Modern Airmails

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Modern U.S. Airmail stamps

1950-1961 issues

Scott C45, 6¢ Wright Brothers, plate number 24158

Scott C46, 80¢, plate number 24592

Scott C46 var, 80¢, local precancel, plate number 24593

It is possible the local precancel was added long after contemporary usage to create a philatelic curiosity. It is doubtful that the Drummond, Montana post office, serving a population of ~500 at the time, had a major need for 80¢ airmail stamps at all, much less precancels.

Scott C47, 6¢, 50th Anniversary of Flight, plate number 24782

Scott C48, 4¢ Eagle, plate number 25034

This is the lowest denomination U.S. airmail stamp ever issued. It met the airmail postcard rate.

Scott C48 var, 4¢ Eagle, local precancel, plate number 25035

Scott C49, 6¢, 50th Anniversary of Air Force, plate number 25762

Scott C49 var, 6¢, misperfed due to paper fold, plate number 25762

Scott C50, 5¢ Eagle, plate number 26053

The multi-colored 8¢ Champions of Liberty stamps issued from 1957 to 1961 were intended to pay an airmail rate. However, there was no specific indication that they were "airmail" stamps, so they were assigned catalog numbers along with regular and commemorative issues. Plate number examples appear on the Four Cent Commemorative web page.

Scott C51, 7¢ sheet, plate number 26178

Scott C51a, 7¢ single from booklet, plate number 22043. Image courtesy of Doug D'Avino.

Scott C52, 7¢ coil, plate number 26055

Scott C53, 7¢ Alaska statehood, plate number 26225

Scott C54, 7¢ Balloon Jupiter, plate number 26397

Scott C54 var, 7¢ Balloon Jupiter, misperfed vertically, plate number 26391

Scott C55, 7¢ Hawaii statehood, plate number 26432

Scott C56, 10¢ Pan American Games, plate number 26413

Scott C56 var, 10¢ Pan American Games, misperfed horizontally, plate number 26413

Scott C56 var, 10¢ misperfed both horizontally and vertically, plate number 26414

Scott C57, 10¢ Liberty Bell, plate number 26635

Scott C57 var, 10¢ Liberty Bell, misperfed horizontally, plate number 26630

Image courtesy of Stuart Katz

Scott C58, 15¢ Statue of Liberty Type I with frame, plate number 26486

Scott C58 var, misperfed vertically, plate number 26482

Image courtesy of Bill Langs

Scott C59, 25¢ Lincoln, plate number 26570

Scott C59a, 25¢ Lincoln, tagged, plate number 31604

Scott C60, 7¢ Jet (sheet), carmine, plate number 26444

Scott C60a, 7¢ Jet (booklet pane of 6), carmine, plate number 26459

Scott C61, 7¢ Jet coil: no image available

Scott C62, 13¢ Liberty Bell, plate number 26970

Scott C62a, 13¢ Liberty Bell, tagged, plate number 26965

Scott C63, 15¢ Statue of Liberty Type II without frame, plate number 28645

Scott C63 var, 15¢, offset with plate number 28033 on reverse

Scott C63b, 15¢ imperf vertically error, plate number 28340

Image courtesy of The Philatelic Foundation.

1962-1964 issues

Scott C64, 8¢ Jet over Capitol, untagged, plate number 27681

Scott C64 var, 8¢ Jet over Capitol, untagged local precancel, plate number 28042

Scott C64 var, 8¢, from a complete pane printed without any plate number ("00000")

Must be collected as a strip of 10 or 20 or full pane of 100 to prove that the plate number does not appear in another corner.

Photographically cropped from a full pane. Image courtesy of The Philatelic Foundation.

Scott C64b, 8¢ single from untagged booklet pane, plate number 24375

Scott C64b var, tab from untagged booklet pane showing plate number 28115

Scott C64a, 8¢ Jet over Capitol, tagged. plate number 27366. The taggant is evident in the selvage.

Scott C64c, 8¢ single from tagged booklet pane, plate number 24375

Scott C64c var, tab from tagged booklet pane showing plate number 28576

Scott C65, 8¢ Jet over Capitol untagged coil: no image available

Scott C65a, 8¢ Jet over Capitol tagged coil: no image available

1963-1969 issues

Scott C66, 8¢ Montgomery Blair, plate number 27466

Scott C67, 6¢ Eagle, untagged, plate number 27391

Scott C67a, 6¢ Eagle, tagged, plate number 27390. Image courtesy of The Philatelic Foundation.

Scott C68, 8¢ Amelia Earhart, plate number 27548

Amelia Earhart was lost at sea during an around-the-world flight in 1937. At the time this stamp was issued in 1966, she had still not been declared legally dead. Postal regulations prohibit "portraying" a living person on a stamp, thus she is pictured at a distance, in front of her favorite Lockheed Electra, instead of the usual portrait as for most people who are honored with a stamp.

Thomas Edison was still living when a stamp in three formats was issued in 1929 to honor the 50th anniversary of his invention of the electric light bulb. These stamps show how this problem was circumvented in an earlier time.

Current postal regulations require that the honoree be deceased for five years before they can be considered for a stamp, with the exception of presidents. Still, there are many occasions when an event is portrayed (such as landing on the moon) where it is obvious who the person must be, even if they are still alive, as well as numerous instances of photographs, models and other images that include living people being used as the basis for stamps. These occurrences are avidly tracked in the philatelic press.

Scott C69, 8¢ Robert H. Goddard, plate number 27860

Scott C70, 8¢ Alaska Purchase, plate number 29022

Scott C71, 20¢ Audubon, plate number 29096

Scott C71 var, 20¢ Audubon, plate number 29086 with rest of plate number printed on the back of the paper fold

Scott C71a, tagging omitted error, plate number 29096

Image courtesy of Bob Langs

Scott C72, 10¢ Field of 50 stars, plate number 31895

Scott C72 var, 10¢ Field of 50 stars precancel, plate number 29494

Scott C72c, Mail Early single from booklet pane of 5, plate number 29564

Image courtesy of Doug D'Avino.

Scott C73, 10¢ Field of 50 Stars coil, partial plate number 29501

Scott C74, 10¢ Airmail Service, plate number 29673

Scott C75, 20¢ USA and Jet, plate number 30510

Scott C75 var, 20¢ USA and Jet, plate number 30602, all three colors offset on back

Scott C76, 10¢ First Man on the Moon, plate number 31392

Scott C76 var, 10¢, red color shifted to right, yellow color shifted to left, plate umber 31387

Scott C76a, 10¢ error (red missing from flag patch on astronaut's suit), plate number 31401

Scott C76b, 10¢ tagging omitted error (unique), plate number 31374

Image courtesy of William L. Langs

1972-1980 issues

Scott C77, 9¢ Delta jet, plate number 32946

Scott C78, 11¢ Jet, plate number 32942

Scott C78 var, 11¢ Jet, misperfed horizontally, plate number 33020

Scott C78 var, 11¢ Jet, misperfed vertically, plate number 32999

Image courtesy of Bill Langs

Scott C78 var, 11¢ Jet, misperfed vertically and horizontally, plate number 32998

Image courtesy of Bill Langs

Scott C78 var, 11¢ Jet, local precancel (tagged), plate number 32941

Scott C78b, 11¢ Jet, untagged Bureau precancel, D.C. with periods, plate number 32941

Scott C78b var, 11¢ Jet, untagged Bureau precancel, DC without periods, plate number 32998

Scott C78a, 11¢ Jet booklet single, plate number 32964

Scott C78a var, tab from booklet single, plate number 32965

Scott C82, 11¢ Jet, coil: No image available

Scott C79, 13¢ Letter, plate number 34584

Scott C79 var, 13¢ Letter, misperfed vertically, plate number 34653

Scott C79b, 13¢ Letter, precanceled, plate number 34558

Scott C83, 13¢ Letter, coil: No image available

Scott C80, 17¢ Statue of Liberty, plate number 33096

Scott C80 var, 17¢ misperfed due to paper fold, plate number 33098

Scott C81, 21¢ USA and Jet, plate number 33246

Scott C81 var, 21¢ USA and Jet, red and blue (non engraved) shifted to bottom, plate number 33017

Scott C81 var, 21¢ dark blue and black normal, USA (non engraved) shifted to bottom, plate number 33003

Image courtesy of Bill Langs

Scott C81 var, 21¢ with double impression most easily visible in the red USA, plate number 33248

Scott C81 var, 21¢ with pre-print paper fold, plate number 33246

Scott C81 var, 21¢ with offset below gum, plate number 33246

Image courtesy of Stuart Katz

Scott C82, 11¢ Jet coil, plate number 32944

Scott C84, 11¢ National Parks Centennial, plate number 33481

Scott C84 var, 11¢ with shift in black (engraved), plate number 33461

Scott C84a, 11¢ green omitted error, plate number 33459

Scott C85, 11¢ 1972 Olympics, Skiing, plate number 33322

Scott C85 var, 11¢ 1972 Olympics, black shifted to left adding "sixth skier," plate number 33322

Scott C85 var, 11¢ 1972 Olympics, red under-inked giving "pink skier," plate number 33323

Scott C85 var, 11¢ 1972 Olympics, all colors shifted right and down, captured plate number 33322

Scott C86, 11¢ Electronics, plate number 34191

Scott C86 var, 11¢ with black shifted down, plate number 34190

Scott C86c, 11¢ red omitted error, plate number 34191

Scott C87, 18¢ Statue of Liberty, plate number 34959

Scott C87 var, 18¢, black shifted to right, plate number 34942 (black)

Scott C87 var, 18¢, red and blue shift to bottom, plate number 34942 (black)

Scott C87 var, 18¢, red and blue shift to bottom, plate number 34955 (blue) fully within the design

Scott C87 var, 18¢, black (engraved) offset on back, plate number 34942

Scott C88, 26¢ Mount Rushmore, plate number 34851

Scott C88 var, 26¢, misperfed vertically, plate number 34860

Scott C88 var, 26¢, offset of entire image on reverse, plate number 34875

Image courtesy of Stuart Katz

Scott C88b, 26¢, green instead of red tagging error, plate number 34774

Image courtesy of The Philatelic Foundation.

Scott C89, 25¢ Globes, plate number 36959

Scott C90, 31¢ Globes, plate number 38314

Scott C90 var, 31¢, described as "misperfed horizontally" but in fact the image was printed too low, plate number 36981

Scott C90 var, misperfed vertically, plate number 37034

Image courtesy of Stuart Katz

Scott C90 var, 31¢, misperfed vertically, also misperfed due to paper fold, plate number 36977 (with 977 printed on the back)

Image courtesy of Bill Langs

Scott C90 var, 31¢, blue under-inked, plate number 37402

Scott C91, 31¢ Wright Brothers (from Scott C91a pair), plate number 38861

Scott C91 var, 31¢, plate number 38844 with brown and tan color shift

Scott C92, 31¢ Wright Brothers, plate number 38844

Scott C92 var, 31¢, blue (engraved) shifted up so text is missing entirely, plate number 38844

Scott C93, 21¢ Octave Chanute, plate number 39008

Scott C93 var, 21¢, misperfed due to paper fold, plate number 39014

Scott C94, 21¢ Octave Chanute, plate number 39015

Scott C94 var, plate number in both blue and green, plate number 39008

Image courtesy of Stuart Katz

Scott C95, 25¢ Wiley Post, plate number 39210

Scott C95 var, 25¢ black (engraved) and blue (engraved) shifted up, plate number 39197

Image courtesy of Bill Langs

Scott C96, 25¢ Wiley Post, plate number 39197

Scott C96 var, brown shifted down and right, plate number 39193

Image courtesy of Bill Langs

Scott C96 var, black (engraved) and blue (engraved) shifted down, plate number 39193

Scott C97, 31¢ 1980 Olympics, pole vault, plate number 39117

Scott C98, 40¢ Philip Mazzei, bulls-eye perf (not through selvage), plate number 39461

Scott C98 var, 40¢ bulls-eye perf, red color shifted up, plate number 39461

Image courtesy of Stuart Katz

Scott C98A, 40¢, perf 10.5 x 11.25 (through selvage), plate number 39461

Scott C98A var, 40¢, all offset colors shifted to left, plate number 39461

Scott C99, 28¢ Blanch Stuart Scott, plate number 39537

Scott C99a, 28¢ imperforate error, plate number 39541

Scott C100, 35¢ Glenn Curtiss, plate number 39502

Scott C100 var, 35¢, light blue (sky) under-inked, plate number 39507

1983 issues for 1984 Olympics: representative plate numbers

Gymnastics (Scott C101); Hurdles (Scott C102); Women's Basketball (Scott C103); and Soccer (Scott C104)
from 28¢ Olympics (Scott C104a), plate number 2222

Scott C103 var, 28¢ imperf at bottom, plate number 2222

Image courtesy of Stuart Katz

Scott C104 var, 28¢ misperfed vertically, plate number 2222

Shot putter (Scott C105); Gymnast (Scott C106); Swimmer (Scott C107); and Weightlifter (Scott C108)
bullseye perf 11.2, from Scott C108b, plate number 2222

Scott C108 var, local precancel, plate number 2222

Scott C106a, 40¢ Gymnast, line perf 11 (from Scott C108c), plate number 2222

Scott C108a, 40¢ Weightlifter, line perf 11 (from Scott C108c), plate number 2222

Scott C105 var, 40¢ imperf error (from Scott C108d), plate number 2222

Scott C107 var, 40¢ imperforate error (from Scott C108d), plate number 2222

Scott C109, C110, C111 and C112, 35¢ Olympics, (from Scott C112a), plate number 1111

1985-2005 issues

Scott C113, 33¢ Alfred Verville, plate number 12111

Scott C113a, 33¢ imperforate error, plate number 12111

Image courtesy of The Philatelic Foundation.

Scott C114, 39¢ Lawrence & Elmer Sperry, plate number 12111

Scott C114a, 39¢ imperforate error, plate number 12111

Image courtesy of The Philatelic Foundation.

Scott C115, 44¢ Transpacific Airmail, plate number 1111

Scott C115a, 44¢ imperforate error, plate number 1111

There are blind perfs in the lower selvage, but none at all between the stamps

Scott C116, 44¢ Junipero Serra, plate number 1111

Scott C117, 44¢ New Sweden, plate number 1111

Scott C118, 45¢ Samuel P. Langley, large block tagging, plate number 324343

Scott C118a, 45¢ overall tagged, plate number 999999

Scott C119, 36¢ Igor Sikorsky, plate number 1

Scott C119 var, 36¢ "red omitted," plate number 1

Variety not recognized by Scott if traces of red are present.

Scott C119 var, misperfed due to paper fold, also double row of perfs, plate number 32111

Scott C119a, 36¢ red, dark blue & black (engraved) omitted, plate number 32211

Scott C120, 45¢ French Revolution, plate number 1

Scott C121, 45¢ Americas, plate number 1111

Space Shuttle (Scott C122); Speeder (C123); Rover (C124) and Space Shuttle (C125)
from 45¢ UPU issue (Scott C125a)

Scott C122 var, 45¢, engraved blue (text and denomination) omitted (from Scott C125b), plate number 1112

Scott C124 var, 45¢ engraved blue (text and denomination) omitted (from Scott C125b), plate number 1112

Scott C127, 45¢ Americas, plate number A1111

Scott C127 var, 45¢ Americas, misperfed horizontally, plate number A1111

Scott C127 var, 45¢ Americas, misperfed vertically, captured plate number A1111

Image courtesy of eBay / CK Stamps

Scott C128, 50¢ Harriet Quimby, L perf, plate number S1111

Scott C128 var, 50¢ misperfed horizontally, plate number S1111

Image courtesy of Bill Langs

Scott C128a, 50¢ imperf horizontally, plate number S1111

Scott C128b, 50¢ Harriet Quimby, bullseye perf, plate number S2222

Scott C129, 40¢ William T. Piper, first printer (hair does not touch frame), L perf through selvage, plate number A1111

Scott C132, 40¢ Piper, second printer (hair touches frame), bullseye perf partway through selvage, plate number S1111

Scott C130, 50¢ Antarctic Treaty, plate number S1111

Scott C131, 50¢ Asian Land Bridge, plate number 111111

2001-2011 American Scenes issues

Scott C134, 40¢ Rio Grande, plate number V11111

Scott C133, 48¢ Niagara Falls, plate number V11111

Scott C133 var, 48¢ Niagara Falls, "modified red" color, plate number V11111

Scott C135, 60¢ Grand Canyon, plate number B1111

Scott C135a, 60¢ die cutting omitted error, plate number B1111

Scott C138, 60¢ Acadia, 2001 year date, prephosphored, die cut 11.25 x 11.5, plate number B1111

Scott C138a, 60¢ Acadia, 2001 year date, overall tagging, die cut 11.5 x 11.9, plate number B2222

Scott C138b, 60¢ Acadia, 2005 year date, plate number S1111

Scott C138c, 60¢ Acadia error, printed on the backing paper, plate number S1111

Scott C139, 63¢ Bryce Canyon, plate number S22222. Image courtesy of Ernie Schmitt.

Scott C139a, 63¢ die cutting omitted error, plate number S11111

Image courtesy of The Philatelic Foundation.

Scott C142, 69¢ Okefenokee Swamp National Park, plate number P11111

Scott C136, 70¢ Nine Mile Prairie, plate number P11111

Scott C144, 72¢ 9-Mile Woods, New Hampshire, plate number S11111

Scott C140, 75¢ Great Smoky Mountains, plate number P11111

Scott C146, 79¢ Zion National Park, plate number P11111

Scott C137, 80¢ Mount McKinley, plate number V11111

Scott C137 var, 80¢ Mount McKinley, miscut with die cuts shifted to top, plate number V11111

Image courtesy of Stuart Katz

Scott C148, 80¢ Voyageur National Park, plate number P11111

Scott C141, 84¢ Yosemite National Park, plate number V11111

Scott C149, 85¢ Glacier National Park, plate number P11111

Scott C149 var, misprinted due to solvent spill, plate number P11111

Image courtesy of Bill Langs

Scott C143, 90¢ Hagatña Bay, Guam, plate number V11111

Scott C145, 94¢ St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, plate number V11111

Scott C147, 98¢ Grand Teton National Park, plate number V11111

Scott C150, $1.05 Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, plate number S11111

Scott C150a, $1.05 die cutting omitted error, plate number S11111

Airmail issues since 2013

Beginning in 2013, USPS started issuing "global air mail" stamps. They are permanently valid for the basic airmail rate anywhere in the world, or for up to two ounces for Canada. While these stamps are all clearly intended for airmail usage, they are also valid for regular postage. Therefore, they are assigned regular catalog numbers by Scott, rather than the C-prefix numbers.

2013 issues

Scott 4740, ($1.10), plate number V111111