TEASER

The postmark on this stamp begins with "194" and carries the Wisconsin abbreviation "WIS",  placing it in circulation somewhere in Wisconsin during or immediately around World War II.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Catalog Number: Scott #806

• Denomination: 2 cents (2¢)

• Date of Issue: June 3, 1938

• Printing Method: Rotary Press, Engraved (Intaglio)

• Perforation: 11 × 10½

• Color: Rose Carmine

• Subject: Portrait of John Adams, 2nd President of the United States, after the bust by Daniel Chester French

CONDITION ANALYSIS (Seller-Assessed)

Status: Used

Grading: Very Fine

Postmark: Moderate machine postmark. The year fragment "194" is clearly legible, and the state abbreviation "WIS" is visible, placing this stamp in Wisconsin during the early-to-mid 1940s. The postmark falls without obscuring the portrait or principal design elements.

Obverse: Design remains crisp with well-preserved color throughout. No significant fading or surface scuffs observed.

Reverse: Clean, with standard paper texture. No visible thinning or hinge remnants.

Centering / Margins: Perforations clear of the design frame on all sides.

Perforations: Intact on all four sides. No visible tears, creases, or missing perforations observed.

HISTORY

John Adams appears on the 2¢ denomination of the Presidential Series of 1938, issued June 3, 1938. The 2¢ rate served printed matter, postcards, and lightweight domestic correspondence in the late 1930s and 1940s, giving this denomination a distinct circulation pattern from the heavier-use 3¢ first-class rate. The rose carmine color tied the 2¢ Adams visually to earlier Washington definitives that had carried the same shade, maintaining a degree of color-coding continuity for postal customers.

The portrait derives from a marble bust by Daniel Chester French, which resides in the U.S. Senate Gallery in Washington. French's Adams is a considered rendering of a figure who left fewer universally recognized likenesses than Washington or Jefferson, a portrait challenge the sculptor met with characteristic restraint. French is best remembered for the seated Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial, completed in 1922, but his contributions to the Presidential Series demonstrate the range of his work.

The postmark on this particular stamp, carrying the year fragment "194" and the Wisconsin abbreviation "WIS," places it firmly in the early 1940s, a period when this stamp was passing through post offices across a country at war. That specificity of place and time gives this copy a small but genuine piece of postal history.

STEVEN SAYS

Wisconsin, sometime in the 1940s. The year starts with "194" and that's as far as it goes, but that's enough to know it was moving through the mail while the country was at war. That kind of detail is what makes used stamps interesting to me.