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The Mason Cancels

The Earliest Known Usage of the Elvis Forever Stamps
And Only Known August 10, 2015  Cancellations

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 The Mason Cancels
 
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David walked into the Mason, Tennessee post office around 2:30 pm August 10th, 2015 and purchased three sheets of the Elvis Forever Stamps.
 
They were cancelled with the Mason, Tennessee circular date stamp (CDS) of August 10, 2015.
 
Two days early.
 
They are the only known August 10th cancellations in the world.
They are great philatelic rarities of extraordinary magnitude.
They are known throughout the world as the Mason Cancels. 
 
 
David has the USPS receipt from the postal clerk which includes the August 10, 2015 cds.
 
The photos below are attached for your review.
 
David sent 16 of the stamps from one sheet to himself attached to letter sized envelopes with the plate postions of the sheet numbered from one through 16 to the left of each stamp located in the upper right corner of each envelope which will also include the August 10, 2015 circular date stamp cancellation. 
 
Seven arrived in David's mailbox Tuesday August 11th and the other 9 on Wednesday August 12th, the day of the FDC ceremony at Graceland. which David attended, taking place two days prior to the nationally authorized official release of the stamp by the United States Postal Service, Postmaster General Megan Jane Brennan.
 
Remarkably, David also acquired the first officially cancelled cover at Graceland August 12, 2015, as well, signed by the Postmaster, Steve Cole, and the USPS clerk, John Whitaker, as #1.
 
Here's a link to that story:
 
Graceland wasn't too happy about it, but not angry.
 
News media throughout the world wanted the story.
 
David wants you to have it, too.
 
After all, it was Elvis Week here in Memphis, and about the greatest entertainer who ever lived.
 
Find attached photos and provenance below for your review as well as the articles in Linn's Stamp News,
the Monday Morning Brief, and other reporting sources.
 
David spoke with Memphis Postmaster Steve Cole at Graceland at the Thursday, August 13th satellite cancellation station and PM Cole said that he didn't think the clerk would be dismissed, but couldn't answer that question with certainty. One of the postal inspectors, who visited David on Tuesday morning, also echoed the thoughts of Postmaster Cole when David spoke with him early Thursday morning. The inspectors reiterated that they were satisfied that David had done nothing improper or illegal in his transaction with the postal clerk, as bribery, coercion, compulsion to sell or conspiracy were their chief concerns. The thought of such a crime or an attempt to acquire the sheets or covers in that fashion struck David with revulsion. David takes great pride in the hobby.
 
David walked in to the post office in Mason around 2:30pm on Monday August 10th, 2015, purchased the three sheets from the clerk, whom David did not know nor had never seen before, had the letters addressed to himself and the sheets cancelled, and drove to Graceland to show the sheets to Elvis Presley Enterpises and Graceland CEO Jack Soden.
 
David then drove to the Commercial Appeal to show them to entertainment managing editor Peggy McKenzie. Peggy has written stories about David's enthusiasm for stamp collecting over the years. She was unavailable so her deputy editor, Mark Richens, decided to report the story, included in the links below for you.
 
More than anything, David's chief concern, was his hope that the postal clerk would not be dismissed.
 
The foregone conclusion of the others that he'd spoken with was that she would not be. She kept her job.
 
David would have been truly sorry if that had occurred, and David would have requested her reinstatement with a letter to the Postmaster if that had been a tragic outcome of a harrowing week, and he would have happily returned the sheets if her job had been contingent upon their return.
 
U.S.P.S. postal inspectors permitted David to keep the early Mason Cancels assuring him that he had not violated any postal regulation.
 
The other concern for some had been that David obtained the sheets with a profit motive.
 
If that were true David could have cancelled another sheet or set of envelopes in his possession on August 11th or sold them on eBay or any auction immediately after obtaining them and also profited handsomely of which he did not.
 
David could have cancelled the other full mint sheet on August 11th, the Tuesday prior to event, had an additional thirty-three full hours to do so and he did not.
 
David did none of these things, and had plenty of time to do so.
 
David wanted the philatelic community, and Elvis fans, to know that he's a stamp collector, not a profit-seeking stamp dealer, and desired an unparalleled variety of the Elvis Forever stamp. A stamp error now an important contribution to the postal history of the United States of America.
 
The Elvis Forever Mason, Tennessee cancellations are radically distinctive and have no equal.
 
David discovered a unique opportunity in Mason, Tennessee and obtained three Elvis Forever sheets in good faith.
 
Nothing more.
The Mason Cancels Are Not For Sale 

 
 

 

Click each photograph below for details about The Mason Cancels:

The 1st two photographs are the 1st Elvis FDC From 1993.

 
 

 

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Monday Morning Brief | Elvis Early Use

Watch as Linn's/Scott editorial director Donna Houseman discusses the early release of the new U.S. Elvis stamp.




 

Click for the Wikipedia Article

My Passion

Full Resolution Mason Cancels .PDF