The Neopost webenabled program is experimental and closely monitored by USPS, which has imposed stringent design and documentation requirements. Neopost strictly complies with these requirements; however, for collectors this means that there are a very limited number of sheets available. At its demonstration kiosk in a trade show in Orlando, Florida, Neopost issued single sheets of four 34-cent stamps; these were the first webenabled stamps ever issued. (At the National Postal Forum, October 14-17, 2001, in Denver, Colorado, it offered test dummies only [Figure 1]; there are some dummy sheets from this event showing a 1999 date in the selvage—one was illustrated in the Winter 2001 Meter Stamp Society Bulletin—but this is because the date was not changed; it was corrected. Test dummy four-stamp sheets were also produced at Post Expo in Geneva in September 2001.)

There can rarely be occasion to dismember a sheet which therefore is the collecting unit, not the individual stamp. This is one area in which selvage considerations are not marginal (although machine numbers are not listed on the selvage or encoded on the stamps).

Some errors can only be confirmed by comparing sequential sets or sheets within a set; complete sets are also important in tracing the history of varieties. Of the four-stamp sheets with the flag design, approximately 7500 of the $1.36 "sets" were produced; there are 283. These sets are approximately on the order of rarity of the 48-cent special printing newspaper stamp, PR43, of which 268 were issued and which has a Scott catalogue value of $2250. Approximately 350 of the $2.72 sets were produced; there are 104. Approximately 400 of the $4.08 sets were produced; there are 105. Approximately 380 of the $5.44 sets were produced; there are 121. These three sets are approximately on the order of rarity of the 24-cent special printing, 175, of which 90 are extant and which has a catalogue value of $2000. Approximately 850 of the $6.80 sets were produced; there are 102. These sets are approximately on the order of rarity of the 7-cent special printing, 196, of which 100 are extant and which has a catalogue value of $2450. These estimates take no account of rarer varieties among the sets. It is important to note how these sets are disposed, because it shows why transactions get broken down: most are locked inside large sequences, beyond the pocketbooks of most collectors. "Stand-alone" sets--sets not part of a known sequence--are extremely rare: from Baltimore there is only one $1.36 "set," one $2.72 set, two $4.08 sets and 15 $6.80 sets. From Hayward there are only two such $1.36 "sets;" there are two from Dallas--$4.08 and $5.44--and none from Rosslyn. Sequences of sets are also extremely rare. For the $1.36 "set," there is a sequence of three, two of ten, one of nineteen followed by one $2.72 set, as well as a $1.36 "set" follows by one $6.80 set with ten $1.36 "sets" directly after. For the $2.72, $4.08 and $5.44 sets, there is one sequence of ten each. For the $6.80 set there are two followed by three $5.44 sets as well as three sequences of two. There is a sequence of twenty and one of ten. There are two $1.36-$5.44 sequences plus some fascinating sequential complete transactions variants: one followed by 31 $1.36 "sets;" one followed by one $1.36 "set;" one followed by ten $1.36 "sets;" one preceded by four $1.36 "sets;" and one in which the $1.36 "set" is last in the sequence. For the double-sequentials, there is one with a $6.80 set between the transactions, and one minus the second $6.80 set.

Of course, had collectors known there would be such tiny numbers, every effort would have been made to preserve more examples. However, the significance of sets and sequentiality was not recognized in the important early days of the production of these stamps. Sequential sets were separated, and individual sets were broken up into individual sheets. Complete sets are scarce and the broken sets have proven extraordinarily difficult to reassemble even though there are currently only about half a dozen collectors who have significant holdings of Neopost sheets. Complete transactions and more importantly, sequential complete transactions, are extremely rare and, apart from examples of some varieties, are the most desirable Neopost items. Suffice it to say of their desirability that a lifetime would not suffice to reassemble a sequential complete transactions of fifteen sheets, once it was dispersed--to say nothing of the double-, triple- or quadruple-sequential complete transactions. The exquisite sequential complete transactions are connoisseur items without peer. There are only 21 sequential complete transactions (4 light blue, 16 blue [5 blue2], one intermediate blue). They come in the following varieties: variety l (1-blue2), variety n (2-blue), varieties n+q+r (1-blue), variety n+q (1-blue), varieties n+r (2-blue), variety o (1-blue, 3-light blue), variety s (4-blue, 1-intermediate blue, 1-light blue), variety z+aa (2-blue2), variety pp (1-blue2) and variety qq (1-blue2). In philately, perfection is historical accuracy, and an SCT is the only way to fully show what the machines were capable of producing. No Neopost collection is exhibitable without an SCT, which is why these have become top-level rarities. Since the other shades are errors of color, only an SCT in blue2 shows what was intended by Neopost and authorized by USPS; these SCTs are really the pearls of the Neopost stamps; including the Dallas quadruple-sequential, there are 9 SCTs in the blue2 shade. An indication if the rarity of an SCT is the fact that not a single one has ever been on the market. The earliest is 2191 (the number is the $1.36 set) from Baltimore which shows the first ad; this is the earliest SCT known. The second and third are from Hayward (3576 and 3587) and show the second ad. The Rosslyn (3742) and Dallas (3961) SCTs show the first ad, and were simply printed on older paper, months after the first ad had been abandoned. There are nine double-sequential complete transactions, in the following varieties: variety n (1-blue, 2-light blue), varieties n+o (1-blue) and variety s (2-blue, 3-intermediate blue). There are five triple-sequential complete transactions, in the following varieties: varieties n+o (2-blue) and variety s (1-intermediate blue, 2-light blue). Finally, there is one quadruple-sequential complete transactions, variety qq in blue2. In short, there are 58 SCTs, which makes them of the same order of rarity as Scott 173, of which sixty examples are extant. It is possible to form only one "complete machines" sequential complete transactions, for the four machines which produced complete transactions. Indeed, for only a few varieties is it possible to obtain a complete transactions since, during the brief periods many were obtainable, only certain sets (frequently $6.80) were purchased. Sequential sets (for example, two or more $2.72 in sequence) are also extremely rare, as are runs of sequential sets (for example, two $4.08 sets followed by two $2.72 sets).

Just as in the case of multiples of fine classic stamps, there will be unrelenting pressure to break down ensembles into individual units to feed the lower end of the market, although the small number of surviving sets provides incentive to keep them together. As the sheets become ever more dispersed, there will be a correspondingly higher premium placed on transactional completeness and sequentiality which may well surpass even that of the rarest varieties (it should also be a prime criterion in judging exhibits. For example, of variety x there is a sequential run of ten for each of the five sets available. On four sequential of the $1.36 "sets" there is the rarely occurring uniform lower selvage (infra). From one single sheet it is impossible to deduce this. And one set of each of the ten runs has already been extracted to form a complete transactions. What are the chances any of these five sequential runs of ten will ever be restored to completeness? Uniform lower selvage (ULS) sets are to Neopost webenabled stamps what monograms are to Australian kangaroo stamps--the connoisseur consideration sans pareil. Who would know, from individual sheets, that there are only eighty multi-sheet sets ULS out of thousands of transactions made, after alternating lower selvage was introduced on December 18, 2001? Making collectors aware of such points of connoisseurship is a way of prompting them to keep sets, complete transactions and sequences together. The number of varieties, in combination with the frequent changes of design and even paper--there are four blue shades (three of them errors of color), three kinds of gloss over tagging, four tagging shades (three of them errors of color), two tagging lengths, two stamp papers, two sheet lengths and four backing papers for the four-stamp sheets--make for severe collecting challenges and for some of the rarest United States postage stamps.

An example of the rarity of the varieties is provided by a census of the blue shades: 441 four-stamp sheets are light blue, 781 are blue (194 are blue2) and 314 are intermediate blue. Breaking these colors down by sets shows the true rarity of complete sets and why they should never be broken up. Light blue: $1.36 (183); $2.72 (19); $4.08 (18); $5.44 (18); $6.80 (22). Intermediate blue: $1.36 (76); $2.72 (45); $4.08 (47); $5.44 (50); $6.80 (67). Blue: $1.36 (24--13 blue2); $2.72 (20--10 blue2); $4.08 (20--10 blue2); $5.44 (20--9 blue2); $6.80 (22--13 blue2). Of course, this is the same rarity for sheets within sets, i.e., there are 18 $2.72/$4.08 light blue sheets. It would be a true challenge to assemble one of each set in each of the three colors. These numbers also show that, for example, only 18 light blue complete transactions are possible. ERROR OF COLOR NOTE: The USPS authorized the eagles and flags in PMS (Pantone Matching System) 291 (the NPF circle of stars was authorized in PMS 293). PMS 291 corresponds to blue2 in this catalogue. The other three shades are errors of color. (The deviations from PMS 291 were corrected in the ten-stamp sheets, which are once again blue2: the last four-stamp sheets are blue). The light blue color error sheets are PMS 290, the intermediate blue sheets are PMS 297 and the blue sheets are PMS 292. Oddly enough, blue2 is the color for which there are the smallest number of four-stamp sheets; the situation is usually the reverse for errors or color. The flourescent tagging was authorized in PMS 805, which corresponds to first design through variety d and varieties u and v. The other tagging colors are also errors or color.

2.1 THE NATIONAL POSTAL FORUM, ORLANDO, FLORIDA, MARCH 25-28, 2001 (MACHINE #5)—DESIGNER: CHRIS GILES

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