This official ArtCraft First Day Cover features the pair of 1976 Christmas 13¢ stamps issued October 27, 1976, in Boston, Massachusetts. The colorful cachet reproduces a detail from Nathaniel Currier’s 1855 lithograph “Winter Pastime,” showing children skating on a frozen pond in a snowy New England landscape.
Issued during the nation’s Bicentennial year, these stamps continued the U.S. Postal Service’s popular tradition of Christmas issues that began in 1962. The design draws on Currier & Ives prints that captured 19th-century American life, making the cover especially appealing to collectors of both holiday and Currier & Ives topicals.
A notable detail is the dual-stamp layout: the left stamp shows the full scene while the right stamp is a close-up crop, creating an attractive visual progression across the cover. The circular Boston postmark ties the cover directly to the first-day city.
A fine addition to any Christmas or 1970s U.S. stamp collection, this well-preserved ArtCraft FDC displays strong color and a crisp strike—ideal for display or topical albums.
