I thrive on the odd and unusual, even if it’s outside my core area of 19th century U.S. revenues, so when I saw this on eBay I just had to have it.

USPS presentation folders were special commemorative folders given to honored guests at USPS first day ceremonies (dignetaries, postal officials, etc.) in the mid-20th century. I have no idea if they still get produced. Usually black with gold embossing on the cover.

Some contained full sheets of stamps, some contained examples of stamps and first-day covers, either with or without ceremony programs.

Not incredibly expensive, at least according to the ones I’ve seen on eBay. Probably a fairly narrow collecting audience.

However, I’d never seen one dedicated to a revenue stamp before, so when the item below came up, I made an offer and it was accepted.

It’s a presentation folder for the RVB1 and RVB2 boating stamps, issued April 1, 1960. Inside are complete sheets of 10 of the two stamps behind protective plastic.

What I found interesting, and what ultimately prompted me to try to acquire the set, was that the sheets are not only matched serial numbers, but also extremely low 2-digit serial numbers. Basically, each of these sheets were the 10th sheets printed of each stamp. That tells me that some forethought was put into these folders, reserving the earliest serial numbers for the presentation folders. I’ve never seen serial numbers that low on the boating stamps.

I’d love to know how many were produced, and if anyone has ever seen another example or the program for that ceremony, I’d love to hear about it.

Potentially great collateral for a boating stamp exhibit.

The anomalies on the bottom row of the top sheet are glare from the protective plastic, not problems with the stamps.