The franking privilege having been abolished, to take effect on the 1st day of July, 1873, the Postmaster General, as required by law, provided a series of stamps of special design for each of the executive departments of the Government for the prepaj merit of postage on official matter.
They are tabulated as follows:
Department, color and denomination of the US postage stamps 1873-1884
| Denomination | Subject | Executive (carmine) | State (green) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Franklin | $ 0.01 | $ 0.01 |
| 2 | Jackson | .02 | .02 |
| 3 | Washington | .03 | .03 |
| 6 | Lincoln | .06 | .06 |
| 7 | Stanton | – | .07 |
| 10 | Jefferson | .10 | .10 |
| 12 | Clay | – | .12 |
| 15 | Webster | – | .15 |
| 24 | Scott | – | .24 |
| 30 | Hamilton | – | .30 |
| 90 | Perry | – | .90 |
| – | Seward | – | 2.00 |
| – | Seward | – | 5.00 |
| – | Seward | – | 10.00 |
| – | Seward | – | 20.00 |
| – | Value of set | .22 | 39.00 |
Description of postage stamps 1873-1884
The elliptical white ground filled by a face on the official stamps of the other departments is, on the stamps for the Post Office Department, made to represent the denominations by bold-face Arabic numerals 5/16 of an inch high.
The name of the department is printed across the top in lieu of the words “U. S. postage.”
There is also a slight difference in the ornamentation of the border.
In design, the official stamps for the other departments do not differ materially from those issued for sale to the public.
The profile busts are retained; but each stamp has at the top the name of the particular department for which it was provided instead of the words “U. S. postage.”
Other changes, appearing in the border, need not be specified.
These stamps were supplanted on May 1, 1879, by the penalty envelope and on the 5th of July, 1884, were declared obsolete.
(Sec. 3, p. 158, 23 Stat., amending sec. 3915 of the Revised Statutes)