A covered wagon crossing the saguaro desert over a map of the Southwest, marking the last piece added to the lower 48.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Catalog Number: Scott #1028

• Denomination: 3 cents (3¢)

• Date of Issue: December 30, 1953

• Printing Method: Rotary Press, Engraved (Intaglio)

• Perforation: 11 × 10½

• Color: Copper Brown

• Subject: A southwestern map with a covered wagon, oxen, rider, and cacti, for the centennial of the 1853 Gadsden Purchase

• Format: Commemorative single

CONDITION ANALYSIS (Seller-Assessed)

• Status: Used

• Grading: Fine

• Postmark: Black machine postmark of parallel wavy lines across the design. The map, covered wagon, oxen, rider, remain clearly readable.

• Obverse: The map of the Southwest, the desert scene with wagon and saguaros, and the denomination are all identifiable.

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

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

• Perforations: Intact on all four sides.

HISTORY

The Gadsden Purchase is the piece of the map most people have never heard of, yet it completed the continental United States. In 1853, just five years after the Mexican-American War had transferred vast western territory, the United States paid Mexico ten million dollars for a strip of land across what is now southern Arizona and New Mexico. The deal was negotiated by James Gadsden, the American minister to Mexico, and it settled a lingering border dispute.

The reason for the purchase was practical and forward-looking: railroads. The flat southern route across that strip was seen as the best path for a transcontinental railroad through the Southwest, avoiding the mountains farther north. The land itself was harsh desert, but its value lay in what could be built across it. With this acquisition, the borders of the lower forty-eight states took their final shape.

This stamp, issued December 30, 1953, in copper brown for the purchase's centennial, tells the story visually. A map names the region, while below it a covered wagon drawn by oxen crosses a saguaro desert under a rider's watch. The warm brown color suits the dry country it depicts, honoring the quiet transaction that finished the map of the American West.

STEVEN SAYS

This is the last piece added to the lower forty-eight, and hardly anyone knows it. In 1853 the U.S. paid Mexico ten million dollars for a strip of desert across southern Arizona and New Mexico, mainly because it was the best route for a southern railroad. The map on the stamp shows exactly what changed hands.