About This Stamp
The 8.5-cent Tow Truck stamp illustrates one of the first commercially produced models sold to private operators during 1920s. Precancelled and unprecancelled stamps were issued on January 24, 1987, in Tucson, Arizona. The precancelled version was overprinted in red with the words "Nonprofit Org." It was not tagged. The collectors’ version was block tagged. There were 224,285 first day covers. Some combined the precancelled overprint with the unoverprinted stamp. There were fewer with the overprinted stamp alone.
The stamp was printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on the B press with plate numbers at 52 stamp intervals. Only plate number 1 was used for the block tagged version, and plate numbers 1 and 2 were utilized for the untagged, precancelled version. Plate number 2 is somewhat scarcer than plate number 1. The block tagged version was issued in coils of 500 stamps. The untagged precancelled version was issued in coils of 500 and 3,000 stamps.
William H. Bond of Arlington, Virginia, designed the stamp. Edward P. Archer engraved the vignette, and Michael J. Ryan engraved the lettering. Both worked for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.