page_title: Presidents of the United States on U.S. postage stamps
section_title: Thomas Jefferson
hierarchical_section_title: Presidents of the United States on U.S. postage stamps / Thomas Jefferson
caption_attribution_description: English: US Postage stamp, Jefferson, 1894 Issue, 50c
context_page_description: Presidents of the United States have frequently appeared on U.S. postage stamps since the mid-1800s. The United States Post Office Department released its first two postage stamps in 1847, featuring George Washington on one, and Benjamin Franklin on the other. The advent of presidents on postage stamps has been definitive to U.S. postage stamp design since the first issues were released and set the precedent that U.S. stamp designs would follow for many generations.
  The paper postage stamp itself was born of utility, as something simple and easy to use was needed to confirm that postage had been paid for an item of mail. People could purchase several stamps at one time and no longer had to make a special trip to pay for postage each time an item was mailed. The postage stamp design was usually printed from a fine engraving and were almost impossible to forge adequately. This is where the appearance of presidents on stamps was introduced. Moreover, the subject theme of a president, along with the honors associated with it, is what began to define the stamp issues in ways that took it beyond the physical postage stamp itself and is why people began to collect them.
context_section_description: Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was the third president of the United States, serving from 1801 to 1809.
  Thomas Jefferson's likeness over the years has been finely depicted on the face of the various postage issues that honored him. The first issue to depict Jefferson was issued in 1856, (displayed above) nine years after the Post Office issued its first two stamps of Washington and Franklin in 1847. (Before this time hand-stamps were used to mark and confirm payment of postage.)  Almost as popular and famous as George Washington, Jefferson appears comparatively less often on U.S. postage issues, and unlike Washington and Franklin, appears on just two commemorative issues, one in 1904, displayed below, the other on the AMERIPEX presidential issue of 1986. His remaining depictions are confined to regular issues.
  On August 19, 1861, while the American Civil War was wreaking havoc across Virginia and elsewhere, the Post Office issued a 5-cent buff (yellow-brown) colored stamp that honored Thomas Jefferson. The engraving used to produce the image was modeled after a portrait by Gilbert Stuart. The engraver for this issue was William Marshall, who also engraved Washington's image for several issues of this period. This Jefferson issue occurs in several distinct shades of brown. This image was again reprinted on February 3, 1863 in a dark brown color. Also in 1861, Jefferson became the first U.S. president to appear on a Confederate stamp: a 10¢ value in blue, reissued in 1862 with its color changed to rose-pink.
  On April 12, 1870, the third stamp issued by the Post Office to honor Thomas Jefferson was released. The 10¢ stamp issue was printed by the National Bank Note Company. In 1859 the renowned sculptor Hiram Powers was commissioned by the US government to create two life-size marble statues to be placed in the United States Capitol building. One was of Benjamin Franklin; the other was of Thomas Jefferson, completed in 1863. This was the image Powers used to model his engraving of Jefferson on the 10¢ issue of 1870.
  On February 22, 1890 the Post Office released a 30¢ postage stamp that once again honored Thomas Jefferson. The engraver and artist Alfred Jones (1819–1900) created the image of Jefferson that appears on the issue. Jones was noted for his engraved portraits and historic scenes during his time at American Bank Note Company.
  On November 1, 1894, the first 50¢ definitive Postage stamp was issued. It appeared in the first definitive series printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Its design is based on that of the 30¢ black issue of 1890, and employs the same engraved image of Thomas Jefferson by Alfred Jones. While largely identical in design, it is readily distinguished by its orange color, and by the triangles in the upper corners.
  The second 50-cent orange stamp depicting Thomas Jefferson was issued March 23, 1903. The stamp was designed by R. Ostrander Smith from the 1805 a portrait of Jefferson by Gilbert Stuart. Jefferson's portrait was engraved by George F. C. Smillie.
  Absent, of course, from the Washington–Franklin series, Jefferson returned to U.S. postage in the next definitive series (1923), depicted on a nine-cent stamp designed by Clair Aubrey Huston. Huston reused George F. C. Simille's engraving of Jefferson, which had appeared on the 2-cent value of the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition Series. (The model for Simille's engraving was a portrait of Jefferson painted by Gilbert Stuart in 1805). Simille's engraving was transferred to a new die and restored by Bureau engravers John Eissler and Leo Kauffmann for use on the 1923 Jefferson issue.
  Jefferson appears on the 3-cent Presidential issue of 1938, which satisfied the normal letter rate. This was the first definitive U.S. series designed to place any president other than Washington on the normal-letter denomination.
  On September 15, 1954, the 2-cent Jefferson stamp from the Liberty Issue was issued in San Francisco, California. The postcard rate went to 2 cents on the day of this issue was released so the stamp was very com
caption: Issue of 1894
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