[based on press release]
Mystic Stamp Company Buys Complete ArtCraft First Day Cover Inventory
Dissolution of ArtCraft makes Fleetwood America’s oldest surviving First Day Cover maker
Camden, NY. In May 2019, Mystic Stamp Company purchased ArtCraft’s complete inventory – over 5 million covers – after the company announced it was closing its doors. ArtCraft had been sending out Fleetwood First Day Covers since they stopped printing their own in 2015, so it’s only fitting Mystic – owner of Fleetwood – pick up ArtCraft’s inventory, too. This inventory includes historic covers from ArtCraft’s earliest days (1939) to 2015. Known for their exquisite detail, ArtCraft’s steel-engraving-style cachets have always been popular with collectors.
In the press release, Mystic president Don Sundman said, “My family has been collecting and selling covers for over 85 years, beginning with my father, Maynard, in the 1930s. [One of his covers, from 1935, is shown on the left.] At Mystic, we know what First Day Cover collectors want, and we design our cachets accordingly. Going forward, ArtCraft customers can expect to see the same high-quality First Day Covers they’ve been receiving since 2015.”
However, in e-mail to The Virtual Stamp Club, Sundman clarified that Mystic will not be continuing the ArtCraft line with new issues.
“I wish we could but we don’t have enough customers to justify the costs,” he wrote. “It’s really expensive to make engraved steel plates. I’m told ArtCraft paid $2,000 just for the steel plate. And there are lots of other costs too.”
However, when Washington Stamp Exchange stopped producing new ArtCraft designs, WSE purchased unserviced Fleetwood cachets from Mystic, serviced them, and sold them to its subscription customers.
“Late 2018 or early 2019, ArtCraft and Mystic agreed for Mystic to reach out to ArtCraft customers and offer to continue the collectors the opportunity to buy Fleetwood covers,” Sundman told VSC. “These are the same style of covers they bought from ArtCraft during 2015-2018.”
Sundman went on to say that Mystic is in the process of organizing ArtCraft’s inventory and will be making these classic covers available to collectors very soon.
About Mystic Stamp Company
Mystic Stamp Company was founded in the small town of Camden, NY, in 1923. Mystic has been serving stamp collectors nationwide for over 95 years and has evolved into America’s Leading Stamp Dealer. Employee owned since 2016, Mystic is known for personalized customer service and is committed to making collecting fun and easy. Mystic works closely with the National Postal Museum and American Philatelic Society to promote stamp collecting and bring new collectors into the hobby. In addition to its goal of providing products and services that exceed customer expectations, Mystic practices good citizenship by making contributions of time, money, and knowledge to the local community and beyond. For more information visit MysticStamp.com.
ArtCraft did have a – Going out of Business Sale – FDC were @ 50 cents or less.
They also had an Inventory Clearance in progress – you sent in a sub-list of the ones on the “going out of business list” that you wanted, and they would fill it as they got to them. How far along they got with this I have no idea, but I did have an order waiting.
I spoke with a rep. at Mystic, and she said they only bought the Inventory from Artcraft, not the existing orders… Awaiting reply on what will happen to the waiting orders.
I received a reply from Mystic Stamps. ANY of the ‘Going out of Business’ orders that had Not Been Filled by ArtCraft are now Void. Mystic bought the remaining Inventory, and That’s All.
Once Mystic gets the ArtCraft items into it’s automated inventory, the items will be on sale, At Mystic Prices.
That’s All Folks…
Washington Press provided its subscribers with Fleetwood cachets from the first issue of 2016 through the Sally Ride issue of May 2018. Washington Press bought unserviced covers from Mystic and provided subscribers with single stamp covers with hand cancels, single stamp covers with Digital Color Postmarks, and block of four with hand cancels. Washington Press also provided subscribers with oversized Panda cachets for full sheets and items that required #10 envelopes – as Fleetwood only produced 6 3/4 cachet. The unsold Washington Press serviced Fleetwood cachets were part of the Mystic purchase.
I just want to include that Fleetwood does have over-sized covers (9×6 and 8.5×11) I have some. It’s the size #10 envelopes they don’t make.
Lefty: per a posting on the Washington Press website, the “Going Out of Business” sale was discontinued shortly after it was started. The reason one that they did not have the staff (at that point, they were down to three people) to process all the orders they were receiving. Subsequently, the only way to purchase items was to contact Tim Devaney and arrange for a visit to their Florham Park, NJ office. A few of us did visit and were able to make interesting purchases (for example, the previously mentioned Fleetwood covers that Washington Press serviced).
For me what made FDC’s a “hobby” since the 1970’s is starting with a blank self-service cover and taking it from there. I’m a purist, but not so naive I don’t realize I was a low-margin low-volume customer in a declining dinosaur hobby largely left in the past. Even fully understanding why they chose to exit, Washington Press cachets were the standard by which others were judged. Still appreciated, and terribly missed.
Not so. In fact, at end of the 19970s and well into the 1980s, FDCs were among the hottest segments of philately. About the same time, American Philatelic Society membership hit an all-time high in the mid- to upper 40,000’s. But nothing stays white-hot forever, not your favorite sexy pop singer, not novelists, not leisure activities.
However, I agree about “the standard.” You can see that clearly when looking at Artmaster and Fleetwood cachets of the 1950s and 1960s. “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”
Oh I’m not disagreeing with you about the popularity of FDC cover collecting n the 1970’s (when I started) and 1980’s. How many self-service envelope vendors were there (Artcraft, Artmaster, Farnum, Anderson (possibly the wrong name, but meaning the vendor who used printed text cachets), Fleetwood, the game-changer Colorono, and more). I flirted with all of them and settled on Artcraft from Washington Press.
But now how many of us can still be left if, to the best of my knowledge, there is one self-service provider left? (And I;m darn glad there still is one, because I don’t have the graphics eye to design my own.
Yes. you can buy serviced covers. That is technically still collecting. . . .but it is not the same thing as a hobby.
I don’t believe Colorano ever sold unserviced cachets.
Colorano occasionally sold blanks when they attended stamp shows where a new stamp was issued. They would also provide covers for those purchasing 500 blank covers but the Colorano name was removed. Currently blanks will be available only at stamp shows, that we are participating and there is a special cancel or new stamp release.
This was during the Ray Novak era?
I stumbled across Mystic selling blank cacheted covers. I think this is new, not sure how long they’ve been doing it. Does anyone know anything about this?
For upcoming issues?
Um, not sure. No, I think past issues. I don’t know how often they add new ones. I just came across it by accident and hadn’t heard anything from anywhere online.
I’ve asked Mystic president Don Sundman and he’s checking on details for us.
A Mystic rep. is quoted above as stating: “It’s really expensive to make engraved steel plates. I’m told ArtCraft paid $2,000 just for the steel plate. And there are lots of other costs too.”
Yet, more than one article I’ve read, as well as my experience trying to sell my duplicate cachet FDCs at stamp clubs, all I get is anywhere from “worthless” to a huge % off buyers expect. As they say: It’s the fun, not the hobby to get rich with!
The problem isn’t how much it costs to make the cachet, but how much people want to buy it. In ArtCraft’s case, it was the victim of its own success: So many ArtCraft FDCs were produced and sold that they were common. It’s like the 3-cent Jefferson Prexie used. Yes, it’s an 81-year-old stamp. No, no one wants it because there are so many of them out there. It’s like the Yogi Berra quote, “It’s so crowded nobody goes there anymore.”
ArtCraft’s artwork and production were always first-rate.
Is any of the original artwork available
ArtCraft was selling some of its original artwork, but I don’t know where what is left would be now. Someone told me recently that what Washington Stamp Exchange had was very incomplete. Either the original art and plates weren’t saved, or are lost in the rubble.
I know Henry Gitner Philatelists (dealer) had original plates from Artmaster and would be a logical place to check for ArtCraft: http://www.hgitner.com.