United States
usa-19800201-f-019
page = 1
Click here for higher resolution image
First Day Cover for
usa-19800201-s-001
First day of issue: February 01, 1980
Width: 160 mm
Height: 90 mm
Cachet maker: Ranto
Location: Ice Hockey Volume XCIV
From the ebay listing for this FDC
Cachet on a Post Office Brochure Type 2
John Ranto was a prolific US First Day Cover collector and producer of a special line of his own hand made Postal Bulletin FDC's. He produced these covers starting in the 1960's and created them up to just a few years ago. These covers were created by hand folding US Postal Service Bulletins into a standard FDC size and then applying the current issue for the cover in addition to related combination stamps. He cleverly crafted these covers into mostly one-of-a-kind cachets or productions. In the beginning, Mr. Ranto created these covers for his personal collection, but as he enjoyed the process, he did start to create extras that he would trade or sell. Each of his covers is normally signed or intialed on the reverse side, and also coded, but not in every case.
I have known John personally since the early 1970's, as he lived in Hamilton Township NJ, local to our store. He was an active member of the Hamilton Township Stamp Club as well as a Life Member of the American First Day Cover Society (AFDCS). We are fortunate to have recently purchased his collection from his estate, and can now offer these personalized covers directly to the collecting public. Please realize that many of these covers are one-of-a-kind items, although typically he did prepare anywhere from 1-5 of an issue, using different combinations of stamps in many cases.
There are 5 basic types of Ranto Cachets that we will classify: 1. Stamp issue FDC on the original bulletin for that specific issue 2. Stamp issue FDC on the original bulletin for a previous related topic issue 3. Stamp issue FDC on the photo copied bulletin for that specific issue 4. Stamp issue FDC on the photo copied bulletin for a previous related topic issue 5. Stamp issue FDC on other medium for that specific issue.
Most issues Ranto would use combinations stamps on the related cachet issues. Many times Ranto would hand color on the photo copied issues (3 & 4 above) or even on the originals.
From Linn's "Stamp Issuing Entities Of The World" page.