H1301s

Ratification of the Constitution

Connecticut

Fred Collins Signature

Collins Cover Announcement 

CONNECTICUT STATEHOOD

Continuing in my series of State Bicentennials, the Connecticut cover is another beauty. The hand-painted cachet brings together many of the things the state is known for. The restored seaport at Mystic is world famous and is a dynamic link to the heritage of the state's sea-faring past. A small sailing ship is in the cachet as is the cover's wildlife species, the whale -- which today swims off the coast and yesterday was the quarry of America's whaling expeditions. Staying with the sea, a submarine is pictured in honor of the base at Groton. A colt revolver, invented by Samuel Colt, is shown. This pistol helped tame the wild west and was an important military side arm. A modern office building conveys the state's insurance and financial industries while a Yale pennant represents the prestigious Ivy League university. Multi-colored wares of all sorts grace the wagon of a "Yankee peddlar", and the state's symbol, the charter oak, spreads its regal green branches across the cachet's center.

For the border and text, I chose a silver-gray paint which brings together very nicely the colors in the stamp and the colors in the cachet.

One of the new Connecticut stamps is canceled at the official city of Hartford and the second stamp has the Franklin Colonial unofficial First Day cancel from Philadelphia. A nice Bicentennial item and a whale of a cover! Item #H1301 - $7.75