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Postmaster General John Wanamaker created a commotion in 1893 when he issued the nation's first commemorative postage stamps.
Rebuked by a congressional joint resolution that protested the "unnecessary" stamps, Wanamaker defended his actions by saying that the commemorative stamps could become moneymakers. History proved him right.
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The First Commemorative Stamps
The controversial first commemorative stamps were the Columbian Exposition Issue.
Printed by the American Bank Note Company, the stamps were issued to commemorate the World Columbian Exposition held in 1893 in Chicago, Illinois. The stamps celebrated the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's voyage to the New World.
Various artists based the designs on paintings. The stamps were immensely popular with collectors and customers, but were denounced by critics who identified (what they considered to be) denomination discrepancies. In spite of the criticism, two billion commemorative Columbian stamps were sold for 40 million dollars.
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Purchase Commemorative Stamps
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Look at the commemorative stamps and order them online.
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Did You Know?
On July 20, 1969, Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong cancelled the first piece of mail carried to the moon with a postmark which read "Moon Landing, U.S.A."
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Guidelines for Today
Today, the Citizens’ Advisory Committee reviews suggestions for commemorative stamp subjects using a strict set of guidelines, which include:
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Only American or American-related subjects may be used. |
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No living person shall be honored by portrayal on US postage. |
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No commemorative stamp will be issued sooner than 10 years after a person’s death (with the exception of an American president). |
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Events of historical significance are only commemorated on anniversaries in multiples of 50 years. |
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Stamps shall not be used to promote commercial enterprises, nor fraternal, political, sectarian, or service/charitable organizations. |
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Stamps will not be issued to honor cities, towns, or other municipalities. |
Many commemorative stamps have served well to honor the heritage and achievements of minority groups such as African American Commemorative Stamps (PDF) (HTML), Hispanic Commemorative Stamps (PDF) (HTML) and Women Commemorative Stamps (PDF) (HTML).
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader
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