79-E66P5a – 1861 3c Washington Essay, Lake, Goldbeater’s Skin Paper

1863-64 Essay Stamp Documents Experiment to Prevent Stamp Reuse

Now you can own #79-E66P5a, an essay of the 1867 3¢ Washington stamp with an A Grill.  A number of experiments were conducted to prevent the cleaning and reuse of postage stamps.  Grills are perhaps the best-known result of these experiments.  National Bank Note Company also experimented with various types of paper and ink.  This essay was produced in an effort to find paper that would prevent the stamp from being reused.  Henry Loewenberg received a patent for goldbeaters’ skin paper.  This paper had a thin layer of tough, translucent paper (goldbeaters’ skin) originally layered between layers of gold and beaten to form gold leaf.  When a stamp with this layer was removed from an envelope, the image would remain on the envelope and the stamp could not be reused.  As innovative as this idea was, it wasn’t incorporated into US postage stamps, though Prussia issued a stamp on similar paper in 1886.

Private firms submitted essays to demonstrate the high quality of their work – so very few were produced.  And that’s a shame – these masterpieces represent an important step in philatelic history.  Now you can get this seldom-seen, handsomely engraved treasure for your collection.

More About Essays

Essays are designs for stamp vignettes, stamp borders, or both combined, which were never approved and used in the final printing of a stamp. Even though a design is finally adopted with only slight modifications, it is still an “essay”. To attain the status of a proof, a proposed design, or essay, must be exactly like the issued stamp for which it was submitted.

Private bank note companies made all US stamps from 1847 to 1894.  Essays and printing bids were submitted by those firms. As early as 1851, the US Post Office Department established a policy of advertising for stamp proposals to be accompanied by essays, or examples of the stamps to be furnished. After the bids were opened, an Expert Committee was asked to rule on the designs, colors and paper.