1922-1951 Special Delivery Stamps (8)

U.S. #E12-19
1922-51 Special Delivery

Special Delivery stamps were pre-payments added to the regular “lawful postage” for an extra service – immediate delivery of a letter within one mile of any special delivery post office.  These special post offices were those with free routine delivery service or in larger communities with 4,000 or more people. 

First available in 1885, the Special Delivery service was extremely popular.  At first, the service was available from 7 a.m. to midnight.  The following year, the hours changed from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.  The service was so successful that in 1886, every U.S. post office began to offer Special Delivery.

These Special Delivery stamps reflect a turning point in America’s postal history. Earlier issues featured messengers running or riding bicycles, but by the 1920s, the Post Office introduced a new design — a messenger standing at the door of a modern brick post office with a motorcycle parked nearby. As automobiles became standard, the higher values later depicted a mail truck outside a post office, signaling the shift to mechanized mail delivery.

Issued in denominations from 10¢ through 20¢, these stamps prepaid the extra fee required to rush letters by messenger immediately upon arrival. Though practical, Special Delivery mail was never widely used, making these stamps an intriguing specialty area for collectors. Their bold colors — deep blue, bright orange, violet, ultramarine, olive green, and black — make them among the most eye-catching U.S. back-of-the-book issues.