This Fleetwood official first day cover features the 1974 United States 10¢ stamp issued for the Universal Postal Union Centennial. The stamp reproduces a detail from a painting by Swiss artist Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702-1789) and was postmarked on the first day of issue, June 6, 1974, in Washington, DC.
The Universal Postal Union, founded in Bern in 1874, created the first worldwide system for exchanging mail between nations. By 1974 its centennial celebrated a century of standardized rates, routing, and international cooperation that transformed global communication.
The colorful Fleetwood cachet highlights the UPU theme with a large post horn, reproductions of earlier Swiss and UPU-related stamps, and the inscription “Honoring Universal Postal Union Centennial 1874-1974.”
A fine addition to any postal-history or UPU topical collection, this cover remains in excellent condition with a crisp strike of the Washington, DC first-day cancel.
