Postmark commemorates Air Force Reserve anniversary

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DOBBINS AIR RESERVE BASE, Ga. (AFPN) --  The U.S. Postal Service is helping the Air Force Reserve celebrate its 60th anniversary with a commemorative pictorial cancellation that went into circulation April 14.

A pictorial cancellation is a unique postmark offered by the Postal Service for special events.

Maj. Todd Copley of the 94th Airlift Wing here worked with the post office in Marietta, Ga., to design the stamp.

A postal cancellation, first used the 1840s, is one method of marking stamps at a postal facility so that they can be used only once.

Postage cancelled using commemorative designs is usually in limited circulation and highly sought by stamp collectors and historians, said postal officials.

Marietta's postmaster is offering a mail-back service to people who want their postage adorned with the cancellation stamp. Enthusiasts can submit envelopes, postcards, photographs, posters and other materials through the mail directly to the Marietta Post Office for cancellations from April 14 to June 14.

Send requests to:

Pictorial Postmarks
60th Anniversary of the USAFR Station
257 Lawrence Street
Marietta, GA 30060-9998

Submissions must be postmarked no later than June 14 and must bear at least 41-cent, first-class postage.

Each requested item must be accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope with applicable return postage. If the item is an envelope or postcard to be passed through the mail stream, it needs to be addressed and must also bear unused first class or greater U.S. postage and sufficient return postage.

This is the third postmark designed by Major Copley, a C-130 navigator in the 700th Airlift Squadron at Dobbins ARB. An avid topical stamp collector, his two previous designs included one in 2007 commemorating the Air Force's 60th anniversary and the 1999 Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., air show.

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