This official First Day Cover features the 13¢ Michigan state flag stamp issued as part of the Bicentennial Era series. The cover bears a crisp Washington, DC postmark dated February 23, 1976, and includes a detailed cachet depicting the Lewis Cass statue along with Michigan’s coat of arms and statehood information.
Michigan entered the Union as the twenty-sixth state in 1837. Lewis Cass (1782–1866), shown prominently on the cachet, served as Governor of Michigan Territory, a U.S. Senator, Secretary of War, and Secretary of State, and was the Democratic nominee for President in 1848. The stamp’s design reproduces Michigan’s flag, whose central shield and motto “Si Quaeris Peninsulam Amoenam Circumspice” celebrate the state’s natural beauty.
The cachet’s artwork ties the flag stamp directly to Michigan’s territorial history and Cass’s legacy, a thoughtful pairing often found on 1970s state-flag FDCs. No addressee appears on this cover.
A clean, well-centered example that makes an attractive addition to any Bicentennial, state-flag, or Michigan topical collection.
