Recent U.S. Official envelopes likely to rise in value

By Henry Gitner and Rick Miller

Postal stationery is a collecting specialty with many followers in the United States. Official Mail postal stationery is a subset of the larger specialty.

The first Official Mail postal stationery envelopes were issued in 1873. Since then, fewer than 100 Scott-listed major-number Official Mail postal stationery envelopes have been issued.

On Jan. 9, 2006, a 39¢ Great Seal of the United States Official Mail postal stationery envelope (Scott UO92) was issued. This was followed by a 41¢ Great Seal of the United States Official Mail postal stationery envelope (Scott UO93) on May 12, 2007, and a 42¢ version (Scott UO94) on June 20, 2008.

The 39¢ and 41¢ envelopes met the first-class letter postage rate for a little more than a year after they were issued. The 42¢ envelope met that rate for less than a year after it was issued. Many dealers and collectors missed these envelopes as they were issued.

The 2016 Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers values these three mint postal stationery entires at just $2 each. We are sure that no dealer in America has a deep stock of them. Most cannot fill orders for more than one of the envelopes from their stock. We expect demand to eventually exceed the supply and prices to rise accordingly.

At present, all three envelopes are good buys at Scott catalog value.