According to a stamp-collecting website, the set of 16 stamps, depicting different chapters in the explorer’s career, were the first commemorative stamps issued by the United States.
The Columbians were issued in 16 denominations, ranging from one cent to $5. At the time, it was the most expensive stamp in U.S. history. (An online calculator says that $5 back then was the equivalent of $131 today).
The stamp website noted that the Chicago Tribune pointed out that there was only one use for the $5 Columbian: Someone could mail 62 1/2 -pounds of books at the book rate.
The Vancouver stamp was issued in 2007 by Canada’s postal authority to mark the 250th anniversary of Capt. George Vancouver’s birth.
As the Canada Post news release describes it, the stamp “features a solitary image of Vancouver standing onboard ship, gazing out toward the horizon.”
And we’re looking at his blue-jacketed back, which certainly is different.
“This is a unique design for Canada Post as it’s the first time that we’ve not shown the face of a person commemorated on a stamp,” Danielle Trottier, design manager, said in the 2007 news release. It looks “as if we’re actually peering over his shoulder and gazing out with him to the barren horizon. This is truly a romantic and intimate stamp design.”
Off Beat lets members of The Columbian news team step back from our newspaper beats to write the story behind the story, fill in the story or just tell a story.
