Inside Linn’s: An unofficial and illegal promotional FDC folder

By Charles Snee

The May 8 issue of Linn’s Stamp News just landed on the presses and goes in the mail to subscribers Monday, April 24. And if you subscribe to Linn’s digital edition, you’re at the head of the line with early access Saturday, April 22. While you wait for your issue to arrive in your mailbox, enjoy these three quick glimpses of exclusive content available only to subscribers. 

An official and illegal promotional FDC folder

“I have always loved first-day covers and various types of philatelic promotions, two subjects that intersect perfectly in the area of promotional FDCs,” writes Wayne Youngblood in The Odd Lot. In this month’s column, Youngblood focuses his attention on a rather unusual souvenir folder created by a bank in Medford, Mass., for the United States 1990 15¢ Isaac Royal House postal card (Scott UX148). “It’s obvious why the bank chose to use this postal card as a promotion because the Isaac Royall House is located in Medford, a perfect local connection for customers,” Youngblood explains. What made this particular promotional FDC folder illegal? You’ll have to read the column to find out.

Postage due on short-paid undeliverable postal card

In Modern U.S. Mail, Tony Wawrukiewicz carefully examines a United States 1¢ Thomas Jefferson postal card mailed in 1943 from Boston to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that could not be delivered to the addressee. The card was returned to the sender in Boston, who paid the required 2¢ postage due. Among other things, Wawrukiewicz provides excerpts from the 1891 Universal Postal Union Convention and the 1892 Supplement of the Postal Guide that aided in his analysis of the card. Additional details about the card and some of the markings on it are provided in the column.

Crossword: translating philatelic Italian into English

Linn’s regularly publishes three games to entertain readers: Trickies, a word scramble puzzle by Joe Kennedy; a word search puzzle by D.E. Rubin; and Philatelic Lexicon, a crossword puzzle by David Saks. In this week’s issue, Saks presents the seventh installment of his crossword featuring philatelic terms in Italian (the clues) that must be translated into English for the puzzle’s answers.

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