H103

CAPEX Wildlife from Canadian-U.S.

Autumn 2019 Mail Sale Commentary  

Lot 2 H103 — CAPEX Wildlife (Rare Variety — 6/10/78

This is an extremely scarce and very early cachet. It was only my eighth stamp trip, and this cover was produced at exactly the same time as the famous Collins "Flying V." The story of this exciting FDC saga can be found on book pages 22 through 24. Eight wildlife stamps were issued, and four of them (Canada goose, mallard duck, cardinal, and Nu., j-ay, tied to the cover with a beautiful, large, oval pictorial first day postmark featuring the U.S. star and Canadian maple leaf. The remaining four stamps (moose, red fox, chipmunk, and raccoon) are tied to the envelope by two different circular day of issue cancels. The cancels were all obtained at the U.S. Post Office Show Station in Toronto. The delicate hand painted cachet shows a pair of mallards taking off from a water habitat. Only 69 of this rare variety were produced, so you can be sure it doesn't come on the open market very often.