Creator of 1963 Santa Claus spoof souvenir sheet unknown

U.S. Stamp Notes by John M. Hotchner

A 1963 souvenir sheet, probably issued by a stamp club, attempts to link Santa Claus with the first postage stamps of the United States.

The Santa Claus sheet is shown together with the 1947 Cipex (Centenary International Philatelic Exhibition) souvenir sheet on which it is modeled.

The Cipex sheet shows the 1847 5¢ Benjamin Franklin (Scott 1) and 10¢ George Washington (2) stamps. The privately made Christmas sheet roughly approximates the designs of the 1847 stamps with images of Santa replacing those of the two founding fathers.

The spoof continues in the margins. For example, inscribed at the top of the Cipex sheet is “under Authority of Robert E. Hannegan, Postmaster General.” The similarly placed inscription on the Santa sheet reads, “Under Authority of S. Claus, Postmaster General.”

The Santa sheet is dated Dec. 25, 1963, at the bottom.

The text on the left says it was printed by the Treasury Department at Santa Claus’ workshop.

Inscribed on the right is “In Compliment to the Stamp Collectors of America.”

However, nothing is said about who is actually behind the creation.

If you can provide further information as to who designed and produced this sheet, what organization was behind it, and how many were produced and how they were distributed, I would appreciate hearing from you.

Please contact me, John Hotchner, by email at jmhstamp@verizon.net, or write to me at Box 1125, Falls Church, VA 22041-0125.

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