"Your U.S.
Specialist"
CRAIG SELIG
P. O. Box 11725
Fort Wayne, IN 46860 USA
Tel. 1-260-749-4995
1-800-735-0073
craigselig at pnc3.com
P. O. Box 11725
Fort Wayne, IN 46860 USA
Tel. 1-260-749-4995
1-800-735-0073
craigselig at pnc3.com
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CRAIG SELIG P. O. Box 11725 Fort Wayne, IN 46860 USA Tel. 1-260-749-4995 1-800-735-0073 craigselig at pnc3.com |
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The News Archive from 2006 |
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November 30, 2006 4 new Holiday NetStamps have been issued in sheets of 24 around November 30, 2006. These are now available for purchase at the following link at the bottom of the webpage. |
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November 27, 2006 A new type of stamp has once again appeared. These new stamps are being offered by premierpostage.com, which is associated with Pitney Bowes. There are 10 stamps to a sheet, consisting of 1 vertical stamp and 9 horizontal stamps. These premier postage stamps are similar to the personalized stamps being offered by zazzle.com, stamps.com, and endicia.com. The difference lies in the fact that the subjects of these stamps are celebrities. At the current time sheets of Selena and David Mann are being offered. These are just as valid for postage as the stamps being issued by the 3 dot-com's mentioned above. The cost however is substantially higher, that being approximately $20.00 for a sheet of only 10 stamps plus shipping and handling. These are only being offered in the 39¢ denomination. Premierpostage.com wrote that the first shipments were made on November 21, 2006. It remains to be seen to what extent this new type of stamp will be accepted by collectors. In any case, this represents a new chapter in the computer-vended-stamp field. |
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November 8, 2006 Today I believe another new APC-stamp appeared in conjunction with updated software. This new stamp is denominated 39¢ and reflects the normal first-class rate. |
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October 25, 2006 Sometime before October 25th, 4 new APC-package-stamps appeared. These are somewhat different than the previous versions. There is now space for the addressee's name and street address on the package stamp. (Missing of course are lines for the sender to write the recipient's name and street address on....Maybe no one thought of that. Someone who actually uses these to mail packages well might think of this! I sure did.) The code number has been moved from under the bar code to the far right of the bar code. The zip code-bar code has been moved down a ways. No official mention was made of the date of availability of this new stamp as far as I know, probably for "security" reasons, like always. As a result, I do not know when these package stamps first became available. I expect these stamps will be cataloged as CVP68, CVP68a, CVP68b, und CVP68c. These are now available for purchase at the following link at the bottom. |
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October 12, 2006 Sometime before October 12th, a new APC-stamp appeared. This new stamp is denominated $8.10 and reflects the Priority-Mail Flat-Rate-Box rate. No official mention was made of the date of availability of this new stamp as far as I know, so I do not know when it first became available. Scott has assigned this stamp the catalog number CVP66A. |
Click above!Scott CVP66A
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October 11, 2006 4 new Autumn NetStamps have been issued in sheets of 24 around October 11, 2006. The earliest documented use is October 14, 2006. These are now available for purchase at the following link at the bottom of the webpage. |
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September 16, 2006 On September 6 stamps.com announced their new photonetstamp product in a press release. Photonetstamps are essentially a hybrid of their photostamp and netstamp products. One uploads one's image to stamps.com, which then prints this image on a sheet of 24 netstamps, incorporating one's own image as part of that netstamp. These photonetstamps are shipped to the customer, who can then print the indicia information in the same manner one prints the indicia information on normal netstamps. One must have stamps.com's $15.99 monthly service in order to print photonetstamps. A vertical and horizontal format exist, with the only difference being essentially whether the denomination is printed upright or on its side. The earliest documented use is September 16, 2006 for both the vertical and horizontal formats. These stamps are available at the following link. |
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June 30, 2006 Pitney Bowes has issued a new type of stamp. Early in 2006 Pitney Bowes launched their "StampExpressions" stamp as a beta test. The stampexpressions stamp consists of 2 labels. On the right the bar code and indicia are printed, while on the left the photo or other image is printed. These are printed with a Pitney Bowes thermal printer connected to one's computer. In June of 2006, the beta testing was completed and their stampexpressions product went "live." Everyone I've spoken with thinks the stampexpressions stamps are ugly. The fee for this service from Pitney Bowes is high. The competition, namely photoStamps, zazzlestamps, pictureitpostage, and most recently photonetstamps present some serious competition for the stampexpressions offering from Pitney Bowes. One has to wonder whether this will be a successful product for Pitney Bowes, and if not, when they might pull the plug, so to speak. Pitney Bowes has surely invested significant funds in this project, but when the prospective customer goes to the competition, what does that matter? The beta stamp has been assigned Scott # 1CVT1. The normal stamp (issued in June, 2006) has been assigned Scott # 1CVP59 in the "personal computer postage" section of the US-Specialized catalog. These stamps are available at the following link. |
Click above!Scott 1CVT1 (Beta-Type)
Click above!Scott 1CVP59
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June 22, 2006 Zazzle.com has changed their zazzlestamps once again. Around May 27, 2006, they began printing the sheet's serial number on the zazzlestamps just below the denomination. The zazzlestamps with overall tagging (without the serial numbers) were on sale for perhaps 1-2 months are undoubtedly be scarce. The zazzlestamps with serial numbers can be seen at the following link. |
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June 19, 2006 The new $8.00 souvenir sheet reproducing the high values from the 1926 series has been issued in a press sheet of 6. Because the press sheet measures only 7 3/8" x 10 1/4", I expect there will be those collectors who will desire this item as a complete press sheet. I'm not saying this will go up in value, but don't be surprised if that does happen.... October 30, 2006 On September 25th this press sheets sold out at Stamp Fulfillment Services in Kansas City, according to an article in the October 23rd issue of Linn's Stamp News. It was reported that 4,000 press sheets were issued, and that 3,753 were sold, and that the remaining 247 press sheets were set aside for the USPS' archives. |
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June 17, 2006 The Champlain souvenir sheet has been issued in 2 varieties. The US issue has no bar code, while the Canada issue has a bar code at the left within the souvenir sheet itself. Otherwise the souvenir sheets appear to be identical. It has been reported that 500,000 of the US sheets and 300,000 of the Canadian sheets have been printed. I wouldn't be surprised if the Canada issue turns out to be better, and perhaps the US issue as well. |
 
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June 16, 2006 4 new World Landmark NetStamps have been issued in sheets of 24 around May 19, 2006. You can view scans of these 4 NetStamps at the following link link towards the bottom of the webpage. |
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June 16, 2006 4 new Patriotic NetStamps have been issued in sheets of 24 around March 15, 2006. You can view scans of these 4 NetStamps at the following link link towards the bottom of the webpage. |
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May 4, 2006 A new netstamp has been issued, specifically the 1CVP38 crescent design. This new issue comes from the dymo roll instead of from a sheet, as has typically been the case with netstamps in the past. I am told there will be a footnote in the Scott catalog under 1CVP38 indicating its existence. |
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May 4, 2006 Zazzle.com has changed the tagging on their zazzlestamps. Previously zazzlestamps were tagged on all 4 sides, similar to the "4-bar general tagging" on many modern Canadian stamps. I received a card from a collector-friend franked with an overall tagged zazzlestamp on April 4, 2006. Earlier uses might exist. Untagged errors are rumored to exist. |
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May 4, 2006 Endicia.com has released "instapostage" stamps in sheet and coil format. I am told that the beta test for the instapostage sheets began in April, 2005 and in August, 2005 for the instapostage coils. I am told that the instapostage sheets went public in November, 2005 and on January 10, 2006 for the instapostage coils at MacWorld. Scott has listed these as personal computer postage along with the netstamps from stamps.com. These instapostage stamps appear to be endicia.com's version of stamps.com's netstamps. Please see my offering of these near the bottom of the personal computer postage webpage for a listing of the 4 different inscription types, as well as for a link to a scan of the 4 types. |
 
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February 7, 2006 The (39¢) flag-stamp 3966 variety from the convertible booklet of 20 from Ashton-Potter (Pl. P1111) has "USPS" microprinted in one of the red stripes of the flag. This is the primary way to distinguish this stamp from the #3972 from the convertible booklet of 20 from Avery-Dennison (Pl. V1111). Click on the stamp at the right to better see the hidden microprinting. |
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February 7, 2006 On January 31st one could order PictureItPostage-Stamps from endicia.com with the new denominations 87¢, $1.11, and $4.05 horizontal and vertical. I expect Scott to assign Scott numbers to these new issues as 2CVP66-71. You'll find these new denominations offered at the following link. |
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January 29, 2006: In the January 30, 2006 Linn's Stamp News it was reported that a new perforation variety has been discovered. Scott has listed this new variety as #3634e for a single and #3634f for a convertible booklet of 10 of the 37¢ Flag, perforated 11¼ instead of the originally issued perf. 11. The perforations on this new variety appear to be pointed, whereas the perforations on the original type appear to be rounded. The USPS mail order operation in Kansas City was unaware of that the USPS had had this variety printed. There have been similar perforation varieties which have been discovered somewhat after the stamps were issued. The examples which come readily to mind include the issues #3050 20¢ pheasant, #3249-52 32¢ wreathes, and #3278 33¢ flag from the convertible booklet of 10. History repeats itself now with #3634e 37¢ flag. |
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January 29, 2006: As you may know, spelling isn't alway easy with the English langwage, and even the U. S. Postal Service isn't immune from making spelling mistakes. On the old $3.85 and brand-new $4.05 priority mail prepaid mailers a little spelling mistake squeezed itself in, or actually, a letter got its little self squeeeeezed out, that being the little letter "l". On these mailer's there's a warning along the side that these $3.85 and $4.05 mailers may ONLY be used for priority mail. Furthermore that misuse may be in violation of federal law, never mind that these mailers are purchased by postal customers, and as such, title to the mailers has passed to the purchaser, and as such is the case, the purchaser could do pretty much anything the purchaser wanted with the mailer and not be in violation of federal law, unless of course the mailer was used somehow in violation of George Bush's Patriot Act. I suppose misuse of the prepaid priority mailer in that fashion would be in violation of federal law, but I doubt that's exactly what the USPS had in mind when they placed the warning about misuse on the mailers. I digrees, I mean, I digress. See how easy it is to make a little spelling mistake! Maybe I oughtta apply fer a job at USPS Headquarters in Washington after all! Where was I at? Oh, yes! The USPS' misspelling, it's the word "soley", which properly spelled is "solely". (Below you can take a look at the misspelling.) I only discovered this mistake myself a few days ago, and heretofore, there has been no mention of this in Linn's Stamp News or elsewhere. By the way, this same misspelling "soley" is apparently on all the free priority mail flat-rate mailers (January 2005 printing) from North Pole, Alaska to Key West, Florida. I would assume millions and millions of these mailers have been printed, if not something over one billion, all with the same misspelling. All this misses the larger point. The warning itself starts out "This packaging is the property of the U.S. Postal Service..." Now I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me that when one purchases a prepaid mailer for $4.05, that title passes to the purchaser, and that the mailer then is NOT the property of the U.S. Postal Service. Any reasonable person would conclude that this warning should be stricken from the prepaid mailers, since it is just plain incorrect, or at least that's the way it seems from out here in the middle of the corn, cows, and soybeans in Indiana. I plan on putting in a request to Customer Relations at Headquarters that this warning be eliminated entirely from the prepaid mailers. When the mailers are reprinted next, at the least the word "soley" should be corrected, and perhaps the entire warning will be gone. If nothing else, it should create at least one more variety the USPS can sell to stamp collectors, so they'll win in the end anyway. |
 Click above!Click here to see the entire envelope. The misselling is at the far right towards the top. Note that the scan has cut off part of the bottom and left of the mailer. |
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January 29, 2006: The 2¢ Navajo used in conjunction with the rate increase has appeared in 2 new versions: Scott #3749A from Sennett with the year-date "2006", perf. 11¼ : 11½ without microprinting. Scott #3749B from Ashton-Potter with the year-date "2006", perf. 11¼ : 11 with microprinting. You can click on the 2 stamps at the right for enlarged scans. Click here to see an enlargement of the "USPS" microprinting on the Ashton-Potter printing. The official first-day was December 8, 2005. It appears to be the case that the USPS just decided a very short time ago what the first-day would be, that is, much later than December 8. I find it to be rather odd when the first-day is set weeks after the presumed first day of issue. Maybe they used the time machine from the movie "Back to the Future" to retroactively assign a first day of issue weeks into the past. |
 #3749A Sennett issue without "USPS" microprinting  #3749B Ashton-Potter issue with microprinting "USPS" |
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January 12, 2006 A new tagging type has appeared on the PictureItPostage stamps from endicia.com. Previously there was a tagging bar over the bar code. Now there are tagging strips on the left-hand and right-hand sides or top and bottom of the individual stamps. One quarter of the stamps in a sheet of 20 have the tagging strips at the right-hand side or the top of the individual stamps. Click here to see a photo taken under short-wave UV-light of an entire sheet. (The tagging strips are red in the photo.) |
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