A Century of Progress Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1933 and 1934 to celebrate Chicago's centennial. The theme of the fair was science and technological innovation.
Several U. S. stamps were issued to commemorate Chicago Century of Progress. Here I have two postcards with the 1-cent Fort Dearborn stamp and First Day of Issue cancellations on May 25, 1933. The one above with the pictorial cachet gives the opening as June 1, but the fair actually opened a week earlier. That card is blank on the other side.
The second postcard has a picture of the Fort Dearborn replica on one side, and a regular postcard back with a cachet that appears to be rubber-stamped.
Several U. S. stamps were issued to commemorate Chicago Century of Progress. Here I have two postcards with the 1-cent Fort Dearborn stamp and First Day of Issue cancellations on May 25, 1933. The one above with the pictorial cachet gives the opening as June 1, but the fair actually opened a week earlier. That card is blank on the other side.
The second postcard has a picture of the Fort Dearborn replica on one side, and a regular postcard back with a cachet that appears to be rubber-stamped.
The two commemorative stamps below are from my old stamp album:
- 1-cent Restoration of Fort Dearborn. The 1-cent green stamp shows Fort Dearborn, the pioneer fort that had been located at the mouth of the Chicago River.
- 3-cent Federal Building. The 3-cent violet stamp shows the three massive towers of the Federal Building on the exposition grounds.
You can see the design better on the pair below which is from a souvenir sheet.
There was also a 50-cent century of Progress Graf Zeppelin airmail stamp issued. The price included 42½ cents used to help offset the Zeppelin Company's expenses in flying the airship from Germany to Chicago. This stamp is now worth $55.00. The picture is from the Arago website.
The video is one I recently made with some of my Century of Progress postcards.
I like stamps like these where you are not left guessing what they commemorate.
ReplyDeleteWould a card like the one addressed to the gentleman in Warren, Ill get delivered to such an address today?
The future will be brightly coloured:-) I love the contrast between the cover and the postcards on your video. One traditional and the postcards very 30s design.
ReplyDeleteThanks for participating! Love the graphics of the violet stamp.
ReplyDeleteI love the 30s design.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great exhibition it must have been. Very nice set of stamps too.
ReplyDeletegreat video, what a fine collection of stamps, covers and postcards for the world fair. I really like the Zeppelin stamp and interesting about the extra fee.
ReplyDeleteLots of great history in these stamps. I'm sure it was quite the celebration.
ReplyDeleteI didn't even know they issued stamps for the event. Thanks for sharing! Gonna have to keep my radar open for those in the future.
ReplyDeleteWhat a very interesting piece of history.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my Sunday Stamp.
I have always wondered how it was like during world's fairs. The stamps designs are fantastic, too.
ReplyDelete