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Clair Aubrey Huston (a.k.a. Charles Aubrey Huston) was chief postage stamp designer at the United States
Huston is also noted for designing the Warren G. Harding memorial issue of 1923, which he designed in one day using a modified version of the Fourth Bureau Issue frame and a copperplate etching of the late Harding. The prompt and speedy production of the Harding memorial issue was the result of overwhelming public pressure and the stamp was issued only a month after the late President Harding's passing, a record for U.S. postal history that has never since been broken.
The first Huston design issued by the Post Office was the 2-cent Washington "shield" stamp offered in November 1903. This was a replacement for the much criticized Washington "flag" stamp from the definitive series of 1902, designed by Raymond Ostrander Smith (who had since left the Bureau of Engraving and Printing). The public welcomed the replacement, and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition commemoratives, a series of five stamps designed by Huston, went on sale the following year.
Huston designed the long running Washington-Franklin Issues, a series of definitive stamps bearing the profiles of
Washington-Franklin Issues" widths="140px" heights="150px">
File:George Washington 1908 Issue-Two-Cents.jpg, Issue of 1908
File:Franklin One Cent22.jpg, Issue of 1908
File:George Washington 1912 Issue--1c.jpg, Issue of 1912
File:WF Franklin 1917 Issue-12c.jpg, Issue of 1917
File:WF Franklin2 1918-$5.jpg, Issue of 1918
Regular Issues of 1922-1931" widths="140px" heights="150px">
File:Nathan Hale 1925 Issue-half-cent.jpg,
File:George Washington2 1903 Issue-2c.jpg, Issue of 1903
File:Hugo-sail1.jpg, Issue of 1920
Clair Aubrey Huston (a.k.a. Charles Aubrey Huston) was chief postage stamp designer at the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) is a government agency within the United States Department of the Treasury that designs and produces a variety of security products for the United States government, most notable of which is Federal Rese ...
(BEP) early in the 20th century. He was the great-grandson of Michael Leib (1759–1822), an American physician and politician.
Huston worked at the BEP for more than 21 years and was the designer of numerous United States postage issues.
Philatelic career
Entire series of United States stamp issues were designed by Huston, including the Washington-Franklins and the '' Regular Issues of 1922''. Huston often used paintings and sculptures of famous American artists likeGilbert Stuart
Gilbert Charles Stuart ( Stewart; December 3, 1755 – July 9, 1828) was an American painter from Rhode Island Colony who is widely considered one of America's foremost portraitists. His best-known work is an unfinished portrait of George Washi ...
as models for his stamp designs.Scotts Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps One of the postage issues Huston is most noted for is the 24 cent Curtis Jenny airmail stamp of 1918, whose image became famous when the biplane was printed upside down. In another aeronautical design, six years earlier Huston had pictured an airplane on the 20 cent parcel post issue. This was the first postage stamp in the world to depict such a machine.
Huston is also noted for designing the Warren G. Harding memorial issue of 1923, which he designed in one day using a modified version of the Fourth Bureau Issue frame and a copperplate etching of the late Harding. The prompt and speedy production of the Harding memorial issue was the result of overwhelming public pressure and the stamp was issued only a month after the late President Harding's passing, a record for U.S. postal history that has never since been broken.
The first Huston design issued by the Post Office was the 2-cent Washington "shield" stamp offered in November 1903. This was a replacement for the much criticized Washington "flag" stamp from the definitive series of 1902, designed by Raymond Ostrander Smith (who had since left the Bureau of Engraving and Printing). The public welcomed the replacement, and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition commemoratives, a series of five stamps designed by Huston, went on sale the following year.
Huston designed the long running Washington-Franklin Issues, a series of definitive stamps bearing the profiles of George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
and Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
. These issues remained in print longer than any other series of stamps to date. Huston was also the principal designer of the US Regular Issues of 1922-1931
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
.
Dozens of United States postage stamp designs were created by Huston. Besides designing the world-famous Curtis Jenny airmail stamp
An airmail stamp is a postage stamp intended to pay either an airmail fee that is charged in addition to the surface rate, or the full airmail rate, for an item of mail to be transported by air.
Airmail stamps should not be confused with airmai ...
, Huston is credited for designing the Founding of Jamestown issues, the Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant regular issues of the 1920s, the Huguenot Walloon commemorative issues of 1924, The Pilgrim Tercentenary of 1920 and the American Indian regular issue of 1923. The Washington-Franklin Issues and his seven contributions to the 1932 Washington Bicentennial Issue are among his more famous designs.
Huston's stamp designs
Nathan Hale
Nathan Hale (June 6, 1755 – September 22, 1776) was an American Patriot, soldier and spy for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He volunteered for an intelligence-gathering mission in New York City but was captured b ...
File:Franklin 1922-1c.jpg, Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
File:Washington 1922-2c-1922.jpg, George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
File:Abraham Lincoln 1923 Issue-3c.jpg, Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
File:Martha Washington 1923 issue-4c.jpg, Martha Washington
Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 21, 1731 — May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington served as the inaugural ...
File:William Howard Taft 1930 Issue-4c.jpg, William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...
File:Theodore Roosevelt 1925 Issue-5c.jpg, Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
File:James Garfield 1922 Issue-6c.jpg, James Garfield
James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1881 until his death six months latertwo months after he was shot by an assassin. A lawyer and Civil War gene ...
File:McKinley 1923 Issue-7c.jpg, William McKinley
William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...
File:Uylsses S Grant 1923 Issue-8c.jpg, Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
File:Thomas Jefferson 1923 Issue-9c.jpg, Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
File:James Monroe 1925 Issue-10c.jpg, James Monroe
James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Monroe was ...
File:Hayes 1922 Issue2-11c.jpg, Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford Birchard Hayes (; October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 19th president of the United States from 1877 to 1881, after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and as governor ...
File:Grover Cleveland 1923 Issue-12c.jpg, Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...
File:Benjamin Harrison 1926 Issue-13c.jpg, Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 23rd president of the United States from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia–a grandson of the ninth pr ...
File:American Indian stamp 14c 1922 issue.jpg, American Indian
See also
* U.S. postage stamp locator *Postage stamps and postal history of the United States
Postal service in the United States began with the delivery of stampless letters whose cost was borne by the receiving person, later encompassed pre-paid letters carried by private mail carriers and provisional post offices, and culminated in a ...
*Presidents of the United States on U.S. postage stamps
Presidents of the United States have frequently appeared on U.S. postage stamps since the mid-19th century. The United States Post Office Department released its Postage stamps and postal history of the United States#First national postage sta ...
* Washington–Franklin Issues
*US Regular Issues of 1922-1931
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
*Charles R. Chickering
Charles Ransom Chickering (October 7, 1891 – April 29, 1970) was best known as the freelance artist who designed some 77 postage stamps for the U.S. Post Office while working at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, DC. Lerner, 2010 ...
(Artist and U.S. postage stamp designer for Bureau of Engraving and Printing
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) is a government agency within the United States Department of the Treasury that designs and produces a variety of security products for the United States government, most notable of which is Federal Rese ...
)
*Stamp design
Postage stamp design is the activity of graphic design as applied to postage stamps. Many thousands of designs have been created since a profile bust of Victoria of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria was adopted for the Penny Black in 1840; some ...
*Commemorative stamp
A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp, often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honor or commemorate a place, event, person, or object. The ''subject'' of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print, unlike def ...
*Definitive stamp
A definitive stamp is a postage stamp that is part of the regular issue of a country's stamps, available for sale by the post office for an extended period of time and designed to serve the everyday postal needs of the country. The term is used in ...
Bibliography
* *References
Notes
{{notes Postage stamps of the United States American stamp designers