Page 10 - Demo

he always gave credit to his superiors, Postmaster General Edward Day and Deputy Postmaster General H.W. Brawley. Printed in two colors (blue and yellow), and 0.84-inches high by 1.44-inches wide, the stamp was released on the same day as Glenn%u2019s flight, February 20, 1962. The design depicted a profile of the Friendship 7spacecraft, the curvature of the earth, and a background of starry blue sky. The words %u201cPROJECT MERCURY%u201d were spread across the stamp%u2019s bottom, with %u201c4%u00a2%u201d and %u201cU.S. MAN IN SPACE%u201d superimposed over the Earth. Stamp News called it, %u201cthe most significantly beautiful stamp issued in the United States in decades.%u201dThe Project Mercury stamps were produced on a Giori press, which the government had begun using about five years earlier. It could print stamps in two or three colors from a single printing plate, instead of using a different plate for each color. This eliminated registration problems. By the time the Project Mercury stamp was officially withdrawn from sale on June 9, 1962, there had been three print runs, totaling 320-million stamps%u2014more than twice the average number of commemorative postage stamps issued during that era. On the first day alone, 10,290,850 were sold. The new stamp was assigned a Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalog number of 1193.The design for the Project Mercury stamp was initially attributed to the prolific stamp designer, Charles R. Chickering of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Later, the design was credited to Charles de M. Barnes, a NASA official. In fact, Chickering, Barnes, and a third man, Norman Todhunter, all created separate designs for the stamp, but it was Barnes%u2019 which was given to Chickering to finalize and model. Modeling involves modifying a design so it could be engraved