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Presidential Issue

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- 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. They are depicted as small busts printed on solid-color designs through 50¢, then black on white with colored lettering for $1, $2, and $5 values. Additional stamps depicted Benjamin Franklin, Martha Washington and the White House.

In 1933 President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was an accomplished stamp collector himself, fostered the idea of a set of stamps that would honor all the past presidents of the United States. A national contest was held to determine the stamp artist that would be commissioned to design the 1st stamp of the series, the 1-cent George Washington issue. There were over twelve hundred entries 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. There was much debate and discussion over what designs would ultimately be used for all of the engravings. In 1937, after a design competition, a decision was finally made and the new definitive series was 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 served as the guiding image an engraver must have as he etches every line in its prescribed place on the steel die that the president's portrayal will take its form on. 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 bi-colored design which uses columns and stars on either side of the 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, an announcement was made that a national competition for a new regular series of postage stamps was taking place for the Treasury Department with a closing date of September 15, 1937. The deciding committee included people with philatelic knowledge and people notable in the art field and the offered prizes were $500, $300 and $200. Several eliminations took place for the more than eleven hundred designs that were received and the remaining entries were scored on a graduating scale. From these the top three designs were prepared by Elaine Rawlinson of New York, Charles Bauer of West Orange, New Jersey, received the second prize and the third prize went 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, George Washington, the first president being on the 1¢ and Grover Cleveland, the twenty-second president, is on the 22¢ stamp. [4] Cleveland's two non-consecutive presidencies displace the twenty-third president Benjamin Harrison, who appears on the 24¢ stamp, but William McKinley restores the alignment on the 25¢ denomination before higher values 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.

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. [4]

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.

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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