Issued March 22, 1963 (eight months before Dallas) this stamp was the 1¢ definitive in circulation during one of the most turbulent years in modern American history.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Catalog Number: Scott #1209

• Denomination: 1 cent (1¢)

• Date of Issue: March 22, 1963

• Printing Method: Rotary Press, Engraved (Intaglio)

• Perforation: 11 × 10½

• Color: Green

• Subject: Portrait of Andrew Jackson, after the presidential medal by Moritz Furst (1829)

CONDITION ANALYSIS (Seller-Assessed)

• Status: Used

• Grading: Extremely Fine

• Postmark: Minimal, with a faint impression that does not obscure the portrait or principal design elements.

• Obverse: Design is clear and fully identifiable throughout. No visible tears or creases. Minor wear consistent with postal use.

• Reverse: Clean with no visible thins or repairs. No original gum present, as expected for a used stamp.

• Centering / Margins: Excellent, with perforations clear of the design frame on all sides.

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

HISTORY

Scott #1209 is the sheet stamp version of the 1¢ Andrew Jackson definitive issued March 22, 1963, perforated on all four sides and distinct from the coil version, Scott #1225, which carries vertical perforations only. Both carry the same engraved portrait based on a presidential medal by Moritz Furst, struck at the U.S. Mint in 1829 when Jackson entered office. For collectors building complete sets of the early 1960s definitives, the two represent separate catalog entries.

Andrew Jackson's presidency from 1829 to 1837 remains among the most consequential and contested in American history. He expanded executive power, dismantled the Second Bank of the United States over the objections of Congress, and oversaw the forced removal of tens of thousands of Native Americans under the Indian Removal Act of 1830 - a policy whose human cost was catastrophic. He was also the founder of the modern Democratic Party and the first president to come from outside the Virginia and Massachusetts establishment, representing a genuine shift in American political culture toward broader white male suffrage.

The 1¢ denomination served supplemental and makeup postal rates throughout the early 1960s, circulating through a country in the middle of the civil rights movement, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Kennedy presidency.

STEVEN SAYS

Eight months after this stamp was issued, Kennedy was assassinated. The 1¢ Jackson was the supplemental rate stamp moving through the mail that whole year. History runs through the postal system whether it means to or not.