(Privately Cancelled?) US Mint Stamps

OK...OK I looked in the Scott Specialized and the USPS Guide and the lines are not there. The lines must have something to do with Mystic Stamp Co.

wt1 So is Mystic putting the lines on the stamp pictures in their catalog for Legal reasons?

I can't speak for Mystic's catalog (I don't have a current copy) but as for the USPS Guide to US Stamps, none of the stamp images are over 75% of the original so they do not have to show the cancellation lines. The few that are within those size parameters (as shown on the cover and in the first few pages of the summary of the past year's stamp issues) a cancellation line (however small) is shown through the denomination or the word "Forever".

At least that is the case in my 2012 edition of the USPS Guide.

Thanks wt1 for clearing this up for us. So Peter you were correct. Please accept my apology.

Sorry TinMan:

I missed the chatter in this thread while I was doing other things.

But the lines are there to make it clear that those are "pictures" of stamps and not actual stamps. Kind of the same reason the mint doesn't want people downloading images of $100 bills and printing their own. Obviously, counterfeiting is more complicated than that, but it's a start.

Also remember that artwork from the USPS is copyright protected. So the black lines are also a way of saying, "this is a reproduction" of something else.

I think all questions have been answered over the 2 pages of this thread, but I'm sorry I didn't get back sooner.

Kirk

Yea kirk we finally figured it out. wt1 was a big help. I got suspicious when I looked in the USPS Guide and the Scott's Specialized catalog and saw there were no lines. As you read above.