Tagging-omitted errors found on 2019 Flag, 2022 Love stamps

By Charles Snee

New production errors have recently been found on two United States stamps.

On Jan. 17, Robert Thompson of Texas reported to Linn’s Stamp News that he had received certificates from the Philatelic Foundation for genuine tagging-omitted errors of the 2019 nondenominated (55¢) Flag coil stamp printed by Banknote Corporation of America (Scott 5343) and the 2022 nondenominated (58¢) pink Love stamp (5661).

Both stamps, which are postally used, are illustrated here. The Flag coil stamp is on piece, and the Love stamp is shown cropped from the intact No. 10 size envelope to which it is affixed.

The Flag coil is a plate number single. Although it is almost totally obscured by the sprayed-on cancel, plate number B2222 is printed up the right side of the stamp.

According to Thompson, who is an active member of the Plate Number Coil Collectors Club, the Flag coil was found by fellow plate number coil specialist Bob Murrin, “who set it aside because he thought it was fake.”

“I saw that [the Flag coil] was real,” Thompson told Linn’s. “I don’t think that I realized it was a PNC [plate number coil] until I got the stamp back [from the Philatelic Foundation].”

Thompson said he found the envelope bearing the Love stamp error in mail that came to his office in March 2022. The envelope (not shown) bears a March 11, 2022, “NORTH HOUSTON TX” sprayed-on postmark.

When Thompson discovered the Love stamp was not tagged, he assumed it was a fake. Upon closer inspection, he realized the stamp was genuine.

Given these findings, Thompson decided to send the stamps to the Philatelic Foundation, which issued certificates on Dec. 27, 2022 (for the Flag coil), and Dec. 29, 2022 (Love), stating that both stamps are “genuine, untagged.”

Both of these new tagging-omitted errors will be listed in the 2024 Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers, which will be published in October.

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