When I first got into “serious” stamp collecting, I already knew what I wanted to collect – topicals. Space exploration on stamps, ships and marine exploration on stamps, aviation, mountain climbers, adventurous topics. As a result, I never really knew much about the beginnings of United States stamps – or any stamps for that matter, except the Penny Black, of course. What reader of mysteries, particularly those written in England, would not know of the Penny Black (first issued in 1840) and how rare and valuable it was. Quite a few murder mysteries hinged on some unscrupulous person acquiring that little stamp!

Yesterday, I was browsing through the bookshelves of my local library, and came across a book called The Postal Service Guide to U.S. Stamps, 32nd edition (current to 2005). It’s an 8 X 11, comb-bound book, with full-color, glossy pages, which lists every US stamp ever issued – whether it comes perforated, unperforated or both, what colors it comes in, and any errors associated with it.

I thought to myself… I’ve got a lot of stamps, but I’ve never done a systematic study to make sure I’ve got every US stamp ever issued that suits each of my topics.

So I took the book home, and went through it, and made a list of the stamps I was missing. Quite a few, as it turned out. (Most of my stamps are the colorful ones that Palau and those types of places put out.)

I enjoyed going through the book, page by page, starting with 1903 (since that was the year of the Wright Brother’s first flight) and when I got to the end, I was armed not only with a list of additions to my current topicals, but also a few more topics I’d start collecting! (These books are dangerous!)

Then, out of curiosity, I decided to find out… what did the first United States stamp look like.

And I was surprised to see that the first US stamp ever issued was not one of George Washington, but rather one of Benjamin Franklin. On July 1, 1847, according to the book. (A George Washington stamp was also issued, with a 10 cents value, fitting since the Franklin stamp was a 5 center.)

Why on earth did Benjamin Franklin make it ahead of George Washington, I wondered.

Well, I turned to that handy dandy resource, Wikipedia, which told me t hat Benjamin Franklin had been appointed the first Postmaster General of the “soon-to-be” independent American colonies. This occurred on July 26, 1775, when Franklin was 68 years old.

Wikipedia didn’t bother to tell me what the American post office used in place of from 1775 to 1844…if I remember my history correctly, people gave letters to the post, and when they got to their destination – that person would pay for it.

Anyway, since Benjamin Franklin was the first Postmaster General, it makes sense that he’d be honored with the very first stamp, issued on July 1, 1847, as I’ve already mentioned, when the United States was 73 years old (if one judges its birth as July 4, 1776). (I’ve always wondered why the birth of the US was not considered to be 1783 – when the Revolutionary War officially ended and the United States officially became a new nation?!)

Anyway, the United States was not the second country to start using postage stamps, or even the third.

After England, the next country to adopt the practice was Switzerland, in 1843. The third country to use the postage stamp was Brazil, also in 1843. In 1845, a few forward-thinking postmasters in the US issued their own stamps, but they weren’t official – those came iwth the 1847 stamps featuring Franklin and Washington.

Who…or what…was the next person, place or thing to be honored on a US stamp?

Person – Thomas Jefferson, in 1851. Andrew Jackson was next, between 1861 and 1867 (the Postal Service doesn’t give the exact year, but I can’t think why Jackson would get a stamp before 1865.) Lincoln would be put on a stamp for the first time in 1867.

The first non-President or non-notable was a “Post horse and rider”, in 1869, for 2 cents, and a locomotive, for 3 cents. A shield and eagle would follow.

Then..there’s the S.S. Adriatic, also issued in 1869.

What is that ship, and why was it deemed worthy of being placed on a postage stamp so early in the game? Well…that’s the topic for another article.

By: Barbara Peterson

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