That Elusive tagged LOOK coil

New chapter in Look coil saga
The following is a narrative by an anonymous West Coast collector, who was lucky enough to receive one of the now-coveted Look Magazine mailings bearing the scarce tagged coil stamp. He still owns his prized cover (which also is the earliest documented use), as well as a few other related Look items.

“Early in January 1967, when I returned to school from the 1966 Christmas vacation, waiting for me in my dorm mailbox was the most valuable piece of mail I would ever receive -- and it was a bill -- a bill for my Look Magazine subscription.

The earliest reported use of a LOOK coil, Dec. 29, 1966.

“Having been an avid (and admittedly a somewhat obsessive) stamp collector since the age of eight, I saved the entire envelope, even though it was franked with two very common-looking Liberty series stamps, which by the late 1960s were gradually being replaced by the new Prominent Americans issues.

“Being a busy college sophomore, I took the invoice and reply envelope out to pay the bill and tossed the outer envelope into my top desk drawer where it would sit until I moved out of the dorm early in June 1967.

“Fortunately I was (and still am) a Linn’s subscriber, and in April or May 1967, began reading about the phosphorescent tagging varieties of the 3c Liberty coil (soon to become known as the ‘Look’ coil).

“Although a lack of time (and money) forced me to put my collecting habit on hold, I still enjoyed following the goings-on in the stamp world. The articles by Alfred ‘Tag’ Boerger and John Stark made me ‘look’ at that cover more carefully when I was packing up to move out of my dorm room. Sure enough, my cover bore the 2c Jefferson and 3c Liberty coil stamps, paying the then-current 5c first-class rate. I can’t recall what stamps were on the paid reply envelope I used to send my renewal check, but I have seen an unused reply envelope bearing the same two denominations and imagine that this might have been what was enclosed. I carefully put the cover in a safe place and it has followed me through many life moves since.

“By 1970, Boerger had published a handbook on luminescence and I sent him a photocopy of my cover. He offered me $50 for it (which I politely declined) and then proceeded to use a cropped portion of the photocopy showing the stamps and a clear Des Moines, Iowa, Dec. 29, 1966, postmark in the second edition of his handbook. This led to the falsely held assumption that this cover was only a piece.
”After 40 years, I thought the time had come to finally to ‘go public’ with this cover and set the record straight. In going through some other things saved from my college years I also located an acknowledgement card sent to me by Look Magazine when I first subscribed as a freshman in the fall of 1965. That card shows a November 1966 expiration date, which necessitated a renewal notice and invoice at just the right time!

“As an added bonus, the view side of the card shows an artist’s rendering of the Look Building in Des Moines where my cover and the card originated.

Holy Grail of modern U.S. postal history turns 40

By Wayne L. Youngblood
What is considered by many collectors to be the Holy Grail of modern United States postal history is now 40 years old. In addition, a never-related first-hand account of receiving one of these rarities will now correct a commonly held assumption and increase the cover census by one (please see the accompanying sidebar story).

Shown in full color is a Dec. 29, 1966, cover bearing the legendary tagged LOOK magazine 3c Liberty coil stamp. This is the earliest documented use of this variety, and was long held to be only a cover piece. A tagged stamp is one coated with a special suspension of zinc orthosilicate, which makes it glow a bright yellow-green under shortwave ultraviolet light.

The new information increases the existing quantity of known LOOK covers to seven (with one additional non-Look commercial cover). The previous most recent find was by U.S. collector, Roland Austin in 2000, and was the first new discovery in more than a decade. An additional three pieces (envelope corners) are also known bearing the tagged stamps. Of these, the whereabouts of two covers and two of the pieces are unknown.

Although the tagged stamps themselves are not rare (but scarce), their use by LOOK Magazine was limited to about a six-month period, and the destruction rate of junk mail is extremely high. Despite the incredible rarity of tagged LOOK covers and used pieces, most have originally been found in cheap mixtures or cover boxes, which leaves an optimistic note for possible future finds.
To understand the full significance of the LOOK coil on its 40th anniversary, it is essential to tell the full story of the variety, which marked the first time that the U.S. Post Office Department bought stamps back from the private sector for distribution to collectors. The entire issue may well have slipped by collectors unknown, if not for the efforts of tagging pioneer the late Al “Tag” Boerger.
During the infancy of the U.S. phosphor tagging program, 1963-70, numerous stamps that were originally released untagged began appearing as phosphor tagged versions as well. Some were announced to collectors; others were not. The LOOK coil is perhaps the most outstanding example of an unannounced variety.
Unknown to collectors, the postmaster of the Des Moines, Iowa, post office placed an order in September 1966 for large coil rolls of 3,000 3c Liberty series coil stamps for use on LOOK Magazine mailings. There was nothing unusual about the order itself. LOOK needed 3c and 2c Liberty series coil stamps for use on subscription promotions to make up the then-current 5c first-class rate. The firm realized early on the response value of using multiple stamps on mailings.

However, as the Bureau of Engraving and Printing prepared to print new 3c Liberty series coil stamps to meet the order, the agency fitted a tagging unit onto one of the color stations of the Cottrell press.

On Oct. 7, 1966, the printing of the new stamps began. A total of 3,720,000 stamps was printed. Of these, 1,200 coil rolls of 3,000 (3,624,000 stamps) were considered acceptable. Some of these, too, were later destroyed.

The entire printing of the new stamps was shipped to Des Moines, Iowa. No quantity of the stamps was saved for philatelic sales because BEP did not realize the new stamp was different from existing versions. Further complicating matters was the fact that most of the Look shipment was extremely poorly centered anyway.

The stamps were placed in the normal stamp stock of LOOK Magazine and used on various mailings late in 1966 and in early 1967.

Months later, in April 1967, Al Boerger was sorting an on-paper mixture purchased from a convent in Toledo, Ohio. He was sorting with the aid of his ultraviolet lamp, since some tagged stamps were beginning to show up used, and was astounded to find three pieces bearing the previously unknown tagged coil stamp.

Boerger immediately contacted the USPOD’s division of philately to inquire about the availability of the new stamps. He was told that all were sent to Des Moines. Al Stark, another pioneer in the tagging area, managed to get a single roll of 3,000 LOOK coil stanps to examine.

Eventually, through the efforts of Boerger and Stark, USPOD retrieved 32 full coil rolls (96,000 stamps) and placed them on sale to collectors, beginning May 12, 1967. As previously mentioned, the centering on these stamps was notoriously poor. With each order, USPOD enclosed the following notation: “We are enclosing the 3c tagged coil stamps as requested. Any unusual irregularities and centering. . .” This served as a both a disclaimer and as an apology for the poor quality of the stamps. Nonetheless, the entire quantity sold out within a very short period of time.

In an effort to help collectors (and raise a bit of revenue), USPOD ordered the BEP to print more of the tagged coil stamps to make available to collectors. These stamps, USPOD reasoned, should be checked carefully for centering and printing quality.

About June 14, 1967, BEP went back to press with the tagged stamps, printing a total of 875,000 acceptable copies, which were shipped to the sales unit on June 26, 1967. These stamps, which were far more nicely centered, were processed into coil rolls of 500 stamps.

Relieved that high-quality tagged stamps were available, collectors who bought the new stamps began using the original LOOK coils as scrap postage, frequently using them to pay the utility bills, subscriptions and other forms of routine business mail (I found one on a 1967 subscription renewal cover to a numismatic publication a few years ago, making it the only non-LOOK commercial cover). Many thousands of original tagged coils were destroyed in this manner.

Within a short period of time, it was realized that the new philatelic printing of the LOOK coil differed significantly from the original. But it was too late. Many of the originals were by then beyond retrieving.

The most notable difference between the original LOOK coil and the reprint is the color. The reprint is a much more vivid shade of purple.

Under UV light, however, the differences are far more striking. The original tagging appears bright and clear, while the tagging on the reprints is much duller and grainier in appearance. This is due to the difference between steel and rubber tagging rollers used for the different printings.

A tagging plate variety also surfaced on the reprints. It is a scratched plate, which shows up under UV light as a small dark vertical line or “hot” (bright) tagging line that shows up on every 24th stamp in affected rolls.

Today, it’s amazing to think that a single magazine’s mailing needs were responsible for the creation of two major types of scarce philatelic collectibles.

Because of the relatively small printings of both the original and LOOK reprint, both are fairly scarce in mint or used condition. Adding to the problem was the inconsistent handling of the major types by catalogs. The Minkus catalog immediately recognized the variety for what it was and assigned a variety number to it. Although Scott listed the tagged variety fairly quickly, it did not acknowledge the difference between the two printings until the late 1980s (Scott 1057b, the later reprint, and 1057d, the earlier original).

Boerger’s educated estimates based on numerous collectors, were that of the 96,000 original LOOK stamps retrieved, no more than 20,000 mint pairs and 4,100 mint line pairs still exist. This total – around 48,000 -- accounts for roughly half of those retrieved from Des Moines and placed on sale in Washington. Many specialists feel the survival rate is likely lower. To place the scarcity of the original LOOK coil in perspective, most of the more than 61,000 $2.60 Graf Zeppelin stamps still exist, many of them mint.

Even used copies of the original LOOK coil stamp are very hard to come by. Most of those known are remnants from collector mail. Most of those that were properly used likely have clipped perfs to a greater or lesser degree. This is because they would have been applied to the magazine mailings by a Cheshire model 522 labeling machine.

Where are they now?

Of the six documented LOOK covers, the whereabouts of five are known. The sixth, discovered by Bob Jones, then editor of Linn’s and a tagging cohort of Boerger and Stark, never surfaced after his death.

One of the pieces, the first discovery copy found by Boerger, is in a private collection and exhibit. The location of the other is unknown. We now know the earliest-known cover is a full cover and is alive and well.

If you discover one of these items, or know of the whereabouts of any of the documented copies, please notify the American Philatelic Society at the following address: LOOK Cover Sightings, APS Headquarters, 100 Match Factory Place, Bellefonte PA 16823.

Boxed feature?

Census of known LOOK coil items

Date Form Whereabouts Franking

Dec. 29, 1966 cover Private collection 2c + 3c upright

Feb. 7, 1967 cover Private collection 2c +3c sideways

Feb. 16, 1967 cover Private collection 3c + 2c sideways

Feb. 28, 1967 piece Unknown 3c + 2c upright

March 7, 1967 piece Private collection 3c + 2c sideways

April 21, 1967 cover Unknown 2c + 3c upright

April 21, 1967 piece Unknown 2c + 3c upright

Uncanceled return covers

Private collection 2c + 3c sideways