AUSTIN, TX - On Tuesday, Sept. 11, the U.S. Postal Service will release the O. Henry commemorative stamp (Forever priced at 45 cents). A first-day-of-sales stamp dedication ceremony will take place that day at 12 p.m., at the O. Henry Museum, 409 East 5th Street, Austin, TX. The event is free and open to the public.

Stamp sales and first day of sale pictorial postmark cancellations will be available at the museum following the event, until 3:00 p.m.

The Friends of the O. Henry and Dickinson Museums will be selling special First Day of Sale covers for stamp collectors with a special cancellation postmark. The two uniquely Austin cover designs showing the O. Henry Museum were created by Lyle Boardman of the Austin Stamp Club. Any covers not sold on Tuesday will be available from 12 noon to 5 p.m., Saturday, September 15, at the Museum’s birthday party and exhibit of “O. Henry: Austin’s Original Slacker.” The Austin History Center will also sell first-day-of-sales covers on Saturday and host a Mock Appeals Trial at 4 p.m.

To obtain the O. Henry First Day of Sale Pictorial Postmark

Those who cannot attend the event on Tuesday, September 11, but who wish to obtain the first day of sales postmark may submit a mail order request to:

O. Henry Postmark,
ATTN: Postmaster
8225 Cross Park Dr
Austin, TX 78710-9998.

The O. Henry first-day-of-sale postmark is available only for the date indicated, and requests must be postmarked no later than Oct. 11, 2012, 30 days following the requested first-day-of-sale postmark date (Sept. 11, 2012).

All requests must include a stamped envelope or postcard bearing at least one postage stamp with the minimum First-Class Mail® postage.

Items submitted for postmark may not include postage issued after the date of the requested postmark. Such items will be returned unserviced.

Customers wishing to obtain a postmark should affix stamps to any envelope or postcard of their choice, address the envelope or postcard to themselves or others, insert a card of postcard thickness in envelopes for sturdiness, and tuck in the flap. Place the envelope or postcard in a larger envelope and address listed above.

Customers can also send stamped envelopes and postcards without addresses for postmark, as long as they supply a larger envelope with adequate postage and their return address. After applying the pictorial postmark, the Postal Service will return the items (with or without addresses) under addressed protective cover.

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