1989 25c Eagle & Shield,s/a,pane/18
# 2431a - 1989 25c Eagle & Shield,s/a,pane/18
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2431a - 1989 25c Eagle & Shield,s/a,pane/18
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U.S. #2431a
1989 25¢ Eagle and Shield
Booklet pane of 18
- The second self-adhesive stamp issued by the US
- Only on sale for 30 days in 15 cities on an experimental basis
- Sold in booklets with a 50¢ premium to cover costs
Stamp Category: Definitive
Value: 25¢, first-class rate
First Day of Issue: November 10, 1989
First Day City: Virginia Beach, Virginia
Quantity Issued: 226,700 booklet panes
Printed by: American Bank Note Company
Printing Method: Photogravure
Format: Booklet pane of 18
Perforations: Die Cut
Why the stamp was issued: As part of the USPS’s long-running experiment to create successful self-adhesive stamps. The last attempt had occurred in 1974 and had been unsuccessful. Work on this stamp began in April 1986. At that time, the USPS attended a security printing conference and put the call out to private industry to invent what they needed – a pressure sensitive adhesive for stamps.
The needs were specific – the adhesive had to be strong but slow-acting, so that the stamps could be repositioned on envelopes; it should have a long shelf life, it had to be water-soluble so collectors could soak stamps off covers; and it couldn’t discolor the stamp (as had happened with the previous self-adhesive). Within three weeks, one company managed to solve one of the problems.
The USPS also convened focus groups to figure out the size and shape people would like best. The results told them that people liked the stamps touching each other, with no space in between and with right-angle corners. They also did a test mailing of 200,000 envelopes. The USPS attached blank labels from the five security printers to each of the envelopes and passed them through the mail stream. All 200,00 envelopes passed through properly, causing no issues.
The stamp was produced with an acrylic-based adhesive in 18-stamp convertible booklets and strips of 18 for affixing machines. The USPS called them “EXTRAordinary Stamps” and sold them for an additional 50¢ per booklet. Initially, the USPS believed that people would be willing pay extra for the convenience of the new self-adhesive feature. However, many complained about the added fee. Additionally, some postal clerks rejected the unfamiliar imperforate stamps, leading to further frustration.
About the stamp design: First-time stamp artist Jay Haiden provided the artwork for this stamp. Known for his airbrush work, which translates well to gravure printing, he depicted a gold eagle that looks like a sculpture. It carries a ribbon with the motto “E Pluribus Unum,” along with a red, white, and blue shield, olive branch, and arrows. The image is modeled after the Great Seal of the United States, which has inspired several other stamps before, including the 1969 American Legion stamp (#1369) and the Official stamps of the 1980s-2000s.
First Day City: The First Day ceremony for this stamp was held in Virginia Beach, Virginia, to coincide with the annual VAPEX stamp show. The stamps themselves were only distributed to 15 cities for a 30-day test period. Those cities were: Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Poenix, and S. Louis.
Customers in those cities were then given a questionnaire asking how they liked the stamps. Unfortunately, they were unpopular. But this was likely because of the 50¢ premium added to the booklets to cover the higher production costs.
Unusual fact about this stamp: Error stamps have been found missing the die cutting.
History the stamp represents: On November 15, 1974, the USPS issued its first experimental self-adhesive stamp.
Throughout the 20th century, US postage evolved through a number of significant innovations such as the use of the rotary press and phosphorescent tagging. However, while these innovations may have gone largely unnoticed by the general public, one of the most notable postal innovations of the century was the introduction of self-adhesive stamps. Though common today, they had a rocky start.
In 1974, the USPS began working on its first self-adhesive stamp. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing produced the stamps on their Andreotti press and leased additional machinery from companies that produced self-stick labels. The stamps were die-cut, stripped, rouletted, and cut into finished panes. The stamps also had crossed center slits to prevent them from being removed from envelopes and reused.
Additionally, the stamps had rounded corners and were produced on a backing paper (or liner). Unlike today’s self-adhesive stamps, these stamps didn’t touch each other, and instead had lines of backing paper in between them. On the edge of each sheet were 10 self-adhesive tabs with plate numbers and a variety of phrases including “Self Sticking Stamps,” “Remove from Backing,” and “Do Not Moisten.”
The Christmas stamp, picturing the weather vane from the top of Mount Vernon, was issued on November 15, 1974, in New York City. Unfortunately, both the USPS and collectors would soon deem the experiment a failure. For the USPS, production of the stamp was too expensive and crosscuts didn’t prevent them from being reused. Years later, collectors would discover that the rubber-based adhesive created brown spots on the stamps and this adhesive also stained the covers.
Because of all these issues, the USPS gave up on self-adhesives for 15 years. Then in 1989, they decided to try again. This time they used an acrylic-based adhesive and produced 18-stamp convertible booklets and strips of 18 for affixing machines. The stamps went on sale on November 10, 1989, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, to coincide with the annual VAPEX stamp show. However, the stamps themselves were only distributed to 15 cities for a 30-day test period.
Customers in those cities were then given a questionnaire asking how they liked the stamps. Unfortunately, they were unpopular. But this was likely because there was a 50¢ premium added to the booklets to cover the higher production costs. This issue was also deemed a failure.
Not ready to give up, the USPS tried again the following year. This time they printed the stamps on plastic instead of paper and they were issued in sheets the same size and thickness of paper currency for sale in select ATMs in Seattle. There was no additional premium added to these stamps and they were considered a success. The USPS then expanded the program, but the next stamps would be printed on paper because of complaints they had received from paper recyclers.
The experiments continued and then in 1992, the USPS issued its first nationally distributed self-adhesives since 1974, the 29¢ Eagle and Shield stamps. They issued their first new self-adhesive commemorative in 1996, honoring Tennessee Statehood. The number of self-adhesives grew over the years and by 2002, almost all US stamps were issued self-adhesive.
U.S. #2431a
1989 25¢ Eagle and Shield
Booklet pane of 18
- The second self-adhesive stamp issued by the US
- Only on sale for 30 days in 15 cities on an experimental basis
- Sold in booklets with a 50¢ premium to cover costs
Stamp Category: Definitive
Value: 25¢, first-class rate
First Day of Issue: November 10, 1989
First Day City: Virginia Beach, Virginia
Quantity Issued: 226,700 booklet panes
Printed by: American Bank Note Company
Printing Method: Photogravure
Format: Booklet pane of 18
Perforations: Die Cut
Why the stamp was issued: As part of the USPS’s long-running experiment to create successful self-adhesive stamps. The last attempt had occurred in 1974 and had been unsuccessful. Work on this stamp began in April 1986. At that time, the USPS attended a security printing conference and put the call out to private industry to invent what they needed – a pressure sensitive adhesive for stamps.
The needs were specific – the adhesive had to be strong but slow-acting, so that the stamps could be repositioned on envelopes; it should have a long shelf life, it had to be water-soluble so collectors could soak stamps off covers; and it couldn’t discolor the stamp (as had happened with the previous self-adhesive). Within three weeks, one company managed to solve one of the problems.
The USPS also convened focus groups to figure out the size and shape people would like best. The results told them that people liked the stamps touching each other, with no space in between and with right-angle corners. They also did a test mailing of 200,000 envelopes. The USPS attached blank labels from the five security printers to each of the envelopes and passed them through the mail stream. All 200,00 envelopes passed through properly, causing no issues.
The stamp was produced with an acrylic-based adhesive in 18-stamp convertible booklets and strips of 18 for affixing machines. The USPS called them “EXTRAordinary Stamps” and sold them for an additional 50¢ per booklet. Initially, the USPS believed that people would be willing pay extra for the convenience of the new self-adhesive feature. However, many complained about the added fee. Additionally, some postal clerks rejected the unfamiliar imperforate stamps, leading to further frustration.
About the stamp design: First-time stamp artist Jay Haiden provided the artwork for this stamp. Known for his airbrush work, which translates well to gravure printing, he depicted a gold eagle that looks like a sculpture. It carries a ribbon with the motto “E Pluribus Unum,” along with a red, white, and blue shield, olive branch, and arrows. The image is modeled after the Great Seal of the United States, which has inspired several other stamps before, including the 1969 American Legion stamp (#1369) and the Official stamps of the 1980s-2000s.
First Day City: The First Day ceremony for this stamp was held in Virginia Beach, Virginia, to coincide with the annual VAPEX stamp show. The stamps themselves were only distributed to 15 cities for a 30-day test period. Those cities were: Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Poenix, and S. Louis.
Customers in those cities were then given a questionnaire asking how they liked the stamps. Unfortunately, they were unpopular. But this was likely because of the 50¢ premium added to the booklets to cover the higher production costs.
Unusual fact about this stamp: Error stamps have been found missing the die cutting.
History the stamp represents: On November 15, 1974, the USPS issued its first experimental self-adhesive stamp.
Throughout the 20th century, US postage evolved through a number of significant innovations such as the use of the rotary press and phosphorescent tagging. However, while these innovations may have gone largely unnoticed by the general public, one of the most notable postal innovations of the century was the introduction of self-adhesive stamps. Though common today, they had a rocky start.
In 1974, the USPS began working on its first self-adhesive stamp. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing produced the stamps on their Andreotti press and leased additional machinery from companies that produced self-stick labels. The stamps were die-cut, stripped, rouletted, and cut into finished panes. The stamps also had crossed center slits to prevent them from being removed from envelopes and reused.
Additionally, the stamps had rounded corners and were produced on a backing paper (or liner). Unlike today’s self-adhesive stamps, these stamps didn’t touch each other, and instead had lines of backing paper in between them. On the edge of each sheet were 10 self-adhesive tabs with plate numbers and a variety of phrases including “Self Sticking Stamps,” “Remove from Backing,” and “Do Not Moisten.”
The Christmas stamp, picturing the weather vane from the top of Mount Vernon, was issued on November 15, 1974, in New York City. Unfortunately, both the USPS and collectors would soon deem the experiment a failure. For the USPS, production of the stamp was too expensive and crosscuts didn’t prevent them from being reused. Years later, collectors would discover that the rubber-based adhesive created brown spots on the stamps and this adhesive also stained the covers.
Because of all these issues, the USPS gave up on self-adhesives for 15 years. Then in 1989, they decided to try again. This time they used an acrylic-based adhesive and produced 18-stamp convertible booklets and strips of 18 for affixing machines. The stamps went on sale on November 10, 1989, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, to coincide with the annual VAPEX stamp show. However, the stamps themselves were only distributed to 15 cities for a 30-day test period.
Customers in those cities were then given a questionnaire asking how they liked the stamps. Unfortunately, they were unpopular. But this was likely because there was a 50¢ premium added to the booklets to cover the higher production costs. This issue was also deemed a failure.
Not ready to give up, the USPS tried again the following year. This time they printed the stamps on plastic instead of paper and they were issued in sheets the same size and thickness of paper currency for sale in select ATMs in Seattle. There was no additional premium added to these stamps and they were considered a success. The USPS then expanded the program, but the next stamps would be printed on paper because of complaints they had received from paper recyclers.
The experiments continued and then in 1992, the USPS issued its first nationally distributed self-adhesives since 1974, the 29¢ Eagle and Shield stamps. They issued their first new self-adhesive commemorative in 1996, honoring Tennessee Statehood. The number of self-adhesives grew over the years and by 2002, almost all US stamps were issued self-adhesive.