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The Americana series was a series of United States definitive postage stamps issued between 1975 and 1981. Denominations ranged from one cent to five dollars. It superseded the Prominent Americans series, and was in turn superseded by the Great Americans series and the Transportation coils. The series consisted of twenty stamps issued in sheets, twelve issued in coils, and one produced especially for a booklet.
While the stamps were not part of the Bicentennial Series of stamps released from 1971-1983, their theme fit in well with the idea of looking back over two hundred years. The series celebrated basic American concepts that have animated the nation's entire history, rather than individual heroes or heroines from any particular period. Unlike any previous definitive series, the Americana set did not contain a single image of a president (an omission that may perhaps reflect national disillusion in the wake of the recent Watergate scandal). Indeed, this was the first American definitive series in which no male human being appeared, and the two female figures in the set are purely allegorical, rather than representing actual women.
The preceding Prominent Americans series had been deliberately produced without basic design guidelines, resulting in widely diverse pictorial and lettering styles. In clear contrast, the Americana series strictly followed a uniform plan that dictated the appearance both of individual stamps and of stamps grouped together in blocks of four. Each denomination is framed on two adjacent sides by text (generally relating to American history or freedoms) which curves around one corner of the stamp. The twenty sheet-stamps are planned so that, in a group of four rising values, the curve cycles through the four corners: top left, top right, bottom left, and bottom right. Each of the five resulting blocks accordingly appears with text that completely surrounds its perimeter, forming a rectangular border with rounded corners.
All five blocks have themes: The first, "Roots of Democracy," the second, "Rights and Freedoms of the American People," the third, "Symbols of America," the fourth, "Pioneer America" and the fifth, "America's Light". (The framing plan was only partially carried out with the coil stamps of the series. Among the twelve stamps, only two blocks can be formed, and only one of these proves thematic.)
The Americana series was the first definitive issue since that of 1922-31 not to include any fractional-cent values; instead, it presented the first decimal values assigned to U. S. Postage stamps, which appeared on coil stamps denominated between 3.1 cents and 8.4 cents, produced for the use of bulk mailers and other businesses.
Among philatelists, the Americana series is most famous for the CIA invert. An invert error of the $1 lamp stamp, it was so named because the original sheet was bought by a CIA employee who had gone to the post office to buy some stamps. Copies have sold at auction for as much as $15,000. [1]
The 16 cent and the 29 cent were issued for a proposed, but never implemented "business rate" for first class mail, which was to be higher than the personal rate (only letters with handwritten addresses would be eligible for the lower rate). The proposed rate was rejected by the Postal Rate Commission which chose instead a 15 cent rate (for two ounces, 28 cents) for all mail. Since the 16 and 29 cent stamps satisfied no rate, and were not a convenient round number, they saw little use.
The design for the 1 cent stamp was originally designated for a never-issued 26 cent stamp.
Many of the stamps were issued in mid-November in New York City. At the time, it was usual to have a stamp issuance during the annual stamp show for the American Stamp Dealers Association, which was then held in mid-November in New York City. The March stamps issued in New York were issued at the ASDA-sponsored INTERPEX show.
The series was the first U. S. omnibus definitive series since 1875 not to include a five cent stamp.
Sheet stamps: [2]
Roots of Democracy
Rights and Freedoms of the American People
Symbols of America
Pioneer America
America's Light
Coil stamps:
Stamps issued only within booklets:
Postal service in the United States began with the delivery of stampless letters whose cost was borne by the receiving person, later encompassed pre-paid letters carried by private mail carriers and provisional post offices, and culminated in a system of universal prepayment that required all letters to bear nationally issued adhesive postage stamps.
A definitive stamp is a postage stamp that is part of the regular issue of a country's stamps, available for sale by the post office for an extended period of time and designed to serve the everyday postal needs of the country. The term is used in contrast to a "provisional stamp", one that is issued for a temporary period until regular stamps are available, or a "commemorative stamp", a stamp "issued to honor a person or mark a special event" available only for a limited time. Commonly, a definitive issue or series includes stamps in a range of denominations sufficient to cover current postal rates. An "issue" generally means a set that is put on sale all at the same time, while a "series" is spread out over several years, but the terms are not precise. Additional stamps in a series may be produced as needed by changes in postal rates; nevertheless some values may be permanently available, regardless of prevailing rates; examples include 1c or 1p and $1 or £1.
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The Prominent Americans series is a set of definitive stamps issued by the United States Post Office Department between 1965 and 1978.
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The Transportation coils series is a set of definitive stamps issued by the United States Postal Service between 1981 and 1995. Officially dubbed the "Transportation Issue" or "Transportation Series", they have come to be called the "transportation coils" because all of the denominations were issued in coil stamp format. All values except three were printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
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The Bicentennial Series was a lengthy series of American commemorative postage stamps.
Special Treat is an American anthology series of television specials on NBC that were geared toward teenagers, similar to ABC Afterschool Special. It debuted in 1975 and ran through the 1985–86 season.
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 who were in office between 1789 and 1928, from George Washington to 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. With its total of 32 stamps, this was the largest definitive series yet issued by the U. S. Post Office.
Miami Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club in Miami, Florida. According to rankings in Rugby Magazine, Miami is amongst the top five clubs in the Southeastern United States. They have regularly won the Florida State Championship. Miami Rugby traces its origin to 1969 when it was founded by Keith Cooksy and Reverend John Howells, the Anglican priest at the University of Miami, who wanted to provide visiting British Royal Navy ships and teams in the Bahamas with competitive rugby. Miami Rugby competes in the USA Rugby South against clubs from Florida, as well as touring African, Argentine, British, French, German, Uruguayan, and West Indies Clubs. Miami Rugby has also toured the Americas.
Elisabeth Sanxay Holding (1889–1955) was an American novelist and short story writer. She primarily authored fiction in the hardboiled subgenre of detective novels.
Admirals are a series of definitive stamps issued by three countries of the British Commonwealth that show King George V of Great Britain and the British Dominions. The stamps are referred to as the Admirals because King George is depicted in his Admiral of the Fleet uniform. The stamps were issued by Canada in 1911–1928, New Zealand in 1926, and Rhodesia in 1913–24.
Presidents of the United States have frequently appeared on U.S. postage stamps since the mid-19th century. The United States Post Office Department released its first two postage stamps in 1847, featuring George Washington on one, and Benjamin Franklin on the other. The advent of presidents on postage stamps has been definitive to U.S. postage stamp design since the first issues were released and set the precedent that U.S. stamp designs would follow for many generations.
The Washington–Franklin Issues are a series of definitive U.S. Postage stamps depicting George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, issued by the U.S. Post Office between 1908 and 1922. The distinctive feature of this issue is that it employs only two engraved heads set in ovals—Washington and Franklin in full profile—and replicates one or another of these portraits on every stamp denomination in the series. This is a significant departure from previous definitive issues, which had featured pantheons of famous Americans, with each portrait-image confined to a single denomination. At the same time, this break with the recent past represented a return to origins. Washington and Franklin, after all, had appeared on the first two American stamps, issued in 1847, and during the next fifteen years, each of the eight stamp denominations available featured either Washington or Franklin.
The Regular Issues of 1922–1931 were a series of 27 U.S. postage stamps issued for general everyday use by the U.S. Post Office. Unlike the definitives previously in use, which presented only a Washington or Franklin image, each of these definitive stamps depicted a different president or other subject, with Washington and Franklin each confined to a single denomination. The series not only restored the historical tradition of honoring multiple presidents on U.S. Postage but extended it. Offering the customary presidential portraits of the martyred Lincoln and Garfield, the war hero Grant, and the founding fathers Washington and Jefferson, the series also memorialized some of the more recently deceased presidents, beginning with Hayes, McKinley, Cleveland and Roosevelt. Later, the deaths of Harding, Wilson and Taft all prompted additions to the presidential roster of Regular Issue stamps, and Benjamin Harrison's demise (1901) was belatedly deemed recent enough to be acknowledged as well, even though it had already been recognized in the Series of 1902. The Regular Issues also included other notable Americans, such as Martha Washington and Nathan Hale—and, moreover, was the first definitive series since 1869 to offer iconic American pictorial images: these included the Statue of Liberty, the Capitol Building and others. The first time (1869) that images other than portraits of statesmen had been featured on U.S. postage, the general public disapproved, complaining that the scenes were no substitute for images of presidents and Franklin. However, with the release of these 1922 regular issues, the various scenes—which included the Statue of Liberty, the Lincoln Memorial and even an engraving of an American Buffalo—prompted no objections. To be sure, this series presented pictorial images only on the higher-value stamps; the more commonly used denominations, of 12 cents and lower, still offered the traditional portraits.
The Series of 1902, also known as the Second Bureau Issue, is a set of definitive postage stamps in fourteen denominations ranging between one cent and five dollars, produced by the U. S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing and issued by the United States Post Office. Two denominations appeared in November and December 1902 and the other twelve were released between January and June 1903. These stamps were assigned the Scott Catalogue numbers 300 through 313. Also considered part of the series is a fifteenth stamp which appeared in November 1903—a second version of the 2¢ value, the original having faced severe criticism. This series, particularly noted for its exceptional ornateness and opulence of design, remained in circulation until late 1908, when it was superseded by the Washington-Franklin Issues.
Puerto Rico topics have been featured on the stamps of Spain and of the United States. Spanish stamps are found at Postage stamps and postal history of Puerto Rico.
The history of Virginia through the colonial period on into contemporary times has been depicted and commemorated on postage stamps accounting for many important personalities, places and events involving the nation's history. Themes are particularly rich in early American and new nation history, historical landmarks, and Virginia-born presidents.