[Five-cent stamp, Shakespeare issue, on Shakespeare Anniversary Committee first-day cover] [graphic].

Folger card catalog title: Shakespeare stamps 1964, United States Shakespeare Anniversary Committee official first day cover with the Shakespeare stamp

[Washington, D.C.] : [United States Postal Service], 1964.

Stratford, Connecticut : American Shakespeare Festival Theatre

[Washington, D.C.] : [Bureau of Engraving and Printing]

1 stamp (affixed to envelope) : rotary process, black ink on tan paper ; envelope 9.5 x 17 cm

paper

One black-and-white stamp commemorating the 400th anniversary of the birth of William Shakespeare, affixed to a first-day cover issued in Stratford, Connecticut. Stamp features illustration of Shakespeare in striped doublet, holding quill with skull sitting nearby. Red and black cachet on left side of cover featuring an image of the Shakespeare family crest flanked by "1564 - 1964" and an image of the American Shakespeare Festival Theatre. Caption: "Shakespeare Anniversary Committee at... American Shakespeare Festival Theatre, Stratford, Connecticut." Postmarked by the Stratford, Connecticut post office, August 14, 1964.

Title supplied by cataloger.
Stamp was designed by Douglas Gorsline. Printed by rotary process and issued in panes of fifty stamps. Initial printing of 118 million stamps. First sold through the Stratford, Connecticut post office on August 14, 1964.
There are several variants of this cover. In one, the words "official first day cover" are integrated into the cachet illustration at center left; in another, "official first day cover" appears at the bottom right.

Smithsonian Institution. National Postal Museum, Arago database
Stanley Gibbons simplified stamp catalogue, 1232
Spencer, Albert. The philatelic Shakespeare, page 72
Scott standard postage stamp catalogue, 1250

United States -- District of Columbia -- Washington.

ART 248- 906 (size XS)

"Official first day cover" appears at the bottom right. Gift of Kent Cartwright.

248906

ART File S527.3 no.28

"Official first day cover" is integrated into the cachet illustration at center left

No case or accession number present