First Year A Native American Appeared On U. S. Stamp?

Pays bulk second class mailing of (many) newspapers. Denominations to $100.00. Edit: or periodicals.

That is a tobacco tinfoil catalogue TF4-14 in the Hicks Catalog. I was referring to the tobacco taxpaid TF-4 in the Springer catalog - sorry, I don't have a copy of the stamp to illustrate.

Well some one else will need to add the Springer TF4 as I can find an illustration.

Here is a proof of TF4, courtesy of Siegel Auction Galleries. Exceedingly difficult to find an image of the actual revenue.






@Parcelpostguy, here is the original BEP engraving of Running Antelope, with the Lakota headdress. You can see it is a good bit taller than the adapted image, used on currency. But purely from a design perspective, the full war bonnet is more dramatic.

There was an 1863 essay, Sc 73-E6. Not adopted.

I have a bit of a correction to offer. The "Indian" figurehead as described by Springer for TF4 (1868, Continental) was extracted from a larger engraving of a tropical scene of a woman carrying fruit. That scene was used almost in its entirety for TF11, the 20 lb denomiatnion of the 1868 series. In Turner (revenue essays and proofs) she is described as a "girl carrying fruit." That is a more apt description, as the smoldering volcano in the background suggests a location well outside the US.

I have a rendering of the full scene on a bank check on which it was used as an endpiece. I'll scan that once I find it.

The attached images of the stamps come from two of my published articles. The first appeared in the July 2021 issue of The American Philatelist on the CBNCo tobacco stamps of 1868–1872. The second is from my recent article published in The American Revenuer (3rd Q 2023) on the origin and use of the 1868 taxpaid tobacco stamps, including stamped wrapper imprints. Those stamps are from my personal collection.

Found it. I believe the vignette reflects the form of the full original scene. However, note that there's no smoke coming from the volcano in this version. In fact, the top of the mounting has a peaked top in this rendering. Having studied the vignettes used in the 1868 CBNCo stamps for many years, my instincts tell me that the smoke emanating from the flatter-topped volcano was present in the original engraving, and that the check's vignette reflects a modification of the design.

This is the second of the 1868 CBNCo vignettes I've seen used in 20th century fiscal paper.

More to the point, I'd say that the details seen in the 20 lb stamp and the bank check's vignette are sufficient to determine that our scantily-clad fruit hostess is not representative of a Native American.

Yes, but it does not lessen the offense of putting "the wrong uniform" on the man.

The proper headdress is important as it was to Judo friend Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell.






Neither the smoking volcano nor dress of the woman precludes a Native American as Central America is considered part of North America. But even the Natives of South America are in fact Native Indians or if you prefer Native Indians of the Americas. I think it just becomes unclear if she is or is not a Native American.

@essay_proof - The vignette on the check was not produced by Continental BNC, it was a lithographic copy done by a smaller printing house or stationer. By 1900 Continental was long gone, absorbed in 1879 into American Bank Note Co.

Copying designs was common practice, even into the 20th century. The larger bank note companies did try to patent or copyright many of their engravings, but typically a lithographed copy was done by hand, so even though it looked like the original, it was considered a separate piece of artwork. If you do a close comparison you'll see a lot of minor differences, including the fruit on the tray.

@GregAlex, thanks, yes, I'm aware of all of those details. I characterized them as CBNCo vignettes because they originated with the company, some as early as 1866. Many, if not most of the vignettes used for the 1868 tobacco stamps were engraved after illustrations commissioned by the company. I'm aware of several die proofs of those engravings which carry an engraved copyright notice in excruciatingly fine print.

With all due respect revenues, newspaper stamps and so on do not pay postage. Semantics? Perhaps, but we have strayed far afield from the original question.

@PPG, I read your comment and had a facepalming moment... The topic is "First Year A Native American Appeared On U. S. Stamp?", not "First Year a Native from Across the Entirety of the Americas Appears on U.S. Stamp." I think the presumption is clear. But if it's not and I'm mistaken, I'd like the OP to clarify.

[EDIT]@rogdcam, perhaps you're right. I see that the OP included "postage" in the opening post. If so, I'll delete what I've contributed so as to stay on topic.

Newspaper stamps did pay postage. Specialized postage, but postage nontheless.

Yes, newspaper stamps did pay postage. Revenue stamps did not unless someone snuck one through.

You postage collectors are just jealous that the revenues came first.