A Historical Look At The Many Colors Of Sc. 563

The Post Office Department announced in the summer of 1922 that a new series of flat plate ordinary stamps, now called the Fourth Bureau Issue, would be replacing the Washington-Franklin series that had been in use since 1908. Rutherford B. Hayes, our nineteenth President, would be featured on a stamp in the new series.

The Hayes family, the first family of Ohio, convinced President Harding, also an Ohioan, and the Post Office Department that the Hayes stamp should be released on October 4, 1922, in Fremont, Ohio, Hayes hometown and burial-place. The city was planning a major celebration to commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of President Hayes birth.

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) had little time to react to its new priority and only one printing plate, not the usual four used on a flatbed printing press, would be available to prepare stamps for the first day release in Fremont. Six hundred sheets or 240,000 stamps were printed from plate #14058 on Saturday, September 30.

A pane of 100 Hayes stamps, signed by the Postmaster General and the Director of the BEP, was presented to the Hayes family at a first day ceremony, the first of its kind in the United States, on Wednesday, October 4 in Fremont.

Hayes stamps in the original peacock blue color would soon disappear from post offices and be replaced by a multitude of new colors over the next nine years. It is said that Sc. 563 was printed in more color varieties than any other stamp printed by the BEP in the twentieth century. The following exhibit is a good example of the variety.

Two significant studies of the Hayes colors were published during the early 1930s. The first, by L. E. Eastman. appeared in Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News in April, 1930. The second, by Ross Frampton, was published in the February, 1931 edition of The American Philatelist. The Eastman article is below. The Frampton article will follow in an add to the topic.

I have noticed that some of the 11c tend to have toned gum - this will influence your perception of the ink color.

ROSS FRAMPTON ARTICLE

Note: This article was written when the flat plate 11-cent Hayes stamp had two Scott numbers; 563 and 652. The 652 number had been assigned to the various green shades, some appearing with a touch of yellow, produced in the 1927-29 period. Eventually the contents of the two numbers were combined into one number, Sc. 563, and the Sc. 652 number was cancelled by Scott. Sc. 652 should not be confused with the rotary press Hayes stamp, Sc. 692.

Frampton spent some time at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. He not only discussed the Hayes stamp situation with management but spent time on the production floor getting stories from operators who actually produced the stamp.

This has got to be one of the very best stamp color related posting's ever to grace this forum. Thank you for the contribution.

FRAMPTON ARTICLE UPDATE

Frampton may not have been aware that the flat plate press Hayes stamp would be replaced by the more economical to produce rotary press Hayes stamp later in 1931. The last flat press plate group, 19135-38, would have a final run at the presses on February 21, 1931. The following pane numbers are an update to Frampton's incomplete plate data for the group.
Plate......Total Panes
19315........211,764
19136........201,196
19137........201,196
19138........201,196

The 1936 Scott Catalogue shows the following for the two flat plate Hayes listings. The contents were combined under #563 later in 1936 when #652 was discontinued because "The greens were not an approved change."
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The following diagram portrays Frampton's discussion on the seven plate groups used for the flat plate Hayes stamp.

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Thank you for sharing this Hayes

A lot of wonderful information.

Dianne