20200331 - Yayoi S W COVER comp JPEG

Comment

Comment by Bradford on April 4, 2020 at 2:32am

Thickness for a regular envelope (shape & size) is a generous ¼-inch.  It just moved the envelope away from the spray jet enough to not print the cancellation until the far right edge, which in this case was on the wrong side.

Comment by Richard Canard on April 3, 2020 at 8:36pm

.... the only  thing(s) (completely obvious of course) I can offer after all that is the addition of multiple stamps  makes for a readymade "mini picture exhibit" & a final total of 55 cents. ... but I also wonder about the romantic tradition & use of the wax seal --- isn't such a gesture apt to gum up the mail processing machines????

Comment by Bradford on April 3, 2020 at 8:16pm

Here's an example of a piece of Mail Art that encountered somewhat problematic processing:

On the front, you'll note that the stamps are uncancelled.  There is the scrape that the super fast sorter/facer/canceller inflicted on the Nursing stamp, but no trace of an postmark or cancellation (both sprayed on at one station). The IMB (Intelligent Mail Barcode) was applied at the bottom of the front where it is supposed to go.

On the back we see the postmark/cancellation, but the cancellation is only a trace at the far right no doubt because of the green seal (which arrived uncracked!)  I find this especially interesting because the postmark is superposed slightly over Yayoi's own custom return address stamp which employs the old CDS (Circular Date Stamp) design.  Despite the multi-million dollar machines, sophisticated sensors, and the rigor of computer programming, with almost 400 billion pieces of mail being processed by the USPS each year, sometimes things don't go according to plan.

All-in-all, I love the randomness that often appears when Mail Art enters the mailstream.  Viewed in that way, the common mailbox on the corner can also be viewed as a FLUXUS BOX.