The purchase of this stamp/s will earn you 75 points valued at $1.50.
FRANKLIN and WASHINGTON
SOUVENIR SHEETS
Issue date 5/29 and 5/30/97
Issued by the United States Postal Service at Pacific 97 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the 1847 United States first general issues. The sheets feature the designs of the first two United States postage stamps re-engraved with new denominations. Each souvenir sheet contains an enlarged die proof of the original design and the wording: "PACIFIC '97 SAN FRANCISCO, CA FROM MAY 29 to JUNE 8,1997".
These souvenir sheets were only available for the eleven (11) day duration of the PACIFIC '97 stamp show. They never appeared for sale at any of our local post offices or philatelic windows.
There were 4,600,000 of each sheet printed. Only a little more than one tenth or 500,000 of each sheet were sold!! The balance of 4.1 million was destroyed by the Postal Service. That makes this set the rarest souvenir sheet issue since 1933!
Demand Stirs Buy Price For Pacific Sheets
Reprinted from Linn's Stamp News, March 9, 1998, page 30, "Stamp Market Tips" by John G. Ross
In spring 1997, thousands of collectors enjoyed attending the great PACIFIC 97 international stamp exhibition in San Francisco California.
The U. S. Postal Service issued two special souvenir sheets at the show, Scott 3139-40. Each souvenir sheet included a commemorative inscription and 12 stamps that are modified versions of the first U. S. postage stamps issued in 1847.
The souvenir sheets went off sale June 8, 1997, and nearly all remainder were destroyed. If you collect U. S. stamps, make sure you own these two sheets.
Here and there dealers are starting to advertise to buy the sheets for $15.00, suggesting that wholesale quantities are not widely available.
I believe that in a years time they will be selling for a lot more than they are today.
The set of two souvenir sheets had a fairly high face value at $13.20, and only 593,000 sets were sold, including those the Postal Service used on commemorative programs and other products.
About 525,000 of each sheet were sold as mint stamps. This supply was diminished moderately, of course, by collectors who used the sheets to make souvenir covers or to send normal mail.
