First US Non Engraved Stamp

What was the first non engraved US stamp ? year, sc #

I suspect it was Scott 525, which is the first of the offset W/F series. Dec 1918.

Interesting question!

I have a Scott out from the library and I looked up 525. If I'm reading it correctly it looks like 529 is also offset. It's dated nine months earlier - March 1918.

I was just going by Scott number, the offsets as a group are the first non engraved postage stamps.

I suppose to some extent it depends on what you mean by US stamp. Here is a familiar design from the 1860s that was printed by the National Bank Note Company as a test of a patent idea for re-use prevention. These stamps are printed by a process called "decalcomania" in fugitive ink in reverse on the back side of a thin transparent paper sometimes called "goldbeaters skin." Though not regularly issued they were produced in about 1864 under government contract in the current designs at the time, by the normally contracted stamp producers. A few are known cancelled. As stamps they are as American as apple pie. They are Scott listed in the essay section.

They are not engraved.




Other non-engraved examples printed by other processes can be shown from about this same time period.

I have a lithographed essay from about 1876 used on cover about 1905.

The first non-engraved multicolored stamp was Scott 1335 from November 2, 1967

OXF1 Registry seal stamp of 1872 was typographed:

OX11 of 1900 was lithographed too.

Family,

How about a reverse thread. When was the last ENGRAVED stamp? Late 1960's, I think. It hasn't been the same for me since they stopped making them.

Jack Kelley

Much later than that. Asked and answered ...

https://goscf.com/t/36602

http://www.linns.com/en/insights/us...veiling.html

The 2015 Vintage Tulip issue is intaglio printed using engraved plates.

I like this question because it stretches the mind.

The Confederate States of America tended to use lithography rather than intaglio (engraving) for its paper securities, specifically paper money and stamps. Since they are listed in the US Specialized and were repatriated after the Civil War (if that is the right term) I think we can count them as "US stamps" in the broad sense of having been produced in the part of North America presently held by the US. The earliest general issue stamp has an EDU of Oct 16, 1861.

Prior to that there are various local post stamps that were printed by typography or lithography throughout the 1850s.

So also some of the earliest Postmasters' Provisionals were typeset (c. 1846)

Jack - I believe that the US issued a few engaged engraved stamps in recent years. I will check when I get home tonight, unless someone beats me to it...

kollectorkurt, you did mean 'engraved' rather than 'engaged'?

Peter

Aren't they the same thing?
(I forgot to disable the auto-fill on my new iPhone)

By my reckoning, the earliest non-engraved U.S. postage stamps that were officially released, would be the first newspaper/periodical stamps (PR1-3) issued in 1865. While these were produced by the National Bank Note Co. and were certainly designed using a geometric lathe and medallion engraving machine, they were printed typographically.