The 1903 Two Cent “Shield” Washington Specimen

by David Schwarz

In my last post, I discussed Edwin Madden’s practice of favoring his political benefactors with yet-to-be issued specimens of new stamps, taken from the first sheet printed by the Bureau of Engraving & Printing.  In his letter to one William Hoban, Mr. Madden explained that the Two Cent Issue of 1902 was deemed “unsatisfactory”, and was withdrawn from circulation.

(301S-E), the Two Cent carmine Type E Specimen.

Why?  The soon-to-be auctioned collection of Natalee Grace provided the following explanation:  “According to Johl, the proofs of the regularly-issued 2c stamp (Scott 301) were considered masterpieces, but when the stamp was issued in red using the wet paper printing method it was widely criticized. Washington’s nose was excessively red and the details of the design were lost. The New York Times wrote that “if not labelled Washington it could be taken for Adams, Madison or Monroe”. Faced with such criticism the post office department rushed a replacement stamp into use — the 2c Shield issue (Scott 319 and 320) — less than nine months later.”

(319S-E), Two Cent carmine Type E

The replacement was issued on November 12, 1903.  The first version — the Type I — was the specimen stamp Madden sent to Mr. Hoban on October 26, 1903.  The Type I version Madden sent has a thin inner line and lower left leaf breaks the frame.

Enlarged view of the Type I version of the 1903 Two Cent Specimen.

The Type II has a thick inner line; the leaf does not break the frame line, as illustrated below.

An enlarged close up of the proof for the Type II version of the 1903 Two-Cent..  

To my knowledge, all specimens of the Two Cent “Shield” stamp are Type I versions; I would be interested if any collectors have a Type II in their collection.  I doubt it, given that the Type II (Scott 319f) was not issued until 1908; by that time, the Post Office appeared to have suspended the practice of distributing specimens.