Welcome
This site is dedicated to the United States 2nd Bureau issue of postage stamps. Designed in 1902 and produced later that year and continued into the following year, the 2nd Bureau series of stamps consisted of fourteen denominations (1¢ to $5) plus a special delivery stamp. Many of the stamps were well received by the public, including the first regular U.S. stamp featuring a woman, the 8¢ Martha Washington. However, the public disliked the design of the 2¢ George Washington stamp, forcing the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to redesign and replace the stamp in late 1903. The 2nd Bureau stamps sought use from 1902 until 1909 when the 3rd Bureau issue (known to philatelists as the Washington-Franklins) were phased into use. The links below explore a variety of postal history aspects of the 2nd Bureau issue.
What's New...
- June 2011: Added Martinique to foreign destinations. Also updated the Google map code from version 2 to 3.5. Let me know if you encounter problems. Thanks!
- March 2011: Added Mauritius and Syria to foreign destinations. New $1 dollar use on bank tag.
- Nov 2010: A couple of new foreign destinations. I've been looking for a Bolivia cover for at least 5 years. Also got a nice African Gold Coast cover.
- Sept 2010: Added $2 Madison census on cover or piece. -- If you have any information regarding the $2 or $5 censuses, please let me know. I now maintain the census information on "Google Docs" spreadsheets which makes it much easier to maintain and share.
- May 2010: Finally a new foreign destination cover to Akmolinsk, Siberia (modern day Kazakhstan).
- May 2009: Three new foreign destinations added: Fiji, Cabo Verde, and Chinese Turkestan.
- Feb. 2009: Added a couple of Caribbean destinations (St. Thomas and Trinidad), Sierra Leone, Africa and Aden, Britsh India on the foreign destination map. Also a new and improved double UPU letter rate Canary Island cover.
Getting Started
- The "The stamps" link shows the various denominations and their uses including solo frankings.
- Follow the "Domestic mail" link to see how the stamps were used in the United States.
- See my foreign destination collection displayed via Goggle Maps.
- Census of the $5 Marshall (Scott 313) on piece or cover.
- Discussion on 5 cent imperforate forgeries on eBay.
Double UPU rate to El Salvador
