Although known as the "Victory Issue", this stamp could just as well be known as the Peace Issue, for the allegorical figure of the "Goddess of Liberty Victorious" holding a sword in one hand and the Scales of Justice in the other, is framed by the flags of nations which America had hoped for continued peace and cooperation. From left to right the flags are: Great Britain, Belgium, the U.S., Italy and France.

The light violet color, compounded by the fact that the inks of the day were of such inferior quality, made the intricate and detailed design a poor choice. The stamp was not well received by collectors, and even with the nearly 100 million issued, well-impressioned, nicely centered copies are surprisingly hard to come by.

First Day Cover collecting had not yet become common, particularly since no city had been singled out to promote new issues. For that reason covers dated March 3, 1919 are very scarce.

Two shades of this stamp command a premium, the pale red violet and the red and deep red violet shades. The deep red violet is exceptionally scarce and its certification is, at best, a very subjective matter. Note that most stamps that have strong red violet color, even tending toward deep red violet are expertized as the far more common red violet shade. It must be assumed that all red violet stamps, even ones that appear to be a deep red violet, are the red violet shade until certified. The rare Scott 537a, deep red violet shade, should never be bought or sold without a certificate, for when it is time to sell the stamp it is very, very likely the stamp will be certified as just the red violet shade.

The 13¢ Franklin was issued primarily for use in paying both the letter fee of 3¢ and the special delivery fee of 10¢, or the 3¢ letter fee and the 10¢ registry fee. Although this is the only variety of the Franklin 13¢ stamp, it comes in many shades. The deep apple green brings a slightly higher premium.

In 1919, the U.S. Dollar was worth almost exactly twice the value of the standard currency in Shanghai at the time. The U.S. postal agency in Shanghai would accept payment in U.S. currency only, making it difficult for non-American patrons to send letters via the U.S. mail system, resulting in a loss of revenue. By placing a surcharge on a portion of its stamps, the U.S. Agency in Shanghai could still offer the non-surcharged stamps at face value when payment was made in dollars.

By May of 1919, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing had printed the overprints on many denominations of the normal stamps of the day, the perf 11 un-watermarked Washington Franklins, Scott 498 through Scott 518, and shipped the overprinted stamps to Shanghai. The overprints were not issued publicly until the beginning of the 1920 fiscal year - i.e. July 1, 1919. The values issued included the 1¢ through the $1 stamps, resulting in 2¢ through $2 overprinted stamps.