On March 22, 1917, the US Post Office rushed to issue two new stamps to meet an urgent need. These high-value stamps were needed for use on packages going to Europe.
Even before the US officially joined the war and began sending troops overseas, American industries were participating in the war in another way. They were sending machine parts to our allies in Europe. They had to mail these heavy parts, which required high-value postage stamps.
By early 1917, the Post Office’s supply was running dangerously low, as demand vastly increased. Because of the urgent need for stamps, the US Post Office had no time to prepare new designs. Instead, they decided to use the master dies from stamps of the Series of 1902. The original plates and transfer rollers had already been destroyed. New ones had to be created, but it still took less time than designing new stamps would have.
The new $2 James Madison and $5 John Marshall stamps were issued on March 22, 1917. The only differences between the 1902 and 1917 issues were that the earlier stamps were perf. 12 and printed on double watermark paper. The 1917 issues were perf. 10, on unwatermarked paper. Also, the 1917 Marshall was printed in a lighter shade of green.
Both stamps were also used to send valuable Liberty Bond shipments. The $5 Marshall stamp was also used to pay for fund transfers between postal departments. New designs were finally produced in 1918 (US #523 and #524). But the $2 Madison stamp continued to be used into 1920 and the $5 stamp into 1924.
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Very interesting article. Had no idea about the need for high value stamps to send items to Europe during WWI
Alfred
You answered my question of why the high value stamps. Thanks again for making stamp collecting exciting.