U.S. IGY stamp - description in The Bureau Specialist

After my previous posts on the U.S. IGY stamp as described in the Scott Catalog and in the Postal Bulletin, I thought I would add a description from the monthly journal of the United States Stamp Society (mentioned in a previous post), which today is called The United States Specialist, but in 1958 was The Bureau Specialist. As far as I know, this is the only detailed article published in a journal/magazine that focuses solely on this stamp. There are other articles on various IGY stamps and covers that include this stamp - I'll post on those soon. I also look forward to an upcoming article on the IGY stamp in Charles Posner's series, Cataloging U.S. Stamps of the 1950s, in the American Philatelist.

The USSS describes itself as

a “non-profit” volunteer-run association of collectors devoted to the study of postage and revenue stamped paper produced for use in the United States and U.S. administered areas. 

Its monthly publication, the The United States Specialist, is "the world’s leading journal of modern U.S. philately."

Thanks to the USSS for permission to reproduce the text and images of this piece. If you are a member, you can download the original article from its archives.

Again, I have some explanatory footnotes at the bottom, things I learned from the article. 

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The Bureau Specialist
Vol. XXX, No. 2 FEBRUARY, 1959 Whole Number 348

GEOPHYSICAL YEAR ISSUE

3¢: BLACK 8: ORANGE—ISSUED MAY 31, 1958

SOL GLASS¹

On November 2, 1957 Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield² made known a list of nine selections³ for commemorative postage stamps as recommended by the Citizen’s Stamp Advisory Committee⁴ to be issued during 1958, one of these being a stamp honoring the International Geophysical year. It was initially planned to issue this stamp on December 31, however, it was deemed advisable to move the issuance date forward to May 31⁵. This information was announced January 22, 1958 and on March 29, 1958 details of the design were made known.

Design

The design of this stamp⁶ is based on a photograph of the sun and depicts an area of intense solar activity such as occurs periodically and is among the phenomena being studied during the 18-month period of the International Geophysical Year. Super-imposed above the solar disk and the fiery solar prominences emanating from it is a segment of Michaelangelo’s famous fresco “The Creation of Adam”. Across the top of the stamp is the wording INTERNATIONAL GEOPHYSICAL YEAR I957-58", arranged in two lines, and across the bottom is "U. S. POSTAGE 3c”. All lettering is in white face gothic.

Ervine Metzl⁷, the designer of the stamp, explained that “In the small confines of a postage stamp we have endeavored to picture a man’s wonder at the unknown together with his determination to understand it and his need for Spiritual inspiration to further his knowledge.”

Mr. Metzl has been a member of the Citizen’s Stamp Advisory Committee since its inception in 1957. He attended the Art Institute in Chicago, where he was born, and studied in Munich, Rome, Paris and London. He is presently a free lance artist with studio at 20 Park Avenue, New York, and enjoys high repute as a book illustrator and designer. He is a teacher, editor and writer — having taught at Columbia University — and is a past president of the Society of Illustrators.

First Day Ceremonies
Ceremonies inaugurating the release of the International Geophysical Year commemorative stamp were held in conjunction with the “COMPEX 1958” philatelic exhibition at the Hotel LaSalle in Chicago, at I0:00 A. M., May 31, 1958, with Ernest Kehr⁸, International Secretary of COMPEX and Philatelic Editor of the New York Herald Tribune, presiding. The Post Office Department was represented by L. Rohe Walter⁹, Special Assistant to the Postmaster General and Franklin R. Bruns, Jr.¹⁰, Director, Division of Philately. Mr. Walter delivered the principal address and said in part:—

Many stamps have paid tribute to the famous men and women of the United States and to the great events of our nation’s history and its natural wonders.

This International Geophysical Year stamp we dedicate today is unique—and its uniqueness, it seems to me, gives it added significance. The theme of the International Geophysical year is knowledge.

Its focal point is the sun, during an 18-month interval that includes a period of maximum solar activity which strongly influences many of the natural phenomena.

Its ideals are the reflection of the hopes of men and women of good-will for a better world of tomorrow based on international understanding and peace.

At the conclusion of his address Mr. Walter presented souvenir albums, each containing a sheet of the new stamps, autographed by Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield, to a group of distinguished persons. Before presenting the albums, Mr. Walter stated: “Let me say that this nation is deeply indebted to the National Academy of Science and its National Committee for the International Geophysical year for its tireless planning and effective coordination of the United States program, consistent with the overall program of the International Council of Scientific Unions.”

Statistical Data
Issued May 31, 1958 at Chicago, Illinois. 3c Black and Orange. Perf. 11 by 10-1/2. Stamp size 0.84 by 1.44 inches. Printed on the Giori Press from 200-subject, electrolytic, steel intaglio plates, dry printing, on pre-gummed paper¹¹. The 200-subject sheets were perforated on the flat sheet (L) perforator and cut into post office panes of 50 stamps each, arranged ten horizontal by five vertical rows of stamps to the pane.

Designed by Ervine Metzl of New York City. Modeled by Charles R. Chickering¹² and William K. Schrage, Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

Engravers:—Vignette, Richard M. Bower. Lettering and Numerals, Robert J. Jones. First printing order March 19, 1958, 120,000,000. First delivery April 29, 1958¹³ to Hawaii and Puerto Rico. 

Five models were prepared by the Bureau of Engraving, the accepted model was approved by Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield on March 7, 1958 and the Die Proof was also approved by him on March 19, 1958.

[Five models proposed for the IGY  stamp; top right was the winner]

Plate numbers used in printing, 25978 and 25985, to press, April 14, 1958; 25990 and 25993, to press, April 21, 1958; 26010, to press, May 6, 1958.

First Day sale May 31, 1958 at Chicago, Illinois. Covers cancelled 397,000, Stamps sold 1,011,664.

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1 According to the American Philatelical Society Hall of Fame (APSHF), Sol Glass (1893-1973) was one of the greatest experts of United States 20th century stamps. His book, United States Postage Stamps 1945-1952 (1954) received national and international awards. He was a member of the first Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee from 1957 to 1961, during which the IGY stamp was released.

2 Arthur E. Summerfield was the 57th Postmaster General, a political appointment by President Eisenhower. He presided over a modernization of the Post Office Department, including the creation of the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee in an effort to encourage citizen involvement in postal policy.

3 The U.S. issued a total 18 commemorative stamps and three airmail stamps in 1958.

4 The Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee is appointed by the Postmaster General. The group recommends subjects for future stamp issues, made with all postal customers in mind, including stamp collectors.

5 May 31, 1958, was 11 months into the IGY, which began on July 1, 1957. December 31, 1958, was the last day of this 18-month "year."

6 See my earlier post. 

7 Metzl designed the stamp with an original drawing on which the stamp was based. I'll have more to say about him in a later post.

8 Ernest Anthony Kehr (1911-1986) was one of philately's most distinguished spokesmen. Over a forty-year period, Kehr presented more than 2,000 radio and television programs promoting philately. He wrote several popular books of which The Romance of Stamp Collecting (1947) was a philatelic bestseller.

9 L. Rohe Walter (1899-1966) was special assistant to Postmaster General Summerfield. He was the liaison between the Post Office Department's Stamp Advisory Committee and philatelists (obituary, New York Times, 4/24/66). 

10 Franklin Richard Bruns Jr. (1912-1979) was widely known for his nationally syndicated stamp column that appeared in some 30 newspapers between 1932 and 1972 (was this the one I read in the Washington Evening Star newspaper as a youth?).  He was also on the first Citizens Advisory Committee (1951-1957). He became curator of the Smithsonian Institution's philatelic collection in 1951, and was the first curator of the Cardinal Spellman Philatelic Museum (1957-1962).

11 The last episode of the 1996 season of the sitcom Seinfeld, The Invitations, had George's fiancée Susan die after licking the toxic flaps of too many gummed envelopes, since George had opted for the cheapest envelopes for their wedding invitations. The episode has been linked anecdotally to an increase in worries about the health risks of licking gummed paper, and it has been speculated that it may have contributed to the growing popularity of self-adhesive stamps in the United States. First introduced unsuccessfully in the U.S. with the 1974 Christmas stamp, self-adhesive stamps were reintroduced in 1989; by 2013 almost all U. S. stamps issued had become self-adhesive. Nicholas Lombardi (Self-adhesive stamps; in R.A. Juell, L.R. Batdorf, and S.J. Rod, eds.; Encyclopedia of United States Stamps and Stamp Collecting, 2nd ed.; United States Stamp Society, 2016; p. 437-445) suggests that "the introduction of self-adhesive postage stamps in the United States could be regarded as being the most important stamp production innovation of the past century."

I recently purchased this inexpensive, beautifully produced, highly informative 750-page tome (I'll refer to it as EUSSSC)

12 Model here refers to what is also termed an essay, an image of the stamp design considered for use, including alternate versions of a particular design, or an alternate design altogether. Models can be suggested by engravers based on how a design will best translate into a printed stamp. Model can also refer to the final approved illustration of a stamp (EUSSSC, p. 375, p. 575, glossary). Charles Chickering was a noted stamp designer and engraver, employed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing from 1947-1962. As I have been reading more about him, it's clear he is deserving of his own post at a later time.

13 Note that the first delivery date of the stamp to post offices was a month before the official issue date. Although stamps should not be sold before the issue date, stamps have sometimes mistakenly been sold before the FDOI.