Mount Rainier rising over a mirror-still lake, from the 1934 series that put America's national parks on its mail.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Catalog Number: Scott #742

• Denomination: 3 cents (3¢)

• Date of Issue: August 3, 1934

• Printing Method: Flat Plate, Engraved (Intaglio)

• Perforation: 11

• Color: Deep Violet

• Subject: Mount Rainier with a lake in the foreground, from the National Parks Issue

• Format: Commemorative single

CONDITION ANALYSIS (Seller-Assessed)

• Status: Used

• Grading: Fine

• Postmark: Strong black machine postmark of parallel wavy lines running across the design. The inscriptions and design remain clearly readable.

• Obverse: The mountain landscape, the foreground lake and trees, the side inscription panel, and the "3" numeral are all identifiable.

• Reverse: No original gum present, as expected for a used stamp. The paper shows light toning and minor surface soiling, with no tears or thinning visible.

• Centering / Margins: The design sits comfortably within the frame, with a slight downward shift.

• Perforations: Intact on all four sides.

HISTORY

The 1934 National Parks Issue was a ten-stamp series that celebrated the American landscape at a difficult moment. The country was deep in the Great Depression, and the parks program served a double purpose: it honored the natural wonders the nation was proud of, and it quietly promoted tourism and the conservation work then employing thousands of young men through the Civilian Conservation Corps. Postmaster General James Farley, a stamp enthusiast, championed the set.

This three-cent value carries Mount Rainier, the glacier-capped volcano that towers over the landscape of western Washington and anchors one of the country's oldest national parks, established in 1899. The engraving shows the peak reflected in a still foreground lake, framed by evergreens, a serene composition that captures the scale and calm of the high country. At three cents, it was the everyday letter-rate value in the series, so it saw the heaviest use of the group.

Issued August 3, 1934, in deep violet, the stamp is a flat-plate printing, and the same design later appeared in other formats that collectors distinguish carefully. It remains a quietly beautiful piece of a series that helped fix the national parks in the public imagination as treasures worth protecting.

STEVEN SAYS

The whole 1934 parks series came out during the Depression, partly to promote tourism and the conservation work going on in the parks. Mount Rainier reflected in that still lake is one of the prettier designs in the set. At three cents it was the everyday letter stamp, so you see a lot of them used like this one.