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For broadcast on CBS Radio Network stations January 21-22, 2006:

In from the cold.

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries. 

It's called the Icehouse Cover -- an envelope with a ninety-cent Lincoln stamp from 1869 on it. 
What makes it unique is that it's the only known envelope -- what collectors call a "cover" -- 
showing the stamp in actual postal use.

And for 38 years, it's been missing. It was stolen in 1967, and hadn't been seen since.

Until this month, when an elderly couple brought it into the Stamp King store in Chicago and 
said they'd found it in a desk while cleaning out the home of a deceased relative. They asked 
if it was worth anything.

It sure is. While it's been missing, interest in "postal history" like this has grown 
tremendously, so it's worth even more now.

The collector from whom it was stolen has since died....and he collected insurance on its 
theft ... but it's unclear which insurance company paid the claim. Watch for a tussle over 
ownership.

By the way, it got its nickname because it's addressed to an Ice House in Calcutta.


And that's Stamp Collecting this week. 

I'm Lloyd de Vries, CBS News. 
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