Bird Of Paradise Freak On A Magazine Reply Card

Today I will share with the club a reply card, from my postal history collection, saved out of the trash can years ago. This is USA Scott #3310 from the 1999 tropical flowers self-adhesive booklet with an error in the perforations on the right side, lopping off about a third of the normal stamp. In the second scan closeup, I show my freak stamp on top and a normal stamp on the bottom, for comparison.

Also, this was mailed from zip code 20601...Waldorf, Maryland, USA.

Linus

somewhere I have a cover with a misperf on one of the stamps from this issue, but memory says it is less severe than the one you show.

eyeonwall - If you come across it, I would like to see it.

I remember the first time I saw my clipped bird of paradise, I thought the USPS had issued a new version of this stamp in a smaller booklet form. It is the same size as other USA booklet stamps that are smaller, and it looks like a valid stamp issue. Perhaps someone at the printing facility put a tropical flowers sheet into the wrong perforator machine, set up to cut smaller booklets? I wonder what the whole booklet and booklet cover looked like, perhaps the wrong cover? Was this printer's waste that was pilfered out of the plant?

All questions I have wondered about, over the years.

Linus