War Savings Stamps Booklets

Just received my WWII Era booklet in the mail today so I thought I'd take the chance to share my only other Savings Stamp Booklet.

For those of you who don't know - War Savings Stamps were issued by the US Government to raise money for the war effort - both during WWI and WWII. They were more affordable alternatives to other government bonds, which also funded the wars, and were especially marketed towards women and children. Once you purchased enough of these stamps, you would then trade them in for either a War Savings Certificate Stamp (WS2-WS5, used during WWI) or a War Savings Bond (WWII) which were then redeemable at a future date for cash.

I will start with my WWI era booklet with 8x Scott# WS1 (Issued: 1917 Dec. 1). I believe this booklet originally came with an outer sleeve which I'm missing. The booklet itself is in kind of rough shape with a tear and some major creases. Overall not bad for the price I paid for it which I think was around $15.

I'm not sure how many of these stamps were issued. According to one article in an old Business Digest that I dug up on Google, Congress set the ceiling on the value of outstanding War Savings Certificates to two billion dollars so I suppose that would equal out to about one hundred twenty-five million thrift stamps. To put that number in perspective, the total sale of Liberty Bonds raised about twenty billion dollars during WWI. Nevertheless, they were a popular program with thousands of so-called War Savings Societies emerging during that time.





Here is a more colorful one, and my newest purchase ($5 on ebay, I think a pretty good deal... although most of the listings there are Purchase listings - I managed to snag this one as an auction.)

Features 27x Scott# WS7 (Issued 1942... and not to be confused with Scott# S1 which shares an identical design except for the vertical text in the column to the right of the Minute Man).

Personally I think this booklet is a little less creative than the first (I really miss the savings slogans). Still have a bit more research to do on this issue.





Unfortunately the War Savings Certificate Stamps and booklets, while very nice, are a little out of my price range at this time. If anyone has any I would love to see them!

Also, I believe I have seen one other variation on the Thrift Stamp booklet - so I am interested in any variations that are out there. Also would be curious to see other variations of the booklets that would house The Minute Man War Savings Issue - particularly the $1-$5 value.

-P.Bear

A photo illustrating the popular movement surrounding the sale the stamps during WWI.


http://brooklynhistory.org/blog/tag/world-war-i/

Here also are some interesting advertising posters that I've found online promoting the use of War Savings Stamps during WWII:


http://history1900s.about.com/libra...wwiip226.htm

A similar savings program existed after the war, and I remember as a first grader (late 1960s - early 1970s) being able to purchase stamps towards a savings bond. I still have a partial book or card around here somewhere. Unfortunately, the program was discontinued before I was able to buy enough stamps to get the savings bond.

Here is a WSS related cover that I recently picked up. I assume the "Buy Another War Savings Stamp" print is private. Perhaps something created by a War Savings Society? Would be interested to know if anyone has encountered anything similar.





-P. Bear

Here's a rather interesting Q&A document explaining the War Savings Stamp and Thrift Stamp Program:

http://libcudl.colorado.edu/wwi/pdf/i73689750.pdf