1988 $8.75 Eagle and Moon, Express Mail

# 2394 - 1988 $8.75 Eagle and Moon, Express Mail

$8.50 - $625.00
Image Condition Price Qty
313058
Colorano Silk First Day Cover ⓘ Ships in 1-3 business days. Ships in 1-3 business days.
$ 35.00
$ 35.00
0
313057
Classic First Day Cover ⓘ Ships in 1-3 business days. Ships in 1-3 business days. Free with 6,000 Points
$ 30.00
$ 30.00
1
313063
Mint Plate Block ⓘ Ships in 1-3 business days. Ships in 1-3 business days.
$ 145.00
$ 145.00
2
313060
Mint Stamp(s) ⓘ Ships in 1-3 business days. Ships in 1-3 business days.
$ 32.00
$ 32.00
3
313064
Mint Sheet(s) ⓘ Usually ships within 30 days. Usually ships within 30 days.
$ 625.00
$ 625.00
4
313065
Used Single Stamp(s) ⓘ Ships in 1-3 business days. Ships in 1-3 business days. Free with 2,920 Points
$ 13.50
$ 13.50
5
No Image
Used Stamp(s) small flaws ⓘ Ships in 1-3 business days. Ships in 1-3 business days. Free with 1,940 Points
$ 8.50
$ 8.50
6
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U.S. #2394
1988 $8.75 Eagle and Moon
Express Mail

  • 3rd US Express Mail stamp
  • Uses same imagery (Eagle and Moon) as previous stamps, but printed in a different method and format

Stamp Category:  Express Mail
Value: 
$8.75, Express Mail rate
First Day of Issue: 
October 4, 1988
First Day City: 
Terre Haute, Indiana
Quantity Issued: 
120,000,000
Printed by: 
Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Printing Method: 
Lithographed and engraved
Format: 
Panes of 20
Perforations:  11

 

Why the stamp was issued:  In an effort to compete with independent, overnight-delivery companies, the USPS lowered its rate from $10.75 for an 8 oz. letter to $8.75.

 

About the stamp design:  As with previous Express Mail issues, the new stamp featured an eagle's head against a full moon.  Postal officials, who had admired the quality of the Migratory Bird hunting stamps, asked the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to use the same intaglio off-set printing technique. Even the size, shape, and perforations were copied! Rather than being printed in sheets of thirty, however, it was printed in mini-sheets of twenty. 

 

Artist Ned Seidler was commissioned to design this stamp.  He produced five stamp-sized paintings of eagle heads against full or crescent moons for the USPS to choose from.  Once they selected an image, he painted it larger for the BEP to work from to create the stamp.

 

First Day City:  The First Day ceremony for this stamp was held at the Hulman Regional Airport in Terre Haute, Indiana, the transfer hub hundreds of thousands of pounds of Express and Priority Mail each day.

 

History the stamp represents:  Customers paid to have packages shipped quickly long before the post office offered express mail. American Express and Wells Fargo began as express companies that picked up shipments at a business or home and delivered them to the door of the receiver.

 

The US Postal Service began experimenting with Express Mail in 1970, and by 1977, it was a permanent class of service. This service was available at 3,500 post offices throughout America. By 1983, it had reached the number-three spot in air cargo, behind Federal Express (FedEx) but in front of United Parcel Service (UPS). The USPS decided to issue a special stamp for this service to meet escalating demands for overnight letter service, which experts believed was caused by a lack of consumer confidence in first-class mail.

 

The new stamp was first issued on August 12, 1983, at the Kennedy Space Visitor’s Center to coincide with the Challenger Space Shuttle’s eighth mission. A temporary postal station was installed and operated on that day from 8:30 a.m. until 5:50 p.m.

 

The stamp’s design is the same as that used by the Young and Rubicam Advertising Agency in television and print commercials to promote the next-day service. It shows an eagle with a moon behind it. The moon is from a photograph taken by NASA in 1972, and the bald eagle is from a 1972 color photograph taken by George Galicz.

 

The new Eagle Express Mail prepay stamp was an improvement on the original service. It could be purchased at any post office and dropped in letterboxes or picked up by mail carriers, making the service accessible to tens of thousands of sites, rather than just the original 3,500.

 

Initially, the stamps were to be sold in booklet panes of three. Each stamp satisfied the rate to mail one small package of up to two pounds. In October 1983, the USPS announced that the stamps could be sold as singles for those people who wanted to send one package and did not have a use for the other two stamps. The Postal Service later made the Eagle Express Mail stamp valid for all mail services, making it the most costly postage stamp in US history.

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U.S. #2394
1988 $8.75 Eagle and Moon
Express Mail

  • 3rd US Express Mail stamp
  • Uses same imagery (Eagle and Moon) as previous stamps, but printed in a different method and format

Stamp Category:  Express Mail
Value: 
$8.75, Express Mail rate
First Day of Issue: 
October 4, 1988
First Day City: 
Terre Haute, Indiana
Quantity Issued: 
120,000,000
Printed by: 
Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Printing Method: 
Lithographed and engraved
Format: 
Panes of 20
Perforations:  11

 

Why the stamp was issued:  In an effort to compete with independent, overnight-delivery companies, the USPS lowered its rate from $10.75 for an 8 oz. letter to $8.75.

 

About the stamp design:  As with previous Express Mail issues, the new stamp featured an eagle's head against a full moon.  Postal officials, who had admired the quality of the Migratory Bird hunting stamps, asked the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to use the same intaglio off-set printing technique. Even the size, shape, and perforations were copied! Rather than being printed in sheets of thirty, however, it was printed in mini-sheets of twenty. 

 

Artist Ned Seidler was commissioned to design this stamp.  He produced five stamp-sized paintings of eagle heads against full or crescent moons for the USPS to choose from.  Once they selected an image, he painted it larger for the BEP to work from to create the stamp.

 

First Day City:  The First Day ceremony for this stamp was held at the Hulman Regional Airport in Terre Haute, Indiana, the transfer hub hundreds of thousands of pounds of Express and Priority Mail each day.

 

History the stamp represents:  Customers paid to have packages shipped quickly long before the post office offered express mail. American Express and Wells Fargo began as express companies that picked up shipments at a business or home and delivered them to the door of the receiver.

 

The US Postal Service began experimenting with Express Mail in 1970, and by 1977, it was a permanent class of service. This service was available at 3,500 post offices throughout America. By 1983, it had reached the number-three spot in air cargo, behind Federal Express (FedEx) but in front of United Parcel Service (UPS). The USPS decided to issue a special stamp for this service to meet escalating demands for overnight letter service, which experts believed was caused by a lack of consumer confidence in first-class mail.

 

The new stamp was first issued on August 12, 1983, at the Kennedy Space Visitor’s Center to coincide with the Challenger Space Shuttle’s eighth mission. A temporary postal station was installed and operated on that day from 8:30 a.m. until 5:50 p.m.

 

The stamp’s design is the same as that used by the Young and Rubicam Advertising Agency in television and print commercials to promote the next-day service. It shows an eagle with a moon behind it. The moon is from a photograph taken by NASA in 1972, and the bald eagle is from a 1972 color photograph taken by George Galicz.

 

The new Eagle Express Mail prepay stamp was an improvement on the original service. It could be purchased at any post office and dropped in letterboxes or picked up by mail carriers, making the service accessible to tens of thousands of sites, rather than just the original 3,500.

 

Initially, the stamps were to be sold in booklet panes of three. Each stamp satisfied the rate to mail one small package of up to two pounds. In October 1983, the USPS announced that the stamps could be sold as singles for those people who wanted to send one package and did not have a use for the other two stamps. The Postal Service later made the Eagle Express Mail stamp valid for all mail services, making it the most costly postage stamp in US history.