LEHMANN
2005 & 2006
CHRISTMAS
TEST SEAL COVERS
* * * * * *
February 2006 Letter
Dear Christmas Seal Cover Collectors:
Why are two years combined in one letter? Did I make covers for 2005 and 2006? The pictures of the two covers below answer the second question—indeed I did. The simple answer to the first question is that I simply did not have time. I was the Bin Room Manager for WASHINGTON 2006, the international 8-day stamp show held in Washington, DC. From the beginning of 2006 until the show, I worked full time 40-60 hour weeks. So, I had to wait until now to combine both years together. Next year, there will be just one newsletter for 2007 seals. Last year, 2006, registered my 27th consecutive year of making test seal covers and ALA's 28th year of test seals.
In 2005, ALA seals were difficult to acquire and in some cases impossible. There were 5 test seals, a regular seal, and a Spanish inscription seal. I never got 2 test seals or the Spanish one but I did get both the narrow and wide version of the regular seal. I usually put the predecessor seal with the regular seal on a Christmas secular postage first day of issue envelope. However, in 2005 the latter combination is on a Santa Claus, Indiana cover and only a single test seal on the first day cover. Many of these 2005 test seals are modern rarities and unattainable from seal dealers. As I write this, only the regular seal and 1 test seal design panes are on most dealer lists.
In 2006, I was able to get 2 sets of the major varieties. These included wide and narrow versions of the regular seal, the Spanish inscribed seal, and 5 test seal panes. There were also gift tag only panes, but I made no attempt to obtain them as I don't make covers using them anymore. The second set, allows me seals to use as predecessors for next year's 2007 seal covers. In future years, my covers may be the only source for some of the test seals issued in 2006 (and 2005). The test seals are not common and any increase in demand will shoot prices skyward.
2005 COVERS: This year I have three basic cover types totaling 150 covers. I have Santa Claus, Indiana, cancels on Christmas Day plus the Christmas cookies postage stamps first day's from New York, NY on October 20. The red rectangular pictorial cancel from Santa Claus, IN is for the Christmas Day canceled covers. The table below summarizes both the 2005 ALA seals (less 2 test seal designs) and my 2005 covers.
2006 COVERS: This year I have three basic cover types totaling 150 covers. I have Santa Claus, Indiana, cancels for Christmas Day plus the Christmas Snowflake postage stamps first day's from New York, NY on October 5. I used only the red rectangular pictorial cancel from Santa Claus, IN for the Christmas Day cancels. This letter includes an easy ordering price list with a complete price list and personal want list available upon request. The table below summarizes both the 2006 ALA seals and my 2006 covers.
COMMENTARY: For these two years, all seals came with the silver foil borders except the 2006 test with 5 former seal designs. The old design pane has a dark brown border to represent age but it (in my opinion) does not look well. Also, all seals I used had self-stick gum. The regular seal comes with a Spanish inscription each year but my covers lack the 2005 one. One test design was repeated in 2005 and 2006. The 2006 regular seal was tested twice, both 2004 and 2005 (the 2005 test is a very scarce seal). My labeling scheme is a little off, both 2004 and 2005 covers use letters, but I finally got to numbers again for 2006 (no reason, just a minor goof).
| REGULAR SEALS | ||||
| DESIGN | 2005 and 2006 COVERS 2005=letters/2006=numbers | |||
| 2006 seals | 2005 seals | 2004 seals | 2003 seals | |
| 2005 REGULAR - (4-designs, snowman, birds, santa, & angel) | B wide |
B test |
B test |
|
| 2005 REGULAR - (4-designs, snowman, birds, santa, & angel) | C narrow |
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| 2006 REGULAR - (5-designs, santas and snowmen with toys) | I narrow |
I test |
||
| 2006 REGULAR - (5-designs, santas and snowmen with toys) | II wide |
|||
| 2006 REGULAR (SPANISH INSCRIPTION) - (5-designs, santas and snowmen with toys) | II narrow |
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| TEST SEALS | ||||
| 2005—5th TEST (4 designs, skaters, snowman, snow boarding, & tree) | A | |||
| 2005—1st TEST (5 designs, santas and snowmen with toys) | C | |||
| 2005—4th TEST (5 designs, ornament, wreath on door, angel, giftbox, & snowman) | C | |||
| 2006—1st TEST (5 designs, ornament, wreath on door, angel, giftbox, & snowman) NOTE: repeat test designs as above | III | |||
| 2006—2nd TEST (5 designs, reindeer, Santa, penguin, snowman, and cat) | III | |||
| 2006—3rd TEST (5 designs, dove, houses(2), snowflake, and children) | II | |||
| 2006—4th TEST (6 designs, santas(3), toys(2), and girl with light) | III | |||
| 2006—5th TEST (5 designs of former seals [1907, 1924, 1934, 1941, and 1961]) | II | |||
COVER TYPES: The following lists the six covers that I made in 2005 and 2006. This listing uses my formal numbering system that uses letters in 2005 from 'A' to 'C' and Roman numbers in 2006 from I to III. These designation are on the attached Easy Ordering Price List. NOTE: orders of $14.80 or more receive a 10% discount and orders of $44.45 or more receive a 20% discount. Postage free within the United States. However, you may order using any list you choose. I only take checks, Postal money orders, and PayPal—no credit cards.
05-A - TEST FIVE: This cover uses the New York, NY First Day Cancel (FDC) of October 20, 2005 (above) with a GreatFDCs Covers cachet. This cachet is the third in a new era of cachets for this series made exclusively for me. Jack Ginsburg is a friend and local cachetmaker who made the cachet envelopes to my specifications. This cover has 1 of 4 Christmas Cookie postage stamps and 1 of 4 test seals. The cachet depicts the Snowman design (1 of 4 designs in the pane). This is now cataloged as the fifth test seal of five 2005 test designs. It was the only seal I had at the time. I made 50 total covers all at $1.95 each all FD dated October 20, 2005. This low price (about 50 percent lower and my profit just a fraction above cost) is because the USPS applied a pale or faint cancel to all my covers. Use order #05-A for the cover just described and pictured above (no varieties, all the same).
05-B - PREDECESSOR: I had no trouble keeping this 25 year old tradition going in making my favorite cover (continuously from 1981 to 2005). The cover takes the winning test seal of the previous year and combines it with the regular seal of the current year. The result is the same seal design but with two different dates. However, this seal design was also tested in 2003, so, all 3 seals are used. The 2004 and 2005 seals have the silver foil border and I used the wide seal for 2005 (the 2004 test is narrow). The 2003 test had a pale yellow border. I use the tree Artopage cachet envelopes rather than a Ginsburg one. This cover has 1 of 4 Christmas Cookie postage stamps. One of 4 test seals are affixed. I made 50 total covers all at $3.95 each can canceled December 25, 2005 in Santa Claus, IN using their red pictorial rectangular cancel. Use order #05-B for the cover just described (50 made). I only had limited quantity of the 2003 seals so some covers substitute the 2003 gift tag or even sticker (no special code and I will not send unless it is the only available or specifically requested).
05-C - CLASSIC SINGLES: This cover has one single seal from two 2005 national test seal panes (test 1 and 4). Both have a silver border. These panes have five designs. So, there is a mixture of designs used in the 50 covers made. These use the red rectangular Santa Claus, IN pictorial cancel on Christmas Day. They have a Candle Artopage cachet. The covers have a third seal, which is the 2006 regular seal (narrow version). All covers use 1 of 4 of the Christmas Cookie postage stamps and are $2.95 each (order #05-C). NOTE: No covers were made with test 2 and 3 seals as they were unavailable.
06-I - PREDECESSOR: I had no trouble keeping this 26 year old tradition going in making my favorite cover (continuously from 1981 to 2006). The cover takes the winning test seal of the previous year and combines it with the regular seal of the current year. The result is the same seal design but with two different dates. I used seals from 2004 and 2006 as this design was tested twice in both 2004 and 2005. I made 5 covers with all 3 years as I had a few 2005 seals (now rare seals) in stock. Of these, 3 remain, request same and one is yours if not sold. I use the New York, NY First Day Cancel (FDC) of October 5, 2006 (above) with a GreatFDCs cachet. This cachet is the fourth in a new era of cachets for this series made exclusively for me. Jack Ginsburg is a friend and local cachetmaker who made the cachet envelopes to my specifications. This cover has 1 of 4 snowflake postage stamps. The cachet depicts the Santa holding a tree design (1 of 5 designs in the sheet). I made 50 total covers all at $3.95 each all FD dated October 5, 2006. Use order #06-I for the cover just described and pictured above (50 made) using the narrow regular seal. The 2004 test seal has the wide design seal.
06-II - CLASSIC/SPANISH: This philatelic creation uses two different varieties of the regular seal design. One seal is wide and the other is the narrow Spanish inscription (Saludos Navideños) seal. In addition there are two test seals, test 3 and test 5, each with 5 designs. All are self-adhesive seals with diecuts. The test 5 seal uses a dark brown border in an attempt to portray an aging photograph, all others use the silver foil border. The cover is postmarked on Christmas day at Santa Claus, IN. It uses their red pictorial rectangular cancel and 1 of 4 Christmas snowflake postage stamps. I made 50 using the tree Artopage cachet envelopes ($2.95 each). (Order# 06-II)
06-III - CLASSIC SINGLES-II: This cover has one single seal from three 2006 national test seal sheets. These sheets use test seal desings 1, 2, and 4. all with a silver border. These sheets have either 5 or 6 designs (see table above). So, there is a mixture of designs used in the 50 covers made. These use the red rectangular Santa Claus, IN pictorial cancel on Christmas Day. They have a Santa Artopage cachet. All covers use 1 of 4 of the Christmas snowflake postage stamps and are $2.95 each (order #06-III).
Look at Additional 2005 and 2006 Cover Pictures (Reduced Sizes) (Shows the design of both the 2005 and 2006 Santa Claus, IN pictorial cancel.)
EASTER SEALS: I also sell tied Easter seal covers since no one else does. These I cancel in Nazareth, PA on Easter Sunday. The 2006 cover
has an April 16, 2006 black circular date stamp postmark. I use a self-stick dove stamp as postage and an Artopage Easter cachet. I also added the 2006 ALA Spring seal to the cachet (not tied). Covers have a single Easter seal ($1.95).
I wish everyone live long and prosper in 2007 (plus the tied cover you have always been looking for). Cordially:
Douglas K. Lehmann
P.O. Box 1312
Falls Church, VA 22041-1312
(dlehmann@erols.com)