The 18-cent regular coil stamp featuring George Washington and the Washington Monument was issued November 6, 1985, in Washington, DC. The eighteen-cent denomination met the basic presort rate for first-class letter mail. The stamp was also available in precanceled form.
The stamp's design featured a portrait of Washington based on a Gilbert Stuart painting. Olive branches framed the portrait along the bottom and lower right side. To the left of the portrait, the Washington Monument was depicted. The monument, built in Washington's honor, was dedicated a century earlier.
This was the first US multicolor gravure coil stamp. It was also the first stamp to introduce a new concept in pre-cancellation which consisted only of an overprinted inscription indicating the intended use for the stamp. For this issue and all future precanceled issues, the marking was to consist of either a single bar or an imprinted inscription, but not both.
The stamp was designed by Thomas Szumowski of Waltham, Massachusetts. Art director and typographer was Richard Sheaff; modeler was Clarence Holbert. The gravure process was used. The stamps were issued in coils of 500 (uncancelled); 500 and 3,000 (precanceled).
Reference:
Postal Bulletin (June 20, 1985 and October 3, 1985).
