1998 10c Modern Bicycle, Large Date

US #3229
1998 Green Bicycle

• Intended for use on Presorted Standard Mail
• Printed by two different companies
• Part of American Transportation series

Stamp Category:  Definitive
Set:  American Transportation series
Value:  10¢, Presorted Standard Mail
First Day of Issue:  August 14, 1998
First Day City:  Washington, DC
Quantity Issued:  550,000,000
Printed by:  Sennett Security Products
Printing Method:  Photogravure
Format:  Coils of 500 and 10,000
Perforations:  9.9

Why the stamp was issued:  This stamp was issued for use by bulk mailers.

About the stamp design:  The green bicycle was based on sketches prepared by designer Paul Meehan.  Commercial artist Robert Brangwynne turned Meehan’s sketch into a finished stamp design.  It was then converted to a computer image.
Like the previous stamp in this series, this one shows a portion of the bike’s handlebars and front tire.

About the printing process: The Bicycle stamp was printed in water activated gum and self-adhesive versions.  The water-activated gum stamps were printed by Sennett Security Products, and the self-adhesive version was printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

First Day City: The USPS announced this stamp issue the day before it was issued.  There was no official First Day of Issue ceremony.

About the American Transportation series:  On March 10, 1995, the USPS issued the first stamps in two new definitive series – American Scenes and American Transportation (not to be confused with the Transportation Series).
These two series, as well as the American Culture Series, were created for 1995 as part of the USPS process of converting its service-inscribed stamps for discounted bulk mail to non-denominational postage.  Bulk mailers could buy the appropriate stamps at a fixed price, affix them to their mail, and then pay the difference between the cost of the stamps and current postage when they mailed them out.  This was done so that new stamps wouldn’t need to be created when rates changed.
During the First Day of Issue ceremonies, a representative from the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee dedicated the stamps and said “It is well known that mailers, the public, and the stamp collectors like to see both a variety of designs as well as changes in designs.  Starting with this rate change, each type of discount rate will have its own non-denominated stamp series.  It is also planned to perhaps change the designs in each series yearly.”
The 10¢ Automobile stamp (from the American Transportation Series) was issued to fill the regular third-class rate.  The USPS said this new series would “depict details of the various means of transportation in multicolor photogravure, unlike the complete vehicles in the single-color engraved Transportation Series.”

History the stamp represents:  In 1998, a second stamp was added to the American Transportation Series.  The ten-cent Green Bicycle was issued to replace the Automobile bulk-rate stamp.  In keeping with the design of the series, only a detail of the bicycle, the handlebar area, is shown on the stamp.  The new Postal Service term "PRESORTED STD" appears here for the first time on a US postage stamp.

America’s First Bicycle Manufacturer

Albert Augustus Pope (1843-1909) established the first U.S. bicycle factory in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1877. Early models carried the trade name “Columbia.” The firm grew steadily and produced an average of 60,000 bicycles annually during the 1880s. Pope was a pioneer and advocate of the hobby who successfully lobbied Congress for bicycle safety legislation. In 1895, Pope purchased 75 competitors and merged them to form the American Bicycle Company. The Pope Manufacturing Company is known as Columbia Bicycle today.