Evening star., 1952-12-14
Stamps Were in the News
When Star First Circulated

the release Of the 1O-cent,
green. showing a portrait Of
Washington by Stuart, and
March IA. 1856. conceivably
was the date of the release Of
the scent. red brown. showing
a portrait of jefferson by
Stuart. A cover bearing the
12-cent, black, Washington, and
the date July l. 1851, is men
toned by Scott. but there is
some question about exactly
when this adhesive was put in
circulation.
Each of the portraits Of the
five constituents of the 1851
1857 series of stamps is sup
posed to have been engraved by
Joseph Ives PeaSe u809-1883),
an artist who also was an in
ventor Of distinction.
Publication Office Of The Star
in its infancy was first two
doors west Of Twelfth street on
D and later on the south side of
Pennsylvania avenue at Elev-
enth. The Post Office Depart
ment during the same period
was at Seventh and e streets
NV. A messenger made the
trip between the print shop and
the postal headquarters several
times a day. From 1865 onward
news of the postal system and,
incidentally, of stamps was a
standard feature of the paper.
New-StyIe Stomp Mentioned
To illustrate this develop
ment. this passage from The
Star of February %, 1890, is
cited: 'The new style of postage
stamps were placed on sale to-
day at the City Post Office, but
there was no particular run
on the bargain counter {.
where that commodity is dis
posed of. To the majority of
purchasers the old style sickly
green were given, and only the
few curious ones who asked for
the dark carmine twos sue
ceeded in getting them"
A check of the files of the
paper gives ample evidence Of
publicity for practically all new
emissions from 1893 to 1881,
when the Scent Yorktown
commemorative broke all prece-
dents for intensity of coverage.
The bicolored commemorative
depicting Washington; Rocham-
beau and De Grasse was a sem
sation. It led to the Associated
Press and other wire services
devoting special attention to
philatelic affairs. The Wash
ington Bicentennial series Of
1882 was granted more space
in the newspapers of the Ma
ton than had been accorded all
previous commemorative to-
gether.
Much of this progress was
due to Post Office Department
enterprise under the leadership
of Michael L. Eidsness, jr.,
superintendent of the Division
of Stamps in the Coolidge and
Hoover administrations. He set
the example which was fol-
lowed and expanded by the
administration of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt. himself
a systematic stamp collector.
Organizations All Helped
But credit likewise is due to
the activities Of many philatelic
organizations, including the
Washington Philatelic Society
and the Collectors Club Of
Washington, the Bureau Issues
Association, the American Air
mail Society. the American Phil
atelic Society, the Society Of
Philatelic Americans, the Ma
tional Federation of Stamp Clubs
and the American Philatelic
Congress. Stamps Magazine,
Mekel's Weekly Stamp News,
Weekly Philatelic Gossip and the
Western Stamp Collector also
have helped.
Still another factor in phila-
telic advancement has been the
publication of weekly stamp col
umns in newspapers of large
circulation. The Stars regular
Sunday philatelic department
was started on December 4, 1882,
and has appeared every week
since that date-1,045 Sundays.
1t has been written without in
terruption by the same men,
49,