Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
What I'm about to say will be nothing new to most of you, just the random ramblings of a newbie to the hobby... Read at your own risk!
I have been studying this stamp a bit yesterday and today. It is Scott Number 1031, released on August 26th, 1954 in Chicago Illinois. This kind of surprised me because it looked older, but okay, I guess 64 years is kind of old anyway.
Apparently (from web) this was from a portrait by Gilbert Stuart, designed by Charles Chickering and was produced from a drawing of a photograph from the National Gallery (kind of cool). The portrait was painted from life in 1795, when Washington would have been 63 years old. He seems to be wearing some kind of clasp around his neck, probably fashionable at the time. Funny, I can't think of any pictures where his hair was not white, but at age 63 it probably was all white, LOL! Turns out from a bit more reading, Washington never wore a wig. His hair was powdered white, which was a custom at the time, hence the "whiteness" in most (all?) portraits.
It was engraved by Richard Bower of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Love these engravings, to me they have a lot of majesty to them.
Several things struck me:
* A question: Washington appears A LOT on stamps - Does anyone know how many? I have had a hard time getting an exact number, but 36 appears to be a close number(?)
* Stamp prices in 1954 were $0.03. In 64 years they have only increased $0.47. That is an increase of 3/4 of a penny every year. That doesn't seem too bad to me, although I hear many people complain about this in the US, but in reality, lots of prices of common items inflate at a much staggering rate, or maybe it just feels that way. Car prices are pretty staggering these days! 1954 Car - $1,700, 2018 Car - $34,000 (average)
* A question: What would one have used this stamp for? In 1954 stamp prices were $0.03 for one ounce. So would the letter sender add these one cent stamps as the weight of the letter increased (this would seem like the obvious choice)?
Anyway, interesting stuff!
Thanks!
JR
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"What would one have used this stamp for? "
The postcard rate was two cents so you could have used two of these stamps to pay the postage for a postcard.
And if you had some left over postcard 2¢ postcard rate stamps lying around you could use the 1¢ stamp to add up to the first class rate of 3¢.
You could also pair this with a 1/2¢ stamp to pay the third class rate of 1.5¢.
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Hi Smauggie,
Okay, great.
This is kind of what I was thinking.
Just a little "add on" stamp to bolster postage for other things essentially.
Thanks,
JR
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"...Washington appears A LOT on stamps - Does anyone know how many? I have had a hard time getting an exact number, but 36 appears to be a close number(?)..."
Hi Johnny,
I wrote and ran a query against all US stamps (including Back of Book) in the Stamp Smarter database. It returned 465 stamps (with Scott number) with the word 'Washington' in the description field. (So this would include a stamp for the Washington Monument.)
Don
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Hi Don,
Okay so it sounds like 36 is a little low? 
Wow, that is unbelievable! Even if 100 of them were for something State related, that is still a lot more than 36.
Thanks!
JR
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remember, there's an entire series called "WASHINGTON-Franklin"; then there's the 1932 series; and, until 1861, all stamps were Washingtons, Franklins, or Jeffersons
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1054 is a coil stamp, note perfs
Don
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Hi Don,
GREAT!
Thanks a lot!
JR
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Hi Don,
I just purchased volume 1 of the Scott's catalog for the US.
Will that have this kind of information in it?
Thank you,
Johnny
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Yes, the Specialized US Scott has more detail but Scott Vol 1 has plenty of US information.
Don
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Hi Don,
Thanks, as it happens, I bought that one too!
JR
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"Funny, I can't think of any pictures where his hair was not white, but at age 63 it probably was all white, LOL! Turns out from a bit more reading, Washington never wore a wig. His hair was powdered white, which was a custom at the time, hence the "whiteness" in most (all?) portraits."
I think you stumbled across the secret... George Washington wasn't real. He's a mythical person like Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy. That's why all those pictures of him look exactly the same! Like where is his high school graduation picture? No pictures of him sitting at a bar with Ben Franklin? Really!
But lets keep this a secret. If it gets out there will be mayhem! They'll have to find a new name for the bridge, the state and our nation's capitol! Never mind a mess of towns and streets across the country!
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Q/ Back in the day, was it tough to get famous before your hair turned white?
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And you weren't "anyone" until you had a sweet ponytail!
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Hi all,
According to the ATA there are 470 George Washington Stamps or stamps where he appears.
So yep, my original number in the 30's was just a tiny bit "off"!
JR
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this post
Hi all,
What I'm about to say will be nothing new to most of you, just the random ramblings of a newbie to the hobby... Read at your own risk!
I have been studying this stamp a bit yesterday and today. It is Scott Number 1031, released on August 26th, 1954 in Chicago Illinois. This kind of surprised me because it looked older, but okay, I guess 64 years is kind of old anyway.
Apparently (from web) this was from a portrait by Gilbert Stuart, designed by Charles Chickering and was produced from a drawing of a photograph from the National Gallery (kind of cool). The portrait was painted from life in 1795, when Washington would have been 63 years old. He seems to be wearing some kind of clasp around his neck, probably fashionable at the time. Funny, I can't think of any pictures where his hair was not white, but at age 63 it probably was all white, LOL! Turns out from a bit more reading, Washington never wore a wig. His hair was powdered white, which was a custom at the time, hence the "whiteness" in most (all?) portraits.
It was engraved by Richard Bower of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Love these engravings, to me they have a lot of majesty to them.
Several things struck me:
* A question: Washington appears A LOT on stamps - Does anyone know how many? I have had a hard time getting an exact number, but 36 appears to be a close number(?)
* Stamp prices in 1954 were $0.03. In 64 years they have only increased $0.47. That is an increase of 3/4 of a penny every year. That doesn't seem too bad to me, although I hear many people complain about this in the US, but in reality, lots of prices of common items inflate at a much staggering rate, or maybe it just feels that way. Car prices are pretty staggering these days! 1954 Car - $1,700, 2018 Car - $34,000 (average)
* A question: What would one have used this stamp for? In 1954 stamp prices were $0.03 for one ounce. So would the letter sender add these one cent stamps as the weight of the letter increased (this would seem like the obvious choice)?
Anyway, interesting stuff!
Thanks!
JR
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re: George Washington Stamp - 1954, 1 cent
"What would one have used this stamp for? "
The postcard rate was two cents so you could have used two of these stamps to pay the postage for a postcard.
And if you had some left over postcard 2¢ postcard rate stamps lying around you could use the 1¢ stamp to add up to the first class rate of 3¢.
You could also pair this with a 1/2¢ stamp to pay the third class rate of 1.5¢.
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re: George Washington Stamp - 1954, 1 cent
Hi Smauggie,
Okay, great.
This is kind of what I was thinking.
Just a little "add on" stamp to bolster postage for other things essentially.
Thanks,
JR
Login to Like
this post
re: George Washington Stamp - 1954, 1 cent
"...Washington appears A LOT on stamps - Does anyone know how many? I have had a hard time getting an exact number, but 36 appears to be a close number(?)..."
Hi Johnny,
I wrote and ran a query against all US stamps (including Back of Book) in the Stamp Smarter database. It returned 465 stamps (with Scott number) with the word 'Washington' in the description field. (So this would include a stamp for the Washington Monument.)
Don
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re: George Washington Stamp - 1954, 1 cent
Hi Don,
Okay so it sounds like 36 is a little low?
Wow, that is unbelievable! Even if 100 of them were for something State related, that is still a lot more than 36.
Thanks!
JR
Login to Like
this post
re: George Washington Stamp - 1954, 1 cent
remember, there's an entire series called "WASHINGTON-Franklin"; then there's the 1932 series; and, until 1861, all stamps were Washingtons, Franklins, or Jeffersons
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re: George Washington Stamp - 1954, 1 cent
1054 is a coil stamp, note perfs
Don
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this post
re: George Washington Stamp - 1954, 1 cent
Hi Don,
GREAT!
Thanks a lot!
JR
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this post
re: George Washington Stamp - 1954, 1 cent
Hi Don,
I just purchased volume 1 of the Scott's catalog for the US.
Will that have this kind of information in it?
Thank you,
Johnny
Login to Like
this post
re: George Washington Stamp - 1954, 1 cent
Yes, the Specialized US Scott has more detail but Scott Vol 1 has plenty of US information.
Don
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this post
re: George Washington Stamp - 1954, 1 cent
Hi Don,
Thanks, as it happens, I bought that one too!
JR
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this post
re: George Washington Stamp - 1954, 1 cent
"Funny, I can't think of any pictures where his hair was not white, but at age 63 it probably was all white, LOL! Turns out from a bit more reading, Washington never wore a wig. His hair was powdered white, which was a custom at the time, hence the "whiteness" in most (all?) portraits."
I think you stumbled across the secret... George Washington wasn't real. He's a mythical person like Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy. That's why all those pictures of him look exactly the same! Like where is his high school graduation picture? No pictures of him sitting at a bar with Ben Franklin? Really!
But lets keep this a secret. If it gets out there will be mayhem! They'll have to find a new name for the bridge, the state and our nation's capitol! Never mind a mess of towns and streets across the country!
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re: George Washington Stamp - 1954, 1 cent
Q/ Back in the day, was it tough to get famous before your hair turned white?
Login to Like
this post
re: George Washington Stamp - 1954, 1 cent
And you weren't "anyone" until you had a sweet ponytail!
Login to Like
this post
re: George Washington Stamp - 1954, 1 cent
Hi all,
According to the ATA there are 470 George Washington Stamps or stamps where he appears.
So yep, my original number in the 30's was just a tiny bit "off"!
JR
Login to Like
this post