Is This Cancellation Entirely Fake?

The cover in question:



Obviously, the "FIRST DAY OF NON ISSUE" is. But the rest (of the cancellation) is very realistic. But is it real? Against that, it would require postal authorities taking some liberty cancelling a fake stamp. So I think the cancellation is entirely bogus, but am curious if anyone would have a different opinion.

Basil

I don't think it is a fake cancel! It is a bogus cancel, just like the stamp is bogus.

Peter

My take is there is nothing "official" about this cover. A facsimile cancellation applied to a cinderella. It's just a conversation piece.

Although, if the autograph is authentic, it may have some real value.

Robert

Between 1991 and 1995, the USPS issued set of stamps commemorating World War II. The original designs for the final stamps included a stamp showing the atomic explosion over Japan. I believe political pressure was exerted on the USPS and the Atom Bomb stamp was replaced. This label and "cover" were a response to that issue.

Peter, can you clarify for me the distinction you are making between "fake" and "bogus?" If I had to guess--okay I will--it is that "fake" implies intent to deceive, but not "bogus."

Trainwreck, the autograph is authentic, and I paid a price based on that basis for the cover.

Glenn, I'm well aware of the history behind the creation of the cinderella/label. I am just wondering if there is any possibility that the CDS is genuine. Personally, I don't think so, but my experience diving the vagaries of cancellations is minimal. However, the CDS is almost too perfect, and I have another of these covers (but without the Tibbetts signature) in which to the eye, the CDS is exactly the same. Real cancellations show variations from one cover to the next. I believe this "CDS" was printed on the cover, not applied by a cancellation device.

Basil

You're correct. I believe fake is when something is meant to be something it is not. In other words, like you said if it is intended to deceit. The cover you show was absolutely not intended to deceit anyone. I believe your cover is in the same spirit as the well known Wilkinsburg souvenir sheets that were making fun of certain aspects of philately!
By the way, I think this cover is very collectible!

Peter

I agree with Peter that the correct term for your stamp/postmark is bogus. And bogus stamps are included in the broad field of cinderellas.

There is nothing official about any of the cover - the cancel, the stamp or anything else. It is a creation by someone who wanted to manufacture an "instant collectible" in hopes of selling these to buyers who are willing to be parted with their money for something like this. As was mentioned, the only thing that might make this worth more than 25 cents is the Paul Tibbets signature and that is only if it is an actual and original signature by Tibbets himself. Even if it is an original and authentic autograph, it would not add much to the value as Paul Tibbets signed enormous quantities of covers and collectibles up until his passing in November, 2007 and so his autographs are not at all rare. And there is some hesitancy to even collecting his autograph by more than a few people given the reason why he has a degree of fame. He was the pilot of the aircraft that bombed Hiroshima and being the pilot who bombed a civilian city with a nuclear bomb killing an estimated 146,000 men, women and children either from the direct blast or shortly after from radiation exposure is controversial to say the least.

Air Force Times article about the Cinderella item: http://www.airforcetimes.com/story/...mp/31163751/

Illustration of the originally proposed design with more information about Cinderella items: https://goscf.com/t/43562

Same cover in original post for sale on another site: https://www.historyforsale.com/html...rt=2&page=31
Grossly over-priced. Depicts a card that went along with the cover.

Everything on that site is grossly over-priced. I looked at the baseball cards and they want $399 for cards that might fetch $5.00 on a good day in the real world

That historyforsale website is completely delusional on their prices.

Come on guys, I didn't say I supported the mentioned website!

LOL - I didn't take it that you did. I was just making a statement after looking at their ridiculousness.

I really hope they don't have actual buyers

As previously mentioned, the 1995 50th Anniversary of WWII USPS sheetlet originally had a stamp (very similar to the cinderella on this cover) with a caption of "Atomic bombs hasten war's end, August 1945". After a protest from the Japanese government and pressure from President Clinton, the stamp was removed and replaced with the one showing Truman announcing Japan's surrender. There was a fairly large outcry about this change in stamps from multiple fronts, especially from the philatelic world.

There were several "protest labels" privately published in response. The one illustrated on this cover was published by Mid-Coast Marketing (Gerry Newhouse/Ron Kaplan) and is probably the most common of these labels. I know of seven different labels that were published; I have six in my collection/exhibit of them. These labels were covered in several articles in Linn's in 1995 as well as a cover article in Scott Stamp Monthly (August, 1995). Other philatelic publications also covered this topic.

The Tibbets cover illustrated in the first post in this discussion was sold by the publisher of Mekeels and U.S. Stamp News; it was available both with and without the Tibbets autograph. The autographed cover sold out many years ago; I believe it had a price of $29.95. The unautographed cover may still be available; the last price I saw for it was $16.95. The autographed cover comes up for sale on ebay occasionally; I've seen it sell in the $75 range.

Yes, Tibbets signed a lot of items. I saw him at an air show in St. Paul, MN; he was charging $25 an item for his signature.

This cover was never intended to fool anyone into thinking it was any kind of a legitimate, postally used cover. It was a protest of the removal of the original stamp from the 1995 sheetlet. These labels are highly collectable; some are seldom seen anymore.

Here is a page showing all seven of the protest labels I'm aware of.