Opinions on this Ruth FDC??

[Westsiders]

Originally Posted by David Atkatz

Is it possible that there was a ceremony of sorts in which the inductees had FDCs sent to themselves? I ask because this item is in my collection:

Absolutely....

Maybe the first five inductees all sent FDCs to themselves (and maybe multiples at that). Is there more than one "Big Train" self addressed FDC? (Great piece btw).

Could be more than one Ruth self addressed FDC...but this is the only one I could find. And if this is the only one (the one he actually sent to himself), I would think it would carry a hefty premium.

It just seems like I'm missing something. It has the blessing of the big authenticators, it's been featured by at least one of the major auction houses, but just doesn't get the action that it seemingly should.

[bgar3]

There was a ceremony, attended by more than the first 5, because by then there were more than 5. Landis and Farley (post master general) were involved. and I even remember reading about mass signings of first day covers and sheets of the stamps. It is also possible many of the first day covers were hand stamped with the postmark, and I also believe it was common to do them unaddressed. i think there is stuff about this day in stamp collecting literature also, which might be worth checking.