Introduction
The victory of Warren G. Harding in the1920 U.S. Presidential election ushered in a new Republican administration. Among the new appointees in the Post Office Department was Third Assistant Postmaster General W. Irving Glover. His duties would include the responsibility for postage stamps.
Among Glover's early actions was his revamping of the nation's postage stamps. The first stamp to receive this attention was the current 10-cent special delivery stamp whose bicycle messenger design had been in use since 1902. A new design would show a motorcycle messenger to reflect the fact that the Post Office was mechanizing. With this issue the Post Office Department and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing were moving into a new era of large die proofs. Fourteen of their new special delivery die proofs would eventually work their way into collectors' hands.
The large Die Proof
A die proof is a printed impression "pulled" directly from a die to "prove" (verify) the image of a die either during or at the completion of the die engraving process. The die is a block of soft steel into which the stamp design has been engraved.
Large die proofs were printed one at a time at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) on a hand operated proving press that held the engraved die in place. They were printed on a variety of proof papers. Most common at first was India paper. A wove proof paper was used later. The proof paper was placed on a large piece of card stock to withstand the pressure applied by the press. The size of the card used was usually about 6 x 8 inches. The card also provided an area for comments by the die engraver or an approval signature by the postmaster general. An unique proving room number was stamped on the reverse side of the card for control purposes.
The 10-cent Motorcycle Die Proof
A die blank, numbered 684, was assigned to the project. Louis S. Schofield was given responsibility for engraving the vignette and frame of the new stamp.
The first proof was pulled on May 29, 1922 so that Schofield could check out his initial engraving. Thirty-one more proofs were pulled by June 8 to not only monitor progress of Schofield but also that of Edward M. Hall who the responsibility for lettering and numerals. Normal practice was to destroy such proofs after their use. However, one of them, proof 1159490, somehow left the BEP. As shown below, the excess proof paper outside of the die sinkage on this proof, unlike presentation die proofs, was not trimmed off.
A die proof was sent to Glover on June 12 for his approval and the approval signature of PMG Hubert Work. It was accompanied by ten additional proofs that had been requested by Glover. They would be held for whatever future uses deemed necessary by the Post Office Department. The eleven proofs were part of a run of fifteen proofs (1160095 - 1160109) pulled on June 10. One of them, proof 1160108, is a black trial color proof that was requisitioned by Schofield. It appears that he was possibly allowed to keep it as a sample of his work since it is now owned by a collector.
The practice of inventorying ten additional proofs would be continued for the new ordinary stamps, now called the Fourth Bureau Issue, next on Glover's list of stamp revisions.
According to 1922 correspondence between Glover and the BEP, die proof 1160096 was to be signed by PMG Work. I have not seen this proof. The BEP Engraving Division currently has stamp history that die proof 1160097, not 1160096, was approved and signed by PMG Work on June 20 and returned to the BEP as a signal to continue on with the stamp making process. It would eventually be assembled into a BEP proof album in 1933. Note the cloth attachment backing from the album at the top of its card below.
PMG Work would also sign and date the ten motorcycle die proofs in the Post Office Department inventory. Their signature formats, as shown on proof 1160100 below, have a different look than that of proof 1160097.
It was announced that the new special delivery stamp would be first made available on July 12 at the Philatelic Stamp Agency in Washington, DC. Glover arranged to have the press catch PMG Work being the first person in line at the Agency to buy the new stamp. It was also announced that PMG Work "will present the stamp he bought to President Harding with a die proof." That proof, 1160101, has a plate number stamp from the first production run attached to it.
A set of large die proofs of the new series of ordinary stamps, bound in a leather album, was presented to Sir William Joynson-Hicks, the PMG of Great Britain. It was made by Glover on behalf of PMG Harry S. New who had recently replaced PMG Work. The occasion was the International Stamp Exhibition in London in May, 1923. The album contained the 21 different die proofs of the Fourth Bureau Issue and a 10-cent Motorcycle die proof. None of the proof cards were signed and their control numbers had been removed. The album was eventually broken up and its die proofs were sold in auction. Note the album binding remaining on the Joynson-Hicks proof below.
Two complete sets of signed Fourth Bureau Issue die proofs were compiled in 1925 from the inventory of proofs. PMG New presented one set to President Coolidge who had become president after the death of President Harding. He kept the other set for himself. 10-cent Motorcycle die proofs 1160102 and 1160103 were included in the two sets.
More die proofs, including 10-cent Motorcycle proof 1160098, were taken from the Post Office Department proof inventory when a die proof of each stamp issued up to 1926 was cut down to stamp size and used in a post office exhibit at the Sesquicentennial Exhibition in Philadelphia.
Herbert Hoover, who was the Secretary of Commerce, received the Republican nomination for president and won the November 1928 election. PMG New would not be retained by Hoover. New decided to provide more die proofs for himself and his acquaintances before leaving office in March, 1929. Superintendent of Stamps Michael Eidsness wrote a letter to the BEP on January 11 stating that "The Postmaster General wishes to be furnished with seven sets of die proofs of all of the postage stamps issued since the beginning of 1922." That's 58 different die proofs in a set.
The Post Office Department's inventory of proofs had been somewhat depleted, and additional proofs were needed to make up the seven sets. That ranged from none to three for specific issues. Three more Motorcycle proofs were needed and they were pulled on January 19. The new proofs are easily distinguished from the other four proofs since the new proofs have six-digit control numbers while the others have seven-digit control numbers.
Inventory Proofs (1922).......New Proofs (1929)
.......1160099.......................154038
.......1160100.......................154039
.......1160104.......................154569
.......1160107......... .........................Each of the new proofs, such as proof 154038 below, was backdated June 20, 1922 and signed by Hubert Work who was still in the administration.
As shown below, there is some difference in the formats between the 1922 signings (top) and the 1929 signings (bottom).
Die proofs were made in 1933 of each of the stamps issued from 1894 to 1933. All of these unsigned proofs are on wove proof paper which was reduced in size such that it did not fully extend across the die sinkage, but was uniformly short on all sides.
A set of these proofs, 288 in number, was given to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, our stamp collecting president. The 10-cent Motorcycle die proof from the set has control number 332087 and as shown below, is in the reddish violet shade of the later 10-cent motorcycle special delivery stamps. Roosevelt's collection was dispersed in auction in 1946.
The following table lists the fourteen 10-cent motorcycle special delivery large die proofs that left the government and likely ended up in collector hands. I would like to hear from anyone who has any information on proofs 1160101, 1160103, 1160107, and 1160096 (not listed).
Posted 10/10/2025 5:56 pm
