Looking For More Info On This, Publicity Card Or Photo Essay?

Hello, I collect material on US Scott 1196 and I find weird stuff on ebay. I found this and bought it, it said it was a photo essay that was used as a publicity card and sent to places to encourage people to buy the stamp. The seller had a bunch of these of different stamps. The listing said it was 3"x4" but the item that shipped was smaller. The picture says you can reproduce it as much as you want in different sizes, so I'm not upset about that, maybe I'll reprint it in the 3"x4" size at some point, but this doesn't feel like the one I got was an original. The item was on what seems like photo paper. I paid less than $10

Is this a real thing, can I get more info on it if anyone knows about this type of item ? I couldn't find anything in the specialized catalog.

As I recall your item is an example of what the Post Office made available for publicity purposes pre-internet. The image could be incorporated in print articles when assembling them for printing.

Below shows examples of prices and some pics of actual photo essays from the same time period (and others):

https://www.hgitner.com/pdf/us-phot...ays-2021.pdf

I see nothing wrong with your photo.

There two basic types of these: photos of designs under consideration used internally by those involved with the design and approval, and publicity photos like yours.

Yes, these publicity photos were regularly sent to the media, typically newspapers. They were not typically sent to individuals. Some sellers like to add the word proof or essay as a form of puffery, and granted, the design often does typically differ from the issued stamp, especially for engraved issues. In some cases, the USPOD/USPS released a photo image without a denomination when the design was unveiled, then a final photo image. The Crazy Horse stamp is an example


Size: Note the two photo sizes of the Crazy Horse photos. The Champion of Liberty photos are 3.5"x5".



I suspect the ebay lister had a generic template for his descriptions and did not bother to measure every photo, as they vary considerably. You will want to use your photo as received and not exhibit later reproductions.

Yes, these are on photo paper. I bought one from this same dealer a month or two ago and am completely satisfied it is an original press release photo.

No, they are not listed by Scott.

Ok thank you that is a lot of great information

I was worried someone was just printing photos out and selling facsimiles