page_title: Columbian Issue
section_title: 2¢ stamp
hierarchical_section_title: Columbian Issue / 2¢ stamp
caption_attribution_description: English: The 2¢ Columbian.
context_page_description: The Columbian Issue, often known as simply the Columbians, is a set of 16 postage stamps issued by the United States to commemorate the World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago during 1893. The finely-engraved stamps were the first commemorative stamps issued by the United States, depicting various events during the career of Christopher Columbus and are presently much valued by collectors.
context_section_description: John Vanderlyn's painting The Landing of Columbus, originally commissioned by Congress, and already used on $5 banknotes and the 15-cent stamp from the 1869 Pictorial Issue, was again pressed into service.  By a substantial margin, this is the most common stamp of the Columbian Issue.  More than a billion copies were printed, more than 70 percent of the total number of Columbian Issue stamps, in part because it paid the first-class rate for domestic mail.
  Damage to one transfer roll resulted in a chevron-shaped notch in the hat of the third man on Columbus' right on some copies of this stamp.  This variety, known as the "broken hat", is no longer considered significant enough for the Scott catalogue to provide it with its own minor number listing, although the catalogue still tracks separate, slightly greater, prices for the variant, which is popular with collectors.
caption: The 2¢ Columbian
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