# 1718 - 1977 13c Skilled Hands for Independence: Blacksmith

 

Issue Date: July 4, 1977

City: Cincinnati, OH

Quantity: 47,077,500

Printed By: Bureau of Engraving and Printing

Printing Method: Photogravure

Perforations: 11

Color: Multicolored

 

The Skilled Hands stamps honor early American civilians whose skills were essential to the winning of the Revolutionary War.   Blacksmiths shod the horses and constructed metal fittings for the cannons.

 

The U.S. Bicentennial was a series of celebrations during the mid-1970s that commemorated the historic events leading to America’s independence from Great Britain. The official events began on April 1, 1975, when the American Freedom Train departed Delaware to begin a 21-month, 25,338-mile tour of the 48 contiguous states. For more than a year, a wave of patriotism swept the nation as elaborate firework displays lit up skies across the U.S., an international fleet of tall-mast sailing ships gathered in New York City and Boston, and Queen Elizabeth made a state visit. The celebration culminated on July 4, 1976, with the 200th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. 

 

The U.S.P.S. issued 113 commemorative stamps over a six-year period in honor of the U.S. bicentennial, beginning with the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission Emblem stamp (U.S. #1432). As a group, the Bicentennial Series chronicles one of our nation’s most important chapters, and remembers the events and patriots who made the U.S. a world model for liberty.