# 2177 - 1988 15c Great Americans: Buffalo Bill Cody

U.S. #2177
1988 15¢ Buffalo Bill Cody
Great Americans

• 40^th stamp in Great Americans Series
• Issued in the town Cody founded in the 1890s
• Honors one of the most famous figures of the Old West

Stamp Category:  Definitive
Series:  Great Americans
Value:  15¢, paid the postcard rate
First Day of Issue:  June 6, 1988
First Day City:  Cody, Wyoming
Quantity Issued:  699,300,000
Printed by:  Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Printing Method:  Engraved
Format:  Panes of 100 in sheets of 800
Perforations:  11.2 x 11.1
Color:  Claret

Why the stamp was issued:  There had been calls for a stamp honoring Cody dating back to 1935.  Among those calling for a stamp was the Buffalo Bill Historical Center.  Additionally, people within the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC) believed US stamps needed to honor more people events from the Western US.  This stamp covered the new postcard rate that went into effect on April 3, 1988.

About the stamp design:  The portrait of Cody on this stamp was taken from a dining car menu used aboard the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy train that ran from Denver to Cody, Wyoming.  The color and deep engraving earned the stamp high praise, with The Washington Post calling it “a philatelic winner – a fine hand-engraved stamp that looks more like a bank note than a flashy travel poster.”

First Day City:  The First Day ceremony for this stamp was held at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming, a town Cody had founded in the 1890s. 

Unusual fact about this stamp:  Varieties include prephosphored coated paper with surface tagging showing a solid appearance, tagging omitted, and all color omitted.

About the Great Americans Series:  The Great Americans Series was created to replace the Americana Series.  The new series would be characterized by a standard definitive size, simple design, and monochromatic colors. 

This simple design included a portrait, “USA,” the denomination, the person’s name, and in some cases, their occupation or reason for recognition.  The first stamp in the new series was issued on December 27, 1980.  It honored Sequoyah and fulfilled the new international postcard rate that would go into effect in January 1981.

The Great Americans Series would honor a wider range of people than the previous Prominent Americans and Liberty Series.  While those series mainly honored presidents and politicians, the Great Americans Series featured people from many fields and ethnicities.  They were individuals who were leaders in education, the military, literature, the arts, and human and civil rights.  Plus, while the previous series only honored a few women, the Great Americans featured 15 women.  This was also the first definitive series to honor Native Americans, with five stamps.

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) produced most of the stamps, but private firms printed some.  Several stamps saw multiple printings.  The result was many different varieties, with tagging being the key to understanding them.  Though there were also differences in perforations, gum, paper, and ink color.

The final stamp in the series was issued on July 17, 1999, honoring Justin S. Morrill.  Spanning 20 years, the Great Americans was the longest-running US definitive series.  It was also the largest series of face-different stamps, with a total of 63.

Click here for all the individual stamps and click here for the complete series.

History the stamp represents:  Soldier and showman William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody, was born on February 26, 1846, in LeClaire, Iowa.  “Buffalo Bill” was one of the most famous figures of the Old West, gaining increased prominence and popularity for his Wild West shows.

Following his father’s death, Cody took his first job as a driver on west-bound wagon trains at age eleven.  In that role, he rode on horseback alongside trains delivering messages between drivers and workmen.  Cody became an accomplished horse wrangler, hunter, and “Indian fighter” by his teens.

Struck by “gold fever,” the 14-year-old Cody headed to California, and met an agent for the Pony Express along the way.  Cody claimed he helped build several stations and corrals before working as a rider (though some historians believe he made this up for publicity in later years).  He served as a scout for the Union Army during the Civil War (which earned him a Medal of Honor in 1872) and went on to assist the government in its attempts to wipe out Native American resistance.

Cody competed for the exclusive right to his nickname “Buffalo Bill” while supplying meat for the Kansas Pacific Railroad workers.  He and hunter William Comstock spent eight hours shooting buffalo in a contest, which Cody ultimately won with 68 kills to Comstock’s 48.  In all, Cody killed over 4,000 American bison in an 18-month span.

Cody became a celebrity after meeting Ned Buntline, a writer for the New York Weekly.  Buntline published an article loosely based on Cody’s adventures that led to a highly successful novel, Buffalo Bill, King of the Bordermen.  Cody’s daring feats provided material for other newspaper reporters and dime novelists, who transformed “Buffalo Bill” into a national folk hero.  Over time, 557 dime novels were written about Cody, many by authors who had never been west of the Hudson River.

In 1872, Cody joined his friends in Chicago in a play called The Scouts of the Prairie and toured with the group for ten years.  Then, on July 4, 1882, Cody held an “Old Glory Blowout” in North Platte, Nebraska.  This show featured buffalo and bucking-bronc riding, steer roping, horse racing, a buffalo hunt, and re-enactments.  Because of this show, North Platte claims to be home to the very first rodeo.  The “Old Glory Blowout” was such a success that Buffalo Bill formed his spectacular Wild West Show in 1883.

It was an extravaganza featuring fancy shooting, hard-riding cowboys, parades, races, sideshows, and war-whooping “Indians.”  Some of the top attractions included mock battles against Indians, and a demonstration of Cody’s marksmanship.  The show’s stars included sharp-shooter Annie Oakley and Chief Sitting Bull.  Extremely popular, the show lasted for almost 20 years, touring the US and even overseas.  Cody’s show toured Europe eight times.  It was featured at Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887 and at the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893.

Cody had passed through the northwestern area of Wyoming in the 1870s and was impressed by its development possibilities.  In 1895, he helped found the town of Cody, Wyoming, and built his massive ranch about 35 miles away.  At its peak, the ranch encompassed about 8,000 acres and held 1,000 cattle.  Cody spent most of his final years there until he died on January 10, 1917, at his sister’s house in Denver, Colorado.