Stamps

 Not sure what I'll do with this entry yet, but here's a start:

Five cent portrait reproduced from a drawing by James B. Longacre, three-quarters face looking left, white neckerchief and fur collar to coat, the ground enclosure surrounded by a faintly engraved wreath of leaves, on which are the letters "U" and "S" placed in the left and right upper corners, respectively,  and in each of the two lower corners a large figure "5."

On a line curved with the upper portion of the medallions are the words "Post Office", and following the lower line of the medallion outside the enclosure the words "Five cents." A border of fine straight lines surrounds the entire stamp. Color, light brown.

Ten-cent Portrait of Washington from Stuart's painting, three-quarters face, looking to the right, white neckerchief and black coat, faint wreath of artificial leaves surrounding the enclosing line of the medallion and extending to the border on which are the letters "U" and "S" on the left and right upper corners, respectively, and in each of the lower corners a large Roman numeral "X." Color, black.

Both stamps are imperforate and had to be separated by scissors. Approximately 5 million copies of the 5 cent stamp were printed, and 2 million of the 10 cent stamp. I actually owned a copy of the 10 cent stamp once upon a time. It's not known how many copies of these two stamps survive today, but surely they are both rare. 

The first stamps to be perforated for easier separation. They were perforated 15 holes to the inch. That last stamp is a one cent carrier stamp.—Picture of an eagle upon the branch of a tree, poised as

for flight, looking to the left. The central portion of the ground is dark, shaded into white near the circumference. Within a dark border described by double lines there is a space left at the top for the words "U. S. P. 0. dispatch" in white capitals, and at the bottom "Pre-paid. One cent." Color, light indigo blue. Here are some color images:

It is designated Scott LO2. This is an interesting piece of early American postal history.

In 1851, ordinary postage generally got a letter from one post office to another. If you wanted a letter picked up from your home or business and carried to the post office—or delivered from the post office to your address—you could pay an additional carrier fee.

The government therefore issued special carrier stamps. The Eagle Carrier was intended to standardize this service in major cities. Mystic Stamp Company has one for sale at $1,150.

Newspaper stamps

The 5-, 10-, and 25-cent newspaper and periodical stamps are alike in general style, 2 by 3% inches in dimension, the denominations being repeated in Arabic and Roman numerals, in the upper corners Arabic and midway of the sides Roman. The numbers"10" and "5", five-eighths of an inch high.

The stamps were intended to be purchased by publishers to mail their publications where payment in money could not be made and the postage could not be collected at destination. The stamps had a relatively short life between September 1865 and about February 1, 1869. 

They are quite rare, as they were often attached to a bundle of papers, and torn off and discarded at their point of destination. This set, with small flaws, was offered at $650 by the Mystic Stamp Co.

This is one of my favorite series of stamps, as they were the first ones to show scenes rather than just portraits. The 2 cent shows a post horse and rider. The 3 cent shows a locomotive. The 10 cent, a shield, on which is resting an eagle with outspread wings. 12 cent the ocean steamship, the S.S. Adriatic. 15 cent the landing of Columbus.  24 cent painting by John Vanderlyn located in the U.S. Capitol. 30 cent another eagle and shield. A complete set of these in unused condition can easily reach into the tens of thousands of dollars. The 3-cent stamp is the one most commonly found at between $8 (used) and $235 mint. 335,534,850 of these were printed. The 90-cent stamp is the most rare with 55, 500 printed.

This began a long series of stamps, most showing side-facing marble-like busts of U.S. presidents and statesmen. The exceptions were the 5-cent Zachary Taylor and James Garfield, both of whom died in office, Garfield being assassinated less than four months into his presidency. 

Also, we see the first special delivery stamps, designated Scott catalog number E1 and E2. They picture a running messenger. When attached to an envelope bearing the correct amount of regular postage, it provided for immediate delivery of that letter to the recipient in any town or village with a population of 4,000 or more. That population restriction was of course expanded as more modern means of delivery were introduced (motorcycle, truck, car). The last special delivery stamp was issued in 1971 in a 60-cent denomination, and special delivery was terminated in 1997, leaving many stamps unused which are no longer valid for use as regular postage. Today, services like Priority Mail and Express Mail have replaced the need for special delivery stamps.

 

Here are last two special delivery stamps issued in 1969 and 1971, on first day covers showing the postal service's cartoony mascot, Mr. Zip, introduced in 1963.

Next up are the postal service's first commemoratives, the Columbian series of 1893 to commemorate the World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago during 1893. The most common is the 2-cent denomination, which was the rate for a first class letter of the time. More than 1.4 billion of these were printed. The rarest is the $5 denomination, with just 27,350 printed. Five dollars back then is worth about  $186 today. Oddly enough, the 10-cent Columbian is fairly common with 16,516,950 printed because the stamp served a dual purpose of first-class and registered mail fees. Registered mail started in 1855.

The next set of commemoratives would not be printed until five years later, in 1898, with the Trans-Mississippi series. By comparison, the U.S. Postal Service today issues a new commemorative just about every month. Again, the 2-cent denomination is the most common, the $2 the most rare. The Trans-Mississippi commemoratives are considered by many to be the most beautiful series ever produced. The $1 stamp picturing cattle in a storm is particularly striking. "Western Cattle in Storm" is considered by many to be the most beautiful U.S. stamp ever issued. Taken from an 1878 painting called "The Vanguard" by Scottish artist John A. MacWhirter, it actually shows a group of Scottish cattle in a snowstorm in the West Highlands. A complete set in mint condition was offered by the Mystic Stamp Company for $6,375 in 2026.