# 244 - 1893 $4 Columbian Commemorative: Isabella and Columbus

US #244
1893 $4 Queen Isabella and Columbus – Columbian Exposition Issue

• First-ever $4 US stamp
• First US stamp to picture the portrait of an identifiable woman
• Part of the Columbian Exposition Issue – America’s very first commemorative stamps
• The last stamps produced by a private printing firm before the Bureau of Engraving took over stamp production for many years
• Not really designed for use as postage, just to advertise the exposition (and make money for the post office)

Stamp Category: Commemorative
Set: Columbian Exposition Issue
Value: $4
First Day of Issue: March 1893
Quantity Issued: 26,350 (only 22,993 were sold to the public)
Printed by: American Bank Note Company
Printing Method: Engraving
Format: Plates of 100 in two panes of 50
Perforations: 12
Color: Crimson Lake

Why the stamp was issued: To publicize the upcoming Columbian Exposition. Not really intended for use as postage, although it technically could’ve covered expensive heavyweight foreign destination rates. Mostly for advertising the Columbian Exposition and to generate revenue for the Post Office Department.

About the stamp design: Vignette pictures an engraving by Alfred Jones based on paintings by Bartolome Bermejo or Antonio Munoz-Degrain (Queen Isabella) and Lorenzo Lotto (Columbus). The design pictures a portrait of Queen Isabella on the left and Columbus on the right. The stamp frame and lettering were engraved by G.H. Seymour.

About the Columbian Exposition set: The 1893 Columbians are some of America’s most famous and sought-after stamps. They’re also the first US commemorative stamps. They’re an important part of philatelic history. So much so, in fact, that well-known stamp author Max Johl said that the degree of completion of the Columbian set is often the “yardstick by which a US collection is measured.”

The Columbian stamps were created to promote the World’s Columbian Exposition held in Chicago, Illinois from May 1 to October 30, 1893. The exposition was a world’s fair celebrating the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the New World.

The American Bank Note Company held the US postage stamp contract in 1893, but a special contract had to be negotiated for the Columbians because of their large size. The contract allowed the printer to charge 17¢ per thousand stamps, significantly more than the 7.45¢ per thousand they charged for the 1890 definitives.

The first 15 Columbian stamps were placed on sale on January 1, 1893, in New York City and Boston. Most other post offices across the country were closed that day, so they began their sales on January 2. The 8¢ stamp was issued in March to meet a new registration fee.

The Columbian stamps created a worldwide phenomenon. Collectors eagerly awaited the set, forming long lines to purchase the stamps. Yet few could afford to own the complete set. The series included the first US postage stamps with face values over 90¢, and the total cost of the set was $16.34, comparable to about $3,170 in today’s wages.

Some postal clerks refused to sell Columbian stamps because demand far exceeded supply. The craze for Columbian stamps was even more pronounced in Europe. Collectors hounded American tourists and begged for stamps from their mail. A corner of Hamburg’s stock exchange was devoted to trafficking Columbian stamps. On August 11, 1893, The New York Times reported these transactions were conducted “as carefully as they handled the highest gilt-edged securities.”

The Columbians were on sale at post offices until April 1894. They were the final stamps printed by a private firm before the Bureau of Engraving and Printing took over stamp production for decades.