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Daily Archives: July 11, 2015

The New Elvis Stamp – Part 2

Posted on July 11, 2015 by Phil Arnold | 1 comment

If demand for the new Elvis stamp is anywhere close to the Postal Service’s expectations, they are going to sell a lot of them.

And, if you are thinking you would like to have some for your collection of Elvis goodies, they offer many options for you on their website USPSstamps.com. Like the sheet of 16 above. It sells for $7.84. The stamps don’t have a price on them anymore, just the word Forever. We’ve gone from a 1993 Elvis stamp that cost 29¢ to one that costs 49¢ in 2015. (16 x 49¢ = $7.84)

To make the sheet of 16 Elvis stamps even more attractive, the postal Service puts this Al Wertheimer photograph on the flip side of the slick backing paper. A very nice touch.

Here’s the original uncropped photo taken on July 4, 1956 while Elvis performed at Russwood stadium in Memphis. As long as they were messing around with the picture anyway, I wish they had put the color back into Elvis’ right pants leg. Looks a little weird on the flip-side picture.

Of course, you can’t buy a single stamp, but you can buy one on an envelope that has a First Day of Issue postmark. These are called First Day Covers and the price is just 94¢. Seems like a pretty good deal, but it sure isn’t as flashy as the 1993 stamp First Day Covers.

These are beautiful in full color and the postmark is the gates of Graceland. I believe there were five different choices available.

However, if you want something a little flashier in 2015, there is only a slight variation available for $1.64.

For the extra 50¢ you get the big gold crown on the First Day of Issue DCP (Digital Color Postmark – Postal Service lingo).

Here’s an upgrade from the first stamp sheet at the beginning of this article. You will note there are three bulls-eye postmarks (that’s what they call them). Each is centered over a block of four stamps. The remaining four are postmarked with portions of Elvis’ signature. Also visible are the words MUSIC ICONS and a small black crown. I like this one and think it’s worth the $10.34 they are asking.

There’s some text at the bottom of these stamp sheets, but it is too small to read here. It says,

Elvis Presley (1935-1977) was one of the first true stars of rock and roll. The singer, guitarist, musician, and actor combined country, gospel, and rhythm and blues to create a unique sound that lives on today. Through his music, the King of Rock and Roll helped break down social barriers in the 1950s and in the process helped change American pop culture forever.

Well written I think, but come on – “One of the first true stars of rock and roll.” It should say, The first true star.

There is one other thing worth noting on both these stamp sheets. The square shape is the same size as an old 45 rpm record sleeve. See that black sliver of a circle at the top? That is to simulate the top of a record sticking out of the sleeve a bit. The design people at the Postal Service got pretty creative on this.

Here’s a little combo package they call the DCP Keepsake (remember what DCP stands for?) It combines the $7.84 sheet of 16 stamps and the $1.64 First Day Cover. They are asking $9.95, but it’s actually cheaper to buy each item separately.

If you want to get a lot of Elvis stamps, this one might appeal to you. Disregard the single stamp image superimposed over the so-called “press” sheet. There are nine of the 16-stamp sheets together measuring 21.25” x 21.25”. The cost is $70.56.

According to the Washington Post, the Postal Service sold over 500,000,000 of the 1993 Elvis stamps, and reported later that 124,000,000 of them were never used for postage. Fans held on to them as collectibles.