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BY NELSON MORAIS
STAFF WRITER
A total of 200 postal cachets featuring a campaign poster of Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson and a canceled stamp were sold Wednesday at the Post Office on West Summer Street.
Postmaster Jeff Smalling said he had 100 cachets left to sell at $5 each.
Smalling sat at a small table in the lobby of the Post Office selling the cachets, while reenactor Chris Small sat nearby and portrayed Lincoln in full costume.
"Old Abe" obligingly signed his name and Lincoln's name on the cachets with a quill pen and posed for photographs with children who delighted in seeing him.
Small said, "Kids love to see Mr. Lincoln. I always say people need a little Lincoln in their lives."
The cachets are envelopes with a color print of the National Union Party campaign poster and a canceled 42-cent stamp of Lincoln.
Text briefly explains Lincoln's ties to Greeneville, Johnson and the National Union Party.
It also includes the phrase, "Of the People/By the People/For the People" and "Abraham Lincoln 200th Birthday February 12, 2009" and "Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial & National Union Party Station -- Greeneville, TN 37743-9998."
"People all over the country collect cancellations," including this commemorative cancellation, Smalling said Wednesday.
STAMPS 'A BIG THING'
The postmaster said that since the cachets went on sale beginning Feb. 12, on Lincoln's 200th birthday, he has received requests to purchase the cachets by mail from around the U.S., and even gotten orders from people in England, France, Germany and Canada.
Smalling said he can cancel the stamp on each cachet for 31 days after Feb. 12, at no cost to the buyer.
He said canceling the stamp "increases the value of the stamp exponentially. Cancellations are a big thing" for collectors.
Smalling said he had the envelope created and chose the design. There are four cachets with different images of Lincoln on a stamp. All four cachets can be bought for $20.
