Miserable Stamps? - Scott #219 And #220

Most everyone familiar with US Classic stamps will know Scott #219 and #220 (examples below) as rather common stamps from 1890:




What I didn't know is that in 1890, the media and philatelic world apparently condemned these stamps as the "worst ever made" ... to that date, of course. I was going through some old newspaper clippings on-line and came up with this article from the NY Times dated 08/10/1890. In the interest of brevity, I've only included the first paragraph of a lengthy article, but was quite surprised by the comments:



The balance of the article suggests that the stamps are a "disgrace to our country"! It seems to me that was a rather scathing report on a stamp from 1890.

I have clipping from Australian newspapers from the 60's 70's and 80's
that are similar, it seems we always find fault with contemporary issues.
Whilst I agree with the last paragraph, I think stamps have to
be looked back upon by at least 50 years to get their place in the hierchy of
approval.
As much as we may dislike some issues, they reflect the current state
of affairs of the country that produces them.
We are actually right now, in self stick, photo litho times.

The 1890 series "small banknotes" were a departure from the larger format more elaborate stamps of 1870-1887. Since they were much smaller and simpler designs they would have definitely looked less impressive and caused this type of reaction. The pictorial issues of 1869 were sililarly received by the public.

I agree these reactions were probably typical of the current state of the country at the time. I did find it entertaining reading, though. The two-cent variety was especially maligned...as these quotes were taken from the same article:

"…put a dozen two-cent stamps in a teaspoonful of ammonia and they will fade so that the ammonia can be used for carmine ink. I did this and wrote a long letter with the ink. The whole set is inferior to former issues…"

"…They used poor ink in order to get cheap work…the coloring of the two-cent stamp comes clear through to the gelatine. Collectors will probably discard the two-cent stamp, as there are already about twenty-five shades…"

That is the feeling I had when the stores replaced paper bags with the plastic. I think they call it progress.

Just goes to show you -- there have always been curmudgeons and there always will be

I would dearly love to have 25 shades of the 2 cent