Scott 767Scott 767 is the Farley Reprint version of the souvenir sheet first issued in 1933, Scott 731. Like its counterpart, Scott 730, the souvenir sheet, not previously discussed, was issued as one of two souvenir sheets for the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago, also known as the Chicago World's Fair.
The souvenir sheets are identical; in point of fact, there is no way to distinguish a normal margin single from each other. The lack of gum on the reverse is not a valid factor, as it would be very easy to remove the gum from a single of Scott 731 to pass as Scott 767.
The only way to definitively distinguish the Farley Reprint from the earlier souvenir sheet is by the presence of the enlarged margins between the sheets, or as they are known, "gutter" singles, pairs and blocks.
Below is an example of a gutter single, followed by both horizontal and vertical gutter pairs.
Scott 767 was printed in sheets of nine panes per sheet. Unlike the National Parks centerline blocks, where there would be only one per sheet, this meant there could be four center blocks, or cross gutter blocks, per sheet. An example of the way they are normally collected, in cross gutter blocks of four, is shown below:
As mentioned in the previous posting, even with the souvenir sheet whole, to qualify as Scott 767, it must have the large margins found on the outside gutters, contain part of an adjacent sheet or be in pairs. A vertical pair of sheets is shown below:
It is possible to make a unique position piece from an entire sheet. That would be to use the center souvenir sheet, and include parts of the other eight sheets surrounding it. This is shown below:
One last item is a used block of four. This is another type of position piece, the corner blocks of four with the marginal selvage still attached. This one is from the bottom left corner of the sheet and is nicely cancelled by a single, centered mute double oval cancel.
There are no proofs or essays for any of the Farley Reprints.
The First Day Cover selection follows. As with all Farley Reprints, they were issued March 15, 1935 in Washington, D.C. I prefer to collect these with a gutter between to ensure they are Scott 767, although many collectors are satisfied with a cover dated March 15, 1934. That being said, here are some selections to illustrate the types of FDC's which collectors might add to their collections.
The first cover shown is the Ioor FDC for this issue. Like the cover for Scott 766, it shows the same image in the cachet, but this time it is printed in purple and red. This is listed in Planty-Mellone as 767-2. It features a horizontal pair with a vertical gutter. It has the added feature of being unaddressed, something not normally seen on First Day Covers of this period.
The next item is a C.S. Anderson cachet, partially obscured at the top of the cachet by the block of four, with a vertical gutter. This is listed in Planty-Mellone as 767-3.
The next item features a cachet from the Washington Stamp Club of the Air. It features a vertical pair with a horizontal gutter between. This is Planty-Mellone 767-13.
The fourth item is identical to the same cachet shown previous with Scott 766, except for the color. In both instances, the color matches the stamp color; in this case, purple. This cachet was created by Ralph Dyer and features a horizontal pair with vertical gutter between. It is Planty-Mellone 767-27b.
The final cover is the F.R. Rice design, in purple and gold. This is Planty-Mellone 767-32. This features a cross-gutter block of four.
The next issue to be discussed in the Farley Reprints will be Scott 768, the Admiral Byrd souvenir sheet.
As always, comments and questions are welcome. If you have anything to share related to this thread, I'd love to see it. Thank you to everyone who has added something to this thread. I look forward to seeing what everyone has!
Posted 10/13/2017 10:52 pm
