Theodore Roosevelt's rambling Long Island house, the "Summer White House" of his presidency.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Catalog Number: Scott #1023

• Denomination: 3 cents (3¢)

• Date of Issue: September 14, 1953

• Printing Method: Rotary Press, Engraved (Intaglio)

• Perforation: 11 × 10½

• Color: Green

• Subject: Sagamore Hill, Roosevelt's home at Oyster Bay, New York

• Format: Commemorative single

CONDITION ANALYSIS (Seller-Assessed)

• Status: Used

• Grading: Fine

• Postmark: Black slogan machine postmark reading "FIGHT TB / SUPPORT YOUR..." with the double-barred cross of the anti-tuberculosis campaign. The house design and inscriptions remain clearly readable.

• Obverse: The house and its wide porch, the surrounding trees, the ornate frame, and the denomination are all identifiable.

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

• Centering / Margins: The design sits comfortably within its frame, with slight upward shift.

• Perforations: Intact on all four sides.

HISTORY

Sagamore Hill was the home Theodore Roosevelt built for himself, and it fit the man. Perched on a hill at Oyster Bay on Long Island, the rambling Queen Anne house was where he raised his boisterous family, kept his books and hunting trophies, and retreated whenever he could from the pressures of public life. During his presidency it served as the "Summer White House," where he received diplomats, ran the government from a distance, and famously helped mediate the end of the Russo-Japanese War, work that earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.

The house captured Roosevelt's restless energy. It was crowded with the evidence of his many enthusiasms, from natural history to the strenuous outdoor life he preached. After leaving office he returned there for good, and he died at Sagamore Hill in 1919. The home was later preserved as a national historic site, kept much as he left it.

This stamp, issued September 14, 1953, in green, honored the residence rather than the man directly, part of a small tradition of stamps devoted to presidential homes. It offers a quieter portrait of Roosevelt, not the Rough Rider or the trust-buster, but the family man in the house he loved best.

STEVEN SAYS

Sagamore Hill was Roosevelt's real home, the "Summer White House" where he actually helped negotiate the end of a war and won a Nobel Prize. He died there in 1919. As a bonus, this copy carries a "Fight TB" slogan postmark with the little double-barred cross, which is a collectible in its own right.