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Anchors Aweigh

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

The U-S is issuing a set of stamps next month called "Distinguished Sailors." The four men 
served in the Navy during the early 20th Century.

It follows a set of Distinguished Soldiers 10 years ago, and Distinguished Marines in 2005...
so I'd bet we can expect "Distinguished Airmen" in 5 years.

Many collectors put new stamps on envelopes or cards, and have them postmarked on the first 
day the issues were on sale. These are called first day covers, and, in the U-S, special 
black-and-white postmarks are available, free of charge.

But a few years ago, the U-S Postal Service came up with something called a Digital Color 
Postmark. These cost extra, but often have pictorial designs. They're only produced for some 
issues.

The Distinguished Sailors is one of them. Its color cancel shows 7 signal flags, spelling 
the word SAILORS....except in the initial design, the letter "L" was incorrect. Some 
collectors pointed that out online, and a few days later, a new, corrected version of the 
cancel was released.

I guess someone was listening.

I'm Lloyd de Vries of The Virtual Stamp Club. For more on stamps and stamp collecting, 
visit virtual-stamp-club-dot-com.

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