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Old 11-29-2020, 06:09 PM
steve B steve B is offline
Steve Birmingham
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: eastern Mass.
Posts: 8,098
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The cover itself is a neat one.

The stamp was officially issued the day before in Cooperstown.
So why does this one have a cachet and look like a first day cover?

On the official first day the only place they were for sale was Cooperstown.
The next day was the first day the stamp was available nationwide.
For a while, stamps were always first for sale in Washington, then later official first days were held, usually in a place somehow related to the topic of the stamp. (a practice that continues, at least ceremonially)

Some old fashioned collectors didn't like this, and for a while some dealers made a bit of money providing "real" first day covers, cancelled on the actual first day of availability and not at some newfangled publicity stunt the day before.

Of course others provided first day covers from other places by being early at the official ceremony and mailing a few from each of various places on their way home.
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