Stamps

The Commemoratives Issued in 1909
Flat Plate - Perf 12 and Imperforate - Double-line Watermark

400 Subject Plates
148,387,191 issued
Issue Date: Feb. 12, 1909

280 Subject Plates
152,990,051 issued
Issue Date: June 1, 1909

240 Subject Plates
72,634,931 issued
Issue Date: Sept. 25, 1909

The commemorative stamps issued in this year comprise three entirely unique sets and commemorate three entirely different events. Properly, they should be considered as distinct as say, the Pan American, Louisiana and Jamestown issues. For convenience, they are often lumped into a single set by collectors, but the entirely different dates of issue and different sizes reaffirm this concept of separateness.

The Two Cent Lincoln Commemorative of 1909
This stamp marks the first time the U.S. Post Office issued a "commemorative" stamp that did not promote a current event. Still, as with the McKinley stamp of the Louisiana Purchase Issue, the stamp was a memorial stamp as much as a commemorative one. When the ordinary issue was changed in 1908 to designs of Washington and Franklin only, there was a public outcry about the exclusion of Lincoln, whose likeness had been on at least one denomination of each issue since 1866. Since the year 1909 marked the 100th anniversary of Lincoln's birth, a stamp commemorating that event seemed a logical choice.

There are many collectible varieties of this stamp, with the more obvious being the imperforate and blue paper stamps which have been given separate Number numbers. There are many collectible plate positions, and the marginal imprint with small solid star used by the Bureau for identification purposes, is nearly unique to this stamp. There are spacing varieties as well, the sheets were printed with both 2mm and 3mm spacing between the stamps.

The imperforate stamp was distributed to private coil vending companies who in turn provided their own perforations. Many of these private perforations, found as well on the other 1909 commemoratives and many of the ordinary "imperforate" stamps of the era, are quite collectible. We have enclosed imperforate in quotes since the stamps, once privately perforated, are no longer imperforate.

The imperforate two cent Lincoln of 1909 is found with the following private perforations: Brinkerhoff Types I, II, IIa, and IIb; Farwell Types 4A and 4B; Mailometer Types I, II, III, and IV; Schermack Types I, Ia, Ib, II, and III; and the U.S. Automatic Vending Machine Types I, II, and III. The U.S. Automatic Vending Machine Company also introduced the prototype for privately perforated coils with this stamp, Type IIIx.

See also: Private Perforations - Vending and Affixing Machine Perforations on U.S. Stamps

The Two Cent Alaska-Yukon Exposition - The Seattle World's Fair of 1909
In 1909, to celebrate its connection with the Alaskan and Canadian Northwest frontiers and to commemorate the gold rush in the Klondike region, Seattle hosted a world's fair, the Alaskan-Pacific-Yukon Exposition. Efforts were made to get the Post Office to issue a set of stamps to promote the event, as had been done for the Columbian, Trans-Mississippi, Pan-American, Louisiana Purchase and Jamestown expositions that had preceded it. After some badgering, the Postmaster agreed to issue one stamp to honor the event.

The design of this stamp went through several phases, including an attractive seal - the furry kind - on a block of ice, but these concepts were turned down when the promoters of the event insisted on promoting Alaska's mild summers and not its harsh winters.

The exposition had been planned for 1907, the 40th anniversary of Secretary of State William Seward's purchase of the Alaskan territory from Russia for $8 million, but conflicts with the Jamestown Exposition pushed it back two years. In 1867 the purchase of Alaska had been known as "Seward's Folly", but by 1909 the importance of this acquisition was well appreciated, and Seward was widely regarded as a prophet of sorts. His portrait on the stamp is certainly justifiable, in the same manner as Livingston's was on the one cent Louisiana stamp.

As with the Lincoln stamp of 1909, there are many collectible varieties, including the privately perforated "imperforate" stamps, and additionally, a variety of collectible World's Fair and Exposition cancels.

The imperforate two cent Alaska-Yukon of 1909 is found with the following private perforations: Attleboro; Brinkerhoff Types I, II, and IIa; Mailometer Types I, II, III, and IV; Schermack Type III; and the U.S. Automatic Vending Machine Types I, Ia, II, and III.

The Two Cent Hudson-Fulton Celebration of 1909 - New York City, New York
Like the Alaska-Yukon Exposition - World's Fair, the Hudson-Fulton Celebration committee pushed for the issuance of a stamp to promote their event. As the title of the stamp suggests, the celebration commemorated two events - the discovery of the Hudson River - in 1609, and the first demonstration of a viable steamship - in 1807.

The stamp depicts both of these events, although the dates on the stamp suggest otherwise, commemorating only the tercentenary of the discovery of the Hudson River. If one looks closely at the central vignette however, it is plain that an early seventeenth century sailing boat, Hudson's "The Half Moon", and a nineteenth century steamboat, Robert Fulton's "Clermont", are sailing peacefully on the same Hudson River. An anachronism to be sure, but the point was clearly made.

The imperforate stamp was not really necessary, since its large size made it ill-fitted for most private vending machines, but a fair number were issued - 216,480. Although 200,000 may seem small for a commemorative issue, many, if not most, of these were saved by collectors, and the imperforate stamps are not exceptionally scarce. As with the other imperforates of 1909, some of these were privately perforated, although primarily for philatelists.

The imperforate two cent Hudson-Fulton of 1909 is found with the following private perforations: Brinkerhoff Type II; Mailometer Types I, II, III, and IV; Schermack Type III; and the U.S. Automatic Vending Machine Types II and III.

Washington Franklins Issued in 1909
Flat Plate - Perf 12 - Double-line Watermark

400 Subject Plates
est. 100 million issued
Issue Date: Jan. 7, 1909

400 Subject Plates
approx. 2.9 million issued
Issue Date: Jan. 11, 1909

200 Subject Plates
,826,790 issued
Issue Date: Jan. 13, 1909

400 Subject Plates
est. 15-17 million issued
Issue Date: Jan. 19, 1909

200 Subject Plates
313,590 issued
Issue Date: Jan. 29, 1909

These stamps rightfully belong to the "Series of 1908", although they were not issued until early 1909. The rest of the 1908 series stamps may be seen by clicking here.

The thirteen cent, fifty cent and dollar stamps were issued in one variety only, on the double-line watermarked paper, although the thirteen cent does appear in the blue paper variety. Both the ten cent and fifteen cent stamps were issued on single-line watermarked paper as well, and are also known in the blue paper varieties. The ten cent was also issued in coil form.

For more information on the identification of the various Washington Franklin stamps, see: Washington Franklin Identifier.

The following postage stamp varieties were first issued by the U.S. in 1909:
No new varieties of U.S. Special Delivery stamps were issued in 1909
No new varieties of the Postage Due stamps were issued in 1909

Ordinary issue:
Designer: Claire Aubrey Huston, based on the profile from Houdon's busts of Washington and Franklin
Engravers: Marcus W. Baldwin, Edward M. Hall and Robert Ponickau
Number 338 - 10¢ Washington - perf 12 double-line watermarked - EDU: 1/18/09
Number 339 - 13¢ Washington perf 12 D/L Wmk - EDU: 3/5/09
Number 340 - 15¢ Washington perf 12 D/L Wmk - EKU: 3/12/09
Number 341 - 50¢ Washington perf 12D/L Wmk - EKU: 10/23/09
Number 342 - $1 Washington perf 12 D/L Wmk - EKU: not known
Number 343V Vertical Coil - 1¢ Franklin imperforate from a vertical strip D/L Wmk. - EDU: 8/8/10
Number 343H Horizontal Coil - 1¢ Franklin imperf. from a horizontal strip double-line watermarked
Number 344V Vertical Coil - 2¢ Washington imperf. from a vertical strip D/L Wmk - EDU: 10/13/09
Number 344H Horizontal Coil - 2¢ Washington imperf. from a horiz. strip D/L Wmk - EDU: 3/23/09
Number 345 - 3¢ Washington imperforate D/L Wmk - EKU: 2/13/09
Number 345H* Horizontal Coil - 3¢ Washington imperf. from a horizontal strip double-line watermarked
Number 346 - 4¢ Washington imperforate D/L Wmk - EDU: 3/13/09
Number 346V* Vertical Coil - 4¢ Washington imperf. from a vertical strip D/L Wmk - EDU: 2/18/11
Number 347 - 5¢ Washington imperforate D/L Wmk - EKU: 3/4/09
Number 347V* Vertical Coil - 5¢ Washington imperf. from a vertical strip D/L Wmk - EDU: 7/24/11
Number 349 - 2¢ Washington perf 12 horizontally D/L Wmk - EDU: 5/14/09
Number 351 - 5¢ Washington perf 12 horizontally D/L Wmk - EDU: 9/21/09
Number 352 - 1¢ Franklin perf 12 verticallyD/L Wmk - EKU: 3/3/09
Number 353 - 2¢ Washington perf 12 vertically D/L Wmk - EDU: 6/14/09
Number 354 - 4¢ Washington perf 12 verticallyD/L Wmk - EDU: 6/9/09
Number 355 - 5¢ Washington perf 12 verticallyD/L Wmk - EDU: 10/25/09
Number 356 - 10¢ Washington perf 12 verticallyD/L Wmk - EDU: 3/9/09
Number 357 - 1¢ Franklin perf 12 D/L Wmk Blue Paper - EDU: 2/21/09
Number 358 - 2¢ Washington perf 12 D/L Wmk Blue Paper - EDU: 2/23/09
Number 359 - 3¢ Washington perf 12 D/L Wmk Blue Paper - EKU: not known
Number 360 - 4¢ Washington perf 12D/L Wmk Blue Paper - EKU: not regularly issued
Number 361 - 5¢ Washington perf 12D/L Wmk Blue Paper - EDU: 5/18/10
Number 362 - 6¢ Washington perf 12D/L Wmk Blue Paper - EKU: 9/14/11
Number 363 - 8¢ Washington perf 12 D/L Wmk Blue Paper - EKU: not regularly issued
Number 364 - 10¢ Washington perf 12 D/L Wmk Blue Paper - EDU: 2/3/10
Number 365 - 13¢ Washington perf 12 D/L Wmk Blue Paper - EKU: not known
Number 366 - 15¢ Washington perf 12 D/L Wmk Blue Paper - EKU: not known

* The issue dates of these imperforate coils are unknown to this author. Although the EDUs of these stamps are in 1911, it is most probable they were issued in either 1909 or 1910, since some of the single-line watermarked stamps issued at least a year later (Number 383 and 384 vertical and horizontal coils) have EDUs of 1910. They are listed on this page since the imperforate stock from which they were made was issued in 1909.

Commemoratives:
Printed by the Bureau of Engraving & Printing on soft porous double-line watermarked paper Designer: Claire Aubrey Huston and Marcus W. Baldwin on the Hudson-Fulton stamp
Number 367 - 2¢ Lincoln perf 12 - Engravers: M. W. Baldwin, E. M. Hall and Robert Ponickau
Number 368 - 2¢ Lincoln imperforate
Number 368V Vertical Coil - 2¢ Lincoln imperf. from a vertical strip - EDU: 5/3/09
Number 368H Horizontal Coil - 2¢ Lincoln imperf. from a horiz. strip - EDU: 12/9/09
Number 369 - 2¢ Lincoln perf 12 Blue Paper
Number 370 - 2¢ Alaska-Yukon perf 12 - Engravers:M. W. Baldwin, Edward M. Hall and R. Ponickau
Number 371 - 2¢ Alaska-Yukon Imperforate
Number 372 - 2¢ Hudson-Fulton perf 12 - Engravers: Marcus W. Baldwin, E. M. Hall and R. Ponickau
Number 373 - 2¢ Hudson-Fulton Imperforate