USA
1954
"Thomas Jefferson third president of the United State"
| Issue Date |
Perforated stamps:
15.09.1954,
Coil stamps:
22.10.1954,
|
| ID |
Michel: 654A, 654C;
Scott: 1033, 1055 ;
Stanley Gibbons: 1031, 1055;
Yvert et Tellier: 588, 588a ;
Category: Co |
| Design |
Designers: Tyler Dingee and William Schrage
Engravers: Matthew D. Fenton, George L. Huber.
|
| Stamps in set |
1 |
| Value |
2c - Thomas Jefferson |
| Emission/Type |
definitive |
| Places of issue |
|
| Size (width x height) |
21.5mm x 25.0mm |
| Layout |
Sheet of 100 stamps (10x10),
coils of 500 and 10000
|
| Products |
None |
| Paper |
No Watermark |
| Perforation |
11.00 x 10.5 |
| Print Technique |
Dry printing |
| Printed by |
Bureau of Engraving and Printing |
| Quantity |
|
| Issuing Authority |
U.S. Postal Service |
On September 15
th, 1954, the United States Postal Service issued a definitive stamp portraying Thomas Jefferson.
The stamp design was, probably, inspired by the bust of Thomas Jefferson sculpted from life in 1789 by Jean-Antoine Houdon.
The stamp formed part of a new long-running definitive series.
The series began on April 5
th, 1954, with the first stamp depicting the Statue of Liberty.
In total, eighteen denominations were released as part of what became known as the “Liberty Series”.
The series was issued primarily between 1954 and 1961 and was later succeeded by
the Prominent Americans Series in 1965.
Nevertheless, certain denominations, particularly the Jefferson stamp, continued to be reprinted and
remained in postal use well into the 1980s due to sustained demand.
 |
 |
|
Imperforate and misperforated coil stamps of Thomas Jeffersons, USA 1954.
|
The Jefferson stamp was printed in sheets of 100 and also in coil format with vertical perforations only.
The coil version, produced for vending machines and other automated postal equipment, was sold in rolls,
typically containing 500 or 1,000 stamps.
Coil stamps were manufactured with vertical perforations only, distinguishing them from the sheet format.
Because of the long production period, imperforate examples and various misperforated varieties are known.
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
was an American Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809.
He was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence.
Jefferson was the nation's first U.S. secretary of state under George Washington and then the nation's second vice president under John Adams.
Jefferson was a leading proponent of democracy, republicanism, and natural rights, and he produced formative documents and decisions at the state,
national, and international levels.
Paleontologists such as Frederic A. Lucas, then Curator‑in‑Chief of the U.S. National Museum,
and Henry Fairfield Osborn, at the time Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History,
described Jefferson as having founded American vertebrate paleontology and regarded him as the discipline’s
earliest guiding figure.
They crediting him with:
- Refuting Buffon’s degeneracy theory
- Encouraging systematic fossil collection
- Promoting stratigraphic awareness in excavation
- Presenting the first scientific paper on a North American fossil vertebrate
Today, Thomas Jefferson is often regarded as
the father of American vertebrate paleontology.
For more details about Jefferson's interest to palaeontology,
please read
Thomas Jefferson the father of American Paleontology
article on this website.
Products and associated philatelic items
No official philatelic products were issued in connection with this stamp issue.
The United States Postal Service did not produce an official First Day Cover (FDC)
or a pictorial First-Day-of-Issue postmark.
All first day covers illustrated below are privately produced items.
References
Last update 23.02.2026
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