Artmaster 'International Struggle Against Malaria' Cachet
(Published: September, 2008, Volume 8, Number 3, Issue #26) (Table Of Contents)(Author: Larry Fillion)
(Items are from the collection of Larry Fillion and Mike Birrer)
In 1962, Artmaster created a cachet for the United States Scott 1194 stamp for "The World United Against Malaria."
Below is a mint example of the cachet:
In early 2008, Henry Gitner (http://www.hgitner.com) purchased the archives of Artmaster which allowed me to purchase:
Artmaster Artist Drawing (size: 12 inches by 15 inches)
In the lower right corner, it is written "March 30, 1962 53000 ea" which signifies there were 53,000 cachets produced. Also on the right side of the drawing is the final size of the that the cachet image will be: 2 3/4 inches tall.
(Click on the image above and almost any image on the page to see the 2X to see details.)
Artmaster Cachet Plate
I am calling the item below a Specimen because the imprint of the cachet is on two sides of this random paper that was left around to possibly check how it looked. The plate above was also wrapped in this wrapper.
Artmaster Cachet Specimen (Side 1)
Artmaster Cachet Specimen (Side 2)
The cachet was used for a few other countries and postal agencies besides the United States, including United Nations, Cyprus, Ryukos, Switzerland, and South Vietnam. An interesting note is that the Switzerland FDCs are dated 3/19/1962 and the United States FDC is dated 3/30/1962. At this point, I do not know how James H. Sheaffer (addressee of the Switzerland FDCs) had access to the covers weeks earlier in order to get them to Switzerland. Possibly un-serviced cachets were sold months in advance? Below are the FDCs that I have - I have not seen any other 'real' FDCs than these - see below for the counterfeits.
Sometime before March 15th, 1962 someone made some type of copy/counterfeit of the Artmaster cachet and created FDCs for a few countries. (I have not seen any of these counterfeit cachets used with the U.S. or U.N. issues.) There are some major differences with the two different cachets and are easily detectable:
Below is the original Artmaster cachet and the Gray Counterfeit cachet:
The four recorder colors of the counterfeit cachets are gray, blue, red, green.
I am not sure if the gray and the red/blue/green counterfeits were created by different people but there is a difference in the gray cachet and the other three colored cachets. The flaws are consistent in all 4 FDCs that I have with the gray cachet. The closeup of the red cachet does has a very small flaw in the same place as one of the flaws on the gray cachet - maybe the counterfeiter cleaned up the image?
Meters Digest created album pages for stamps. Usually, the album page would have an image of the stamp. But for the malaria ominbus issue, the company copied the Artmaster cachet (quality is worse than the counterfeits above). Below is the original Artmaster cachet and the Meter Digest cachet. The counterfeit cachet is extremely crude and the differences pretty obvious.
Below are the only recorded "Meter Digest" Album pages used as FDCs which have the counterfeit Artmaster cachets. Both the U.S. and the Canal Zone FDCs were produced on Meter Digest album pages. The Canal Zone FDC has a Press Release for the Canal Zone issue and on the back of the page.
Below is a mint example of the cachet:
In early 2008, Henry Gitner (http://www.hgitner.com) purchased the archives of Artmaster which allowed me to purchase:
Artmaster Artist Drawing (size: 12 inches by 15 inches)
In the lower right corner, it is written "March 30, 1962 53000 ea" which signifies there were 53,000 cachets produced. Also on the right side of the drawing is the final size of the that the cachet image will be: 2 3/4 inches tall.
(Click on the image above and almost any image on the page to see the 2X to see details.)
Artmaster Cachet Plate
I am calling the item below a Specimen because the imprint of the cachet is on two sides of this random paper that was left around to possibly check how it looked. The plate above was also wrapped in this wrapper.
Artmaster Cachet Specimen (Side 1)
Artmaster Cachet Specimen (Side 2)
The cachet was used for a few other countries and postal agencies besides the United States, including United Nations, Cyprus, Ryukos, Switzerland, and South Vietnam. An interesting note is that the Switzerland FDCs are dated 3/19/1962 and the United States FDC is dated 3/30/1962. At this point, I do not know how James H. Sheaffer (addressee of the Switzerland FDCs) had access to the covers weeks earlier in order to get them to Switzerland. Possibly un-serviced cachets were sold months in advance? Below are the FDCs that I have - I have not seen any other 'real' FDCs than these - see below for the counterfeits.
Sometime before March 15th, 1962 someone made some type of copy/counterfeit of the Artmaster cachet and created FDCs for a few countries. (I have not seen any of these counterfeit cachets used with the U.S. or U.N. issues.) There are some major differences with the two different cachets and are easily detectable:
- There is no "Artmaster" to the right of the foot of the right most person.
-
Details of the people/feet are not clear.
Real 
Counterfit 
-
Clouds around the earth are completely different
Real 
Counterfeit 
-
Outline of the earth is not smooth
Real 
Counterfeit 
Below is the original Artmaster cachet and the Gray Counterfeit cachet:
Artmaster Cachet
|
Counterfeit Artmaster Cachet (Gray)
|
The four recorder colors of the counterfeit cachets are gray, blue, red, green.
Counterfeit Artmaster Cachet (Gray)
|
Counterfeit Artmaster Cachet (Blue)
|
Counterfeit Artmaster Cachet (Red)
|
Counterfeit Artmaster Cachet (Green)
|
I am not sure if the gray and the red/blue/green counterfeits were created by different people but there is a difference in the gray cachet and the other three colored cachets. The flaws are consistent in all 4 FDCs that I have with the gray cachet. The closeup of the red cachet does has a very small flaw in the same place as one of the flaws on the gray cachet - maybe the counterfeiter cleaned up the image?
-
Flaws to the left of the clouds.
Gray Counterfeit 
Red Counterfeit 
Meters Digest created album pages for stamps. Usually, the album page would have an image of the stamp. But for the malaria ominbus issue, the company copied the Artmaster cachet (quality is worse than the counterfeits above). Below is the original Artmaster cachet and the Meter Digest cachet. The counterfeit cachet is extremely crude and the differences pretty obvious.
|
Artmaster Cachet
|
Meter Digest Cachet
|
Below are the only recorded "Meter Digest" Album pages used as FDCs which have the counterfeit Artmaster cachets. Both the U.S. and the Canal Zone FDCs were produced on Meter Digest album pages. The Canal Zone FDC has a Press Release for the Canal Zone issue and on the back of the page.
*If any reader has other examples of these Artmaster 'International Struggle Against Malaria' FDCs and the Counterfeit Artmaster cachets, please contact me at malariastamps@yahoo.com