1992 $5 Black Columbus, single from souvenir sheet

U.S. #2629a
1992 $5 Columbian
Columbian Stamp from Souvenir Sheet

Issue Date: May 22, 1992
City: Chicago, IL
Quantity: 1,185,170

Printed By: American Bank Note Co

Printing Method: Lithographed, engraved

Perforations: 10 ½

Color: Black

This stamp was printed using the same plates as the legendary 1893 Columbians, which were the first U.S. commemorative stamps. And like the Columbians, this stamp was printed by the American Bank Note Co.

On May 9, 1502, Columbus sailed from Spain on his final voyage to the New World. After stops in the Canary Islands and Martinique, his small fleet reached the coast of Central America. He spent months sailing along the coasts of what are now Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Columbus heard that a large body of water lay beyond the Panamanian mountains, but he did not make the trek that would have brought him to the Pacific Ocean, the sea-route to Asia. With ships unfit for the journey home, Columbus and his crew were marooned for a year on Jamaica, before a chartered ship brought them back to Spain. Columbus died a year and a half later.