When Lucy Stone married in 1855, she kept her own name, a then-unprecedented act that inspired so many followers that "Lucy Stoner" became the term for any woman who did the same.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Catalog Number: Scott #1293

• Denomination: 50 cents (50¢)

• Date of Issue: August 13, 1968

• Printing Method: Rotary Press, Engraved (Intaglio)

• Perforation: 11 × 10½

• Color: Rose Magenta

• Subject: Portrait of Lucy Stone, abolitionist and women's rights advocate

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: Portrait and inscriptions remain clearly identifiable throughout. No major creases or tears visible.

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

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

• Perforations: All perforations present. Minor irregularities typical of handling and circulation. No visible tears, missing perforations, or alterations observed.

HISTORY

Lucy Stone was one of the most consequential figures in 19th-century American reform. Born in Massachusetts in 1818, she became the first woman from that state to earn a college degree, graduating from Oberlin College in 1847 against her family's initial resistance. She went on to become one of the most effective orators of the abolitionist and women's suffrage movements, speaking across the country at a time when women addressing mixed public audiences was itself considered transgressive.

In 1855, Stone married fellow abolitionist Henry Blackwell and insisted on keeping her birth name, reading aloud at the ceremony a joint protest against the legal subordination of wives to husbands. The act attracted national attention and inspired generations of women to do the same — those who followed her example became known as "Lucy Stoners." She co-founded the American Woman Suffrage Association in 1869 and launched the Woman's Journal, which she edited until her death in 1893, twenty-seven years before women won the right to vote.

The Prominent Americans Series placed her on the 50¢ denomination, issued August 13, 1968, a rate that served registry fees and high-value correspondence. The rose magenta color was visually distinctive within the series.

STEVEN SAYS

Lucy Stone kept her name in 1855. That was so unusual it became its own term. She didn't live to see the 19th Amendment but she spent fifty years working toward it. The Prominent Americans Series made the right call putting her on a stamp.