Page 12 - Demo

In early June, the United States Bureau of Printing and Engraving prepared proofs of the stamp in four different shades of blue. The Indiana Territory Sesquicentennial Commission reviewed them, and said they preferred Palomar Blue%u2014which was approved. The official authorization called for 115,000,000 stamps to be printed, but 121,860,000 stamps were actually produced. They were printed on a rotary press, with each stamp measuring 0.84 inches tall by 1.44 inches wide, and were electric-eye perforated (11 x 101/2), which meant 101/2 perforations per every 2 vertical centimeters with 11 perforations every 2 horizontal centimeters. It was subsequently assigned the Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalog number of 996. A June 6, 1950 article in the Vincennes Sun-Commercial reported that 50 extra mail clerks%u2014described as %u201ca force of women%u201d%u2014had been hired to affix the new stamps to the nearly 400,000 First Day Covers that the local Post Office had received over the previous several weeks. Two representatives from the Postmaster General%u2019s office in Washington D.C. were on hand to supervise the entire operation. The long awaited postage stamp was officially released in Vincennes on July 4, 1950. This was a national holiday,