#223 1890 5¢ Small Bank Note

Basic Information

Color: Chocolate
Subject: Ulysses S. Grant
Paper: Soft porous paper
Printing method: line-engraved intaglio on flat plates
Printer: American Bank Note Co.
Perforations: 12
Scott #: 223
Quantity issued: 152,236,530
Issued: June 2, 1890

Value

An unused stamp with perfect gum: $30-$100
An unused stamp with gum and a hinge mark: $7-$17
A used stamp: 75¢-$1.50

About the small bank note stamps

It was originally envisaged that William H. Seward, former secretary of state, should be the subject of the stamp. This is what it could have looked like.
Click the image to enlarge

“Small Bank Note" stamps refers to the last, and only, definitive series printed solely by the America Bank Note Company in 1894, hence the name bank note series. The printing of this series was taken over by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in 1895. The Bureau added a triangle to the corner of the stamps to differentiate the 1895 from the 1894 series.

They are called "Small" to distinguish them from the "Large Bank Notes" issued from 1870 to 1893, as the 1894 stamps were reduced in size to cut production costs.

Usage

The earliest recorded date of use of #223, June 14th, 1890

The 5¢ Grant stamp was primarily used to meet the 5-cent U.S. postage rate for letters to foreign countries within the Universal Postal Union (UPU). It was a staple of late 19th-century US international postage

Plates

#223 was issued with the following plate #'s

I 46 - I 50

The Inspiration for the Design

1873 photograph of Ulysses S. Grant by C.M. Bell

The vignette design was taken from this 1873 photograph of Ulysses S. Grant by C.M. Bell. Grant was the second Union general to be featured on a stamp, the first being Winfield Scott.