2025 U.S. Marines Corps stamp error found at small post office in Wisconsin

By Linn’s Staff

In mid-June, a collector at a small Wisconsin post office discovered an imperforate error of the United States U.S. Marines commemorative forever stamp — the first major error reported on a 2025 U.S. stamp issue.

The error panes are entirely missing die-cutting on the front of the stamps, while retaining normal rouletting on the reverse. The reverse rouletting would allow the stamps to be easily removed from the pane if the stamps were die cut normally.

The collector who discovered the error pane reported that it had been returned by another customer as defective. It is believed that at least one additional pane exists.

On the reverse side of the panes, the plate diagram shows that all the stamps came from the upper-left position of press sheets containing six panes.

This new error appears on a stamp that was also released in an intentionally imperforate format through press sheets. It’s only the second known instance of an imperforate error occurring on a U.S. stamp that was also officially issued without perforations — the first being the 2016 Quilled Paper Heart stamp (Scott 5036b). But that example also had a plate number difference making it easier to differentiate with a plate block or larger multiple as the Scott catalog listing states.

The U.S. Marine Corps stamp was issued May 16 in both die-cut and imperforate uncut press sheet formats. Imperforate press sheets do not have die cuts on either side of the pane, so the reverse die cuts are what differentiates an error purchased at a post office counter and stamps cut from a press sheet.

As such full panes of the newly discovered error should be kept intact to differentiate it from the press sheet version.

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