# 400 - 1913 10c Panama-Pacific Exposition: Discovery of San Francisco Bay, orange yellow
1913 10¢ Panama-Pacific Exposition Commemorative
Issue Date: January 1, 1913
Quantity issued: 16,968,325
Printed by: Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Method: Flat plate
Watermark: Single line
Perforation: 12
Color: Orange yellow
Panama-Pacific Exposition
As early as 1891, businessmen from San Francisco had wanted to host a world’s fair in their city. They wanted to show the rest of the nation the progress they had made in transforming the small frontier town into a growing city complete with the world’s most active mint.
The fair ran until December 4, 1915. During that time, over 18 million visitors attended the fair.
As early as 1904, the Post Office Department began planning a set of commemoratives to advertise the exposition to celebrate both the discovery of the Pacific Ocean and the completion of the Panama Canal. By 1912, the designs for the 1¢, 2¢, and 5¢ stamps had been prepared and approved. However, the design for the 10c issue posed a problem. Originally, the stamp was to depict Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, who discovered the California mainland in 1542. But efforts to find a portrait of him proved unsuccessful. Eventually, a painting of the discovery of San Francisco Bay was unearthed. Found to be an acceptable design, it was adopted by the Post Office Department, and work on the stamp progressed rapidly. Six short months later, the Panama-Pacific Commemoratives were placed on sale.
Due to the fact that the exposition didn’t open until February 1915, the series remained current for nearly three years – longer than any other commemorative! However, the Post Office began to receive complaints that regular issue stamps were too brittle, so they started issuing stamps with 10 perforations per two centimeters, instead of the previous 12. The Panama-Pacific set was reissued with the new perforation size. However, since collectors had already purchased the perf. 12 stamps, the newer issues were mostly ignored. This makes them scarcer today.
led to one scarce stamp
1913 10¢ Panama-Pacific Exposition Commemorative
Issue Date: January 1, 1913
Quantity issued: 16,968,325
Printed by: Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Method: Flat plate
Watermark: Single line
Perforation: 12
Color: Orange yellow
Panama-Pacific Exposition
As early as 1891, businessmen from San Francisco had wanted to host a world’s fair in their city. They wanted to show the rest of the nation the progress they had made in transforming the small frontier town into a growing city complete with the world’s most active mint.
The fair ran until December 4, 1915. During that time, over 18 million visitors attended the fair.
As early as 1904, the Post Office Department began planning a set of commemoratives to advertise the exposition to celebrate both the discovery of the Pacific Ocean and the completion of the Panama Canal. By 1912, the designs for the 1¢, 2¢, and 5¢ stamps had been prepared and approved. However, the design for the 10c issue posed a problem. Originally, the stamp was to depict Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, who discovered the California mainland in 1542. But efforts to find a portrait of him proved unsuccessful. Eventually, a painting of the discovery of San Francisco Bay was unearthed. Found to be an acceptable design, it was adopted by the Post Office Department, and work on the stamp progressed rapidly. Six short months later, the Panama-Pacific Commemoratives were placed on sale.
Due to the fact that the exposition didn’t open until February 1915, the series remained current for nearly three years – longer than any other commemorative! However, the Post Office began to receive complaints that regular issue stamps were too brittle, so they started issuing stamps with 10 perforations per two centimeters, instead of the previous 12. The Panama-Pacific set was reissued with the new perforation size. However, since collectors had already purchased the perf. 12 stamps, the newer issues were mostly ignored. This makes them scarcer today.
led to one scarce stamp