One of my favorite things to talk about on Capitol Hill is the Statue of Freedom on top of the Capitol. Whether it is about the statue itself or the remarkable journey it took from Thomas Crawford’s studio in Italy to Washington or how its height does not, in fact, represent a maximum for all statues placed in Washington D.C. or the story of the man responsible for its casting, there is something for everybody. I particularly enjoy talking about the original plaster statue that can be seen in the visitor center of the Capitol.
But all of these things I currently cannot do. Tours have gone the way of so much right now, and so I, and so many of my friends, am looking to occupy myself in these dark days. For me, my main amusement (well, after going through the story of Adolf Cluss) has been my stamp collection, and in reorganizing my US stamps, I noticed that the Statue of Freedom has actually been put on stamps a number of times.
The first was in 1922, when the USPS decided to come up with a new set of definitives (ie, stamps that are used for a number of years, not commemorative stamps that are sold only for a brief time) The stamps ranged from a ½ cent Nathan Hale stamp to a five dollar stamp with the head of the Statue of Freedom shown. Embarrassingly, the stamp showed the named “America” underneath the head of the statue, which was quite incorrect. While most of this series can be had for a few pennies, the highest denomination is not easy to get – even a used example will cost you 15 dollars. Given that $5 in 1922 would be over $75 today, it is not surprising that this is a pretty rare stamp: They simply were not used as much. It is also the only of the set that is printed in two colors.
Far more ubiquitous is the 1950 commemorative stamp. Over 130 million of this stamp were printed, so a used example will cost you all of 20 cents. On the other hand, it shows the whole statue, rather than just the head. You can see the important parts of the stamp at the top left of this post. The stamp – as well as two others representing the other two branches of government – was released to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Washington becoming the seat of government.
The third time that Freedom was used for a postage stamp (it had been used twice for revenue stamps in the 19th century) was just two years ago. Once again, just the head was shown, and the stamps – there were three denominations – showed only the head of the statue. The denominations were also higher 1, 2 and 5 dollars. On the plus side, you can still get any of these, even as first day covers, from the USPS.