O402s

American Bicentennial

Battle of Virginia South Capes

Fred Collins Signature

Autumn 2019 Mail Sale Commentary 

Lot 12 O402 — Battle of the Virginia Capes — 10/16/81

This special postmark variety has one of the nicest unofficial pictorial first day of issue postmarks I've ever obtained. After getting the official day of issue cancel at Yorktown, Virginia, it was off to Virginia Beach. There, just south of Cape Henry Inlet and across the Chesapeake Bay from Cape Charles (both shown on the new stamp), my covers received the truly remarkable sailing ship pictorial postmark exactly two hundred years after the French fleet ensured America's victory at Yorktown. As I drove away from the Bicentennial Postal Station, I knew the covers were something special. The hand painted cachet shows English and French ships engaging in battle.