Collecting dead presidents Heads, grilles and secret marks

When the 1869 definitives were roundly rejected by the public, the USPS had to act quickly. The small-format pictorial stamps had been launched in March 1869. By February 1870, a new set was ready to replace them – and it would last in various guises until 1890, when stamps in a smaller format were introduced.

The first set of ten stamps appeared in April 1870; the 7c deep vermilion followed a year later. The designs add some new faces to the list of great Americans on stamps and with conventional profiles plus classical ornamentation, it looks a prestigious set of stamps.

The heads

1c Benjamin Franklin

Among his many other achievements, Benjamin Franklin was appointed Postmaster General by the Continental Congress in 1755. This was the group of 13 states that later became the USA, making Franklin, effectively, its first Postmaster General (as well as being a philosopher, scientist, inventor, diplomat, statesman and humorist).

2c Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson was a lawyer and a military man