Y601

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Novelist

Collins Cover Announcement 

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE

To be perfectly honest, I am not entirely happy with the cachet design for this issue. If I enthusiastically recommend cachets such as C.C.C. and Treaty of Paris, it is only fair that I let you know when I feel that a cover is lacking. The design shows a volume of his work, The Scarlet Letter, and in the foreground is a writing desk with open book. My thought was that a simple and direct design would compliment the simple but distinguished stamp design.

Strong points of the cover are the very good hand cancels. An official First Day of Issue from Salem, Mass and an excellent related unofficial from Hawthorne, N.J. For visual impact, I decided on a forest green border to coordinate with the stamp shade and then chose bright greens, yellow and brown to offer a contrast to the more somber tones. The result is a mixed bag - I'm still not happy with the design, but the excellent cancels and careful color selection definitely make it a collectable FDC and as a COLLINS it should be represented in your collection. Item #Y601 - Price $5.50