1973 POSTAL SERVICE EMPLOYEES #1498a Plate Block of 20 x 8 cents US Postage Stamps

A very nice stamp collection purchase. The block was in good shape and packaged well. And the seller threw in some bonuses! He mailed the stamps in an envelope on which he used a variety of interesting 8 and 13 cent commemoratives from the 1970s. And USPS didn't visibly cancel them! Furthermore, he threw in a bonus, a 4 stamp block commemorative from the 10 cent days (wasn't a plate block, but hey, he didn't have to send ANY block; nicer still that the gift was also a stamp that I didn't yet have in my collection).I have been collecting stamps on and off since 4th grade, as I grew up close to a post office. I missed this particular issue (the 8 cent Postal Service Employees tribute) as I was a bit busy at the time with my college studies. But after I got my engineering degree, I took my first professional job with the US Government at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington DC. And those were the days when BEP still printed all of the stamps for the Postal Service! So I saw commemoratives and regular issues being printed and processed. I remember some of the presses, the Cottrells, the 7 color, the big rotogravure, and the little offset presses for second passes on top of intaglio (now those were stamps!). And the smell of ink. The stamp presses at BEP went cold in 2005 in favor of commercial production. But I still buy a few commemorative issues every year to keep my little collection updated.So, definitely a good purchase. Glad that the vendor also takes his stamps seriously!

These stamps were just as described - in great shape! shipping was fast. I'm going to use some of these, and then keep some for a collection. What a wonderful depiction of the postal service, they need to recreate this design!

Thanks for always taking care ,timely Ness great envelope stamps great bonus stamps and just great stamps

great

nice