
Collins FDC Catalog
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R1701
R1701 / Scott 2505A
Indian Headdresses
Assiniboin, Cheyenne, Comanche, Flathead, Shoshone
Collins Cover Announcement
INDIAN HEADDRESS
(Five Stamps)
This COLLINS hand-painted FDC features the majestic elk. The cachet depicts a bull elk close-up with an exciting and realistic painting. The head with full rack of antlers is dramatically shown against a mountain ridge of towering evergreens and a Wyoming skyline. It is a very nice wildl-ife aachet and links the area Indians with the animals that were so necessary to their existence.
All five Headdress stamps are used on this cover. Their bright colors present a beautiful contrast to the natural look of the elk. Really different and special.
The cover is also special because it has both the official First Day of Issue postmark from Cody and a great unofficial cancel from Wapiti, Wyoming. In the Indian tongue, Wapiti translates to "elk" so the cachet and cancel are the perfect combination. The Post Office at Wapiti is in a small old-fashioned building that one would expect in rural Wyoming. Also as expected, it is a hub of this small and friendly community and Tim and I were treated especially nice. The lone employee was the Postmistress and she plus the few residents that wandered in during our short stay extended us that warm and famous "Western hospitality". The cancel is of good quality and it is another COLLINS with excellent philatelic significance.
At mid-morning Tim and I bid our new friends in the heart of the Wapiti Valley good-bye and started our long journey to the town of Buffalo. When the day was done, we would have secured two great actual First Day postmarks for these Indian stamps -Wapiti and Buffalo -- and, in so doing, paid tribute to the two magnificent animals that played such an important role in the daily life and survival of the tribes.
I am very pleased to present this final COLLINS FDC for the Indian War Bonnet issue. It has all five of the colorful Headdress stamps. It has duo First Day postmarks from official Cody and unofficial Wapiti. It has a terrific wildlife cachet showing a Yellowstone bull elk with an awesome rack of antlers. A cover with a theme and presence that will make it a hobby favorite. Wapiti. Item #R1701 - $10.50.