Look for U.S. 1890 Daniel Webster definitive stamp

Stamp Market Tips by Henry Gitner and Rick Miller

Daniel Webster (1782-1852) was one of the United States’ most influential statesmen of the antebellum period. He first served in the U.S. House of Representatives from New Hampshire in 1813 and would remain in government service for the rest of his life.

In 1823, Massachusetts sent him to the House of Representatives. He then served as a senator from Massachusetts from 1827 to 1841, and again from 1845 to 1850.

Webster served as secretary of state under three presidents: William Henry Harrison and John Tyler from 1841 to 1843 (Harrison died in office in 1841), and Millard Fillmore from 1850 to 1852.

One of the founders of the Whig Party, Webster ran unsuccessfully for president in 1836. He died on Oct. 24, 1852, while serving as secretary of state.

Noted for his “eyes like burning anthracite” (quoted from Stephen Vincent Benet’s The Devil and Daniel Webster) and powerful oratory, Webster is perhaps best remembered for promoting the idea that the Union of the United States was sacred and inviolable.

Webster’s gift of oratory is commemorated in The Devil and Daniel Webster, in which he argues the case of a constituent who has sold his soul to the devil. Through his eloquence, Webster wins the man’s acquittal despite a judge and jury comprising the ghosts of infamous villains and cutthroats.

Webster has been commemorated on 15 Scott-listed U.S. postage stamps. The first was a 15¢ orange stamp issued in April 1870 (Scott 141), and the most recent was the 2002 37¢ stamp featuring a portrait of Webster by Albert Sands Southworth and Josiah Johnson Hawes (Scott 3649a).

The 2002 stamp is from the Masters of American Photography se-tenant (side-by-side) pane of 20 (Scott 3649).

Look for the 10¢ green Daniel Webster stamp (Scott 226) issued Feb. 22, 1890. The stamp is from the 1890-93 set of small definitive stamps produced by the American Bank Note Co.

The Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers values the stamp at $160 in very fine grade and unused, original gum condition and at $475 in mint, never-hinged condition.

The stamp is a good buy at 80 percent to 90 percent of Scott U.S. Specialized catalog value.

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