Boy and His Stamp Collection

This First Day Cover was unique because the booklet was attached as well as the stamp. The 22¢ stamp on this First Day Cover is called Boy and His Stamp Collection (Scott # 2199) and the Booklet Cover that it was in (BC#34). The stamp is one of a pane of 4 in the booklet. It was issued on January 23, 1986. This booklet honored stamp collecting and it was the first time that US commemoratives were issued in booklet form.

The booklet started out from a friendly relationship between the postal departments of the US and Sweden. Swedish themes were shown on stamps in 1938, 1948, and 1983. Since these were so successful, US and Sweden began to talk about doing another joint issue. The president of the Swedish Post Office thought that the US and Sweden should issue stamps featuring philatelic subjects since both countries were going to host international stamp exhibitions in 1986 and celebrating important stamp anniversaries that year. Sweden was celebrating the 250th anniversary of its post office and the 100th year of the Swedish Philatelic Society. The US was celebrating the 100th anniversary of the American Philatelic Society and the 100th anniversary of the Smithsonian accepting stamps for the National Collection.

Printing was a challenge for this design. Using the D Press combined both intaglio and offset printing. In intaglio printing, an image is etched on a metal plate, covered with ink, and pressed on the paper but with offset printing, the image is created on a plate, transferred to a rubber blanket, and printed on paper. Many early stamps printed on the D Press had colors not lined up. Printing the Stamp Collecting pane was one of the most complex printing jobs the Bureau of Engraving and Printing had ever done.

There were 4 different designs in each US booklet. The first stamp pictured a block of 12 green 1887 2-cent Washington stamps with an 1886 cancel. The next stamp was a boy with a collection of dog stamps such as the 1983 Kitten and Puppy stamps and the 1984 American dogs stamps. The third features the 1938 commemorative that honored Swedish and Finnish settlement and the last was the picture of Presidential sheetlets that were being issued in May. It was the first US stamp to show a stamp that had not been issued yet.

The booklets were issued in Stockholm, Sweden, and State College Pennsylvania on January 23, 1986. Swedish representatives participated in the US ceremony and US representatives participated in the Swedish ceremony. The US booklets were only available for sale for sixty to ninety days.

Class Activities:

• Contact a local stamp collecting club and ask someone how to start collecting stamps. Maybe someone can come to speak to the class.
• Start collecting stamps off of envelopes and learn more about that specific stamp. Each student can share information about the stamp with the class.
• Learn more about the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and give a presentation to the class.
• Learn more about the American Philatelic Society and create a brochure.

Reference:
https://www.mysticstamp.com/Products/United-States/2199/USA/