This quote is taken right from the USPS website:
Quote:
The Postal Service originally developed self-adhesive stamps to make precanceled stamps more secure. Precanceled stamps are canceled across the face before being sold. In the late 1960s, as many as 20 percent of them were soaked off and reused. Precanceled stamps skipped a processing step that often caught reused stamps.
With the Christmas 1974 issue, the Postal Service experimented with a self-adhesive precanceled stamp. It was believed that the tightly bonded self-adhesive would not permit stamps to be soaked off. An additional security feature placed slits in the stamps to foil attempts to peel them off. Unfortunately, the stamps cost three to five times more to produce than regular postage stamps, they could still be soaked off and reused, and stamps in the hands of collectors started to self-destruct.
In 1989, the Postal Service again experimented with self-adhesive stamps, this time with emphasis on customer convenience. The new self-adhesives had a water-soluble adhesive and were produced on coated paper, so the effects of the adhesive would not be destructive. Introduced nationwide in 1992, self-adhesive stamps quickly became popular with customers. By 2002, nearly all new U.S. commemorative stamp issues were self-adhesive.
If you are interested in specific stamp issues, one must identify with whether or not you're talking about "experimental" stamps, regular/definitive issue postage stamps or commemorative stamps. They each have their own introduction dates.
In general, though:
Scott 1552 - Issued 1974 - First US Self Adhesive Stamp (Precancelled) - Christmas Weathervane.
Scott 2431 - Issued 1989 - First Booklet Self Adhesive Stamp - Eagle & Shield - Sold at Premium of $5 for 18 25-cent stamps.
Scott 2522 - Issued 1991 - Experimental "F" Flag Stamp for First National Bank ATM in Seattle, Washington.
Of course, from there several other experimental issues, definitive issues and holiday stamps were issued with self-adhesive backing (and in some cases, both in self-adhesive and gummed varieties). This Linn's article summarizes many of them:
http://www.linns.com/howto/refreshe...rcourse.aspxAs for a commemorative stamps (other than regular/definitive and holiday issues), I believe Scott 3121 (Brigadier General Benjamin O. Davis) issued on January 28, 1997 was the first "commemorative" stamp issued with self adhesive backing, as printed by Banknote Corporation of America.
Posted 07/04/2013 7:02 pm
