USPS Opens Store on eBay, Will Auction Rarities

WASHINGTON, DC–In a move to expand its reach to domestic and international customers, the Postal Service announced that it has opened a Postal Store on eBay. The USPS is also auctioning rare stamp-related collectible philatelic products and items from the Postmaster General’s Collection, which began Sept. 13 on eBay.

“This powerful alliance with eBay allows the Postal Service to showcase our unique collection of stamp artwork on one of the world’s largest online marketplaces,” said U.S. Postal Service Chief Marketing, Sales Officer and Executive Vice President Nagisa Manabe. “As the premier collectible marketplace, eBay is a natural fit to launch one of the world’s largest online postal stores. International stamp collectors will now have a new convenient way to purchase U.S. stamps and philatelic products.”

The current auction, that launched on Sept. 13, has more than 100 philatelic items, and expires at 3 p.m. EDT, Sept. 23. No stamps from the collection are being auctioned. More philatelic items from the Postmaster General’s collection will be available at a later date.

“The Postmaster General’s collection is a stamp collector’s dream that includes rare postal artifacts found nowhere else in the world,” added Manabe. “By limiting our auctions to duplicate philatelic items, we continue to preserve the integrity of the Postmaster General’s collection. Whether a serious or recreational stamp collector, this online experience will be exciting and will open the doors of the wonderful world of stamp collecting to a whole new generation of eBay customers who shop everyday online.”

The Postmaster General’s Collection began in the 1860s as a modest set of Post Office department files filled with records and a small sampling of stamps, and continues to evolve today. Now, thousands of stamps later, the archive has become a stamp collecting resource with unusual, rare and unique holdings. To preserve the integrity of the collection, the USPS said that only duplicate items will be auctioned.

The 30,000 items consist of two distinct elements: stamps and original stamp artwork and includes many pre-production items, including proofs (quality control samples) and essays (either rejected or not finalized stamp designs), black-and-white models and uncut press sheets (typically six to eight sheets of stamps from a single sheet that is not perforated for individual stamp removal).

Early proofs were made from the original steel dies on which stamp designs were engraved. The dies were then pressed onto transfer rolls which were used to create the plates for printing stamps. Later with lithographic printing, designer or production prints were mounted to replicate the earlier die proof standard. Many of these were autographed for approval by the Postmaster General when they were created.

The stamp collection also contains many rare and unique items, including full sheets of early high-denomination stamps, experimental paper issues, die proofs (quality control samples) of the inverted Jenny airmail stamp and mail postmarked on the moon. Very few of these items have been seen by the public.