For many years however, there seemed to be some agreement that the most attractive U.S. stamp was the $1 value of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition Issue of 1898. It was designed by Raymond Ostrander Smith, the staff designer of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing at the time.
The border is the same as that of the other eight values, each of which was supposed to depict an aspect of life west of the Mississippi River. The vignette, entitled "Western Cattle in Storm," was described by the Post Office Department as showing "a herd of cattle, preceded by the leader, seeking safety from a gathering storm."
The scene originated in a painting by J. A. MacWhirter, and was reported to have been used in the west by a cattle company as a sort of trade mark. Prints had been made and sold, and it was one of these prints that had come to the attention of the Post Office Department and designer Smith.
MacWhirter, however, was a Scot, and his painting, entitled "The Vanguard," was soon discovered to have been a depiction of Scottish cattle in a storm in Scotland. It was actually painted in a small farmhouse near the Scottish highland town of Calendar. The scene did not depict an event west of the Mississippi, but it might have been, and few really cared about this detail, for cattle were an important part of the western U.S. economy, and the design was certainly pleasing enough. A framed print of "The Vanguard" is shown above.
While I have often come across references to this stamp as the most beautiful of all U.S. stamps, I never really knew where the judgment originated.
Certainly it didn’t start with John Luff, one of the most influential philatelic writers of his day, and an editor of the Scott Catalogue. Luff did not think much of this stamp or of the others in the series. "The stamps are poorly conceived and executed, overloaded with ornaments, heavy in color and blurred in printing," he wrote in 1902.
But Luff’s view did not prevail, and the series eventually became popular with collectors. A generation later, in 1933 when Ralph Kimble wrote his book, "Commemorative Postage Stamps of the United States," the Trans-Mississippis were described as "perhaps the most attractive set of commemoratives which we have ever had," and the $1 value was described similarly as "one of handsomest we have ever had."
In the following year, the magazine Stamps ran a "beauty contest" for stamps of the world and invited readers to vote. While the winner, with 239 of the 519 votes cast was a Canadian stamp, the 50-cent "Bluenose" of 1928, the top American contender was the "Cattle in Storm" of 1898, with 198 votes. The next runner up was also from the U.S.: the 4-cent value of the 1893 Columbians.
This 1934 poll seems to have been quite influential. It awarded the title of the most beautiful U.S. stamp to the $1 Trans-Mississippi, and many later authors continued to keep the title alive.
Fourteen years later, when Lester Brookman published his important three-volume work, "The United States Postage Stamps of the 19th Century," he wrote that this stamp "is now considered by most collectors to be one of the finest yet produced …."
A generation later, in 1972, Robert Lorenzen wrote in the "United States Specialist": "Many polls among serious students of our engraved stamps have placed this design and its execution either first or near the top of all our stamps for its singular beauty and appeal."
Although I realize that many collectors have their own favorites, I really don’t argue with this assessment. The design stands up well, and the vignette engraving by Marcus Baldwin is clean and crisp. Baldwin, like Smith, was one of the masters at the Bureau. While he did not engrave all of the frame, he is credited with the corn and wheat designs at the frame’s top and bottom.
The size of the figures is larger than on most of the early commemoratives, and the black ink of the printing enhances the power of the design. Originally the stamps of this series were to be engraved in two colors, with black vignettes and colored frames, but the outbreak of the Spanish American War, and the need to produce revenue stamps changed these plans. At one time the $1 was supposed to be produced in light brown, but the change to black a few days before the stamps went to press.
For specialists there isn’t a whole lot of variety in this stamp. All copies were printed from a single plate, #606, which had 100 subjects. The sheets were cut into two panes of 50 for sale in post offices, and the cutting was done vertically, making right and left panes. Thus there are no natural straight edges at the top or bottom, only at the left or right. Lots of these straight edges have been reperforated since 1898, so the wise buyer will check the perforations on the sides quite carefully.
The plate was only at press for three days, from June 1 to 3, 1898, and there are no significant plate varieties or shades. The quantity printed was small: only 56,900. With 20 per cent of the copies having straight edges, that leaves us with only 45,520 copies with the original perforations on all four sides. Scott now catalogues unused copies at $1250 and used copies at $500 in very fine condition.
Obviously, every collector cannot afford to add this stamp to his or her collection. But leave it on your want list and wait for your opportunity. I think you will agree that it’s a beauty.