The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1907-05-18
spAIN's QUEEN ON OUR STAMPS.

Isabella the First WOman's Face to
Appear ON American Postage.
Queen Isabella OF Spain was the first
woman whose portrait was printed on
United States postage stamps, says the
New York Post. When-th postOffice de-
partment decided in 1902 to bring out
an entire new series, 1t was suggested
that 1t would be a graceful thing to
pace the likeness Of a woman upon one
of the new ISSUE The idea met with
instant approval. The department in
vited persons interested to send In the
names Of famous American women ellg-
lille for the honor Of place In the
gallery of postal issues. As might have
been supposed, number Of names Of
i'lustrious women were forwarded, but
a large plurality favored bestowins the
distinction upon Martha Washington,
wife of the first President Of the Uni
ted States It was decided that Martha
Washington's likeness should be sub
stituted for that Of Gen. Sherman on
the Scent stamp.
The next question was to discover
suitable portrait Of Mrs. Washington
and this occasioned no little difficulty.
Portraits of this first lady of the land"
appeared to be hard to find-in fact,
but one or two pictures were at all
suitable, though the entire country was
ransacked by stamp collectors and 9th
ers in the effort to find some new por-
trait. The stamp is printed In deli
cate lavender shade and has been de-
dared to be one OF the most artistic the
United States has ever issued.
The discussion to place the likeness
Of Martha Washington upon a postage
stamp supplanting one Of the great
generals Of the civil war, was duly ex-
plotted 1t was declared that to Mrs.
Washington would belong the distinc-
ton Of being the first woman to be SO
IGNORED, until collector called atten-
ton to the fact that the claim had been
pre-empted ten years previously by
Queen Isabella. Attention was directed
to the 81 stamp Of the Columbian Sc
ries. issued to commemorate the
Worlds Fair at Chicago in 1893. Upon
this stamp appeared the likenesses of
Queen Isabella and Christopher Colum
bus, side by side In Oyals, the stamps
being twice as large as our current is
suA
In addition to the large portrait on
the 81 stamp, Isabella Is depicted on
the scent denomination, where she sits
upon her throne and listens to Column
bus as he appeals to her for aid in
fitting out his ships. The Scent stamp
depicts Isabella restoring Columbus to
favor; the 1O-cent denomination repre-
sents Columbus introducing to Ferdi-
nand and Isabella the Indians, who
returned with him. Isabella sits upon
Ter throne and hears the official an
Louncement Of Columbus of his discov-
ery, according to the scene on the Is
cent stamp and upon the 81 denomina-
ton is engraved the dramatic scene
where the queen offers to pledge her
Jewels to aid Columbus In his under
sak1u8. nC piCtuAC OA eAC 20 otdAup
slows Columbus describing to Isabella
mis- third voyage to the western hemi-
sphere Thus it appears that Queen
isabella has been exploited upon seven
United States postage stamps.
The stamps Of Spain, Cuba, Porto
Rico and the Philippines, bearing the
likeness to Queen isabella, H., have al
ways been favorites with collectors, and
the Columbian stamps, issued by the
United States In 1888, upon which her
ancestor is depleted seven times, were
rerhaps the most popular series Of
stamps ever issued, although the two
n lored Pan-American, or Buffalo Ex-
pcsition.r stamps pressed them hard