V3101

Year 2000

New Century Begins

Collins Anecdotal Notes 

This Collins First Day Cover with individually hand painted cachet is sure to become a highly sought-after and coveted collectible. It is the last Collins cover of the 1900s and the first one of the 2000s. The triple cancels provide a philatelic teasure trove as it is both a First Day Cover (December 27, 1999) and a monumental New Millennium event cover (December 31, 1999 and January 1, 2000). All of the postmarks were personally obtained by Fred Collins at the Hewitt, New Jersey Post Office on the respective dates. Hewitt is the home base of Collins First Day Covers.

The hand painted cachet depicts the New Millennium infant about to crown the 1000s centuries blocks with the special one that begins his reign of the 2000s. The Old Mllennium Father Time watches the inevitable transition approvingly. One hand holds an hourglass as the last grains of sand of the previous ten centuries run their course. The other arm rests on a clock just chiming midnight to herald in the next ten centuries. Above the clock, his hand sentimentally grasps the block that began his reign a thousand years before.

For the first time since I began my cachetmaking in 1978, I have autographed every cover, and the historic January 1, 2000 postmark ties my signature to the envelope. A fitting philatelic welcome to the New Millennium.

Autum 2019 Mail Sale Commentary 

Lot 28 V3101 — Millennium — 12/27/99 

No other cover by any other cachetmaker compares to this one which welcomed in the New Year and, more importantly, marked the beginning of the new Millennium. The new stamp is postmarked in Hewitt, New Jersey (the original home of Collins cachets) on the first day of issue December 27, 1999 with a nice magenta cancel. An additional copy of the new stamp is tied to the envelope with a large Hewitt postmark with killer bars and is cancelled on New Year's Eve and the last day of the old millennium December 31, 1999. Also, the post office opened a short time on January 1, 2000 so I could obtain the New Year's Day/First Day of the New Millennium postmark on a third new stamp.

The hand painted cachet is a beauty. A large Father Time, holding an hourglass, sits on the ground and watches Baby Millennium building a tower of dated wooden blocks with 2000 being placed at the top. These covers were personally signed by me. An interpretive blurb is included.