Classifying Official/Penalty Envelopes

Greetings,
I have a collection(?) of hundreds of official/penalty envelopes from 27 different federal agencies that were used from the late 60's through the early 80's. I can't find any information about them anywhere. Even Scott's Specialized catalog doesn't seem to have them listed. I've been looking for some catalog numbers or a classification scheme that can describe/classify these covers. I thought that after being in circulation for 30+ years there would be some treatment of them. I have included two scans that are representative of the collection. Any information would be helpful.
Thanks!

Hello Dan....

....and welcome to the club.

With any luck somebody here will have some info on these covers.

I've always thought the ones with the US Mail Emblem should be considered an official printed envelope.

Mike

Mike,
That's probably a good way to describe the envelopes. I've checked in the Scott Specialized Catalog for "Stamped envelopes and wrappers" and any reference to "official." I can't find a single mention of them. It is the first time I ever encountered a group of postal items that wasn't mentioned in Scott. I have also Googled every way I could think of and found nothing. I'm probably missing something obvious but it's a mystery to me what it is.

Dan

Those USPS emblem envelopes (sometimes referred to as Penalty Mail envelopes because of subsequent inscriptions) are not listed in Scott because they could not be purchased.

That is Scott's general editorial policy, but of course, they don't always follow their own guidelines.

I am sure that's true with Scott's, however they could list them as used.

Khj,
That makes sense. Thanks. It sounds like a Scott's policy.

I'm still left with a classification dilemma though. Right now I have them grouped by agency and type (sort of). There are a lot of subtle differences including ink color (not shown in the scans) among the envelopes. Is there any general classification scheme that collectors use so I can see what I have and what I'm missing? Does anyone else have a collection of them? I can't believe that I am the only one in the philatelic universe with a mess of these puppies!

Dan

Dan,

I no longer collect these. Unlike meter stamps, I know of no general/specialized catalog that lists these with decent coverage. I can only make the following suggestions:

1. Take a quick look at how Scott categorizes/lists the officials for Argentina and Great Britain, and also how Scott lists booklet/pane varieties/slogans (see US Specialized). That's the basis for my suggestions.

2. First make a list of the basic emblem types, ignoring uniform scaling and thickness issues. For example: basic emblem, wide emblem, emblem with trademark... and assign a design letter to it (A, B, C...)

3. Disregard department ID and make a list of basic "slogans/inscriptions" such as: POSTAGE PAID, POSTAGE AND FEES PAID, bar-code, inscription combined with barcode... and assign a lower case Roman numeral (i, ii, iii...)

4. Separate the covers according to department usage. For each department, you can assign your own ID number for each different cover (1, 2, 3...) based on departmental inscription.

5. For each department, each cover will have a catalog of the form (design letter)(slogan number)(ID number)(minor variety), where minor variety is a lower case letter designating varieties such as ink, font, line thickness in design, cover size/paper/color...

So, your ID number for each department would look something like Bii3a. You don't have to choose the minor variety letter alphabetically. You can choose a letter that most easily helps you remember the variety.

Anyway, you don't have to follow my suggestions exactly. It's just to give you an idea of how you might want to proceed.

Enjoy your covers!

k

Heres the USPS current info on PMS (Penalty Mail Service).
http://www.usps.com/send/postageper...ilstamps.htm

Thanks for your thoughtful posts.
I'm acquainted with the way Scott lists booklet/pane varieties/slogans. I'm a run-of-the mill foreign collector so I'm going to have to check Scott about Argentina and Great Britain officials.
I said earlier that I "sort of" have them classified by type. I have been playing around with a classification system but I didn't want to reinvent the wheel if collectors have already established a system. It looks as though I have a winter project ahead. Living in Northern Michigan should give me plenty of time between shoveling snow to do it.

It seems that few, if any, collectors actively collect these covers so I've switched to research mode.

It appears that their bureaucratic definition is "penalty permit imprints" and were in widespread use prior to the re-issuance of penalty mail stamps in 1983 (Scott's O127 +). Their use was governed by the USPS Domestic Mail Manual, section EO60, Official Mail (Penalty) *yawn*

I'm trying to find an online (preferably) version of the Manual that was in effect prior to 1983. The earliest I can find has a 2003 date. (Issue 58)

Does anyone know where I could locate one?

I have two moving boxes (approximately 3 cubic feet) of these covers that need organization.

Thanks!

Dan,
I just joined the group and wondered if you ever got an answer to your question about how to organize, classify, etc. a collection of penalty envelopes?
Rick

While at RMSS (Rocky Mountain Stamp Show, nee ROMPEX) this last week, I participated in a discussion of these things (US Govt penalty mail). There were guys there who knew of an ongoing effort to develop a catalog.

We can all hope. . . .

I used to work for the Federal government back then. These were not printed by the post office for the agencies. They are not actually postal stationery. Each agency simply had their own envelopes printed either in-house if they had a print shop, or commercially. They printed them as often as they needed them and used a general pattern. I do not know of anyone actually keeping records of variations in the designs as it was not a matter that anyone cared about back then. I would guess that there must be a great many thousands of slight varieties simply because they were being printed all the time and not by any central authority.

Rick,
Wow! Talk about a flash back! I posted that in 2009!
To answer your question, no. I haven't found anything about how to classify/organize these covers. It seems to be a black hole in postal history. As Kimo posted, the varieties are all over the place.

Kim (Khj) suggested a classification scheme. I have them loosely organized in that manner. It's on my long-term to-do list to give them more attention.

Dan

ThomasGalloway,




If you could link me up with that group, I'd be happy to share what information, however meager, that I have. It really seems to be a neglected aspect of postal history.

Dan