00:12This stamp commemorating the historic proclamation of the United States independence is one of the finest examples of the 1868 pictorial issue.
00:24On July 4, 1776, 13 American colonies that were involved in a bloody war with Great Britain proclaimed themselves independent states and refused to recognize the rule of the British Empire.
00:37Numerous nations all over the world followed the example of the U.S. by creating their own independence declarations, which laid the foundations of global democracy and fair international relationship.
00:49The appearance of the 1869 pictorials marked a significant change in U.S. stamp design.
00:56For the first time in American postal history, something other than portraits of national leaders were being pictured on a stamp.
01:03These were the first U.S. stamps to be printed using two colors.
01:07Printing with two colors required the stamps to be run through the press twice, once to print the vignette, the center design, and then again to print the frame.
01:17Carelessness in merging the two impressions resulted in the rare inverts.
01:22Instead of an inverted center, the stamp actually has an inverted frame, since the center design was printed first.
01:29The 30-cent shield and eagle with inverted flags is the rarest of the 1869 inverts.
01:36The least obvious of the three, it was the last to be discovered.
01:40The pictorials were to be produced over a four-year period by the National Bank Note Company.
01:45When issued, however, the stamps were unpopular with the public.
01:49Within a year after their release, they were withdrawn from sale.
01:53Today, the pictorial issues are the most popular of the 1840 to 1870 classic stamps.
01:59Because the stamps were only in circulation for a year, they have become increasingly hard to find in both unused and used condition.
02:06Like other stamps of the issue, the Declaration of Independence is printed in two colors, green and violet, and can be rightfully called a miniature masterpiece.
02:17Artist John Smiley made an exquisite and highly precise copy of the similarly named painting by John Trumbull,
02:24having engraved 42 people with six principal figures recognizable only through a magnifying glass.
02:31The 24-cent stamp uses a G-Grill and comes with split grill, double grill, or basic gum.
02:38An unused sample with an inverted center is currently valued at $275,000.
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