Can Certain Stamps Have Been Released Before Their 'Official' Release Date?

Hey!

I'm currently trying to investigate the legitimacy of a letter for a project I'm working on and was hoping someone with more knowledge about stamps could please help me with something.

I have a letter that is dated as being written and sent from Chicago to Wisconsin in May 1992 - according to both the letter itself and the postal mark - but the stamp (a US homage to the Chinese New Year of the Rooster) was apparently only released on December 30th, 1992. Some seven months after it was seemingly affixed to this envelope.

Is this cause for suspicion? Or did certain stamps sometimes hit the market sooner, dependant on what part of the USA one was in?

Any help would be extremely appreciated!

TYIA x



The stamp. "Issue Date: December 30, 1992" - according to MysticStamp.com


The postal mark and stamp on the envelope in question



The letter with date marked May 28th 1992

PS: I apologise if cross-posting is against the rules on here. I'm unfamiliar with the community and wasn't sure where best to post such a question!

there have been several issues that have been released into the public domain earlier than the official release date. Six months is a little far as most have been maybe a couple of weeks. Are you sure you have the correct issue date? This series was initially issued annually for 12 years. then there was a 12 design sheet issue carrying all 12 issues, the only difference being the postage from the initial issuance. Did you cross check the design postage against each other,? (I'm still learning but I made a point in obtaining all 12 design issues plus the combined sheet when that was issued along with a FDC) I am sure there will be further discussion to help you out.

@eligies

Hey! Thank you so much for your reply! I really appreciate your help and time :)

Please forgive my ignorance as this is all totally new for me. I can see you're making a very good point, however I'm a bit confused as to what you mean by this series and its design sheet // issues.

The issue date that I got for the Rooster stamp pictured came up when I googled: "usa 1992 rooster stamp".

MysticStamp.com said: "On December 30, 1992, the USPS issued its first Chinese New Year stamp, honoring the start of the Year of the Rooster. The issue of this stamp was in part inspired by repeated requests for stamps to honor additional holidays – New Year's, Easter, the Fourth of July, and Thanksgiving."

Snowphie,
Please do not make duplicate posts.

To everyone else,
Please cease replying to this thread and reply instead to this other near-identical thread qhich has more replies, until the moderators can delete this duplicate thread:
https://goscf.com/t/86678&whichpage=1#803688

USPS did start selling the $0.40 Fox stamp blank covers before the "First Day", however this was one of those cases of a few days early.
I would think a commercial printer could get ahold of blank FDCs a lot earlier than the general public.

Continue here... https://goscf.com/t/86678