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EveryENC
Stamp Collections
Lets's Learn More History
Third Bureau Issue
The winter of 1912 saw the first printing of the 1-cent Washington, a single-line "USPS" watermark. This 1-cent stamp marked the first time in American philatelic history that Franklin and Washington appeared on the same denomination.
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Like so many of the other stamps in the Washington-Franklin Series, this variety came about because of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s desire to create a better product. One of the main problems the Bureau was encountering was paper shrinkage. Since the stamps were wet printed they would shrink as the paper dried, causing irregular and “off center” perforations, which resulted in a considerable amount of waste.
Blue with a double line "USPS" watermark, the first 5-cent Washington was printed in 1908. Over time it underwent seventeen renditions, differentiated by a variety of papers, coils, watermarks, and perforations. The two rarest 5-cent Washington stamps are the Bluish Paper issue, released in 1910, and the Compound Perforations stamps of 1914. Also rare, two 5-cent Washington renditions were printed in error with the 2-cent Washington stamps in 1917.
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