August 2018 - Sneak Peek

Thomas Crawford (1814-1857). The bronze statue stands
19½ feet high and weighs approximately 15,000 pounds.
Crawford, commissioned in 1854, died before a full plaster
cast left his studio in Italy in 1858. The statue was cast in five
main sections starting in 1860 by Clark Mills in his foundry
on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. As the Civil War raged,
work on the Capitol, then under construction, and the statue
continued. By 1863, enough of the structure had been completed
so the statue could be placed. It was hauled in sections
and raised atop a cast-iron pedestal on December 2, 1863.
Chad Snee, managing editor for the Scott catalogs, spoke
at the dedication ceremony about his affinity for stamps denominated
at $1. He often writes articles about such stamps
in Linn’s Stamp News, which like the Scott catalogs, is owned
by Amos Media, of Sidney Ohio.
Mike Golemboski, manager of Post Office Operations in
the Western Pennsylvania District of the U.S. Postal Service,
offered dedication remarks. The National Anthem was sung
by Maya Fulton, a student at Bellefonte Area High School
and a presentation of the colors was from the Bellefonte Veterans
of Foreign Wars Post 1600.
The new stamps are similar to the 1923 engraved issue,
which was designed by Clair Aubrey
Huston (1857-1938) and
engraved by John Eissler (1873-
1962), both of the U.S. Bureau of
Engraving and Printing. USPS
art director Greg Breeding designed
the new stamps.
Before the ceremony, Mary-
Anne Penner, director of Stamp
Services for U.S. Postal Service headquarters and four others
involved in stamp creation and distribution, spoke and
answered questions with attendees at the summer seminar.
Penner said there are four or five printing security features
within the new Statue of Freedom
stamps. Penner noted that such security
features, which she could not
elaborate upon, were standard features
in the latest U.S. stamps with the
goal to prevent counterfeiting. The
security features are “layered” within
the printing, noted William Gicker,
manager of stamp development
One of those easily detected
features is microprinting found
below “USA” on the stamps’ righthand
side. Printed below is the
denomination spelled in capital
letters five times with no spaces,
thus “TWOTWOTWOTWOTWO.”
Also, there is a small “USPS” in the
color of the stamps on Freedom’s left
shoulder.
Linn’s Stamp News also reported
“color-shifting ink” is found on the stamps. Looking at the
stamps, this ink appears to have been used to print the denominations
of “1,” “2” and “5,” which appear to change color
when the angle of the stamp is shifted.
The June 27 event was the third first-day ceremony held
by the U.S. Postal Service in Central Pennsylvania. A first-day
was held January 23, 1986 for the Stamp Collecting booklet
(four 22-cent designs), a joint issue with Sweden, at APS
headquarters, then in State College. The Nonprofit Lamb envelope
(5-cent value) first day was March 10, 1995 at the Nittany
Lion Inn at Penn State University.
The $1 and $2 stamps are being sold in panes of 10; the
$5 stamp in panes of four. The Postal Service’s online store
was allowing the purchase of blocks of four of the $1 and $2
stamps, but there was no option except a block of four for the
$5 stamp.
Q and A, Greg Breeding,
art director
When did you start working on
these stamps?
I began work on this project during the summer of 2016.
These three new stamps use the original engraved artwork
for the 1923 stamp, correct?
They were inspired by the original artwork, but the original
engravings were not used for these stamps.
Were there any enhancements to the original engraving
for these stamps? If so, what would those be?
A photoengraver worked with a scan of the original artwork
and employed his techniques to create a
$1 STATUE OF FREEDOM STAMP
USPS Item Number: 114200
Format: Pane of 10, 120 stamps per revolution
Issue Date & City: June 27, 2018, Bellefonte,
Pennsylvania
Designer, Art Director and Typographer: Greg Breeding,
Charlottesville, Virginia
Modeler: Sandra Lane/Michelle Finn
Manufacturing Process: Offset, Intaglio, Microprint
Printer and Processor: Banknote Corporation of America,
Browns Summit, North Carolina
Press Type: Alprinta 74
Stamps per Pane: 10
Print Quantity: 100 million stamps
Paper Type: Phosphor Tagged Paper, Block
Adhesive Type: Pressure-sensitive
Colors: Custom Green, Custom Black, Custom OVI
Stamp Sizes: 1.42 inches by 1.085 inches, 36.07 millimeters
by 27.56 mm (image area); 1.56 inches by 1.225 inches,
39.62mm by 31.12mm (overall size); 4.85 inches by 8.27
inches, 123.19mm by 210.06mm (full pane size)
Plate Numbers: B followed by three single digits
Marginal Markings: Front – Plate block number; Back –
©2018 USPS, USPS logo, 10 Barcodes (114200), Plate
position diagram, Promotional text
810 AMERICAN PHILATELIST / AUGUST 2018