U.S. Parcel Post Stamp

Updated June 2, 2010

I like these stamps a great deal. They are among the first U. S. stamps to be engraved from photographic images of real situations, not just famous portraits. The images are very pictorial. The 20 cent stamp is the first stamp to ever depict an airplane. It is unfortunate that the entire issue was printed in the same carmine color, but apparently the Post Office wanted the stamps to be distinct. In the end, postal clerks made a lot of errors of value, since the stamps were of the same color. Parcel Delivery was itself an experiment, and was officially adopted in 1913. On July 1, 1913, the stamps became acceptable for any postal service, so you often see them on postcards and letters from that date onward. Regular stamps then were also acceptable for Parcel Post service. The late Henry Gobie wrote an excellent book on the history of the service and these stamps, published in 1979. Here is an excellent webpage with a history of these stamps and railroads on stamps in general. An excellent web page showing US stamps including Parcel Post stamps.

The following stamp website has excellent images of early US stamps, including parcel post. I also have a first class use to a foreign destination. Also, an example of a correct usage of the stamp to send a merchandise sample in May 1913, correct usage either for Parcel Post (sample) or 3rd class (circular), correct usage for a sample, and correct usage for merchandise. For me, the most intriguing usage is the 3 cent Parcel Post stamp used in 1917 to make up the new "War Rate" for first class letters.

I would love to have seen this issue printed in two colors, as was planned, for instance, for the Trans-Mississippi Exhibition issue of 1898. I think that results could have been Fantasy Stamp Creation quite spectacular [image is home-made, NOT a real stamp].

The stamp I've illustrated doesn't have particularly great centering, but it does have a nice plate number tab. Note that straight-edged stamps are very common with this issue, since the sheets were small.

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