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[[Image:Stamp US 1938 2c precancel.jpg|right|170px|thumb|right|<center>Stamp with [[precancel]]</center>]]
[[Image:Stamp US 1938 2c precancel.jpg|right|170px|thumb|right|<center>Stamp with [[precancel]]</center>]]


The issued stamps conform to the prize-winning design by Miss Rawlinson.<ref name="mekeel"/> Values from 1/2 cent through 50 cents were printed in sheets on a [[rotary press]], while the two-colored 1, 2 and 5 dollar stamps required flat-plate printing.<ref>Scotts Catalogue of US Stamps, Presidential Issue</ref> The first 22 presidents appear on the single cent values in the order of their accession, with George Washington, the first president, on the 1¢ and [[Grover Cleveland]], the twenty-second president, on the 22¢ stamp.<ref name="mekeel"/> Cleveland's two non-consecutive presidencies disrupt the series, as he stood as both the twenty-second and twenty-fourth president. In strict order, a twenty-four cent stamp should have been excluded from the prexies—but to have eliminated this denomination, which had many postal applications, while including the useless twenty-three cent value would have been perverse. Thus the twenty-third president, Benjamin Harrison, appears on the 24¢ stamp, and William McKinley restores the alignment on the 25¢ denomination. The higher values thereafter part company with the numerical list of presidencies, beginning with Theodore Roosevelt on the 30¢ stamp. Several values were included merely to place the presidents in proper numerical order, and so, did not necessarily correspond to a [[Postage rate|postal rate]]. The non-presidential images, Benjamin Franklin, Martha Washington and the White House were used on the 1/2¢, 1-1/2¢ and 4-1/2¢ respectively.
The issued stamps conform to the prize-winning design by Miss Rawlinson.<ref name="mekeel"/> Values from 1/2 cent through 50 cents were printed in sheets on a [[rotary press]], while the two-colored 1, 2 and 5 dollar stamps required flat-plate printing.<ref>Scotts Catalogue of US Stamps, Presidential Issue</ref> The first 22 presidents appear on the single cent values in the order of their accession, with George Washington, the first president, on the 1¢ and [[Grover Cleveland]], the twenty-second president, on the 22¢ stamp.<ref name="mekeel"/> Cleveland's two non-consecutive presidencies disrupt the series, as he stood as both the twenty-second and twenty-fourth president. In strict order, a twenty-four cent stamp should have been excluded from the prexies—but to have eliminated this denomination, which had many postal applications, while including the useless twenty-three cent value would have been perverse. Thus the twenty-third president, Benjamin Harrison, appears on the 24¢ stamp, and William McKinley restores the alignment on the 25¢ denomination. The higher values thereafter part company with the numerical list of presidencies, beginning with Theodore Roosevelt on the 30¢ stamp. Several values were included merely to place the presidents in proper numerical order, and so, did not necessarily correspond to a [[Postage rate|postal rate]]. The non-presidential images, Benjamin Franklin, Martha Washington and the White House were used on the 1/2¢, 1-1/2¢ and 4-1/2¢ respectively. Apparently, it was not originally planned to match the presidents with their numerical positions, for [[James Monroe]] was initially announced as the subject of the 4-1/2¢ stamp. <ref name="mekeel"/>

Original announcements showed that [[James Monroe]] would be the topic of the 4-1/2¢ stamp but his bust was actually issued on the 5¢ being a more often used foreign rate. The concept for this change being to remind people about the [[Monroe Doctrine]] and that the United States lives up to its agreements and treaties.<ref name="mekeel"/>


Ironically, given the historical concept behind the series, the prexies departed from tradition in several significant ways. It was the first definitive series of postage stamps since 1870 in which George Washington did NOT appear on the normal letter rate, for numerical order placed Thomas Jefferson on the 3¢ value required for letters in 1938. Washington, instead, satisfied the post-card rate on the 1¢ stamp—and this, too, broke with tradition, which had almost invariably presented Franklin on that value. Franklin did, however, as on many previous definitive issues, begin the series, appearing on the 1/2-cent stamp, which, in effect, informally honored him as our "halfth" president.
Ironically, given the historical concept behind the series, the prexies departed from tradition in several significant ways. It was the first definitive series of postage stamps since 1870 in which George Washington did NOT appear on the normal letter rate, for numerical order placed Thomas Jefferson on the 3¢ value required for letters in 1938. Washington, instead, satisfied the post-card rate on the 1¢ stamp—and this, too, broke with tradition, which had almost invariably presented Franklin on that value. Franklin did, however, as on many previous definitive issues, begin the series, appearing on the 1/2-cent stamp, which, in effect, informally honored him as our "halfth" president.

Revision as of 16:14, 25 May 2011

- Presidential issue of 1938 -

The Presidential Issue, nicknamed the Prexies by collectors, is the series of definitive postage stamps issued in the United States in 1938, featuring all 29 U.S. presidents from George Washington through Calvin Coolidge. The presidents appear as small profile busts printed in solid-color designs through 50¢, and then as black on white images surrounded by colored lettering and ornamentation for $1, $2, and $5 values. Additional stamps in fractional-cent denominations offer busts of Benjamin Franklin and Martha Washington, as well as an engraving of the White House.

In 1933 President Franklin D. Roosevelt, himself a serious stamp collector, fostered the idea of a set of stamps honoring all the past presidents of the United States. A national contest was held in 1937 to choose a designer for the first stamp of the series, the 1-cent George Washington issue. More than eleven hundred entries were submitted, some from famous artists. An artist from New York, Elaine Rawlinson, won the contest. Her design for the 1-cent stamp showed Washington in profile, modeled after a bust by the famous sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon, and became the template for the new definitive series issued in 1938.[1]

The Presidential Issues of 1938

The models for the engravings used in the printing of the various issues were obtained from a number of different sources, from paintings to sculptures to bronze statues, all reproduced in a relatively uniform intaglio style on steel dies. The overall stamp design incorporates a solid background of color. On denominations from 10-cents through 19-cents a single-line border is added, while a double-line border surrounds the values between 20 and 50 cents. The 1, 2 and 5-dollar values have their own design which places colored columns and stars on either side of the black-and-white presidential portrait.[2][3]

Selected Issues
Andrew Jackson
Model for engraving, Kinney-Scholz bronze statue, in U.S. Capitol
Abraham Lincoln
Portrait taken from bust of Lincoln by sculptor Sarah Fisher Ames
Chester A. Arthur
from a marble bust by Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Warren G. Harding
Engraving modeled after a medal struck by George Morgan of the US Mint

Design competition

On June 22, 1937, the Treasury Department announced a national design competition for a new regular series of postage stamps, with a submission deadline of September 15, 1937, offering prizes of $500, $300 and $200 for the three top entrants. The panel of judges included philatelic specialists and art experts. Several eliminations took place for the more than eleven hundred submitted designs, and the remaining entries were scored on a graduating scale. From these the first prize went to Elaine Rawlinson of New York, the second to Charles Bauer of West Orange, New Jersey, third to Edwin Hoyt Austin of Delmar, New York. The winning design is reported to not have been voted in first place by any of the judges.[4]

Multiple designs were submitted by some, such as two design by J.S. Stevenson, an employee of the American Banknote Company and four designs by Thomas F. Morris, Jr., son of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing's first chief of the engraving division.[4]

Issued stamps

Stamp with precancel

The issued stamps conform to the prize-winning design by Miss Rawlinson.[4] Values from 1/2 cent through 50 cents were printed in sheets on a rotary press, while the two-colored 1, 2 and 5 dollar stamps required flat-plate printing.[5] The first 22 presidents appear on the single cent values in the order of their accession, with George Washington, the first president, on the 1¢ and Grover Cleveland, the twenty-second president, on the 22¢ stamp.[4] Cleveland's two non-consecutive presidencies disrupt the series, as he stood as both the twenty-second and twenty-fourth president. In strict order, a twenty-four cent stamp should have been excluded from the prexies—but to have eliminated this denomination, which had many postal applications, while including the useless twenty-three cent value would have been perverse. Thus the twenty-third president, Benjamin Harrison, appears on the 24¢ stamp, and William McKinley restores the alignment on the 25¢ denomination. The higher values thereafter part company with the numerical list of presidencies, beginning with Theodore Roosevelt on the 30¢ stamp. Several values were included merely to place the presidents in proper numerical order, and so, did not necessarily correspond to a postal rate. The non-presidential images, Benjamin Franklin, Martha Washington and the White House were used on the 1/2¢, 1-1/2¢ and 4-1/2¢ respectively. Apparently, it was not originally planned to match the presidents with their numerical positions, for James Monroe was initially announced as the subject of the 4-1/2¢ stamp. [4]

Ironically, given the historical concept behind the series, the prexies departed from tradition in several significant ways. It was the first definitive series of postage stamps since 1870 in which George Washington did NOT appear on the normal letter rate, for numerical order placed Thomas Jefferson on the 3¢ value required for letters in 1938. Washington, instead, satisfied the post-card rate on the 1¢ stamp—and this, too, broke with tradition, which had almost invariably presented Franklin on that value. Franklin did, however, as on many previous definitive issues, begin the series, appearing on the 1/2-cent stamp, which, in effect, informally honored him as our "halfth" president.

Coil stamps

John Quincy Adams
Coil stamp w/ vertical perf's
Martha Washington
Coil stamp w/ horizontal perf's

On January 20, 1939, nine values were issued in coil form, consisting of all low values from 1¢ to 6¢, and the 10¢, all perforated 10 vertically. On January 27, the four values from 1¢ to 3¢ were also issued in vertical coil form, perforated 10 horizontally.

The presidential issues proved to be exceptionally long-lived among U. S. definitive postal series. It was only after sixteen years, in 1954, that the Postal Service began to supersede its denominations, gradually replacing them with stamps of the so-called Liberty series over the next several years.

Collecting Prexies

One of the (difficult) games for Prexie collectors is to find a cover with, for instance, a single 16¢ stamp that pays a combination of rate and fees valid during the Prexies' period of usage. Many such covers remain to be discovered; some sellers on eBay have been surprised to discover a seemingly ordinary-looking cover bid up to several hundred dollars because it was one of the sought-after solo usages.

Dates of issue and Scott catalog number

Martin Van Buren, 8 cents

See also

References and sources

Notes
  1. ^ Smithsonian National Postal Museum
  2. ^ Scotts US Stamp Catalogue, identifier
  3. ^ Smithsonian National Postal Museum
  4. ^ a b c d e Johl, Max G. (2008-05-09). "The Presidential Series: From STAMPS Magazine, April 23, 1938". Mekeel's & Stamps Magazine. 202 (19). Merrimack, NH: Philatelic Communications Corp: 16–17. ISSN 0025-8857. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  5. ^ Scotts Catalogue of US Stamps, Presidential Issue
Sources
  • Rustad, Roland E. (1994). Leo Piszkiewicz (ed.). The Prexies (La Posta Monograph, Volume 2). Bureau Issues Association. ISBN 0930412230.
  • Helbock, Richard W. (1988). Prexy Postal History.
  • Scott catalogue
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