Basic Information
Color: Orange Brown
Subject: Mississippi River Bridge
Watermark: Watermarked double-lined USPS
Paper: Soft porous paper
Printing method: line-engraved intaglio on flat plates
Perforations: 12
Scott #: 293
Quantity issued: 56,200
Issued: June 17th, 1898
Value
An unused stamp with perfect gum: $850-$1,400
An unused stamp with gum and a hinge mark: $450-$650
A used stamp: $250-$350
About the Trans-Mississippi Series
A proof of #293 (#293P2)
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Promoting the "New West"
The primary reasoning was to showcase the prosperity and progress of the states and territories west of the Mississippi River. Unlike the previous 1893 Columbian stamps, which focused on historical discovery, the Trans-Mississippi designs highlighted modern achievements and frontier life. Key themes included:
Settlement and Agriculture: Encouraging people to move to and invest in "unclaimed" Western lands.
Technological Advancement: Depicting engineering feats like the Eads Bridge in St. Louis to represent the region's industrial growth.
Pioneer Spirit: Using images of buffalo hunting and farming to evoke a nostalgic but promising vision of the frontier.
Strategic Revenue Generation
Following the massive success of the 1893 Columbian series, the Post Office Department recognized that special commemorative sets were highly profitable. By offering a wide range of denominations—from 1¢ to $2—they aimed to generate substantial revenue through sales to collectors.
About the Trans-Mississippi Exhibition
Fireworks over the Grand Plaza
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Birds Eye view of the Exhibition
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The Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, also known as the Omaha Worlds Fair, was a grand world’s fair held in Omaha, Nebraska, from June 1 to November 1, 1898. Often referred to as the Omaha World's Fair, its primary goal was to showcase the rapid development and economic recovery of the American West following the financial panic of 1893.
Key Features & Attractions
The Grand Court: The heart of the 184-acre site featured a two-thousand foot-long lagoon designed to resemble Venetian canals hosted gondola rides as a whimsical form of transportation throughout the fair.
The "White City": Like the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, the buildings were constructed of staff (a mixture of plaster and horsehair) and painted white, giving them a marble-like appearance. Designed in Renaissance style reflected ancient Greek and Roman influences and possessed strenuous constraints on color, scale and height. All was built out of cheap materials or designed not to last, at the end of the exposition it was all removed.
Electrical Illumination: One of the most stunning features was the use of over 20,000 electric light bulbs to illuminate the fairgrounds and lagoon at night—a brand-new marvel at the time.
Indian Congress: A massive gathering of over 500 Native Americans from 35 different tribes, including notable figures like Apache leader Geronimo.
Entertainment: Visitors enjoyed carnival rides, a giant seesaw, and Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West show
Attendance & Legacy
Visitors: Over 2.6 million people attended the five-month event, including President William McKinley and William Jennings Bryan.
Economic Success: Unlike many other world's fairs, it was a financial success, paying back roughly 90% of its initial investment.
Current Site: Most of the temporary structures were demolished shortly after the fair closed. Today, the site of the Grand Court is home to Kountze Park in North Omaha.
Exhibits Today: You can still see artifacts, souvenirs, and a scale model of the fairgrounds at The Durham Museum in Omaha.
The Abandoned Bi-Color Plan
293E
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The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) intended for the stamps to be bi-colored, with black centers and colored frames. When the Spanish-American war broke out in April 1898, the BEP was suddenly overwhelmed with orders for revenue stamps to fund the military effort. To save labor and press time, the BEP abandoned the complex two-stage printing process and produced the series in single colors instead. (The original bi-color vision was eventually realised in a 1998 USPS centenary re-issue).
The bi-color essay for #293 has the vignette that was later allocated to #286
Usage
A #293 earliest known use, June 24th, 1898
#293 was primarily used to pay postage for high-weight, registered, or foreign-destination mail. It was a popular high-value stamp in the 1898 Omaha Exposition commemorative series.
Plates
#293 was issued with the following plate #'s
613
The Inspiration for the Design
The photograph used as the basis for the vignette design
The same image as the vignette was used on a GOP convention ticket two years prior to the issue of #293
The $2 vignette was originally planned to be on the 2¢ denomination. However, the purpose of the exposition was to increase to the attraction of investing in the farming in the west and the more popular 2¢ stamp would have a wider audience of the rural scene,
The subject of the vignette was the 'Eads Bridge' that spanned the Mississippi, connecting the cities of St. Louis, Missouri and East St. Louis, Illinois.
At the time of its construction in 1874 it was the longest arch bridge in the world, it was the first large-scale use of steel as a structural material and Its foundations were the deepest underwater constructions.