Columbian Issue

The Columbian Issue, often simply called the Columbians, is a set of 16 postage stamps issued by the United States to mark the 1893 World Columbian Exposition held in Chicago. The finely-engraved stamps were the first commemorative stamps issued by the United States, depicting various events during the career of Christopher Columbus and are today highly prized by collectors.

History

The Columbian stamps were supplied by the American Banknote Company, which held a four-year contract for the production of United States postage stamps beginning on December 1, 1889. However, where previous contracts had required printing firms to provide designs and plates at their own expense for any new stamps required by the Post Office, the 1889 contract specified that the Post Office would bear those costs. Indeed, Postmaster John Wanamaker (he of department store fame) executed a new contract with American specifically for the Columbian stamps without going through any competitive bidding process, which allowed the firm to charge 17¢ per thousand stamps, in contrast to the 7.45¢ per thousand it had been collecting for stamps of the 1890 definitive series. This arrangement prompted considerable public criticism—not allayed by American’s argument that the Columbians’ size (double that of normal stamps) warranted a higher price—and Wilson Bissel, who became Postmaster General after Grover Cleveland reassumed the Presidency in March 1893, attempted to renegotiate the stamp contract on terms more favorable to the Post Office.