From Stamp Insider, Page 67:
http://www.stampinsider.org/Stamp%2...DFs/1602.pdf"Washington Stamp Exchange has announced that it will no longer produce ArtCraft first day cover cachets. The Florham Park, New Jersey, company will continue to produce White Ace stamp albums and StampMount brand mounts and will also continue to sell first
day covers, stamps and autographs through direct mail, phone order and the company's website.
The decision to stop producing ArtCraft cachets was reached when the company concluded that the decreasing volume of sales could no longer sustain the high costs of production.
ArtCraft cachets are produced through a two-step production process in which the picture portion of the design is printed using offset lithography and the lettering is added through high quality die-stamp engraving. While engraving is an expensive process, the company felt that it was an integral feature of ArtCraft's identity and decided not
to compromise the product's quality by using cheaper production methods.
ArtCraft cachets were first produced in 1939 starting with the New York World's Fair issue (Scott 853) and the distinctive engraved cachets were an immediate hit with collectors.
Washington Stamp Exchange, which was founded in 1932 by the brothers Sam and Leo August, continued to produce ArtCraft cachets for every United States stamp issued through the end of 2015.
The company also produced cachets for every United Nations stamps through the end of 2014 and for various other countries on a limited basis. In addition, ArtCraft cachets have been created for every presidential inauguration beginning with Dwight D. Eisenhower's first term in 1952, and for countless special events and commercial promotions. The American First Day Cover Society awarded ArtCraft the honor of Cachetmaker of the Century in 2007.
Posted 03/30/2016 11:27 pm
