Have
you ever heard of Narcotic Tax stamps? They reflect an important part
of our nation’s history. After the Revenue Act of 1918, these special
Narcotic Tax stamps were created. They were issued to help raise money
to fund WWI. Drug importers, manufacturers, and producers all had to
place them on drug packages to show the tax had been paid.
The very first Narcotic stamps were Documentary stamps of 1914.
Today marks the 290th anniversary of George Washington’s birth. Did you know he’s been pictured on more stamps than all other presidents combined?
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US #704-15 |
Key U.S. Stamp Set Honoring Washington’s 200th Birth Anniversary |
On February 20, 1915, the Panama-Pacific Exposition opened in San Francisco, California. It honored the discovery of the Pacific Ocean and the completion of the Panama Canal. The Post Office Department began planning a set of commemoratives for the exposition in 1904. By 1912, nine designs were on sale. Since the exposition didn’t open until 1915, the Panama-Pacific stamps remained current for nearly three years – longer than any other commemoratives!
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Famous Wild West rodeo star Bill Pickett was chosen as a subject for the 1994 Legends of the West se-tenant sheet of 20. But USPS authorities didn’t know the image they chose would embroil them in one of history’s biggest stamp controversies… |
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In
1898, America and Spain were fighting for control over Cuba. Spain
deployed over 200,000 soldiers to Cuba, so President McKinley sent the
battleship Maine to protect US interests. On February 15 – 20 days after arriving in Havana Harbor – the ship mysteriously exploded, killing 260 crew members.
The Maine
explosion ignited the Spanish-American War. To help fund the war, the
US taxed many different consumer products: liquor, matches, and
medicine, and more. This led to issuing beautifully engraved battleship
Tax stamps, issued the same year the Maine sank.
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US #3192 |
1998 USS Maine Explosion |
Today
marks Thomas Edison’s 175th birth anniversary. It goes without saying,
he’s one of the most famous and prolific inventors and businessmen of
all time. Fittingly, his tremendous impact on the world has been
commemorated on US stamps. As I look at them, I wonder how it must’ve
been to live in a world without lightbulbs! I can’t imagine the
excitement that pulsed through the crowd at Menlo Park, NJ, as Edison
first unveiled his famous electric bulb…
Thomas Edison died on October 18, 1931, as one of the most well-known and respected men in the world at that time.
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On February 1, 1995, the USPS issued two Love stamps that were both popular and controversial. They featured child angels taken from Raphael’s massive masterpiece, the Sistine Madonna. The USPS thought they’d be perfect for new stamps in the Love Series. However, C. Douglas Lewis, a curator at the National Gallery of Art and vice chairman of the Citizen’s Stamp Advisory Committee, warned that child angels represented death – not love.
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US #2949
Today marks Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 140th birth anniversary. Did you know he was a lifelong stamp collector?
He started at just 8 years old, building a collection of nearly 1
million stamps in his lifetime! When he contracted polio in 1921, his
collection helped settle his mind. While governor of New York,
Roosevelt became a member of the American Philatelic Society. And
throughout all four terms as president, he actively shared his love of
stamps with the nation.
During WWII and the Great Depression, FDR used stamps as an outlet to raise spirits. He also had a traveling exhibit (the “Philatelic Truck”)
created to show America how stamps were made. Roosevelt even sketched
several designs himself AND personally approved every stamp issued
during his presidency!
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“I owe my life to my hobbies – especially stamp collecting.”
– Franklin D. Roosevelt
When
gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in California in 1848, word spread
like crazy. Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide flocked to
California’s northern territory to make their fortune. 750,000 pounds
of gold were found! This massive influx of people pushed California to
become our 31st state just two years later.
As California’s
population exploded, so did the need for connecting new settlers with
the rest of the country with mail.
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The California Gold Rush radically changed US mail forever. From it, stagecoach mail, the Pony Express, and the Transcontinental Railroad were born. … |
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Benjamin
Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 – 316 years ago today. Franklin
was a statesman, scientist, printer, and America’s first postmaster
general! Below are several US stamps honoring him and his contribution
to building our country.
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Official stamps were first introduced on July 1, 1873. They were in use for a little over ten years before they were declared obsolete in 1884. (The stamps made a brief, limited return in 1910 as Postal Savings Official stamps, but were only in use for four years.) Official stamps are unique because they were strictly used on government mail. Plus, they were issued in small quantities, which means they’re quite scarce today.
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US #O127//162 |
