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Tic-Tac-Toe

A Philatelic No-No!

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Revenue protection (i.e. prevention of loss of revenue by the reuse of uncancelled stamps) is taken seriously by postal officials. Postal workers are trained to invalidate any stamps that may have escaped cancellation when posted. In the case of this package, it was likely an overzealous postal worker in the box section of the Loveland post office obliterated the stamps.

Rather than simply deface the stamps, he (or she) decided to play a little philatelic tic-tac-toe. Perhaps the culprit thought it might annoy me, or perhaps it's an attempt at humor. I'm sure most collectors would be offended by the intentional heavy hand and the tic-tac-toe treatment. Being a dealer, I wasn't particularly annoyed because I have neither the time nor the inclination to soak off everything that comes in on the mail. Instead, I was amused. The postal worker provided me with an item ten times more interesting and thought provoking than the usual covers that arrive in the mail. It's actually a great conversation piece.

I showed it to John Hotchner, who was incensed at the nerve of the postal employee who marked up the cover. He felt it was completely out of line, reflected poorly on the Postal Service, and shared his opinion in a column in Linn's that featured the cover.

He has a point, but nevertheless, I enjoy the cover. Had it been normally cancelled, it would have been tossed into a box where incoming stamps accumulate and eventually ended up as kiloware. Instead, it has taken its place in a side collection I informally call "Personal Favorites."