Flags of Our Nation: Vermont (August 2012)

The USPS issued the sixth and final section of the Flags of Our Nation coil stamps on August 16, 2012 in Sacramento, California at the APS Stampshow.  One of the stamps shows the Vermont State Flag, the state seal on a field of blue.  This has been the Vermont state flag since 1923.

Beside the FDoI  b/w and digital cancels used at Sacramento, there were First Day of Sale cancels used August 16th at each of the state capitals.  These were usually accompanied by a local FDoS ceremony. However, in Vermont, August 16th is a Bennington Battle Day, a state holiday.  A dedication ceremony of the new stamp was held in the Statehouse the next day, August 17.

The designs of both cancels are similar with the August 16th design reading "FIRST DAY OF SALE" while the August 17th design reads "State House Station".

Artist Tom Engeman was the designer for the whole 60 stamp series.

More Vermont Stars

A few more Vermont Star cancels: these all seem from the same manufacturer. They look the same, especially the "3D' stars.

Vernon (Windham County)

West Corinth (Orange County)

Irasburgh (Orleans County)

Barton Landing (Orleans County)

named changed in 1909 to Orleans

Some New Stars

I picked up a few new Vermont stars yesterday at the Crossroads Show in Quechee.

Perhaps the most interesting is this circular date stamp from Hardwick. The star is nice, but the CDS is very unusual. According to Bill Lizotte, another Vermont postal history collector this is called a "pie crust". Similar cancels are known from East Orange and Wolcott.

This star cancel from Randolph has a negative star within a positive star.

Looks like the star is handmade on this cancel from Plainfield. I believe the circular date stamp is a Collins Circle.

The final star is a 3 dimensional star from Newbury Centre in purple. A later use of a star cancel.

County Postmaster Cancel

There are only two Vermont post offices that used BOTH a County Name and the Postmaster name in a cancel: South Wardsboro and Cambridgeport.

In the Doane-Thompson monograph "Catalog of U.S. County and Postmaster Postmarks" edited by Kenneth L. Gilman (David G. Phillips Publishing Co., 1990), there is a reproduction of a sales pamphlet by F. P. Hammond & Co. of Aurora, Illinois from the 1880s. Postmark No. 532 shows the same type of cancel used by South Wardsboro and a few other post offices (less than 40) throughout the country. The postmark included a Wheel of Fortune canceler for the stamp.

According to writer Bill Lizotte in the August 2009 issue of The Vermont Philatelist, South Wardsboro is fairly scarce with only 2 or 3 examples known. Fletcher, Illinois was another post office that used this type of cancel.

If you interested in Vermont Postal History, you should belong to the Vermont Philatelic Society. Its website is http://www.vermontps.org .

Rutland Fair Covers

A Vermont philatelic tradition ended in 2009 when for the first time since 1953, the Rutland Stamp Club didn't produce a special cachet or cancel for the Vermont State Fair. Like many other groups today, the members are getting older and finding it more difficult to participate in events.

The Rutland Stamp Club would have a stamp exhibition for the whole week long fair plus man the club table from early in the morning to late in the evening each day. Some Vermont collectors actively collect each of the fair covers.

Here's the 1st in the series which spanned 1953-2008:

Vermont Doane Cancels

Fellow collector Bill Lizotte and I are beginning to work on a website dealing with Vermont Doane cancels.

Doane cancels were issued to small post offices between 1903 and 1906. Here's a basic primer about the 3 types of Doanes.

All Doanes have a number in the killer bars. The number represents the amount of business the post office had done in the previous year. The examples below were chosen because they illustrate well the differences between the Types.

Type 1 Doanes are easy to identify since they all have 5 killer bars with a number in the center.

Type 2 and Type 3 Doanes both have only 4 killer bars with a number in the center.

Type 2 bars are hollow, but can deceive since they can be filled as they were used more and more.

Type 3 bars were issued completely filled. There are other differences between Types 2 and 3 but these are the most obvious.

1st "FIRST DAY OF SALE" cancel in Vermont

A few years ago, the USPS introduced "FIRST DAY OF SALE" cancels at any post office that was willing to purchase one. Beginning in 2007, the Postal Service agreed to allow new stamps to be sold nationwide on the First Day of Issue. Stamps would still be officially issued at one post office designated by the USPS and that post office would have a "FIRST DAY OF ISSUE" cancel.

A local stamp collector arranged for the Bethel Vermont post office to acquire one of the special cancels.

A word about the cachet on this cover. Calvin Coolidge became president while he was visiting his father at Plymouth, Vermont in 1923. He and Chester Arthur are the 2 men born in Vermont who have served at president of the United States.