1997 32c Ship

# 3130 FDC - 1997 32c Ship

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321130FDC
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US #3130
1997 Ship – Pacific ’97

  • First US triangle issue (along with the Stagecoach stamp)
  • Publicized the Pacific ’97 international stamp show in San Francisco, California


Stamp Category: 
Commemorative
Set:  ’Pacific 97
Value:  32¢, First Class Mail Rate
First Day of Issue:  March 13, 1997
First Day City:  New York, New York
Quantity Issued (if known):  130,000,000
Printed by:  Banknote Corporation of America
Printing Method:  Intaglio
Format:  Triangular, Panes of 16 (4 blocks of 4)
Perforations:  11.2 by 11.3 (Wista stroke perforator)
Color:  Blue
Tagging:  Phosphored Paper

Why the stamp was issued:  To publicize the Pacific ’97 international stamp show in San Francisco, California.

About the stamp design:  Pictures a ship, one of the main 19th-century forms of transportation associated with the San Francisco area.  The vignette is centered within an ornamented frame reminiscent of classic engraved stamps.

Special design details:  Designed by USPS art director Richard Sheaff with ornamental frames originally commissioned for the 1996 Olympic Games centennial stamps.  They were designed by John Thompson of Hellman Associates in Iowa.  Sheaff then added vignettes based on illustrated covers from the mid-1800s.  The engraving of the clipper ship Richard S. Ely was based on a drawing from an advertising card promoting “Merchants’ Express Line of Clipper Ships for San Francisco” located on New York City’s East River.  The background includes an artist’s depiction of Fort Point in San Francisco.  This site was originally built by the US Army Corps of Engineers from 1853-1861 and is now a National Historic Site at the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge.

First Day City:  First Day of Issue Ceremony at the Postage Stamp Mega-Event at the New York Coliseum in New York City.  The event was standing room only, and all 800 ceremony programs ran out before every attendee received one.

History the stamp represents:  Clipper ships, the most beautiful and romantic of the sailing ships, appeared on the high seas in the 1850s, just as the preindustrial era was giving way to steam power.  Maximizing the power of wind with narrow hulls and multiple tiers of sails, traders raced to be the first to market with China tea and Indian spices.

Clipper ships earned their place in postal history with the discovery of gold in California in 1848.  At the time, miners, mail, and supplies had three routes to California.  They could go by stagecoach through hostile land, by boat and coach across the unhealthy Isthmus of Panama, or by sailboat around Cape Horn.  Speed was vital to survival and often meant the difference between striking it rich or losing everything.  Ships like Sea Hawk, Flying Cloud, and Lightning “clipped off” the miles between New York and San Francisco in under three months, half the time needed for the overland journey.

Both the stagecoach and clipper ship were products of preindustrial times.  With the dawning of the Industrial Revolution and steam power, their days were numbered.  For a while, mail went by both stagecoach and railroad, by clipper ship and steamer.  But before completely giving way to newer methods of transport, they proved the value of scheduled service, efficiency, and speed.

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US #3130
1997 Ship – Pacific ’97

  • First US triangle issue (along with the Stagecoach stamp)
  • Publicized the Pacific ’97 international stamp show in San Francisco, California


Stamp Category: 
Commemorative
Set:  ’Pacific 97
Value:  32¢, First Class Mail Rate
First Day of Issue:  March 13, 1997
First Day City:  New York, New York
Quantity Issued (if known):  130,000,000
Printed by:  Banknote Corporation of America
Printing Method:  Intaglio
Format:  Triangular, Panes of 16 (4 blocks of 4)
Perforations:  11.2 by 11.3 (Wista stroke perforator)
Color:  Blue
Tagging:  Phosphored Paper

Why the stamp was issued:  To publicize the Pacific ’97 international stamp show in San Francisco, California.

About the stamp design:  Pictures a ship, one of the main 19th-century forms of transportation associated with the San Francisco area.  The vignette is centered within an ornamented frame reminiscent of classic engraved stamps.

Special design details:  Designed by USPS art director Richard Sheaff with ornamental frames originally commissioned for the 1996 Olympic Games centennial stamps.  They were designed by John Thompson of Hellman Associates in Iowa.  Sheaff then added vignettes based on illustrated covers from the mid-1800s.  The engraving of the clipper ship Richard S. Ely was based on a drawing from an advertising card promoting “Merchants’ Express Line of Clipper Ships for San Francisco” located on New York City’s East River.  The background includes an artist’s depiction of Fort Point in San Francisco.  This site was originally built by the US Army Corps of Engineers from 1853-1861 and is now a National Historic Site at the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge.

First Day City:  First Day of Issue Ceremony at the Postage Stamp Mega-Event at the New York Coliseum in New York City.  The event was standing room only, and all 800 ceremony programs ran out before every attendee received one.

History the stamp represents:  Clipper ships, the most beautiful and romantic of the sailing ships, appeared on the high seas in the 1850s, just as the preindustrial era was giving way to steam power.  Maximizing the power of wind with narrow hulls and multiple tiers of sails, traders raced to be the first to market with China tea and Indian spices.

Clipper ships earned their place in postal history with the discovery of gold in California in 1848.  At the time, miners, mail, and supplies had three routes to California.  They could go by stagecoach through hostile land, by boat and coach across the unhealthy Isthmus of Panama, or by sailboat around Cape Horn.  Speed was vital to survival and often meant the difference between striking it rich or losing everything.  Ships like Sea Hawk, Flying Cloud, and Lightning “clipped off” the miles between New York and San Francisco in under three months, half the time needed for the overland journey.

Both the stagecoach and clipper ship were products of preindustrial times.  With the dawning of the Industrial Revolution and steam power, their days were numbered.  For a while, mail went by both stagecoach and railroad, by clipper ship and steamer.  But before completely giving way to newer methods of transport, they proved the value of scheduled service, efficiency, and speed.