Washington–Franklin Issues

Have you ever seen a stamp? They're tiny pictures that help mail get where it needs to go! The Washington–Franklin Issues are a special set of stamps from a long time ago, between 1908 and 1922.

What's super cool is that almost all these stamps only have pictures of two very important people: George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. They are always shown looking to the side, inside a little oval shape. It's like they're peeking out at you from the stamp!

Long, long ago, even before your grandparents were born, the United States started making stamps. The very first stamps, way back in 1847, had pictures of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin too! So, these stamps from 1908 were like a throwback, bringing back the original stamp stars.

Before these stamps, each stamp had a different famous person. But the Washington–Franklin Issues decided to stick with just these two guys for a super long time!

These stamps have a secret code! In the early stamps, you'd see little olive branches around Washington or Franklin. Olive branches often mean peace.

Later, some stamps started showing oak leaves instead. Oak leaves can mean strength. It's like the stamps were whispering messages!

Also, these stamps came in many different colors, and each color meant a different price, from a tiny 1 cent all the way up to a big $5. That's a lot of money back then!

These stamps were used for almost 15 years, which is a really, really long time for stamps! They were printed in a special place in Washington D.C. using different machines. Some were printed flat, but others used a super-fast machine called a rotary press, which was like a stamp-making race car!

The very first one came out on November 16, 1908. Imagine getting mail with these cool old stamps on it!