U.S. 1936 Great Seal airmail special delivery stamp: Tip of the Week

By Henry Gitner and Rick Miller

The 1936 16¢ Great Seal of the United States airmail special delivery stamp has one of the most striking and colorful designs of the era. It is a common and inexpensive stamp and easy to find in mint never-hinged, unused hinged, and used condition and as plate-number blocks of four.

However, the 2016 Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers lists four different types of plate-number blocks of four for this issue. Types 2 and 3 are more uncommon and have Scott catalog values of $80 or more. These types have a mix of thin and thick red and blue registration marker lines.

The more common types 1 and 4 have either only thin or only thick lines. We doubt if very many dealers are well-versed in this, so it may yet be easy to find the better varieties lurking unnoticed in stocks and collections.

Even better to collect is the top plate-number block of 10.

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