Washington–Franklin Issues

The distinctive feature of this issue is that it employs only two engraved heads set in ovals—Washington and Franklin in full profile—and replicates one or another of these portraits on every stamp denomination in the series.

This is a significant departure from previous definitive issues, which had featured pantheons of famous Americans, with each portrait-image confined to a single denomination.

The Washington–Franklins were issued in denominations ranging from 1 cent to 5 dollars, each value printed in different color ink.

The two engravings of either Washington or Franklin are employed in five basic design themes (i.e., framework, ornaments, lettering) which in turn were used to print more than 250 separate and distinct stamp issues over a fourteen-year period.

[1][2][3] During the several decades that led up to the production of the Washington–Franklin issues the printing technology of U.S. Postage stamps was in many respects still in its development stages.

Withering criticism also cited the small size and inconvenient shapes of the 1869 stamps and faulted their adhesive gum as inadequate.

This style was in stark contrast with that of the definitive stamps previously issued in 1902–03 as that issue not only presented a variety of American historical figures, but framed them with an elaborate assortment of allegorical and ornamental designs—which, in spite of their artistic quality, were criticized as so flamboyant that they detracted from the central portrait and theme.

This idea originated with one Charles H. Dalton of Boston, who, in a letter to his Senator, Winthrop M. Crane, expressed admiration for the current British stamps, all of which employed the same profile portrait of King Edward VII.

Dalton recommended that the next U.S. series be similarly uniform, with every one of its stamps presenting the same profile head of Washington found on the 2¢ denomination of the 1894 First Bureau Issue.

The senator passed this letter on to the Postmaster General, George Meyer, who by and large followed Dalton's recommendation.

[4] Full uniformity, however, would have violated a long-standing postal tradition dating back to 1851, which had placed Franklin on every definitive one-cent stamp issued by the U.S. Post Office.

[1][2] The engraving of George Washington was modeled after a bust (sculpture) by the celebrated sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon.

In the case of the first four designs, preparing printing plates for each stamp required two separate transfer phases.

Two different steel dies were used, one containing the Washington or Franklin engraving, the other providing the framework and lettering.

The different issues can be distinguished from one another by one or more of several factors: perforation gauge, the type of stamp paper—or, in some unusual varieties, by the printing method used.

In 1909 a much less common type of bluish paper was used, made of 35% rag stock combined with the usual wood pulp and can readily be identified by its faint bluish-gray color.

Each of the seven successive series brought various changes in design, color, perforations, paper and sometimes printing methods.

This, however, is unusual, as the stamp was printed in very limited quantities and consequently any surviving examples of this variety are exceedingly rare and valuable today.

In response to this problem, the U.S. Post Office employed the new offset printing process to produce several separate Washington-head issues.

The imperforate issues were printed from a flat plate with 400 subjects until 1918 when they were produced on the rotary press from continuous rolls of paper.

The coil configuration made the repeated removal of individual stamps easier for the clerks and others who dealt with mass mailings on a daily basis.

In 1915 the Bureau began printing coil stamps from continuous rolls of paper with the Rotary Press.

[14][15][16] Beginning on January 3, 1911 the Bureau of Engraving and Printing issued the 1-cent and 2-cent denominations in imperforate form on single-line watermarked paper specifically for use by at least seven different private coil-stamp vending machine companies.

[18] Outlining all the various types of private perforations involves a considerable amount of specialized information requiring a good number of accompanying illustrations and is therefore beyond the scope of this section.

[17] Those engraved images on the 2- and 3-cent Washington-head issues that appear similar but whose lines vary significantly are referred to and often cataloged as types.

The variations that constitute types occur in the various facial features on Washington, and on his Toga and on the various lines of shading on the ornaments of the stamp design.

Defining all the various types among these two denominations involves a highly specialized area of study that encompasses a sizable amount of additional information whose many details need accompanying illustrations and as such is beyond the scope of this section.

Various publications like the popular Scott Specialized Catalogue of US Stamps also provide detailed and illustrated information for design types.There are a few Washington–Franklin issues that were produced at the latter part of their production and can not be categorized with the other series or groups of stamps by their standard features, having features that are not defined by perforation gauge or paper type alone, rendering these issues one of a kind.

All five varieties are great rarities; indeed the 2¢ perforated 10×12 issue (423E) has been identified as one of the rarest of all U.S. stamps with only a single used copy certified, while the #164 (24c on vertically ribbed paper) is unique.

(see: WF chart) The Washington–Franklin issues were the last U.S. stamps to employ papers bearing the USPS watermark; the use of these was discontinued in 1916, during World War I, as a means to reduce expense, as watermarked paper was more expensive than its unwatermarked equivalent and at year's end the difference saved was considerable.