This Art Craft First Day Cover features the 1965 U.S. Christmas 5¢ stamp depicting four angels sounding trumpets. The cover is postmarked Silver Bell, Arizona on November 2, 1965, the official first day of issue, with a block of four stamps.
The 1965 Christmas issue continued the U.S. Postal Service’s annual holiday stamp tradition that began in 1962. The angelic design reflected the religious tone of many mid-1960s Christmas stamps and was released in time for holiday mailings during the post-WWII era of expanding seasonal postal volume.
The colorful cachet illustrates the Peoples Methodist Church in Newburyport, Massachusetts, framed by holly and bells—an unexpected New England church scene paired with an Arizona first-day postmark. “Art Craft” appears in the lower left corner, identifying the popular cachet maker.
The cover is addressed to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the state capital and a longtime center of philatelic activity in the mid-Atlantic region.
A clean, well-centered example ideal for collectors of U.S. Christmas issues, Art Craft cachets, or 1960s postal history.
