The "A Story For Stamp Collectors" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just left the Neffsville Post Office which is about a mile from my home in Manheim Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. I stopped in the post office to mail a few packages as well as buy stamps.  While waiting in line I noticed something rather unusual.  Stamps that were triangular in shape were in the upper right of the display cabinet next to the main counter.  When it was my turn I asked about the stamps in the display unit and was told they don't have any triangular stamps for sale at present.  They went on to tell me a little bit about the stamps, since I was the only customer in then post office at the time.  I found out that the samples were issued on March 13, 1997 when the US Post Office issued its first triangle-shaped stamps.  Also found out that the world's first triangle-shaped stamps were printed in 1853 by the British colony known as the Cape of Good Hope.  They were created as a triangle to help the illiterate postal clerks identify letters that were mailed from within the colony from those letters that were mailed from other places.  By 1863, the Cape of Good Hope had produced a total of 12 different triangular stamps so their stamps must have been a big help to the postal clerks.  In 1857 the British colony of Newfoundland also had a triangular stamp.  Then in 1908, Ecuador issued their own triangular stamp, but it was slightly different than all the other triangular stamps to date since it was issued with perforations to make it easier to separate the stamps from one another.  Up until that date, the other triangular stamps issued were imperforatable and had to be hand-cut apart.  Over the next several decades, many other nations issued over 1,600 triangle stamps.  The stamps that were made by the United States in 1997 were made to help promote the Pacific Stamp Show.  The two stamps were issued at the New York Coliseum as part of the March MEGA Stamp Event.  The U.S. Postmaster General said that the stamps were innovated stamps, meant to represent our commitment to provide the philatelic community and the American public with exciting new designs and formats.  Up until 1997, all United States stamps issued were rectangular in shape.  The two 1997 triangular stamps were made to honor the brave settlers who opened the American West by land and sea.

1997 triangular USA stamps.

 One depicts a mid-19th-century clipper ship while the other one is a US mail stagecoach.  

A larger view of both stamps.

The ship design is based on an advertising card for the clipper ship Richard S. Ely while the stagecoach design is based on a drawing by Harrison Eastman who worked as a postal clerk in San Francisco until his art career took off.  It was a decade later that the United States Postal Service produced its second triangle stamp that honored the settlement of Jamestown.  That stamp pictured the three ships "Susan Constant", "Godspeed", and "Discovery" that brought English colonists to America in 1607.  That stamp commemorated Jamestown's 400th anniversary and honored the colony's first triangular-shaped fort.  Next time you visit your post office, check and see if they might have any triangular stamps that you can purchase.  You may want to keep them as souvenirs.  That's what I plan to do if I ever find any at my post office.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.