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#729
1933 3c Federal Building at Chicago, Purple
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U.S. #729
1933 3¢ Century of Progress
Issue Date: May 25, 1933
First City: Chicago, IL
Quantity Issued:480,239,300
Issued on May 25, 1933 — the same day as the Fort Dearborn 1-cent companion stamp (#728) — this 3-cent value depicting the Federal Building at the Century of Progress International Exposition served the standard letter rate. The Federal Building was one of the signature structures of the fair, designed by architects Arthur Brown Jr. and Edward H. Bennett in a bold Art Deco style. Its three fluted towers, rising dramatically above a colonnaded base, represented the three branches of the federal government — executive, legislative, and judicial — and the building housed government exhibits throughout the run of the fair. The stamp's denomination appears in Roman numerals — III — making it the first U.S. stamp since the 1847 10-cent George Washington to use Roman numerals, a deliberate design choice that gave the stamp a classical formality suited to the subject.
The Century of Progress Exposition ran from May 27 to November 12, 1933, and proved such a success that it was held over for a second season in 1934. It drew nearly 39 million visitors over its two-year run despite the depths of the Great Depression — a testament to the public's hunger for optimism and spectacle during one of the hardest periods in American history. The fair's theme of scientific and industrial progress was embodied in its modernist architecture, its displays of new technology, and its celebration of what human ingenuity had achieved in the century since Chicago's founding. The Federal Building, with its soaring towers visible across the fairgrounds, was the centerpiece of that message.
The Century of Progress issue also included imperforate souvenir sheets produced at the fair during the American Philatelic Society convention in August 1933, and Postmaster General James Farley's distribution of special printings to friends and officials created what collectors have long called "Farley's Follies."
U.S. #729
1933 3¢ Century of Progress
Issue Date: May 25, 1933
First City: Chicago, IL
Quantity Issued:480,239,300
Issued on May 25, 1933 — the same day as the Fort Dearborn 1-cent companion stamp (#728) — this 3-cent value depicting the Federal Building at the Century of Progress International Exposition served the standard letter rate. The Federal Building was one of the signature structures of the fair, designed by architects Arthur Brown Jr. and Edward H. Bennett in a bold Art Deco style. Its three fluted towers, rising dramatically above a colonnaded base, represented the three branches of the federal government — executive, legislative, and judicial — and the building housed government exhibits throughout the run of the fair. The stamp's denomination appears in Roman numerals — III — making it the first U.S. stamp since the 1847 10-cent George Washington to use Roman numerals, a deliberate design choice that gave the stamp a classical formality suited to the subject.
The Century of Progress Exposition ran from May 27 to November 12, 1933, and proved such a success that it was held over for a second season in 1934. It drew nearly 39 million visitors over its two-year run despite the depths of the Great Depression — a testament to the public's hunger for optimism and spectacle during one of the hardest periods in American history. The fair's theme of scientific and industrial progress was embodied in its modernist architecture, its displays of new technology, and its celebration of what human ingenuity had achieved in the century since Chicago's founding. The Federal Building, with its soaring towers visible across the fairgrounds, was the centerpiece of that message.
The Century of Progress issue also included imperforate souvenir sheets produced at the fair during the American Philatelic Society convention in August 1933, and Postmaster General James Farley's distribution of special printings to friends and officials created what collectors have long called "Farley's Follies."
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