United States, Scott #1820 (Michel #1457-IIC)(Yvert&Tellier #1339a)(Stanley Gibbons #1845), used(o) coil, 1981, Rate Change Transition Stamp, rate change transition stamps were issued to cover the transition period after a postal rate change for first class mail from the effective date when the cost to post a first class letter went up to a later time when normal stamps with the new correct value were issued; in this period, the Post Office was in a quandary not knowing beforehand when the rate would take effect, also not knowing what the new rate would be, so they could not have stamps with the new value at the ready; to resolve this problem, the Post Office, beginning in 1978 began issuing non-denominal letter coded transition stamps, the first was orange and featured the letter “A”, and an American eagle (Scott #1735-37); this was occurring during the period of high inflation in the American economy in the late 1970s and early 1980s; thus, at the same time, knowing another rate change was likely in the near future, the Post Office printed this stamp, a second transition stamp, using the same American eagle and alphabet letter theme, but changing the color to violet and the letter to “B”, and kept it ready; the time came here in March 1981, when the Postal Commission changed the rate from 15 to 18 cents and this stamp was at the ready and was issued; this was a busy time period as the Post Office had another rate change in that same year, in October, with a “C” stamp, another Eagle, and a brown color (Scott #1946-48); this stamp was issued at a counter selling price of (20) cents; this alphabet-soup system continued on through another “D”, then an Earth stamp for the “E", a Tulip Flower stamp for the “F” rate change, an Old Glory Flag stamp for the “G” rate change; but then, the forever stamps which started with the Liberty Bell stamps of 2007 negated the need for these rate change stamps and the rate change, alphabet-soup series of stamps stopped; issued in sheets of 100 like stamps at a counter value of (18¢) each; perforated at scale: 10 vertical, customer or machine torn or cut perforations on left and right, imperforated at top and bottom, engraved and printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP), fluorescent coated paper, violet, Scott 2025 Catalog Value: 25¢, considerably, top versus bottom, off-centered (fine), which is typical for a coil stamp of the period as most are considerably off-centered as this stamp is, light, black-inked, horizontal, wavy line cancel across the front of the stamp, the lightness of the cancel leaves the main image somewhat clear, sound back, customer or machine evenly torn perforations at the sides giving a nice balanced appearance to the side perforations, all are good perforations, though several perforations at the top left were not cut cleanly. This is not a 'bait-and-switch;' the stamp you see will be the one you receive.
Please review my terms of sale. If you are not ordering from the United States, there is a $US1.70 additional postage expense that needs to be added to the price of the stamp. If you are ordering from the United States, there is only a $US0.78 added postage expense. Also, if you make additional purchases from my offerings, they can all go in one mailing at no extra shipping expense for the added purchases. I will send the purchase by US first class mail, since the relatively low value of the stamp does not warrant signature or tracking mail. Hence the buyer assumes risk of loss or non-delivery. I will keep a scan of my mailing to verify that the correct mailing address was used. If not satisfied, return the stamp to me at your own expense, and I will refund the cost, but not my postage to you. If the stamp is not as described, I will refund the cost and reimburse you for postage both ways.
By way of reference, I am an American Philatelic Society member (195176) and an American Stamp Dealers Association (ASDA) member. Thank you for looking, and I hope this is the perfect stamp to fill that gap in your collection.
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