A carved eighteenth-century Philadelphia side chair, one of the small-value definitives from the American Design series.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Catalog Number: Scott #3755

• Denomination: 4 cents (4¢)

• Date of Issue: March 5, 2004

• Printing Method: Offset lithography (multicolor)

• Die Cut: Serpentine die cut 10¾ × 10¼

• Color: Multicolored (brown, cream, tan, and orange)

• Subject: A Chippendale-style side chair, Philadelphia, circa 1760 to 1765

• Format: Self-adhesive definitive, American Design series

CONDITION ANALYSIS (Seller-Assessed)

• Status: Used

• Grading: Good

• Postmark: Dark machine postmark of dotted and wavy lines crossing the central design. The chair, and the 2004 date remain identifiable.

• Obverse: The carved chair design is fully identifiable, but the surface shows numerous light abrasions, scratches, and pressure marks, especially across the left side and lower half, along with some surface disturbance.

• Reverse: The self-adhesive backing is spent, as expected for a used self-adhesive stamp lifted from mail. There is no attached envelope paper, and no watermark, which is correct for this issue.

• Centering / Margins: The design sits comfortably within the frame, with subtle upward and leftward shifts.

• Perforations: Intact on all four sides.

HISTORY

This little four-cent stamp belongs to the American Design series, a long-running set of low-value definitives the Postal Service began issuing in 2002 to celebrate American decorative arts. These were workhorse stamps, printed in the odd small denominations used to make up changing postage rates, but each one carried a carefully rendered piece of American craftsmanship rather than the usual flag or numeral.

The subject here is a Chippendale side chair, made in Philadelphia around 1760 to 1765. The Chippendale style, named for the English cabinetmaker Thomas Chippendale, whose pattern book spread the fashion across the Atlantic, became the height of taste in colonial America. Philadelphia's cabinetmakers were among the finest anywhere, and chairs like this one, with their pierced and carved splat backs, cabriole legs, and ornamental shells and tassels, were prized possessions in prosperous eighteenth-century homes. The stamp's design highlights that fretwork back and the shell carved on the seat rail.

Issued March 5, 2004, in full color, the stamp is a small tribute to American furniture-making at its peak. It puts a finely made piece of colonial craftsmanship onto everyday mail, a reminder that good design can live at any scale, even on a four-cent stamp.

STEVEN SAYS

This is a modern low-value stamp, but the subject is worth knowing. Philadelphia cabinetmakers in the 1760s were some of the best in the world, and a carved Chippendale chair like this was a real status piece. I will be straight with you: this particular copy is scuffed up, with surface scratches, so it is a budget example rather than a showpiece.