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.

 

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 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.

1901 1-10c Pan-American Exposition, Scott 294-299

The next set of commemoratives, the 1901 Pan-American Exposition series, pictured advances made during the 19th century – thrilling visitors with demonstrations of speed on land, sea and rail. They were the first American bi-color stamps issued since the 1869 Pictorials. History was also made when President McKinley was assassinated at the Pan-American Expo – making Vice President Teddy Roosevelt the youngest US president in history.

The 4¢ denomination is one of my favorites and features a miniature engraving of an early electric automobile used for passenger service by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Part of the U.S. Capitol can be seen in the background.

The 10-cent stamp shows the SS St. Paul, a trans-Atlantic ocean liner launched in 1895, notable for being one of the first steel passenger liners built in the United States. It served both as a commercial passenger ship and later as an auxiliary cruiser during the Spanish-American War. 

Next up, we have an unusual set of revenue stamps issued On August 24, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Potato Control Law, which led to the creation of short-lived Potato stamps. I've never seen these before. They are designated "R" in the Scott catalog.

Each farmer was given a quota of production and for any excess had to pay a ¾ cent per pound tax.  All the potatoes that were sold under the allotments were tax-free and for this, a tax-exempt stamp was used. Under this law, people and companies were not allowed to buy or offer to buy any potatoes that were not packed in containers approved by the Secretary of Agriculture and sealed with the official stamps.  If anyone was found in violation of the law, they could be fined $1,000 for their first offense and $1,000 and a year in jail for their second offense.

Outrage over the law brought it before the Supreme Court.  On January 6, 1936, the US Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional and the Potato Act was repealed. Few farmers used the stamps because they were only on sale for less than two months.

The stamps picture an artist's rendering of a woman, no one in specified.

Louisiana Purchase

Beginning April 21, a series of postage stamps to commemorate the Louisiana purchase was issued for sale during the term of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition from May 1 to December 1, 1904. This series is as follows: 

Denomination 

1-Cent Green  Robert R. Livingston

2-cent Red Thomas Jefferson 

 

3-cent Purple James Monroe

5-cent Blue William McKinley

l0-cent Brown Map showing territory Of Louisiana purchase

The size of the 1901 commemorative stamp is 31/32nd by 1-3/8 inches. The words "Commemorative series of 1904" in small type appear at the top of each design, with the legend "United States of America" in prominent type, and the surnames of the subjects of the 1-, 2-, 3-, and 5-cent denominations, with years of birth and death, also the denominations spelled out are shown in the lower portion. The purpose was to make the subjects of this series of stamps appropriate. Thus, Livingston, who as United States minister to France, conducted the negotiations for the Louisiana purchase. Jefferson, the president of the United States at the time of the purchase. Monroe, special ambassador to France in the matter of the purchase who, with Livingston, closed the negotiations. McKinley, who as President, approved the acts of Congress officially connecting the Government with the commemorative exposition. And the 10-cent stamp showing the territory of the purchase itself. These stamps were first placed on sale April 21, 1904, at New Orleans, La.

Parcel Post stamps of 1912-1913

1-cent Post office clerk

2-cent City carrier

3-cent Railway postal clerk

4-cent Rural carrier

5-cent Mail train

10-cent Steamship and mail tender

15-cent Automobile service

20-cent Airplane carrying mail

25-cent Manufacturing

50-cent Dairying

75-cent Harvesting

$1.00 Fruit Growing

Before 1912, private companies controlled package deliveries throughout the United States. Because delivering packages in larger cities could make more money, these companies often overlooked small towns.

That changed when Congress passed a law on August 24, 1912, creating a parcel post service for fourth-class mail. Instead of private companies, the Postal Department would now deliver packages to all parts of the country. Rural Americans would now have access to goods and merchandise they could not have gotten before. This gave rise to mail order giants like Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Montgomery Ward & Co.

On February 19, 1914, parents in Idaho took advantage of the affordable Parcel Post rate to mail their daughter to her grandmother’s house.  It was one of several instances of people mailing children using stamps.

The first airmail stamps

Air-mail service was established May 15, 1918, between Washington, Philadelphia, and New York. Letters and sealed parcels, the latter not exceeding 30 inches in length and girth girth combined, could be mailed at Washington, Philadelphia, and New York for any city in the United States or its possessions. The rate of postage was fixed at 24 cents per ounce or fraction thereof. To meet this postage requirement, the department issued a distinctive stamp in the 24-cent denomination, which was first placed on sale May 13, 1918, at Washington, D.C.

The stamp is rectangular in shape. about 7/8 inches long and 3/4 inch high. The central design is a mail airplane in flight. Above. in a curved line of Roman capital letters, are the words "U. S. Postage."  The rate of postage for air-mail service was changed to 16 cents, effective July 15, 1918. and the Department issued a new air-mail postage stamp of the 16-cent denomination, which was first placed on sale July 11, 1918, at Washington, D.C. The color is green.

The rate of postage on air-mail matter was reduced to 6 cents, effective December 15,

1918.  A new air-mail stamp of the 6-cent denomination was issued to conform to the new rate,

but no change was made in the design of this stamp from that of the 16-cent and 24-cent

air-mail stamps. The color is orange. This stamp was first placed on sale at Washington, D.C.,

on December 10, 1918.

Of course, we can't talk about this set of stamps without mentioning the famous "inverted Jenny" error.  Only one sheet of 100 of the invert stamps was ever found, making this error one of the most prized in philately. The story goes that collector William T. Robey went to the post office to buy the new stamps, and as the clerk brought out a sheet, his "heart stood still." He paid for the sheet, and asked to see more, but the remainder of the sheets were normal. The postal clerk who sold the sheet later said he did not realize the image was inverted because he had never seen an airplane before. Robey began to contact both stamp dealers and journalists, to tell them of his find. After a week that included visits from postal inspectors who tried to buy it back. Robey refused, reportedly hiding the sheet under his mattress. Robey eventually sold the sheet to noted Philadelphia dealer Eugene Klein for $15,000. Not a bad return, considering he bought the sheet for $24.

Today, a single copy of the stamp can go anywhere between $126,000 and $575,100. Mystic Stamp Company had one for sale at $280,000. Too rich for your blood? For $4.25, you can buy a repro copy.