United States, Scott #5738, used(o), 2022, Honoring the Women Cryptologists of World War II; during the Second World War, some 11,000 women helped to process and decipher an endless stream of enemy military messages; their work during this period has been one of the conflict’s best-kept secrets; these women, not only helped break and decipher the encryption systems that revealed vital shipping and diplomatic messages, they also built the machines that allowed cryptologists to break encrypted messages; the stamp art features an image from a World War II-era recruitment poster with an overlay of characters from the “Purple” code, one of the most infamous codes generated by Japan and their Type B Cipher Machine; serpentine die cut 10¾, non-water soluble self-adhesive gum, issued as a forever postage with a counter selling price of 60 cents, offset lithography printed by Ashton Potter USA )(APU), the lines of letters on the stamp front surface is a coded purple message which can be decoded using the cipher key provided on the reverse of the stamp issuing pane; the encoded message on the front of the stamp is the opening lines of the United States Constitution “We the people of the United States ….” , purple, gray, and black, Scott supplemental catalog value: 25¢; nicely centered, light, large, half circular, red and black-inked, hollowed-out, socked-on-the-nose custom cancel over the top left of the stamp, the cancel, with its red-inked number rim and internal black-inked mailing details is custom cancel used by various stamp clubs, the number rim contains a crypto coded message in line with the theme of the stamp, good perforations, stamp was soaked from the mailing envelope using the Bestine solvent and placed on a piece of black trimmed card stock for an attractive album mounting; centering, mounting, and special crypto-coded cancel warrants a selling price premium. This is not a 'bait-and-switch;' the stamp you see will be the one you receive.
Please review my terms of sale. If you are not ordering from the United States, there is a $US1.55 additional postage expense that needs to be added to the price of the stamp. If you are ordering from the United States, there is only a $US0.68 added postage expense. Also, if you make additional purchases from my offerings, they can all go in one mailing at no extra shipping expense for the added purchases. I will send the purchase by US first class mail, since the relatively low value of the stamp does not warrant signature or tracking mail. Hence the buyer assumes risk of loss or non-delivery. I will keep a scan of my mailing to verify that the correct mailing address was used. If not satisfied, return the stamp to me at your own expense, and I will refund the cost, but not my postage to you. If the stamp is not as described, I will refund the cost and reimburse you for postage both ways.
By way of reference, I am an American Philatelic Society member (195176) and an American Stamp Dealers Association (ASDA) member. Thank you for looking, and I hope this is the perfect stamp to fill that gap in your collection.
