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39¢ Official Mail
(Sennett Security Products)
Water Activated Coil of 100
Scott # O160 Plate # S111
Series USPS - NA ~ PNC3 - Official
Issue Date & City March 8, 2006, Washington, DC 20066 (No First Day of Issue Ceremony)
Nationwide Sale March 8, 2006
Designer Bradbury Thompson
Art Director Joe Brockert, USPS, Washington, DC.
Typographer Bradbury Thompson
Engraver Southern Graphic
Modeler Donald H. Woo
To Press / Initial Quantity Winter 2005 / 15 Million stamps
Coil Size 100
Printer Sennett Security Products, (SSP)
Press Rotomec, 3000
Process Gravure
Where Printed American Packaging Corporation, Columbus, WI
Where Processed Unique Binders, Fredericksburg, VA
Plate Size & Interval 616 stamps per revolution / plate # every 14 stamps
Paper Type Prephosphored
Adhesive Type Water Activated
Tagging Type Prephosphored, Smooth Tagging
Perforation Gauge 9.8 Vertically
Colors PMS 186 (Red), PMS 286 (Blue), Black
Image Size (w x h) 0.72 x 0.81 in. / 18.28 x 20.57 mm
Overall Size (w x h) 0.87 x 0.96 in./22.09 x 24.38 mm
Back Numbers None
Earliest Known Use March 8, 2006
USPS Order Numbers 780940 Coil of 100 - $39.00
780930 Strip of 25 - $9.75
780961 First Day Cover - $0.77
Availability Stamp Fulfillment Services in Kansas City, MO.
Official Announcement The Postal Service will issue a 39-cent Official Mail definitive in a water-activated gum (WAG) coil of 100 stamps (Item 780900), on March 8, 2006, in Washington, DC. The stamp, designed by the late Bradbury Thompson, also goes on sale nationwide March 8, 2006.
Note These stamps come in a stick of 10 coils with a cardboard core. The outer wrapper, which is glued to itself but not to the stamps, has bridges about every 13.5 mm connecting the wrappers in the stick. The tops and bottoms of the rolls are not connected to each other, so the wrapper holds the whole stick together, along with the cardboard cores which have a small amount of glue on the top and bottom edges. The cores are easily broken and almost fall apart when separating rolls from the stick. The last 4 stamps on the coil are attached to the core by what appears to be a 3/4" piece of double-sided adhesive tape, which secures, almost totally, the last stamp and a small piece of the fourth last stamp.

Click here for a scan of a stick of 3. Click here to see the cardboard core at the center of a full coil of 100.
Variety Examples have been found with a splice. Click here for the story.
Philatelic Products
There are no philatelic products available for this stamp issue.
Distribution: Item 780900, $39.00 Official (Penalty) Mail WAG Coil of 100
Only the Chicago, IL, accountable paper depository (APD), which is the sole distribution unit designated to accept penalty mail requisitions from authorized government agencies, will receive an automatic distribution of Item 780900. Only the Chicago APD may distribute the new official mail envelope to authorized government agencies that submit PS Form 17-G, Penalty Mail Stamp Requisition. These coils must not be distributed to government agencies before March 3, 2006.
Initial Supply to Post Offices
This official mail coil will not be made available at regular retail windows for customer sale. Authorized government agencies must submit PS Form 17-G to the Chicago APD for Penalty Mail envelope fulfillment.
Philatelic Requirement
This official mail coil will not be made available to philatelic centers for customer sale. Only SFS will offer this stamp for sale to collectors via mail order from USA Philatelic catalog or by telephone at 800-STAMP-24.