Issued: Introduced on June 17th, 1890. Earliest documented use, a first day cover from June 17th 1898

Plate Size: Sheets of 100 subjects (2 panes of 50)

A full pane of #287

Printer: The Bureau of Printing and Engraving

Watermark: Double lined USPS watermark.

Quantity Issued: 4,924,500

The orange ink, like most orange inks of the period is prone to oxidation, if possible avoid these and go for the bright orange examples

An oxidized example

The design was obtained from a drawing fom Captain S. Eastman 1854 'Information Respecting the History, Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States, titled, 'Buffalo Chase' A copy of the original text and drawings can be found in the Library of Congress and Indiana University.

The original engraving

A later adaptation produced for the Sholastic Series of textbooks
sometimes, incorrectly, referred to as the source of the design.

The Trans-Mississippi Exposition focused on First Americans
and as such it was envisaged that an 'Indian' should be depicted.
The above stamp ( showing 289-E1 vignette) shows the design that would have
ended up on one of the values, the vignette was completed
however did not got to the stage of being inserted into a frame.

#287 E3
Large Die Essay on India
Die sunk on 92mm x 81mm card

#288 E5
The original bi-color design.
The bi-color design had to be dropped as the bi-color printing process
was taxed to the max printing revenue stamps for the Spanish-American
war that had broken out.