Evening star., 1937-03-28
RY JAMES WALDO FAWCETT.

There has been plenty Of excitement
In Washington philatelic circles dur
ing the past week. Release of the
Accent, blue gray, Army "commemora-
tive" on Tuesday created furore al
most unprecedented in recent months.
No sooner had the stamp been placed
on frst-day sale than collectors
realized that its design was historical
ly inaccurate. Hurrying to the Smith
sonian Institution to verify their
suspicious, they found that the por-
trait of Gen Thomas j. CStonewalD
Jackson had been reproduced correct
ly. with the uniform showing three
stars in laurel wreath, but they also
discovered that the portrait Of Gen.
Robert E. Lee had been tampered
uith-only two stars and no wreath
appeared
Capt Charles Carey, assistant cura-
tor of the Division of History at the
institution, patiently explained the
difference.
At the request of the inquirers he
produced a copy of the original text
of Uniform and Dress of the Army
of the Confederate States" General
Order No. 9. printed by Charles H
Wynne, Richmond, with lithograph
plates by E. Crehen, under the super
vision of Adj. and Inspector Gen. S.
Cooper, dated June s, 1861. Then, in
support of the evidence of the record,
he displayed uniforms of Southern
officers preserved in the Arts and In
dustries Building of the Smithsonian
Both book and garments contra
dicted the Post Office Department S
representation of the famous Con-
federate hero. The uniform in which
he was clad in the stamp composition
was that of lieutenant colonel. In
effect, Lee had been denoted!
The story broke in The Star for
Wednesday and was reprinted through
out the country on Thursday.
Meanwhile Alvin W. Hall, director
of the Bureau of Engraving and Print
ing, was quoted as saying: You can't
see all the stars, because you can't
see around the coat lapel in the photo
graph" And Acting Third Assistant
Postmaster General Roy NJ. North was
reported as declaring: "One star is
hidden behind, rather around, the
coat lapel"
Both officials insisted that the por-
trait was a faithful copy of a photo
graph supplied by August Dietz, in
ternationally acknowledged the out
standing living authority on the pos
tai issues of the Confederacy. A
check-up. however, proved that Mr..
Dietz's photograph printed in The
Star on May "a, 1886, plainly shows
three stars Also. further investiga-
ton developed that the advance
photograph of the stamp, given out
by the Post Office Department press
bureau and reproduced in The Star
for March 7, 1887, shows no stars at
all. It. therefore, was plain that until
shortly before the stamp went to press
Lee was scheduled to be depicted in
civilian garb.
OF course, no one in either the
Bureau of Engraving and Printing or
the Post Office Department is to
blame for the alleged insult to the
Confederate leader. The mistake was
purely accidental IN character. But
the whole hectic incident illus
trates the need for the appointment
of a philatelic adviser to serve as a
research investigator and as a liaison
agent between the Government and
the philatelic public, including that
portion of the latter which, on Tues
day, paid over to the Philatelic Agency
and the Washington City Post Office
total of s62,l88.56 for specimen copies
of the latest error" stamp.
Mr. North has announced that the
Accent Army stamp will not be re-
printed in corrected form.
Scenic subjects, it has become
known, probably will be used in the