COVER N. 585 - USA 

Postmark:  Manual: Sparta  WI-54656 9(?)98 USPS 01.052025 / Machine: Saint Paul MN 55 01.05.2025

Posted on  the  1st May; Received on the 8th May 2025

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Thanks a huge lot, Mark, for this cover and also for the one that came inside it. Truly appreciated it.

I had never received a  pre-stamped American envelope, so this makes a nice addition to the collection. 

Also it goes to show just how Mr. Postman is really my friend:  By mistake, of the type that can happen to anyone, Mark forgot to include the name of the street I live on in the address, which mentions only the door number.

Well by now, Mr., Postman must know that any envelope with interesting stamps on it has but one rightful addressee in the area, and that is me, for in spite of the faulty address, the letter made its way to my letterbox.

So a huge "Obrigado" also goes to Mr. Postman, who made sure I got Mark's letter.

Starting with the envelope itself, I looked over on USPS website and managed to discover that this particular pre-stamped envelope featuring a pre-printed “Forever”, American Flag stamp was issued on 15JUN2020.

The Lunar New Year "Forever" commemorative stamp is the 2024 issue, dedicated to the Year of the Dragon, which began to circulate on  25JAN2024.

The very interesting se-tenant block of four 6 cent stamps, was issued on 06MAY1970. The four stamps of the  issue, celebrating the American Museum of Natural History,  feature each a bald eagle;  an herd of elephants; an Haida ceremonial canoe (the Haida being an Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America, with populations both in the USA and Canada) and some dinosaurs, under the caption "The age of reptiles".

Two cancellations o the cover: one manual, applied at Sparta, Wisconsin and one mechanical, from Saint Paul, the capital of Minnesota.