# 3023 - 1995 32c Antique Automobiles: 1901 White

US #3023
1995 1901 White

• Last stamps issued in 1995
• Set features 5 antique automobiles

Category of Stamp:  Commemorative
Set:  Antique Autos
Value:  32¢, First-Class mail rate
First Day of Issue:  November 3, 1995
First Day City:  New York, New York
Quantity Issued:  30,000,000
Printed by:  J.W. Fergusson for Stamp Venturers
Printing Method: Photogravure
Format:  Panes of 25 (from printing cylinders of 200 – 10 across, 20 down)
Perforations:  10.1 X 11.1

Reason the stamp was issued:  This set of five stamps was issued to commemorate some of the first American automobiles.  It follows the popular Classic Cars set (#2381-85).

About the stamp design:  The stamps were created by the same artist, Ken Dallison, who was the talent behind the Classic Cars stamps.  He specializes in painting cars, and his work has appeared in several publications.  In addition to the Classic Cars set, Dallison also did the artwork for some of the stamps in the Transportation series and the Pioneers of Aviation airmail stamps.

First Day City:  These stamps were dedicated on the second day of the American Stamp Dealers Association’s Postage Stamp Mega-Event.  The event was sponsored by the American Philatelic Society and the US Postal Service.  IT was held at the Jacob K. Javits Conventions Cetner in New York City.  Ken Dallison, the stamps’ designer, was one of about 500 people who attended the ceremony.

History the stamp represents: 
1901 White: The 1901 White was produced by Rollin H. White of the White Sewing Machine Company of Cleveland, Ohio.  White produced his first steam-driven automobile, a light chain-driven stanhope (single-seated open-carriage vehicle) with tiller steering, in 1900.  It had a simple two-cylinder engine mounted under the floor, and an underslung frontal steam condenser.
Steam-powered automobiles, or steamers, are propelled by the energy of expanding steam.  Fuel is burned within a furnace, which heats water inside of a boiler.  Water turns to steam inside the boiler.  This steam was used to drive the pistons of the 1901 White, and was then collected in the condenser.  The White could travel 100 miles on a single filling of water!
Steamers were extremely popular.  At the turn of the century 40 percent of all US automobiles were driven by steam – only 22 percent were powered by gasoline.  White sold 193 of these cars in 1901, their first year of full production.  But steam cars had many disadvantages.  It took a long time to heat the steam in the car’s boiler.  For automotive use, steam engines needed to be small, and therefore very high-pressured.  Such engines were costly to build and maintain.  By 1924 most major steam car companies were no longer in business.