Rail-splitter, lawyer, politician, president.
These 2009 stamps from the U.S. Postal Service are featured in the Spring 2009 USA Philatelic catalog that was in my mailbox today. To be issued February 9, 2009, at Springfield, Illinois, the stamps feature a scratchboard design by artist Mark Summers.
I can see I'll be spending a lot of money on everything from the Ceremony Program to a nice Commemoration Folio that folds out into a "broadside" of the Gettysburg Address.
I like stamps. Actually, I like the history pictured by stamps. Seeing those pictures makes me want to learn more about the event/person pictured. Obviously, it's Lincoln that's pictured...do you know where the picture comes from?
In January 1909, Rep. Albert F. Dawson of Iowa introduced a joint resolution for a set of Lincoln stamps to commemorate the centennial anniversary of Lincoln's birth. Because of the time constraint (the birthday being just a month away), Dawson's proposal was pared down to a single Lincoln postage stamp of a 2 cent denomination. Bureau of Engraving and Printing artist C. A. Huston worked on the design, taking the frame of the then current 2-cent stamp, adding a drawing of ribbons and a centennial inscription, and the inserted a photograph of a plaster cast made by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. There was a lot of flack at the time because the denomination was spelled out in alpha characters rather than using the traditional numeric format.
The stamp was not to go on sale before February 12, 1909, but many post offices released them before that time so earlier post marks are known to exist. (For you collectors: this is Scott 368.)
