FIRST WATERMARKED STAMPS SCOTT NUMBERS 264 TO 275

The first watermarked stamps were released in April of 1895.  The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) took over printing postage stamps from the American Bank Note Company in 1894.  The BEP took the original dies and plates of the 1894 series and made some improvements.  Watermarks were added for security, along with triangles in the corners to distinguish them from the 1894 stamps.

US #264-75 First-Ever Watermarked U.S. Stamps 1895 Bureau Issues – Set of 12 Features double-line “USPS” watermark.  The faint “USPS” watermark is a neat piece of history and fun to detect.

 

 

It’s unusual to see a US stamp series issued over 24 years.  Originally planned as one 5-stamp set, the USPS kept issuing new lighthouse stamps because the public loved them. Howard Koslow, the artist of the stamps, told me he loved painting the designs but was surprised by their popularity.

Introduced in 1990, the Lighthouse stamp series commemorates “the classic coastal sentinels that reflect our nation’s seafaring past.”

US #2470-74 1990 25¢ East Coast Lighthouses First Stamps in the Series

The first set of five booklet stamps was issued to celebrate the US Lighthouse Service’s 200th anniversary.  Today, the service is an important part of the US Coast Guard, which also celebrated its bicentennial in 1990.  Since the 1990 Lighthouse stamps proved popular, several other five-stamp issues followed over the next several years.  Add them to your collection below.  Get the complete set and save money…

US #2969-73 1995 32¢ Great Lakes Lighthouses Five historical lighthouses, one from each of the Great Lakes.  Since the early 19th century, they’ve aided mariners through violent storms, fog, and ice. US #3787-91 2003 37¢ Southeastern Lighthouses Honors five lighthouses of  southeastern United States.  Some have survived through Civil War battles to continue guiding mariners to this day.

US #4146-50 2007 41¢ Pacific Lighthouses Pictures lighthouses on America’s Pacific coast.  They guide sailors through the waters of the Pacific Northwest coast, Alaska, Hawaii, and California. US #4409-13 2009 44¢ Gulf Coast Lighthouses These lighthouses had to withstand severe weather and the Civil War.  Few survived decades of erosion, and man’s attempts to save them. US #4791-95 2013 46¢ New England Lighthouses Some of the oldest in the US! Many have guarded America’s shorelines even before it became a country.  They’re now beloved landmarks.

PREXIES

 

I want to tell you about one of the most popular stamp series in US history – the 1938 Presidential Series.  These stamps are commonly known as the “Prexies.”  The series was approved by stamp-collecting president Franklin D. Roosevelt and pictures every US president from Washington to Coolidge.  It also includes influential figures Benjamin Franklin and Martha Washington.

One of the most interesting facts about the Prexies is the designs were found in a contest FDR ordered the postmaster general to run.  The contest asked the public to submit design suggestions for the new series.

A total of 1,122 candidates sent in their designs!  The winner was Elaine Rawlinson of New York City.  She won $500 and is forever remembered as the woman who designed the Prexies.

US #803-34

US #807(CF1) and #807(CF2) Unusual Counterfeit U.S. #807 Prexie Stamp Phony Stamp More Valuable Than the Government Issue! Get a neat piece of philatelic history that’s seldom seen in US stamp collections.  Using a blend of photography and lithograph printing, 33-year-old Nathan Levine of New York City counterfeited copies of the 1938 3¢ Thomas Jefferson stamp.  With the stamp in great demand to satisfy the first-class letter rate, Levine easily sold sheets of 100 perforate and imperforate stamps for $1.75 each until his arrest in 1949. Imperforate

US #839-51 Many lower value Prexie stamps were issued in coil rolls of 500 stamps, primarily for commercial use.  Many stamps were pre-cancelled and sold to large mailers who used machines to affix the stamps to letters. Nine different coils were issued “sidewise” with the vertical perforations between the stamps.  Four stamps were issued “endwise” with horizontal perforations between the stamps.

IMPERFORATE BOOKLETS

 We’ve recently learned stamp booklets sold in full uncut sheets have some stamps that are partially imperforate.  Press sheets of sheet stamps don’t have these imperforate varieties – only booklet press sheets do.  When these sheets are finished into booklets, the booklets are cut apart.  But on unfinished press sheets the booklets remain attached.  This makes some stamp blocks and pairs horizontally or vertically imperforate between – where the cut would have been made between two different booklets.

OKALAHOMA LAND RUSH

 

The land offered for settlement in the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 was called the “Unassigned Lands” and originally belonged to Native American tribes.  This land was held by the federal government until the Indian Appropriations Act of 1889 was passed.  This act allowed President Benjamin Harrison to open two million acres to settlers.

When the Homestead Act was signed into law by President Lincoln in 1862, settlers could claim up to 160 acres each if they lived on and improved the land.  This was the American dream for tens of thousands of people across the United States.  When land was opened for settlement, they all came to stake their claims.

US #1092 Oklahoma’s 50th Anniversary of Statehood Commemorative US #4121 Oklahoma’s 100th Anniversary of Statehood Commemorative

SCOTT #C-18 GRAF ZEPPELIN 50 CENT

 On October 2, 1933, one of my favorite US stamps was issued in New York City – #C18.  The stamp had a total of five First Days of Issue – one at each city the Graf Zeppelin stopped at from New York to Chicago.  Today, stamps have only one First Day of Issue, so this was quite unusual!  .

Only about 32,000 of the 324,070 #C18s stamps were sold.  That remaining 90% of the Post Office Department’s stock was destroyed!  That makes #C18 scarce today in any condition.  Get the stamp plus genuine covers flown aboard the Graf Zeppelin in your collection today…

SCOTT #C-14-C-17 GRAF ZEPPELIN

 

Of the many reasons why we collectors treasure the 1930 Graf Zeppelin airmails, one is the history they tell.  US #C13-15 went on sale April 19, 1930.  They were issued to commemorate the Zeppelin’s first round-trip voyage between Europe and the Americas.  These famous stamps are artifacts from that exciting time in postal history.  The Zeppelin airmails are also really scarce.  They were on sale for only five weeks, and very few sold.  All leftover stamps were destroyed!  And with the passage of almost a century, their scarceness has only increased.  Serious collectors around the world dream of owning them.  The historic Graf Zeppelin flying over New York City in 1928.  Click to enlarge.

US #C13 1930 65¢ Zeppelin Over Atlantic Ocean

US #C14 1930 $1.30 Zeppelin Between Continents …