1999 33c California Gold Rush

# 3316 - 1999 33c California Gold Rush

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US #3316
1999 California Gold Rush

  • Commemorates the 150th anniversary of the 1849 California Gold Rush
  • The second US stamp to commemorate California’s history with gold mining


Stamp Category: 
Commemorative
Value:  33¢ First Class Mail Rate
First Day of Issue:  June 18, 1999
First Day City:  Sacramento, California
Quantity Issued:  89,270,000
Printed by:  Printed for Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd., by Sterling Sommer of Tonawanda, New York
Printing Method:  Offset
Format:  Panes of 20 (Horizontal 4 across, 5 down)
Perforations:  11.1 x 11.2
Tagging:  Phosphored paper

Why the stamp was issued:  To commemorate the 150th anniversary of James W. Marshall’s discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in 1849.

About the stamp design:  Pictures an illustration created by artist John Berkey of Excelsion, Minnesota, the same artist who did the 1998 Klondike Gold Rush stamp.  The design is an acrylic and casine painting picturing prospectors separating gold from dirt and gravel in a stream in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

First Day City:  The First Day of Issue Ceremony was held in Sacramento, California, in Old Town Sacramento as part of Railfair 99, a 10-day celebration of railroading and the discovery of gold in California.  Sacramento was the same location for the First Day of Issue Ceremony of the Sutter’s Mill commemorative stamp that was issued 51 years earlier.

Matching designs:  This stamp and the 1998 Klondike Gold Rush were both created under the art direction of Howard Paine who wanted them to be done by the same artist.  He said, “There is value in having them look alike, so there’s a series.  I think we’ve done too many stamps that don’t belong in any set; they’re just a one-shot…. If we can give the collector even two stamps that are similar in subject matter, coloration, or design, then they’ve got a series.  And collectors like series.”  Most collectors don’t consider these two stamps a “series,” but they are similar designs, meaning it makes sense to collect them together.

History the stamp represents:  James Marshall discovered gold in California’s American River in 1848 while building a sawmill for John Sutter, a pioneer trader.  At first, the discovery was kept a secret, because Sutter feared the area would be overrun by treasure hunters.  But word soon spread, and people blocked to the area.  They came to be known as “Forty-Niners,” after the year of their arrival.  By late 1849, less than two years later, California’s population had increased from 15,000 to 100,000 people.

For many would-be miners, traveling to California wasn’t an easy trip.  Those departing from America’s east coast sailed around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America, then north to San Francisco.  The treacherous voyage took six months to complete.  Despite the deplorable conditions of the ships, more than 43,000 passengers arrived in San Francisco from April 1849 to February 1850.  Others sailed through the swampy Isthmus of Panama.  Part of this trail had to be traveled on foot.  About 50,000 gold rushers journeyed to the west coast by overland route in covered wagons.

Free-spending Forty-Niners made such communities as Sacramento and San Francisco into flourishing towns.  Those who were not so lucky in the gold fields became ranchers and farmers in the central valley regions.

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US #3316
1999 California Gold Rush

  • Commemorates the 150th anniversary of the 1849 California Gold Rush
  • The second US stamp to commemorate California’s history with gold mining


Stamp Category: 
Commemorative
Value:  33¢ First Class Mail Rate
First Day of Issue:  June 18, 1999
First Day City:  Sacramento, California
Quantity Issued:  89,270,000
Printed by:  Printed for Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd., by Sterling Sommer of Tonawanda, New York
Printing Method:  Offset
Format:  Panes of 20 (Horizontal 4 across, 5 down)
Perforations:  11.1 x 11.2
Tagging:  Phosphored paper

Why the stamp was issued:  To commemorate the 150th anniversary of James W. Marshall’s discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in 1849.

About the stamp design:  Pictures an illustration created by artist John Berkey of Excelsion, Minnesota, the same artist who did the 1998 Klondike Gold Rush stamp.  The design is an acrylic and casine painting picturing prospectors separating gold from dirt and gravel in a stream in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

First Day City:  The First Day of Issue Ceremony was held in Sacramento, California, in Old Town Sacramento as part of Railfair 99, a 10-day celebration of railroading and the discovery of gold in California.  Sacramento was the same location for the First Day of Issue Ceremony of the Sutter’s Mill commemorative stamp that was issued 51 years earlier.

Matching designs:  This stamp and the 1998 Klondike Gold Rush were both created under the art direction of Howard Paine who wanted them to be done by the same artist.  He said, “There is value in having them look alike, so there’s a series.  I think we’ve done too many stamps that don’t belong in any set; they’re just a one-shot…. If we can give the collector even two stamps that are similar in subject matter, coloration, or design, then they’ve got a series.  And collectors like series.”  Most collectors don’t consider these two stamps a “series,” but they are similar designs, meaning it makes sense to collect them together.

History the stamp represents:  James Marshall discovered gold in California’s American River in 1848 while building a sawmill for John Sutter, a pioneer trader.  At first, the discovery was kept a secret, because Sutter feared the area would be overrun by treasure hunters.  But word soon spread, and people blocked to the area.  They came to be known as “Forty-Niners,” after the year of their arrival.  By late 1849, less than two years later, California’s population had increased from 15,000 to 100,000 people.

For many would-be miners, traveling to California wasn’t an easy trip.  Those departing from America’s east coast sailed around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America, then north to San Francisco.  The treacherous voyage took six months to complete.  Despite the deplorable conditions of the ships, more than 43,000 passengers arrived in San Francisco from April 1849 to February 1850.  Others sailed through the swampy Isthmus of Panama.  Part of this trail had to be traveled on foot.  About 50,000 gold rushers journeyed to the west coast by overland route in covered wagons.

Free-spending Forty-Niners made such communities as Sacramento and San Francisco into flourishing towns.  Those who were not so lucky in the gold fields became ranchers and farmers in the central valley regions.