As Jim pointed out when he agreed with you, this was a philatelic dinner. It was not uncommon, even through the 1950's for philatelic societies and stamp clubs to take the 1/2 cent stamps and overprint them for their annual dinners or events.
They are novelty item and are not an official issue of the U.S. Post Office Department. Value would be as a novelty to someone, like myself, who collects show stamps and labels, an area of "Cinderella" collecting.
Here's some examples of what I referring to.
The first one looks like a precancel stamp for Sandusky Ohio. It's not, it is a show label from 1933.
The next one also looks like a precancel, but again, it's a show label. This one is from 2011.
Sometimes, the group would create an item which never existed, such as this one. It resembles a block of four of the John C. Calhoun Confederate States stamp, CSA 14, but it's the wrong color. This is from DIXIPEX II, held in Birmingham Alabama in 1959.
Then, there were show labels which look like stamps, are beautifully engraved and issued at the show, such as this set of labels for the APS show in 1932.
It's an interesting side collection, but these are not very valuable, despite their scarcity. It has to do with supply and demand. There's enough of a supply and not much demand.
Posted 01/19/2018 7:14 pm
