A sucker is born every minute? On Ebay...
AN EBAY DICK GETS A SUCKER EVERY MINUTE.
There are people selling forgeries. Counterfeits. And here, a dubious "collectors item" that is actually just self-printed:
"Oooh, isn't this one of them FDC Cachets? FDC meaning "FIRST DAY COVER" (although "FIRST DAY OF ISSUE" is a synonym) and Cachet meaning a colorful envelope?"
No, not exactly. What you see above is just an eBay trick. Spoof. Puffery. MAYBE a collectors item if you like to just collect envelopes that somebody grinded through a printer.
THIS is a real FDC Cachet:
"Hmmm...now, the one up top, $3.00 and $2.00 postage...isn't that a real stamp?"
Yes, that's about ALL that is real about it. But notice the date on it. It's a "First Date of Issue" from September 9, 2015. All the seller did was pay the price of the stamp and buy dozens upon dozens of these. The stamp has nothing to do with Poe, and commemorates nothing. The envelope was shoved into a printer and the Poe artwork and quote (and signature) added.
Look at the SECOND item. It's also $3.00 (but only .85 cents shipping). Notice that it's got a REAL Edgar Allan Poe stamp, and that it was canceled at Richmond, Virginia, October 7, 1949. REAL collectors item FDCs have a commemorative stamp that matches the cachet. The location is meaningful, deliberately chosen by the United States Post Office. Poe lived in Richmond for many years.
There's also a big difference between a PROFESSIONALLY PRINTED ENVELOPE and something "computer generated" (ie, spat out of an inkjet printer or laser printer). It's like the difference between an 8x10 original movie still and a computer print-out on inkjet photo paper.
"Well, why does EBAY allow somebody to sell something that really doesn't seem to be worth ANYTHING?"
Because they want to make money, as does the seller. The seller in this case offers some "fine print" that a gullible newbie stamp collector, or an Edgar Allan Poe fan will happily ignore:
Yes, CAVEAT EMPTOR.
Some delusional people might actually think, "one day this will be valuable!" Why? Anyone can make a copy of this artwork and print it on an envelope that has a stamp on it, especially a stamp totally UNRELATED to the subject of the artwork.
Stamp collecting is a dying hobby. It's boring. It's static. Hell, why should any young collector bother with stamps when a fortune can be made in sneakers? Or video game cartridges? Or deliberately small limited-edition Harry Potter or Star Wars cards??
Any fan of Edgar Allan Poe, or any elderly stamp collector, can easily buy a sheet of 1949 Poe commemoratives for only a few dollars above list price. FDC's can be had for as low as a dollar if it's just a canceled stamp on a plain envelope. A "cachet," an envelope with a drawing on it that matches in spirit the actual U.S. stamp, can maybe sell for $2.00 or $3.00 (as you see here).
The concept of a collectible cachet was invented and popularized by George Ward Linn, who started the game in 1923. Several companies began making cachets, and for the 1949 Poe, issued during the prime of cachet collecting, you can get plenty of varieties including:
Art Craft was one of the major companies and they're now out of business. Many are. Part of the reason is the U.S. Post Office makes their own FDC collectors item, and the other reason is nobody much cares. On eBay, the majority of REAL cachets go for under $3.00, and that also applies to those who simply grind pictures onto ordinary stamped and canceled FDC envelopes, and lure fans who gotta have ANYTHING with a particular famous person's face on it. Since most intellectual property owners don't care about these nickel and dime (and three dollar) weasels, Coverscape, for example, will take their generic FDC envelopes and festoon them with whoever might have a few "gotta have it" fans -- Jimmy Stewart, Yogi Berra, Bob Hope, etc. etc.
Technically, there's nothing TOO illegal about inventing a collectors item. If George Ward Linn could do it in 1923, Coverscape and anyone else can do it in 2020. Especially since the post office generally puts DEAD people on their stamps. Would the estates of Jimmy Stewart, Yogi Berra or Bob Hope object? They could, but obviously, they don't care about suckers being taken by dubious collectors items. They might even sympathize with a fan so obsessed that even a picture spat from an HP printer onto an envelope is cherished.
As the author of "Poe in the Media," I do have somewhat of a collection of Poe material, including record albums and, yes, a few 1949 FDC's. The Coverscape envelope? Nah, I could always just make one of those myself in Photoshop and print it onto an envelope. It might be cute and spooky. Printing up some just to sell on eBay for three bucks, to people who might think they could actually sell 'em someday for more? No, that would be creepy.
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