US Regular Issues of 1922–1931 explained

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.^[1] 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.^[2] ^[3] To be sure, this series (unlike the 1869 issues) presented pictorial images only on the higher-value stamps; the more commonly used denominations, of 12 cents and lower, still offered the traditional portraits.

This series of postage stamps was the fourth to be printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, in Washington D.C.. Postal history "firsts" in these Regular Issues included the first fractional-value postage stamps, the first stamp to pay tribute to the Statue of Liberty and the first postage stamps to honor Warren G. Harding, Rutherford B. Hayes, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and William Howard Taft.

Upon release these Regular Issues were initially printed on the flat-plate printing press, into which sheets were inserted one at a time, but shortly thereafter they were produced with the Stickney rotary press which printed images with slightly less quality and clarity but which allowed for the dramatic increases in production rates, as printing paper was fed into the press from continuous rolls of paper.^[4] The Regular Issues were released over a nine-year period and can be found with three sizes, or gauges, of perforations which are used in the identification of the particular series for which a given stamp belongs.^[1] ^[5]

Subject and design

The definitive postage stamps of 1922, also known by collectors as the Fourth Bureau Issue, were issued in denominations ranging from -cent to 5-dollars with a corresponding subject and color for each. This would be the second issuance of definitive stamps released by the U.S. Post Office where the name of the subject was spelled out in print, unlike the Washington-Franklins previously issued where the respective subjects were presented in image form only. All the 1922–1931 denominations between 1-cent and 15-cents were printed in colors identical—or nearly identical—to the colors used for their counterparts in the preceding Washington-Franklin series (new colors, of course, had to be chosen for the 1-cent and 14-cent values, which had not previously been offered). Of the higher-denomination stamps, however, only the 50-cent value retained its Washington-Franklin color (the $2 stamp employed the same blue used for pre-Washington-Franklin $2 designs between 1894 and 1918).

The first stamp of the Regular Issues series was issued on October 4, 1922, the 11-cent Rutherford B. Hayes stamp, which also marked the hundredth anniversary of Hayes's birth. The issue was first released in Hayes' hometown of Fremont, Ohio, and in Washington D.C. Thus began the practice of issuing a new stamp on a specific day and in a particular city. The Hayes stamp is regarded by many collectors as the beginning of modern First Day Cover collecting. Benjamin Franklin and George Washington were traditionally depicted on the most commonly used stamps, the 1- and 2-cent issues, typically used for post cards and 1st class letters.^[6] One distinctive design feature of this series is that the stamps valued at 17 cents and higher appear in landscape format, distinguishing them from the less expensive stamps (15 cents and lower), which conform to normal portrait-orientation. Here, the Post Office amplified an idea introduced in the previous Washington-Franklin issues, where landscape format had been used for the $2 and $5 stamps. In the 1922-1931 issues, the corner ornamentation designed for the landscape issues is larger and more elaborate than—yet still aesthetically consonant with—the ornament employed on the lower values.

The Regular Issues were issued in three basic forms, consisting of sheet-stamps, coil-stamps (long strips of single stamps rolled into a 'coil') and booklet stamps (i.e., six stamps to a leaflet). There were three printings, or series, of stamps released on succeeding dates, the average series being released over the course of approximately two years. The 26 different subject themes employed for this issue were used to print more than 75 distinct postage stamp issues in three separate series over a ten-year period.^[1] ^[3]

Stamp charts

Untimely appearance of Harding

With the sudden death of Warren G. Harding on August 2, 1923, the U.S. Post Office was quick to release a memorial stamp in his honor only one month later, a record. By and large, it incorporated the same design as the Regular Issues of this time, the only differences being 1) that the dates of Harding's birth and death were inscribed in the upper two corners of the stamp, 2) that no hatch-lines appear in the rectangular frame and 3) that the corner circles are a solid color. Clair Aubrey Huston designed this issue in one day using a modified version of the existing frame to surround an image taken from a copperplate etching of Harding. The issue was first released on September 1, in Harding's hometown of Marion, Ohio, and in the District of Columbia. Four varieties were ultimately issued: a flat-plate-printed perforated 11 and a rotary plate perforated 10, an error imperforate that was then officially reproduced, and a very rare version, the rotary perforated 11 (discussed below in "Oddities of the issue"). The black-colored memorial stamp itself is not considered a Regular Issue by collectors, however its basic design and theme was used in the three separate printings of the 1½-cent stamp that was added to the regular Issue a year and a half after the memorial issue.^[26]

It was in March 1925 that the Post Office added the 1-cent Harding stamp to the current Regular Issues. Printed in brown, it uses the same profile that had appeared in the memorial stamp. The ornaments in the upper two corners of the design are found on no other stamp of the 1922-25 Issues, and the rectangular frame and corner circles remain unfilled.

In 1930 another regular issue was slated to honor Harding, but at the request of Harding's widow, Florence, a full-faced image of Harding was engraved after a photo provided by the former First Lady.^[3] ^[26] The corner ornaments, frame-hatching and corner circles are now identical to those on all other stamps in the series between -cent and 14-cents.

Coil stamps

The coil stamps of the Regular Issues have for themselves one distinguishing feature and were all issued with gauge 10 perforations, both in vertical and horizontal formats. These coil stamps were printed by the rotary press from continuous rolls of paper, hence the printed image is slightly longer in one direction than their flat-plate counterparts. Coil stamps were issued in a limited range of denominations which include 1, 1½, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10 cents only, denominations of 11 cents and greater not existing in coil form.^[1] The 6-cent Garfield coil was the last stamp issued in this definitive series, produced in 1932 for use on double-weight letters after the first-class letter rate had been raised to 3 cents.

Kansas-Nebraska Overprints

The Kansas-Nebraska Overprints were Regular Issue stamps with an added black colored overprint that read "Kans." or "Nebr." and were issued on May 1, 1929. The letters in the overprint resemble typewriter characters with serifs. Only the denominations of 1 cent to 10 cents were overprinted. The overprints were authorized and added to the 1926–27 printings to counter the rash of stamp thefts suffered by various mid-western rural Post offices. It is estimated that a one-year supply of the Regular Issues received the overprinting. Officials believed that stamps overprinted with the abbreviated names of the individual states would be difficult to sell, or "fence", in other states. The original plan was to produce overprints for all states, and Kansas and Nebraska were selected to initiate the experiment. As events turned out Kansas and Nebraska were the only states to receive this type of overprint. Every Post Office in Kansas and Nebraska received overprinted stamps except for those in Kansas City, Topeka, Wichita, Omaha, and Lincoln: in these larger cities, security at post offices was considered adequate; accordingly, the use of overprinted stamps was deemed necessary only in small, usually rural, post offices. Unfortunately, the rules for selling these overprints resulted in general confusion among both customers and postal clerks: consequently, the overprinted stamps remained in use for less than a year, being discontinued on March 29, 1930. Printed with the Rotary Press, the overprints were issued with perforation size, 11 x 10½. The overprints were added before the stamps received their adhesive gum on their backs. Fakes and forgeries exist for some of the more valuable overprint issues which are usually detected by noting the impression the forged letters leave in the adhesive gum on the reverse of the stamp, as any fraudulent overprinting is always applied after the stamp has received its gum and has been issued.^[1] ^[3] ^[27]

Commemorative overprints

1928 was the sesquicentennial of Captain Cook's European discovery of Hawaii, and a local celebration was planned. Because it was not a national event the Post Office did not expect to issue a commemorative stamp. As a political and economic compromise, the 2¢ Washington and 5¢ Roosevelt stamps were overprinted "Hawaii 1778-1928". These issues caused considerable confusion as they looked somewhat like precancelled stamps, and so were not accepted at many post offices.^[28]

A second attempt at overprinting for commemorative purposes was also done in 1928, for the sesquicentennial of the Battle of Monmouth. This time just the 2¢ Washington received the name of the alleged hero of the battle, Molly Pitcher.^[29]

Public reaction to the overprints was generally poor, the consensus being they were cheaply made. No more issues were produced in this or subsequent series.^[30]

Oddities of the issue: coil waste and sheet waste stamps

There are a few stamps of this series—all dating from 1923—with features that set them apart from the normal sheet stamps discussed and charted above, although at first glance they may seem identical to the standard products. Ranging from moderately to extremely rare, these are so-called "coil waste" and "sheet waste" issues. That is to say, they were produced from stamps left over after the long rotary-printed rolls of paper had been cut into normal sized coils or sheets (the roll ends being too small to be processed for coils or sheets with the standard equipment). Although these stamps closely resemble the standard flat-plate press sheet issues, their designs are somewhat longer or wider than normal because rotary printing stretches the image slightly.

Sheet waste (made from vertical rotary printings intended for perforated 10 sheets):

These sheet waste stamps are both so rare that their existence was still undiscovered when Max Johl completed his exhaustive three-volume study The United States Postage Stamps of the Twentieth Century in 1937.

Duration of usage

The Regular Issues were released over a ten-year period and, with the exception of one stamp, were the only definitives in general use until 1938 when the Post Office offered the Presidential Issue. The exception, released on June 15, 1932, in anticipation of the impending rate increase on standard letters from 2¢ to 3¢, scheduled for July 6, was a 3¢ Washington regular issue stamp. Rather than designing this hurried production entirely from scratch, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing modified the 2¢ stamp from the Washington Bicentennial Issue which had been released at the beginning of the year, and already looked like a definitive. The Bureau needed only to change the numerals, to remove the stamp's sole commemorative feature (the date ribbons surrounding the portrait) and to print the stamp in the purple ink traditionally used for the 3¢ denomination. The result was that a Washington definitive issue for the normal letter rate—an invariable feature of American postage since 1870—remained continuously available to the public. The 3¢ Lincoln stamp from the 1922 series still sold widely in 1932 but disappeared from post offices the following year, prompting such protests that the Bureau had to reprint it from new plates in early 1934.^[32] During the six years following the final release of the regular issue in 1932, a steady stream of 3¢ commemoratives appeared which helped to meet the basic postal needs of the country. The Regular Issues of 1922-1931 are among the longest-running issues of definitive postage, for their duration of common usage (sixteen years) exceeded that of the Washington-Franklin issues of (1908–1922) and is surpassed only by the Presidential Issue, which appeared in 1938 and was only partially replaced in 1954, with several denominations remaining available for several years thereafter.

US Regular Issues of 1922–1931 explained

Subject and design

Stamp charts

Untimely appearance of Harding

Coil stamps

Kansas-Nebraska Overprints

Commemorative overprints

Oddities of the issue: coil waste and sheet waste stamps

Duration of usage

See also

Further reading

External links

Notes and References