Salvation Army Stamp from United 8tates of America 1965

Developing the Design

The Army submitted a suggested design by Gene Murray of New York who had created its centenial medal. It featured the Familiar shield emblem with profile portraits of a man and woman in Salvation Army uniform and the legend "A Century of Service to Man."

This was not seriously considered by the committee, which asked Louis S. Glanzman to develop a suitable design. When Glanzman's finished art work, which pictured a Salvation Army street corner band, was taken up at the April 1, 1965 meeting of the Stamp Advisory Committee it was rejected as too closely identified with the Army's religious work. All other designs discussed proved equally unacceptable.



Louis S. Glanzman's rejected design



With the anniversary date and proposed date of issue only two and a half months away, it was essential to get a design immediately. The simplest way was to avoid the religious issue was to have no vignette at all, and this course was adopted. Sam Marsh, a New York artist specializing in lettering, was asked to do a poster-type all-lettering design.

Marsh submitted horizontal and vertical designs using only the dates 1865-1965, the name "Salvation Army" and the inscription "One hundred years of service". The vertical was approved.

The Post Office Department authorized the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to prepare a model on April 15, just 15 days after Marsh had been called in, and the model by Robert J. Jones was approved by Postmaster General John A. Gronouski five days later, on April 20.

Announcement of the design was made in a news release for papers of Sunday May 23. The announcement noted that the stamp marked a departure in design of U.S. Stamps, since the starkly simple design was devoid of portraits, symbols or embellishment. It gave this description.

"It is a vertical stamp in red, blue and black on white paper. In a top panel of red appears "1865-1965" in white. The centre panel is white, dominated by "Salvation Army" in Black. The lettering is modified condensed Karnak. Underneath in red is "One Hundred Years of Service".

The bottom panel of blue contains, in white, "United States 5c", with the denomination centred between the two words."

Stamp Production

Since the design was entirely lettering, the entire master die was engraved by George A. Payne, one of the Bureau's letter engravers. Postmaster General Gronouski approved the die proof on May 4 and the order to print was given the following day.

Printing on a two-plate Gioripress was completed July 1 with 765,965 sheets of 200 or 153,193,000 stamps.

The printing breakdown by plates was:

Plates Impressions Stamps
28113 122,423 24,484,600
28114 122.423 24,484,600
28117 138,175 27,635,000
28118 138,177 27,635,400
28122 122,384 24,476,800
28123 122,383 24,476,600

The Bureau made its initial shipment of 1.500.000 stamps to New York City on June 14. By June 15, 1965 a total of 125,355,000 had been distributed to post offices and the Philatelic Sales Agency.

A post office station was set up in the ballroom lobby on the Hilton's fourth floor for the benefit of the guests and stamps were on sale at offices throughout New York City, with most first day activity centered at the New York City Post Office.

Both hand and machine cancellations were in the new style with no periods in the two-letter state abbreviation, but did not carry a Zip code since there are more than 60 in the area served by the New York Post Office.

Rejected design by Sam Marsh

Philatelic Data

Five cent red, blue and black on white wove paper in pregummed sheets, vertical format, .084 by 1.44 inches, printed from 200 subject sheets on the two-plate Giori presses, perforated 11 on the L-perforator and divided into panes of 50 for post offices.

Mr. Zip, the walking design first used with the Sam Houston stamp, appears in red in the selvage four times on each sheet of 200 and once on each post office pane of 50. It is in the upper or lower margin at the upper right of the upper left pane, the upper left of the upper right pane, the lower right of the lower left pane and the lower left of the lower right pane.

The plate number also appears in red on each pane in the side selvage at the top of upper panes and the bottom of lower panes.

First Day Ceremonies

First day ceremonies for the Salvation Army stamp on July 2, originally planned for the steps of the New York City Post Office, actually were held at a luncheon in the Mercury Ballroom of the New York Hilton Hotel.

There was typical Salvation Army music by the Army's Metropolitan Unified Command Ensemble, an invocation, introductions of guests and a talk by Assistant Postmaster General William M. McMillan, New York Mayor Robert F. Wagner, whose name appeared on the program, was out of the country and was represented by City Council President Paul Screvane.