United States Stamps

Stamp collecting came into existence as soon as stamps themselves did. Before there were stamps, U.S. postage rates were extremely complex and costly for the American public. Letter rates were based on the number of sheets included and distance traveled, and they were often refused because the receiver had to pay delivery costs.

In order to make correspondence easier, Congress standardized postage rates in 1845. This made pre-payment possible, and innovative local postmasters began to issue their own Postmaster Provisional stamps between 1845-1847.

Congress authorized official U.S. postage stamps on March 3, 1847, and the Post Office Department issued its first stamps on July 1, 1847. The original 5-cent stamp pictured Benjamin Franklin, and the 10-cent stamp pictured George Washington, who has been on more U.S. stamps than any other figure.

The very first commemorative stamp honored the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. Martha Washington was the first woman on a stamp in 1902. Pocahontas was the first prominent Native American figure in 1907, and in 1940 Booker T. Washington was the first African American.

Quick Facts

• The word philately, which means, “stamp collecting,” derives from the Greek word phileo, meaning love, and ateleia meaning “free of charges"
• The “Inverted Jenny” is one of the most expensive stamps ever sold. First issued in 1918, the stamp owes its name to the image of the airplane in the center of the design being printed upside-down
• The most rare U.S. stamp is the “Z-grill”, only 10 of which are known to exist. A 1-cent “Z-grill” stamp sold in 1998 for $935,000