Columbian Issue

This arrangement prompted considerable public criticism—not allayed by American Banknote's argument that the Columbians’ size (double that of normal stamps) warranted a higher price—and Wilson Bissel, who became Postmaster General after Grover Cleveland reassumed the Presidency during March 1893, attempted to renegotiate the stamp contract on terms more favorable to the Post Office.

In all, the American Banknote Company printed more than 2 billion Columbian stamps with a total face value exceeding $40 million.

An organization known as the Society for the Suppression of Speculative Stamps (sometimes called the Society for the Suppression of Spurious Stamps) was created in protest of the creation of this set, deeming the Exposition in Chicago insufficiently important to be honored by postage, while some collectors balked at the Post Office Department's willingness to profit from the growing hobby of philately.

The Columbians, like all previous U. S. stamps, had been produced by private security printers on limited-term contracts periodically presented for bidding.

Scholars believe that the Bureau's first task during 1894 was to finish some Columbian sheets printed by American Banknote; what makes this theory plausible is that, while many Columbian stamps are perfectly perforated, others are distinctly substandard in this regard, with partially punched chads and/or holes that are missing, ragged or misplaced—flaws that would also mar the stamps of the first Bureau definitive issue, released later during 1894.

[6] Entitled "Columbus in Sight of Land", this lowest value in the set was based on a painting by William Henry Powell and was one of several to be engraved by Alfred Jones.

[7] Because the images in the series were not based on the works of a single artist, Columbus's appearance changes dramatically between this stamp, where he is clean-shaven, and the 2-cent value, where he sports a full beard, despite the depicted events occurring only a day apart.

[8] John Vanderlyn's painting The Landing of Columbus, originally commissioned by Congress, and already used on $5 banknotes and the 15-cent stamp from the 1869 Pictorial Issue, was again pressed into service.

More than a billion copies were printed, more than 70 percent of the total number of Columbian Issue stamps, in part because it paid the first-class rate for domestic mail.

[7] Damage to one transfer roll resulted in a chevron-shaped notch in the hat of the third man on Columbus' right on some copies of this stamp.

There are significant differences, however, and philatelic authors researching the issue have stated that it is not possible to conclusively determine the origins of the design with the information known.

[7] During 1857, Randolph Rogers was commissioned to produce a number of door panels depicting Columbus's voyages, to be hung at the United States Capitol building.

The 6-cent value in the Columbian Issue, "Columbus Welcomed at Barcelona", was taken from one of those door panels, the seventh of Rogers's chronology.

A design was prepared based on a painting by Francisco Jover y Casanova, and this stamp, titled "Columbus Restored to Favor", was added to the Columbian Issue in March.

The original painting by Ricardo Baloca y Cancico is lost and is believed to have been destroyed during the Spanish Civil War.

Although it would pay the cost for a triple-rate international letter, it was most commonly used in combination with other stamps to meet more expensive heavyweight charges.

Prior to the printing of "Isabella Pledging Her Jewels", no United States postage stamp, as aforesaid, had been issued with a value above 90 cents.

Although all five are known to have been used for heavy international shipments, there is speculation that they were intended primarily as Exposition advertising and as revenue for the Post Office Department.

Engraving was based on a painting by Francisco Jover Casanova, the same artist whose work was adapted for the 8-cent stamp's design.

There were concerns that the 1-cent Columbian, also printed in blue, might be too similar for post office employees to distinguish quickly, resulting in confusion or underpayment for services.

However, the Post Office Department issued a new special delivery stamp, colored orange, to remedy the potential problem.

During 1992, in an international postal endeavor of unprecedented scope, the United States, Italy, Spain and Portugal (the four nations most closely associated with Columbus) each issued a set of six souvenir sheets on which all sixteen of the 1893 U.S. Columbian stamps were replicated.

The sets of all four countries had been designed jointly and proved largely identical, differing only in details relating to language and national postal usage.