The Washington times., 1901-10-20
FORMER POSTAGE STAMPS.
Faces Which Have Appeared On
the Issues Since 1Si7.
Many Are Now Worth Thousands of
Doilnrs-'Thc Two-Cent Denomina-
tiOn Printed in Hack During the
Civil Wnr-Some other Examples.

Since the establishment of tie postal
| system in the United States it has been
the rule of the department that the face
| Of no living man shall appear upon post
| age stamps. and. no matter how popular
the parsonage. this rule has never been
disregarded. Now that Mr.. Mckinley has
passed from this life he at once becomes
eligible to place upon the postal issues
| of the Government.
If the face of President Mckinley shall
supersede that of Franklin, which has
had a place upon the 1-cent stamp for
exactly fifty years. it is quite likely that
Franklin would in turn supersede Daniel
| Webster. who has had a place upon the
| Decent stamp since 1880. In case Mr.. Nc
Kinley should appear on the 2-cent stamp,
| Washington might take Franklins place
| on the 1-cent and Franklin succeed Web
ster on the 10-cent.
While the preference seems always to
| have been accorded the Presidents Of the
! United States. yet Presidents have been
| sidetracked for army and naval heroes
| and statesmen. OF the dead Presidents
| the faces of Washington, Jefferson. Madi-
! son, Jackson, Taylor. Lincoln, Grant, and
/ Garfield have had places upon United
| States postage stamps, while those not so
! honored We're both of the Adamses, Mon
roe, Van Buren, William Henry Harri-
son. Tyler. Polk Fillmore, Pierce. Bu-
chanan, Johnson, Hayes, Arthur, and
Benjamin Harrison. AS the last named
has been dead but comparatively brief
time and no changes in postage stamps
have occurred since his death. his name
should really not appear among those
who have not been honored by the Post
Office Department.
There have been numerous changes
during the fifty years since the first real
I series of postage stamps was issued by
this Government in the profiles upon
stamps. Presidents have been shifted
here and there as the department deem
cd expedient: some have disappeared al
together and others temporarily, but
there is one philanthropist and scholar
who has held his original place from the
beginning of the postal service down to
this day-Benjamin Franklin. Washing
ton follows a very close second, he hav-
ing lost his place upon the 3-cent stamp
0hen the same as our 2-cent stamp OF
today in 1869, for a period of one year,
very primitive locomotive and tender
occupying the central portion of the 3
cent stamp. However. even in that series,
washingtons profile appeared upon the
6-cent stamp
Prior to 1915 there were in the United
States no postage stamps of any sort.
Two years before that date Great Britain
had been experimenting. with some de-
gree of success. and in 1S45 the postmas-
ters of Alexandria. Va. and st. Louis,
Mo. issued stamps on their own account.
Up to that time it had been the custom
to despatch mail without the prepayment
of postage, the fee, according 10 weight
and distance, being paid by the recipient
as a general thing. The postmasters
mentioned had printed at their local
printing offices crude labels, the first
bearing the words: Alexandria Postof-
fee, paid cents" the ST. Louis stamp
representing the figues 5. 10. and 20 cents
just above the picture of two bears stand
ing with their paws upon the seal of
Missouri. In 1916 postmasters in Millbury,
Mass. Brat;leoorO. VI, Baltimore. Md,
New Haven, Conn, and Providence, r.
l., followed suit. Copies of these stamps
now sell readily at from SIS TO 5000, ac-
cordlng to the number of copies in exist
ence.
In 1S47 the United States issued two
stamps, OF the value of and 10 cents.
The portrait upon the scent stamp is that
Of Franklin, after painting by Long
acre. The venerable statesman and in
ventor looks the picture of contentment,
his long curls hanging down upon his
shoulders. white neckerchief and fur
collar about his throat
a reproduction of Stuart's famous paint
ing of Washington, within an ellipse, ap-
pears upon the 10-cent denomination the
words: Ten cents and two large ks
on either lower portion. and ~. S. Post
office" on the upper part, all in black,
complete the stamp.
After two years experience it was found
that two values were utterly inadequate
to meet the demands of the people; in fact,
the issuance Of postage stamps seemed to
have given wonderful stimulus to letter
writing. and in 1851 what may be termed
the first regular series of United States
postage stamps was issued. There were
eight denominations, l, 3, 5. 10 u, "a. 30,
50 cents. and Washington face was upon
FIVE of them. Franklin appeared upon the
l and 30 cents and jefferson entered the
arena upon the cents This series con-
tinued in use until 1861. Up to 1856 all
stamps had been furnished The public in
or scissors to sever them, ana copies of
the "A, 90 and 80 cents. without perforation. |
unused, are worth a fortune each.
From 1861 to 1866 the denomina tions of |
2 and 10 cents were added. The full face |
OF Andrew Jackson appears upon the 2 |
cent and it is claimed this is the poorest |
stamp from an artistic point of view the |
United States ever issued. The face is |
very large, covering almost the entire |
stamp, and printed in black, a most un-
slightly label. The face Of the martyred |
Lincoln is imprinted upon the l5-conts, be |
ing a reproduction from a fayorite photo |
graph. This was Lincoln's first appear
ance upon postage stamp, and since that /
time no series of regular postage stamps |
in the United States has appeared that
he has not stood shoulder to shoulder with
Franklin and Washington.
In 1868 1t was found that certain persons
were removing the canceling ink by means
of chemicals. and using the stamps a sec
ond time. To obYiate this fraudulent
Practice it was ordered that all postage
stamps be embossed. and for three years
every sheet of stamps was placed under
a spe cially devised machine which made
a little square OF pin pricks, third of
an inch each way. upon the face of each
stamp. When the stamp was Cancelled the
ink penetrated these pin prIcks to the
back of the paper and prevented the sue
cessful cleaning of the stamps.
In 1863 the department issued it's first
series OF stamps in two colors. or rather.
a partial series. The head Of Franklin
appears upon the 1-cent, pOstman, riding
a horse going at break-neck speed is de-
picted upon the 2-cent; an oid-fsshioned
" ood- Dtis ming funel-stacked locomotive
is the central picture of the Scent; Wash
ington's face is upon the 6-cents; a great
eagle with outstretched wings. resting
upon a shield represents the l0-Cents: an