Stamp Essays and Proofs

Essays are designs for stamp vignettes (the main design in the center), stamp borders or both, that were never approved and used in the final printing of a stamp. Even if a design is adopted with only slight modifications, the original, unmodified design is still an "essay". Proofs are proposed designs that are exactly like the stamp that was eventually issued.

Between 1847 and 1894, all U.S. stamps were made by private bank note companies such as the American Bank Note Company or the Continental Bank Note Company. Essays and printing bids were submitted by those companies. The U.S. Post Office Department's policy for submitting new stamp proposals required bids to be submitted along with essays (examples of the proposed stamps). After the bids were opened, an Expert Committee evaluated the proposals and decided on the final designs, colors and paper.

Today, the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee usually decides on a U.S. stamp subject, chooses an artist or artists to design the stamp, and then submits the proposal, including the final artwork, to the postmaster general for his approval.

Essays for older U.S. stamps were produced in small quantities, with the outside printing firm keeping several copies. Today, design essays are kept by the U.S. Postal Service; few, if any, ever reach the stamp trade in any format.

Essays now sometimes consist of artists' sketches, but it was much different in the early days of stamps. Back then, finished plate essays that were fully gummed, perforated, and sometimes grilled would be submitted. All such material, whether just an art sketch or a finished, final plate proof, remains an essay until the printing and issuance of a stamp that's exactly like it. Then it is called a proof.

Proofs are known to exist in many varied styles. The Scott Specialized Catalogue of U.S. Stamps lists hundreds of varieties of proofs and trial color proofs from the postmasters' provisionals of New York (1845) and Providence (1846) to the 6¢ 50th Anniversary of Powered Flight airmail of May 1953. Scott's list includes only those proofs submitted by companies that were not owned by the government.

Until about 40 years ago, stamp proofs were available to the stamp trade. Thousands of proofs were distributed, creating a collecting irony: The proofs of modern U.S. stamps usually are not available, while older proofs are often up for sale. For all practical purposes, modern U.S. proofs are not obtainable by anyone, but collecting earlier essays and proofs are a fascinating branch of philately.