case. A quick look doesn't show they released anything for the 25th Anniversary (1996).

I was also searching on here for info on US 1396 covers. A have about 175 different cities and am trying to concentrate on the states of VA, MD, and PA. I used to find these for $1 or less. Now $2 or less is a good find. Roy E. Mooney of remcatalog fame was the Pioneer in this field, collecting and cataloging many thousands of 7-1-71 covers.

Do any say first day of issue?