Complete Set, 1869 Pictorial Issues "G" Grill

Own Every Stamp in the 1869 Pictorial Series

The 1869 Pictorial Series

The appearance of the 1869 Pictorials marked a significant change in U.S. stamp design. For the first time in American postal history, something other than portraits of national leaders was being pictured on a stamp. These were the first U.S. stamps to be printed using two colors.

Printing with two colors required the stamps to be run through the press twice; once, to print the vignette (center design), and then again, to print the frame. Carelessness in merging the two impressions resulted in the rare inverts. Instead of an inverted center, the stamp actually has an inverted frame, since the center design was printed first. The 30¢ Shield and Eagle with inverted flags is the rarest of the 1869 inverts. The least obvious of the three, it was the last to be discovered.

The pictorials were to be produced over a four-year period by the National Bank Note Company. When issued, however, the stamps were unpopular with the public. Within a year after their release, they were withdrawn from sale.

Today, the pictorial issues are the most popular of the 1840 – 1870 Classic Stamps. Because the stamps were only in circulation for a year, they have become increasingly hard to find in both unused and used condition.

Here are the stamps included:

• #112 – Benjamin Franklin
• #113 – The Pony Express Rider"
• #114 – "Locomotive"
• #115 – George Washington
• #116 – Shield & Eagle
• #117 – USS Adriatic
• #118 – Columbus Landing Type I
• #119 – Columbus Landing Type II
• #120 – Signing of the Declaration of Independence
• #121 – Shield & Eagle
• #122 – Abraham Lincoln