{"product_id":"1978-christmas-15-holly-mi-first-day-cover","title":"1978 Christmas 15¢ Holly, MI First Day Cover","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis ArtCraft First Day Cover features the 1978 U.S. Christmas stamps, both denominated 15¢, issued on October 18, 1978, and postmarked in Holly, Michigan. The cover displays the traditional stamp reproducing Andrea della Robbia’s glazed terra-cotta tondo “Madonna and Child with Angels” from the National Gallery of Art, paired with the contemporary stamp showing a child on a rocking horse.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eChristmas stamps have been a U.S. postal tradition since 1962, issued each year to meet heavy holiday mail volume. The 1978 pair continued the practice of offering one religious and one secular design, allowing collectors and the public to choose imagery that reflected their own holiday sentiments.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe cachet illustrates the theme “Christmas Past and Present,” with the della Robbia medallion above a nostalgic scene of a child reaching for the same rocking horse depicted on the contemporary stamp. The Holly, Michigan, first-day postmark was deliberately chosen for its seasonal name.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAddressed to Dr. Charles R. Martin in Jacksonville, North Carolina—a community adjacent to the Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune—this cover carries an interesting postal-history connection to a major military installation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA clean, well-centered example with clear strikes, it makes an attractive addition for collectors of Christmas topicals, ArtCraft cachets, or modern U.S. First Day Covers.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Maple Springs","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51398673924260,"sku":null,"price":4.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0580\/4713\/5908\/files\/20260706162815.jpg?v=1783438017","url":"https:\/\/fdc-vault.com\/products\/1978-christmas-15-holly-mi-first-day-cover","provider":"Maple Springs - FDC Vault","version":"1.0","type":"link"}