The man who put a camera in everyone's hands, honored a hundred years after his birth.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Catalog Number: Scott #1062

• Denomination: 3 cents (3¢)

• Date of Issue: July 12, 1954

• Printing Method: Rotary Press, Engraved (Intaglio)

• Perforation: 10½ × 11

• Color: Violet Brown

• Subject: Portrait of George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak

• Format: Commemorative single

CONDITION ANALYSIS (Seller-Assessed)

• Status: Used

• Grading: Fine

• Postmark: Black machine postmark of parallel straight lines running across the portrait. The Eastman portrait, "GEORGE EASTMAN," "UNITED STATES POSTAGE," and the 3¢ denomination remain clearly readable.

• Obverse: The portrait, the name panel, the country inscription, and the denomination are all sharp and identifiable.

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

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

• Perforations: Intact on all four sides.

HISTORY

George Eastman did more than build a camera company. He changed who was allowed to take a photograph. Before him, photography meant glass plates, chemicals, and specialized skill, a pursuit for professionals and dedicated hobbyists. Eastman's great insight was flexible roll film, which he paired with a simple box camera and a promise printed in his advertising: "You press the button, we do the rest."

That 1888 Kodak camera came pre-loaded. When the roll was finished, the owner mailed the whole camera back to Rochester, where the film was developed and the camera returned reloaded. For the first time, ordinary people could make pictures of their own lives. The same roll film later became the physical foundation of the motion-picture industry.

Eastman was also one of the great philanthropists of his age, giving away much of his fortune to universities, music schools, and dental clinics, often anonymously. This stamp, issued July 12, 1954, in violet brown, marked the centennial of his birth. It honors a man whose name most people know from a yellow film box, without always realizing he is the reason the family snapshot exists at all.

STEVEN SAYS

Every snapshot your family ever took traces back to this man. He took photography away from the specialists and handed it to everyone with roll film and a simple box camera. The same film idea is what made movies possible too. Not bad for a face most people only know from a yellow Kodak box.