Can anyone tell me about these stamps?

[Lee Asher]

Hey everyone,

A few weeks ago, I picked up two decks that had this seal (see below). I'd never see it before, and couldn't find any information about it. Have you seen it before?

Photo 1


Photo 2


While the deck pictured has no cello, the other one does. We can deduce from the seal being under the cello, that it was applied at the factory. If anyone could shed some light on this seal, that would be great.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Asher

ps. My best guess is that these seals were from some special event held at USPC, but I could be wrong!

[Don Boyer]

While I've never seen the stamp before, I do know that this back design has been counterfeited by other printers.  I've seen it selling at a local "dollar store" for 99¢.

[Lee Asher]

While I've never seen the stamp before, I do know that this back design has been counterfeited by other printers. I've seen it selling at a local "dollar store" for 99¢.

I can assure you these are not counterfeits.

So if no one has ever seen this seal before? ... then we have a bonafide mystery!

[publius]

I'm no expert by a long shot - but here's a wild guess. The seal appears to be the same size and in place of a tax stamp. It looks to be a deck that would have been tax exempt such as a sample or demo of some kind. Maybe a salesman's deck - definitely something not sold retail. At any rate, I would say these are exceptionally rare, and you have a hell of nice collector's item.