generally said:
The strikeout on the arabic stamp is so that you can’t copy it and use it. If you look online or elsewhere at USPS stamp pictures they ALL have that.
Kay Ludlow said:
As someone with widespread USPS experience, let me ease your mind. In postal ads, even on their own website, they draw a line through all the stamps, a simpler version of the multi-line cancellation marks, to cover enough of the stamp to ‘cancel’ it. That ensures no unscrupulous person can take the image, copy it, and print it on “stamp-like material’ to use in the mail. That action would be counterfeiting, and is a federal crime.
As far as the issue of Religious stamps, at least they are still making Madonna and Child stamps, along with the secular Christmas stamps
I hope this eases your mind somewhat.
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texokie says:
I thank both of you greatly. I think the dime finally dropped. The mechanism in my mental dime drop apparatus must need some DW40.
If I understand what you are saying, the STAMPS themselves are without the cross through so I can’t go just print them out on a wonderful multi color printer from their online display.
Fair enough.
But my question still lingers.... even online - to prevent counterfeit - couldn’t they do a strike through to something else? It really disturbed me to see that word “Forever” struck through. I wouldn’t want “USA” struck through either.
We have been taught over the past year, as I know all are aware, that symbolism matters.
Thanks again to you both and to our other faithful FReeQs who tried to calm me down on this.
You understand right about the line strikes. About where they are on a stamp, they don’t put it through the image because stamp collectors (who buy a lot of stamps) don’t like it. After that they have the Forever and the USA, and I’m sure the many veterans in the USPS wouldn’t want THAT struck out. As for the Forever, what it means in the Postal world is never having to know which 1st class stamps are current and which need a couple of cents.
Clear it up now?