The twenty-four cent 1869 (#120) has been acclaimed by many enthusiasts, the authors included, as the finest stamp ever produced by any nation. The colors are green frame, violet vignette. The vignette measures 3/8 inch wide by 3/16 inch high, and the engraver has portrayed a faithful reproduction of John Trumbull’s Declaration of Independence. With a magnifying glass, an observer can identify the six principal figures in this stamp by the features alone, which is rather astonishing when you figure that each head is smaller than the head of a pin. This stamp is the pinnacle of the engraver’s art, even though he was not helped by the color choice as the violet center sometimes begins to fade. The stamp is known with an ‘inverted center”—again, really an inverted vignette. Probably less than twenty of the twenty-four-cent inverts exist, including a block of four.
The thirty cent (#121) is not very uncommon used, but it is a very rare stamp on the cover. High denominations, such as the thirty cent, were generally used on packages or on heavy large-sized envelopes—not the type of items that are often saved. An invert of this stamp is known too, though this one was not “discovered” until years after the stamp was issued. This is because the bland colors of the stamp, combined with generally heavy cancellations and the inverts intrinsic rarity, kept its existence hidden for almost thirty years. It always pays to look carefully at your stamps. In all, about twenty copies of the invert have been found; more probably exist.
The ninety cent (#122) is a beautiful stamp, so lovely that it is hard to believe that postal users found this stamp, like the other 1869s, ugly. The stamp is very rare, and it is the only regular two-color variety of the 1869s that never accidentally came out inverted. It did so intentionally! That’s right. The government issued proofs of the fifteen cent, twenty-four cent, thirty cent, and ninety cent with inverted centers. But the inverted proofs, of which only 100 were issued, were printed on thick card stock similar to shirt cardboard, though of finer quality, and were issued imperforated.
Part of the reason for the unpopularity of this set was its new size, which most postal users felt was far too small. The stamps are about two-thirds the size of those that they replaced. The colors chosen were considered too dull and bland, but this extreme criticism strikes modern philatelists as odd. To our eyes, the 1869s are among the most beautiful stamps the United States has ever produced. The small size that the 1869 postal users disparaged we find appealing in its simplicity and innovativeness. The colors that were ridiculed have held up quite well over the years, so that, on balance, the 1869s look far fresher and brighter than many stamps that seemed so much better printed then. To people in the nineteenth century the choice of designs seemed radical, and to have illustrated scenes rather than heads of state appeared insolent. Now, however, we are accustomed to so many cluttered commemoratives that the 1869s make a refreshing change. But the critics won the day, and the set was withdrawn in 1870 after less than a year of duty.
