The Premier Die Proof Of The United States Fourth Bureau Issue

The Report of the Postmaster General for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1922 mentioned that a new series of ordinary postage stamps would replace the current Washington and Franklin ordinary postage stamps that had been in use since 1908. This new series would eventually become known as the Fourth Bureau Issue. Included in its planned designs were portraits of colonial national figures, past presidents, and scenes of national landmarks. One of the selections was Rutherford B. Hayes, the nineteenth President of the United States.

The Hayes family become aware that a stamp honoring their father was being planned and they waged a campaign to have it released on October 4. A big celebration was scheduled for that day at Hayes' hometown and burial site of Fremont, Ohio to observe the hundredth anniversary of the former president's birth. The Post Office Department relented to the unsolicited request of the release of a new stamp at a location pertinent to the subject of the stamp, possibly under political pressure from President Harding, also an Ohioan. Because of the timing, an eleven-cent Hayes stamp would then be the first release of the new series of stamps.

During a First Day ceremony at Fremont, the first event of its kind in the United States, Superintendent of Stamps Michael Eidsness presented a large die proof of the new stamp to Scott Hayes, the son of the former president who represented the Hayes family. Philatelic journalist Philip Ward mentioned in his column in Mekeel's Stamp Weekly that "this was a beautiful, mounted die proof autographed by Postmaster General Hubert Work".


The proof has lost some of its luxurious appearance over the years. Note the unique date of October 4, 1922, on the card. All other known signed Hayes die proofs have the die approval date of September 21, 1922. The stamp attached to the proof is autographed by the Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Louis A. Hill. This was a practice employed occasionally on presentation proofs.

The proof was donated by the Hayes family to the Rutherford B. Hayes Library in Fremont, Ohio where it resides today.


Fourteen other Hayes die proofs would eventually leave the government. All are believed to be in philatelic hands. Nine of them exhibit Postmaster General signed die approvals.

All of the different Hayes die proofs and their backgrounds can be viewed at https://hayesdieproofs.wordpress.com.

The presidential first family of Ohio; Rutherford, Lemonade Lucy, and the five Hayes children.

Rutherford Birchard Hayes; October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was the 19th president of the United States, serving from 1877 to 1881. He served as Cincinnati's city solicitor from 1858 to 1861 and was known as a staunch abolitionist who defended refugee slaves in court proceedings. At the start of the Civil War, Hayes left a fledgling political career to join the Union army. He was wounded five times, most seriously at the Battle of South Mountain in 1862. Hayes earned a reputation for bravery in combat, rising in the ranks to serve as brevet major general. After the war, he was a prominent member of the "Half-Breed" faction of the Republican Party. Hayes served in Congress from 1865 to 1867 and was elected governor of Ohio, serving two consecutive terms from 1868 to 1872 and half of a third two-year term from 1876 to 1877 before his swearing-in as president.

Here is some background on the Fremont Hayes die proof. It is from Philip Ward's column in the October 14, 1922, issue of Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News.
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For those interested, the Rumsey Westpex sale has a very nice apparently commercial use of an FDC of this stamp, lot 1459.
https://stampauctionnetwork.com/SR/sr13073.cfm