The 11¢ Hayes

The 11¢ Hayes stamp more than likely found its roots in the politics of the time. The current president, Warren Harding, being from Ohio, was easily persuaded to issue a stamp honoring a fellow Ohioan, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Hayes. This would be the first in the new series of regular issues, what are now known as the "Fourth Bureau Issues", or simply, the "Series of 1922".

The eleven cent stamp did not fill any particular need at the time, there already was a plentiful stock of the 11¢ Franklin (Scott 511), primarily used to pay postage and insurance on parcels. In fact, the 11¢ Franklins were still being printed well into 1924.

Other than being the first of the ordinary stamps of the Series of 1922, this stamp is well known and collected for the variety of shades it exists in. No single shade is of particular value, but the degree of color variation is perhaps greater than any other 20th century U.S. stamp with the same catalogue listing.

The 11¢ Hayes stamp was issued on October 4, 1922 in Washington, D.C. and President Hayes' hometown of Freemont, Ohio, amidst mild fanfare. Note that many of the ordinary stamps of the Series of 1922 were not issued until 1923, the six that were issued in 1922 are included here.

The 5¢ Roosevelt

The 5¢ rate paid the postage on letters to many foreign destinations, countries where President Roosevelt was probably the most popular and well known of the U.S. presidents. Coupled with the fact that he was the most recently deceased president and had not yet been honored with a stamp, Theodore Roosevelt was an obvious choice for this stamp.

As with the 11¢ stamp, the five cent Washington, Scott 504, of the Washington Franklin Series was printed during the same period, and production of both stamps continued until 1924, when the Washington stamp was discontinued.

First Day sales were on Roosevelt's birthday, October 27, in Washington, D.C. and at his hometown of Oyster Bay, New York and his city of birth, New York City.

The 15¢ Statue of Liberty · The 25¢ Niagara Falls · The 50¢ Arlington

These stamps represent America's emerging role in world politics and were appropriately issued on Armistice Day in Washington, D.C. World War I had ended only three years before these stamps were issued and America was still basking in the glory of the role it played in deciding the war.

Depicting the Statue of Liberty, the 15¢ stamp symbolizes the significance America placed on freedom and hope, with Liberty's beacon lighting the way for all nations.

The 25¢ stamp exhibiting an attractive view of the Niagara Falls might seem something of a stretch, but it did symbolize our cooperation with other nations, in that both Canada and the U.S. shared an amicable ownership.

Although perhaps not having the fame as an American icon that the Statue of Liberty and Niagara Falls have, the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington, Virginia, which houses the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, is certainly equal in stature since it represented the sacrifices that the U.S. was willing to make in the name of freedom. The 50¢ stamp depicts the Arlington Amphitheater, with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, artistically reduced in size, positioned in the foreground.

The 6¢ Garfield

President Garfield was not a stranger to U.S. stamps. He had been assassinated in 1881, only four months into his presidency. His first memorial stamp, the brown Scott 205 of 1882, had replaced the blue 5¢ Zachary Taylor Bank Note. Garfield took his place on the 6¢ stamps of the first Bureau Issues of 1894-1907, and was not displaced until the Washington Franklin Series replaced everyone in 1908 with either a portrait of Washington or Franklin.

Garfield on a stamp was an easy choice for the Harding administration, however, since he was a fellow Republican from Harding's home state of Ohio. Since Garfield's birthday was November 19, this stamp was an easy choice for a 1922 issue date, although the stamp was not issued until the 20th, since the 19th was a Sunday and post offices were closed. First Day sales were in Washington, D.C. only, since there was no post office in Garfield's hometown of Orange, Ohio.

You may run across the occasional brown copy of this stamp. This is not a new variety! Your editor has seen copies of this stamp that are so convincingly brown, it seems impossible that the stamp has changed color so evenly. Yet, this is precisely what has happened. The orange pigment has reacted with sulfur, whether from the air - sulfur is the main culprit in acid rain - or from contact with a sulfurous compound. In philately, stamps whose color has changed are known by the quaint name "changeling". Another orange stamp that is often found with parts of or even all of the stamp brown is the 16¢ air mail stamp, Scott C1. There are many other colors of stamps that undergo this change, whether from natural or artificial cause.